[Guest]

The UPS knocked on my door today and delivered my newly refinished S40. The gun looks absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I don't have a digital camera, so I can't post any pictures.

I noticed when I put a fresh magazine into the gun and tried to chamber a round, the slide did not fully return into battery. Repeated attempts to chamber a round with three different magazines resulted in the slide protruding about 1/8" beyond the back of the frame, no matter how hard I racked the slide.

It occurred to me that Tripp had probably removed any lubricant prior to applying the chrome, and sure enough the gun seemed quite dry. So I lubed the underside of the slide, rails, etc. in much the same fashion as is instructed in the tutorial on this site.

After doing that, the gun performed a little better. Racking the slide would only result in the gun being out of battery about half the time. After working the slide a little more, this decreased to maybe 1/4 of the time.

I'd really appreciate it if someone could set my mind at ease about this. I'm beginning to think that maybe this really is just a lubrication issue, as Tripp seems to have removed any trace of it before they refinished the gun. But still, even with a decent amount of Rem-Oil, this is happening too often for comfort, especially considering that this is a carry gun.

I won't know for sure how the gun performs in actual firing until Saturday. I'll be sure to post my results.

Let me reiterate, though, that the gun looks absolutely amazing. If I can work out this out-of-battery issue, my M9 will probably be going to Tripp as well.

 

[hihoslva]

I'm going to venture a guess as to what's going on here:

If I'm not mistaken, the Tripp hardchrome is an applied finish. Meaning, it's a coating.

Now, ANY coating is going to have a degree of thickness to it. we all know that these pistols are built to pretty tight tolerances. I would have to say that it's entirely possible that the extra thickness of the hardchrome on the grooves inside the slide may be binding the gun.

Also, since you say it's getting better the more you work the slide, that sounds like abrasion is taking place, and the hardchrome is being slowly ground off the slide rails, making the action more like it used to be.

Perhaps there was also just a smidgen extra coating deposited in the slide rails by accident; like, if the piece was hung after coating, and hung in such a way so any excess stayed in the rail channels in the slide.

Can you SEE anything? Is any wear of the new finish visible in the slide rails?

Have you contacted Tripp about the issue?

The fact that it is getting better tells me that it may not be worth too much worry. I would keep racking that puppy over and over again and see if it gets better. Perhaps some shooting will help, too. It may just be that the new finish is going to require a break-in period of its own now, since the finish is also applied inide the rail grooves (it IS in there, correct?)

Keep us posted.

 

[Guest]

The fact that it is getting better tells me that it may not be worth too much worry. I would keep racking that puppy over and over again and see if it gets better. Perhaps some shooting will help, too. It may just be that the new finish is going to require a break-in period of its own now, since the finish is also applied inide the rail grooves (it IS in there, correct?)

Yes, the chrome has been applied to the inside of the slide, including the cut-outs for the rails. The more I look at it, I realize that you are probably right. The finish on the outside of the slide is mirror-smooth (and almost mirror-reflective -- even my wife, who is not exactly fond of guns, though it was beautiful). But it is much rougher on the inside. I'm going to keep working the slide as well as try to shoot a couple of hundred rounds through it on Saturday.

I'll keep you updated.

 

[Ripped]

i think you`ll be fine.. spray the rails with some lubricant and rack the slide throughout your favorite sitcom.. , it should losen up and not be a problem.. Hope all goes well..

 

[steveinaz]

Agree, let the slide wear-in some. Steyr's are tightly fitted. It may give you some problems for a little while, but it will fade.

 

[Guest]

racking the slide while watching tv should deburr the metal.

give us a range report once you get to shoot the puppy.

 

[srfl]

Like others have said, it's problem will likely go away after a while....my AP&W-plated M40 is super tight as well.

 

[blueiron]

Call Tripp and ask them what the average plating thickness runs for their process that they performed on your gun. Electroless nickel plating does not use a base coat of copper plate. Standard nickel must have a copper plating applied first, before the nickel is applied. Standard chrome does too. Hard Chrome tends to be rather thick and varies in thickness on angular surfaces like corners, rails, etc. Other platings and coatings have their own unique set of circimstances. So does the chemical content of the base steel; high nickel content, molybdynum, silicon, carbon content, etc.

Anytime anything on a firearm is plated, the overall dimensions change. Some finishes will wear in over a short time, like parkerizing. Others, like hard chrome, may take a very, very long time. If done without consideration to the tolerances inherent in the pistol, it can effectively render a firearm useless.

 

[madecov]

Mine was supposed to be here toady. Wife went out while I was at work, now UPS needs to re deliver tomorrow :evil:

I'm sure it just needs to be broken in again. hard Chrome is a plating not a coating. It does add a bit of thickness and will need to be re smoothed/broken in.

Not unusual at all.

 

[Guest]

This is out of battery happens to my stk finish as well, I really think its more of a spring issue. You ever think of respring the piece?

Hard chrome is VERY hard. Some have said it would take a chisel to take the finish off the surface.

 

[Guest]

This is out of battery happens to my stk finish as well, I really think its more of a spring issue. You ever think of respring the piece?

This particular Steyr only has about 500 rounds through it. I think that's a little early for a new spring, considering the current one hasn't really been broken in yet.

And yes, the finish on the gun is HARD CHROME, so it's actually a plating.

Thanks for your responses everyone. I'll keep working the slide and feeding it ammo. Hopefully it will start behaving properly soon enough.

 

[uncle_walty]

Call Tripp and ask them what the average plating thickness runs for their process that they performed on your gun. Electroless nickel plating does not use a base coat of copper plate. Standard nickel must have a copper plating applied first, before the nickel is applied. Standard chrome does too. Hard Chrome tends to be rather thick and varies in thickness on angular surfaces like corners, rails, etc. Other platings and coatings have their own unique set of circimstances. So does the chemical content of the base steel; high nickel content, molybdynum, silicon, carbon content, etc.

Anytime anything on a firearm is plated, the overall dimensions change. Some finishes will wear in over a short time, like parkerizing. Others, like hard chrome, may take a very, very long time. If done without consideration to the tolerances inherent in the pistol, it can effectively render a firearm useless.

Definitely call Tripp to find out their plating thickness. Plating thickness is very process dependent. If you have an old gun, the plating can help bring fit back to like new. If you have a new gun with tight tolerances, etching or mechanical abrasion maybe required before plating to make sure there is adequate plate thickness while not causing interference. That's why it is not easy to find a good plating house that has enough experience to know what they need to do for each gun.