Weigand extractor tensioning tool



Max Cartridge Gage 45 ACP



You'd be amazed at how many "dinged" bases and bulged cases get caught by this tool.

Top one looks like a waste of money.

For a chamber checker I pull the barrel out of my pistol and check each round.  So that little tool is not needed.

Quoted: Top one looks like a waste of money. .

Not hardly... but some guys have good luck bending their own way..  

Quoted: For a chamber checker I pull the barrel out of my pistol and check each round.  So that little tool is not needed.

You'll miss the dings in the base that way...

If it fits in the barrels chamber it will fire. 45 acp is a low pressure round so far my dillion has loadded 15k not a single problem doing it my way.

did  lots single stage. Once I tried to many in one reloading sitting did my self a 2x charge. The dillion 650 has stopped that problem.

how does the case guage find the dings? if there impressions it will fit the same in my chamber as the case guage will.

Quoted: ............................. how does the case guage find the dings? ..............

The case guage is milled to accept the base.. if the base has a ding it won't fit all the way into the guage..

If you look at the face of a 1911 slide you will see that a ding in the base could cause feeding problems. The area between the extractor and the other side of the slide is the size of the base. take a badly dinged base piece of brass and shove it in there...  if the ding is bad enough the brass can really get hung up... if the extractor is tuned correctly

Dinged brass will fit in a free standing barrel without any problem...

I don't know about dings until I got a case guage.. I figued the one jam out of 300-400 rounds I would get in IDPA, USPSA and 3 gun was just the way 1911s ran... now I have zero jams..

Of course if a guy isn't reloading range brass he probably won't see any dings...

I do know of a guy that has an aftermarket 40 bull barrel that is machined on the thight side. He did try the gauage route, still gave him problems. When he used the barrel as the case guage problems went away.

40 brass is every where, 1/2 the time your not getting your brass back, but from some Glock shooter. If your sizing die does not fix the glock belly it will cause a feeding issue.

I check each piece of brass before I drop it into the tumbler. Any I dont like goes into the brass bucket for scrap.

You should use something to check your reloads. esp with unkown brass.

Adjusting the extractor is the first step in making a 1911 reliable.

I've never used a jig,  i just insert it part way in the slide, and bend it untill it holds a shell case against the breechface. It's just something I've learned by feel after 20 + years of 1911 fun. Too much tension is bad too.  I also radius the bottom edge, and polish it up, making sure not to mis-shape the hook.

Very slightly breaking the edge between the chamber, and feed ramp,  and polishing it up is #2.

Polishing the breechface is #3.

My last stage in my DILLON press is a LEE factory crimp die.  I never case guage anymore. the die makes it right for me.

Using good mags is probably #4.

Lee Factory Crimp does cure a lot of Ills.. I use them on all my toolheads.. I think that by now everyone is using them..

I've never had much luck manually tensioning extractors..... and I've been pretending to be a 1911 builder for 26 years...

Quoted: Lee Factory Crimp does cure a lot of Ills.. I use them on all my toolheads.. I think that by now everyone is using them.. I've never had much luck manually tensioning extractors..... and I've been pretending to be a 1911 builder for 26 years...

I've been doing it only 17 years, so maybe I don't know any better, but I sure know quite a few people who do it the old fashioned way.  I'm not putting the Weigand tool down, but I can't see how it's necessary.  I've used a friend's, and it's still trial and error.  Just my opinion, and we all know what opinions are worth.