[Guest]

So, I bought my M9 from CDNN because I knew someone with two and I liked it better than my husbands glock 34.
It came, I was excited, I took it to the range and about every other magazine the round would cycle the slide would lock forward with a round in the chamber but the trigger would not reset. If I jack the slide back the next round would cycle.
So I took it home and cleaned it and lubed it and took it back out again. Same problem.
So I thought maybe I just need to shoot it more and wear off the burs and what not. I took it to a competition and embarassed myself because it still will not function correctly. I had an average of 3 malfunctions per stage.
I spoke to Brian at CDNN who directed me to this nice guy steve from texas who thinks it is my drop safety. Does anyone know how to disassemble my sear/drop safety assembly so that I can check if this thing is cracked and replace it? Any info would be great thanks.

 

[Deluxe247]

You can remove the entire trigger group by following this tutorial: http://www.steyrclub.com/modules.php?na ... page&pid=5

That will give you access to the parts in question. You can also do a visual inspection of the drop safety by removing the slide and veiwing it from the top at the rear:

Welcome to the club! Hope you get it worked out. There are plenty of resources here to help fix your problem.

-D

 

[Guest]

I don't think a cracked drop safety will cause a failure in the trigger unless the front portion of the hook actually breaks off and wedges beside the sear release lever, cause it to freeze up. In that case, the trigger will not reset at all, no matter what you do (at least that's what happened to my M40). However, if your drop safety is broken, once you remove the broken bits of metal from the sear area, the pistol will continue to function normally, you just have to be sure not to drop it! The drop safety in my M40 has been broken for the past couple months and I have been too lazy to get a new part, but I don't use my pistol for carry, and don't keep a round chambered when it sits at home, because it is my back-up HD weapon.

Also, it sounded like your pistol is fairly new. It would be strange for such a new pistol to have a broken drop safety. My M40 broke it's drop safety after about 10 - 11 thousand rounds. I believe IDPASteyr said he breaks drop safeties every 20K or so, and I trust him, as he has about 75,000 rounds through his Steyr.

 

[madecov]

IDPA has closer to 100K through his. His wife has even more in her M9.

 

[IDPASteyr]

I talked to mtobias today after she disassembled the pistol and the problem was the trigger return spring. Easy part to replace and she should be back in service by the weekend. Add that part to your spare parts kit when we start building them.

 

[Matches]

Trigger spring eh. This was a new pistol?

 

[Guest]

I've had the pistol for about a month but only got to take it out four or five times.

 

[uncle_walty]

Please describ the trigger spring failure. Did it snap in 2? If so, where was the break, was there a notch? Was it just weak, not in the right place? Did it get damaged during installation or cleaning? Details please. I would think it is too early for fatigue. Did you do a lot of dry fire? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Is that the spring that looks like a safety pin w/ a funny crook in it?
(I'm bad w/ the nomenclature but i've had one or the other pistol completely apart a few times)

I know I've seen my slide release spring on S9 and my safety spring on M40 be bent at different times (both also the safety pin type springs but stright). Neither caused any problems but I bent them back straight anyway. Since I always have a whole action subassembly to compare to and the schematic on screen I can see how they should be.

Seems these little springs look too small for the pressures put on them, but apparently they work fine even when a LITTLE bent.

 

[Guest]

Chef,
It is not the safety pin one you were asking about that sits on the outside of the assembly. I believe that is the slide release spring (that's what the schematic says anyway) It is smaller and more s or z shaped. It is an s shape with a circle at one of the joints of the s. If you have the schematic (which can be downloaded at usasteyr.com) it is part number 20. You can only see it if you knock out the pin that holds in the trigger mechanism and remove the trigger. It is the only spring you can remove without removing more pins.

uncle walty,
One of the legs broke off clean at the joint. There appears to be a small notch at the break site. Must have been that way when I bought it because I've had problems from day one. My best guess is that it dried out an got brittle sitting in the warehouse and the first time I dry fired it it snaped. I don't dry fire incredibly regularily (mostly when my husband nags me about not practicing...) and I've only had it at the range four or five times though I am going again tomorrow.

 

[Guest]

So, thanks to IDPAsteyr I have my new part and it is installed (after about two hours of cursing my sear mechanism :evil: ...tricky tricky little thing and I would not suggest anyone taking it apart by yourselves if you don't have a mechanic handy to help you put it back together) Finally figured it out though and have it all back together in working order.
Weird thing though...I was dry firing to be sure I had put it all back together right and every time I do a little puff of smoke comes out the barrel. Any thoughts? More lubrication?
I'm taking it to the range tomorrow morning to make sure the problem if licked and I will let everyone know hoe it goes.

 

[IDPASteyr]

The only cause of the "smoke" that I can think of is too much lubricant on the firing pin. I don't believe it will be a problem.

It was a pleasure working with you to get you pistol back into action. Good job!!!

 

[uncle_walty]

Thanks for the info. I've been tweeking those springs to try and tune the trigger so I wanted to make sure I understand all the failure modes.

I had the smoke from dieseling of the lubricant in the firng pin channel during dry fire also when I was new to the M. I thought it was kinda neat. You are lucky to have IDPAsteyr's help nearby. Otherwise you'd be waitng for Steyr to get their act together before you can get parts to fix your M.

There is a trick that makes putting the "sear" assembly back together very easy. You install the catch and drop safety, make sure the drop safety is in the right place and let the catch pivot all the way down. Then assemble the lever with the lever spring, catch spring and lever pin with the lever hanging down so that the lever spring is not loaded and the pin goes in easily. Then you push on the lever to load up the lever spring just enough to allow you to pivot the catch behind the lever and then finish pivoting the catch up to snap the lever and catch in place making sure the longer catch spring leg ends up on the catch leg. Then you press the little catch pin in place to load up the catch spring. It was really hard to put things back together until I figured out the proper sequence.