Since the last 2 range trips I've had FTE's with my M40A1 I'm off today to get the final diagnosis. Gun is cleaned and lubed Mags are cleaned out and numbered. pad and pen in range bag 500 rounds of WWB Going to load each magazine to capacity fire each one and mark down if there was a problem If one magazine gives me a problem, I will re test that magazine If multi magazines are an issue, I will swap parts (recoil spring & extractor) from my M If problem seems to be one magazine (I hope) then that mag will be replaced. Any other suggestions for a diagnosis ?
Report OK, back from the range Loaded up all 8 magazines with 12 rounds each Fired all 8 magazines with no issues at all. Re loaded all 12 magazines and continued my testing Magazines 1-6, no issues. On magazine #7 I had an FTE on round #10. Cleared the malfunction and fired magazine #8 without issue. At this point I'm thinking it's a magazine issue. I had 19 rounds left so I loaded magazine number 1 with 12 rounds and magazine number 2 with the remaining 7 rounds Fired all 12 rounds from magazine #1 without issue and loaded mag #2. I had another malfunction at round #5. The round had a failure to eject fully. The round got caught between the breech face and the barrel hood similar to a stovepipe but fully horizontal. I called Steyr this afternoon and spoke with Jack and Allen. Allen suggested I use and oversized brush mounted on a drill to clean the barrel chamber . Allen stated that it is possible carbon fowling and powder can become "stuck" to the metal After doing my usual cleaning regimen I grabbed a nylon brush and a bronze brush for a 45 caliber handgun and some JB bore paste. I ran the brush into the chamber and cranked the drill. After "scrubbing the chamber, I re used Hoppes to clean the barrel and was a bit surprised at the amount of crud on the patches . I repeated the procedure twice more until I could not get any more fowling out of the barrel or chamber. next trip will determine if the cleaning worked or not, if not the gun will go back to Steyr for diagnosis with a very detailed letter concerning the failures.
reminds me of trying to scrub out the .38 rings from all 11 chambers of my wifes .357's (one 6 shot and one 5 if your scratching your head). It's just plain there period, no matter how much I soak or scrub. I can get them to where they'll chamber .357's again but looking w/ a flashlight there are still rings. The guy at the gun show doing the ultrasonic cleanings (you know the "boil your gun in my machine for $25" guy) says that will absolutely get them out totally. Might be worth it for you to try to drop your barell in one of those (your dept. or a local shop should have one).
Ammo is WWB and Speer Gold Dots At this point I'm starting to get 1 FTE per 100 rounds as an average. This has begun to happen after the first 600 flawless rounds. in the last two outings I have had 4 FTE's in 400 rounds. This is not good for any weapon, let alone my on duty handgun I'm going to get out again on my next day off and put 200-300 rounds through it. The A1 is hands down my favorite handgun. Nothing fits my hand better. Not even the P99.
I had failures to extract Winchester ammo (white box and Ranger 155s) in my M40 until I added the cut-down 1911 plunger spring to the factory one. They usually didn't occur until after 100 rounds or so. I've got about 300 rounds now with no problems. The problem didn't occur with other brands of ammo. Maybe you need to do this mod to your A1 as well.
Brass has looked fine. I have the LCI ding on the brass, and on the FTE round a bit of "bent" brass at the rim. I don't see anything really wrong with the brass compared to the older rounds. I can't see or feel anything in the chamber. I'm willing to try the 1911 plunger spring insert, but the gun should not need this. I may end up sending it back to Steyr to be checked out.
