I Broke a Gift. Help!

[Nathana94]

A few parts later and were almost back to working order! A few issues still:

 

- The pistol only shoots on full auto (I imagine this is due to the metal plate being damaged behind the fire selector)

 

- The slide doesn’t lock back when empty 90% of the time. I think this is due to the mag follower but I’m not too sure.. with the slide off, I can see the mag follower engages the slide release lever, but with the slide on it usually doesn’t.. mag problem or a weak spring inside the switch on the pistol do we think? 
 

Added a photo of the mag - from images I’ve seen online the gap shouldn’t be that big, but I’m not so sure, doesn’t look damaged or anything so my thought is a weak spring in the slide release lever?

[EDcase]

Yes the safety/decocker also engages the semi/auto function so it must be stuck in the medium position.

 

Yep that's the same gap I have on my 2 mags which both lock the slide properly.

 

1) With no magazine, pull back the slide and hold it. When you push up on the slide catch does it move freely up and down?

 

2) With a mag in, pull the slide back.  Does it always catch?

-  If it doesn't then something is stopping it moving.

-  If it does lock when manually pulled then the slide is not moving back far enough when fired. There are several possible reasons for this so further investigation would be required.

[Nathana94]

12 minutes ago, EDcase said:

Yes the safety/decocker also engages the semi/auto function so it must be stuck in the medium position.

 

Yep that's the same gap I have on my 2 mags which both lock the slide properly.

 

1) With no magazine, pull back the slide and hold it. When you push up on the slide catch does it move freely up and down?

 

2) With a mag in, pull the slide back.  Does it always catch?

-  If it doesn't then something is stopping it moving.

-  If it does lock when manually pulled then the slide is not moving back far enough when fired. There are several possible reasons for this so further investigation would be required.

With no mag, I can pull the slide back, and lock it in place with no issues. Also releases absolutely fine and resets with no snags or hiccups. 
 

With the mag in - it’s temperamental. If pulled back from the front, the slide lock seems to engage more frequently, but still not always. Pulled from the back of the slide does lock sometimes, but less frequently than from the front. 
 

Sometimes when I insert the mag, I can see it push on the slide release catch, and push it up ever so slightly, so that when the slide pulls back it should lock - but again only occurs sometimes

 

pretty stumped - as far as I can see, nothing is preventing it from working as it should 

[EDcase]

Without mag, pull slide back and hold it there.

Flick the slide release up lightly and it should move up and then come back down completely with no resistance.

 

Perhaps that's not the same manufacturer magazine so no 100% compatible?

[Nathana94]

Oh sorry I see what you mean, yes that works

 

ive just tested a little theory.. I think the switch itself is too loose.. if I hold the gun with the slide catch facing upwards, it catches every time. Any other way and it doesn’t catch which makes me think it’s slipping out and the mag is sliding past it

[EDcase]

15 minutes ago, Nathana94 said:

... the mag is sliding past it

Yep, that sound like the problem.

There is a small pin sticking out of the catch on the inside which is what the mag follower pushes up on.

That might be worn too.

 

[Nathana94]

1 hour ago, EDcase said:

Yep, that sound like the problem.

There is a small pin sticking out of the catch on the inside which is what the mag follower pushes up on.

That might be worn too.

 

it’s a weird one - had a look at that first and it all seems okay - the gun had barely been used before I got it (or so I’m told)

 

I’ll wait until I have all the replacement parts in that I so carefully broke.. will assess after that! Thanks for all your help again! 

[EDcase]

👍