TM P226 E2 Inconsistent jam - Nozzle catching on piston cap?

[KirbyHCI]

For those who may stumble on this later; I never found out what the problem was, but I fixed the last problem, after getting it firing consistently, by adding a washer on the recoil guide rod, basically short stroking it by a millimetre or so but not enough to affect lockback.

Edit: Definately the nozzle catching on something since installing the guarder bbu housing. Either it's coming off the piston cap and sticking at the back, or the front, possibly the bit that strips the BBs off the mag, is sticking in the chamber or mag. Not sure what to do about it though. 

Edit 2: I've ruled out the piston cap and barrel or mag... It seems unlikely to be the flat part in front the hammer but it only seems to get stuck when the gun is fully assembled and when firing/locking back. I've got it to fire consistently now but it still gets hammed forward pretty hard (can't push it back myself) on lockback. 

Original:

So I managed to get my TM P226 E2 locking back again by just straight up replacing the BBU housing and re-angling the slide release catch - I used a guarder housing (the regular slide version for my regular slide lol) hoping though it's lighter, it might actually stand up to abuse a bit better than the stock one... It ran fine during initial testing in normal indoor temps and cold weather (10c~), but now it seems to jam occasionally, especially with a full mag of gas although it's not the only factor (just increases the chance of it by a large amount). The jamming was during cold testing and I haven't tested it warm again yet.

It seems to me like my nozzle is sliding off and catching on the piston cap as it's extremely hard to get the nozzle over the cap when reassembling. Could this be from the extra friction of the rougher guarder BBU housing slowing down the nozzle & slide? But then it probably wouldn't do it with more gas... Or perhaps oil getting onto my piston cap and swelling it? Perhaps just a quirk of the cold? Or maybe even a combination of the lot...

I've tried more oil, less oil... Doesn't seem to matter much.

Sometimes it jams like this, and the magazine is hard to remove;
View attachment 52723View attachment 52724

Otherwise it'll jam like this;

View attachment 52725View attachment 52726

Feels like the nozzle is really stuck forwards, I can't push it back manually but pulling the slide back and releasing it will knock it back into place usually.
I'm just using Nuprol 1.0 for now.

Gas wizards unite! Pretty please...

Update; I think it was the piston cap swelling. Tried a spare I forgot about and it fits much better. Will do a firing test later. 

Update 2: Seemed to work better but the nozzle still stuck forward on the last BB. Only fired 3 but it's too late to test any more. The nozzle slipped on the ca much better though. 

I should also clarify it only does it when firing, not manual manipulation.

 

[KirbyHCI]

Ok this issue is doing my head in.

It's come back with a vengeance, this time with no sign of wear on the nozzle housing where the slide catch makes contact, and in every configuration with multiple of each part interchanged in the BBU.

Two different piston heads, two stock BBU housings and one aftermarket guarder lightweight, two different nozzles, etc. etc.

Doesn't matter if it's slightly short stroked like I found fixed it originally or not. 

I noticed one piston head got chewed up after I tried letting it dry out in case it had oil swelling it up. But the one that does have some oil on it behaves exactly the same, it just doesn't get chewed. 

The nozzle jams forward 85% of the time AND it doesn't lock back consistently on empty (if I just dry fire like mad, it eventually locks back.).  I would just get someone to look at it but everyone I contact says they don't do repairs or maintenance anymore, even if they advertise themselves as doing so. That or I get no reply even if they're actively trading as a shop. I want to throw the whole damn thing in the bin at this point it's pissing me off that much.

Anyone got any ideas before a theoretically perfectly good TM P226 gets a hammer to it out of frustration?

 

[Davegolf]

Hi, firstly way too much crossed out blurb for anyone to comprehend reading.

So what parts are not standard?

How old is it?

What is the specific problem?

 

[KirbyHCI]

Yeah sorry, most of it is probably irrelevant or outdated now anyway. I shouldn't care so much since all these issues are just me making problems to fix minor problems and trying to find a combo that works heh.

Slightly old (not sure of exact age), decent nick. Only aftermarket parts were a 6.01mm barrel (Can't remember the brand now) and maple leaf hop up bucking.  Second slide & BBU I'm using for spares and swaps is basically the same story.

Got it used, just didn't lock back due to a worn BBU housing. Tried another BBU housing but that wore down fast straight away so I tried a guarder lightweight housing. That fixed the lock back (except on one mag, which was the mags fault) but introduced a jam with a stuck forward nozzle. I fixed the total jam with some finessing and wearing in but the nozzle still stuck forward wehen it locked back on empty most of the time, no matter what I did except for putting a 1mm thick washer on the recoil spring (I know, wtf?).

All seemed ok, then I was testing it a bit more in depth with different mags and the nozzle sticking forward when locking back empty returned. Not a huge deal, but in trying to investigate the cause of that just for my own sanity, I disassembled, inspected, cleaned, and reassembled, and the failure to lock on empty most of the time returned, and the nozzle still sticks the few times it does. Basically, it now runs like crap in all configurations, even the one it ran fine in (and has now slightly chewed the piston cap from that configuration due to running it too dry while trying to see if the piston cap having swelled from too much oil was the issue). 

I expect it's me missing some obvious core issue.

I'm testing one last idea a sec (basically reassembling from the best parts as carefully and tightly as possible, cleaned and very lightly oiled) then I'll write up a fresh more concise and current sitrep. If this fixes it I can just slap myself for being irritable and stupid. (Edit: Nope didn't work, although now it behaves better slightly more often)

 

[Davegolf]

My eyes hurt! What is the problem!?

Can you build it up standard with TM parts?