.45 Ejector mod question

[RandomShotz]

I have a S&W 945 which ejects the empty cases straight up and back. I suppose that is good for shooting at an outdoor range, but at the indoor range where I shoot it makes it difficult to collect the brass. The brass also sometimes bounces off the ceiling over the lane and lands on me which can also be a problem, like when a hot case lands on my arm or in my shirt collar.

The picture shows how the tip of the ejector is angled a bit back so that lowest part of the ejector hits the case first. If I filed the face of the ejector so that it is angled the other way, would it make it more likely to eject the cases to the side (and hopefully into the brass catcher net I use) or am I more likely to simply bugger up the functioning and have to buy a replacement ejector?

Roger

[Isabel1130]

Just out of curiosity have you been using factory ammo? Sometimes the best way to change the ejection, is not to mess with the port at all but to change the spring in the slide, or to power down the ammo. I watched a guy shoot a Sig Sauer today whuch was throwing cases almost straight back, but when he shot some of my target loads, the trajectory was quite different.

[RandomShotz]

I haven't had it very long and haven't done any reloading for the .45 - I've only shot a couple of different boxes of factory 230 gr FMJ. The gun was bought used, so I don't know how much action the springs have seen. The 945 is a Precision Center gun and Wolff Gun Springs doesn't have anything listed for it. I don't know what (if any) S&W equivalents might be available, so I'm going to contact S&W Monday and see if they can help with that.

Once I get some unrelated lumpy bits in my life straightened out, I would like to start reloading for it. I have been reading a lot of advice for that on this forum and others, a fair bit of it contradictory. I'll go back and sift through it when it's time, but so far the take-home message seems to be "keep trying stuff until you find something that works for you."

Since I'm stuck with factory loads for a while, I gather your advice is don't mess with the extractor and maybe replace the recoil spring. And keep my sleeves rolled down and shirt collar buttoned.

So be it.

Thanks

Roger

[Isabel1130]

I haven't had it very long and haven't done any reloading for the .45 - I've only shot a couple of different boxes of factory 230 gr FMJ. The gun was bought used, so I don't know how much action the springs have seen. The 945 is a Precision Center gun and Wolff Gun Springs doesn't have anything listed for it. I don't know what (if any) S&W equivalents might be available, so I'm going to contact S&W Monday and see if they can help with that.

Once I get some unrelated lumpy bits in my life straightened out, I would like to start reloading for it. I have been reading a lot of advice for that on this forum and others, a fair bit of it contradictory. I'll go back and sift through it when it's time, but so far the take-home message seems to be "keep trying stuff until you find something that works for you."

Since I'm stuck with factory loads for a while, I gather your advice is don't mess with the extractor and maybe replace the recoil spring. And keep my sleeves rolled down and shirt collar buttoned.

So be it.

Thanks

Roger

Correct, springs are often interchangeable between different guns, and models. If your brass is really flying that is a sign that you could probably put in a heavier spring, and still get good fuctioning with the ball ammo. I know quite a bit more about what works with different configurations of the 1911 platform, than the S&W.
That said, when you are shooting indoors with ballistic glass inbetween the firing points, a gun that throws the brass at an angle where it bounces off the glass, and then smacks you can be even more annoying than a gun that throws it straight back. Are you a right handed shooter? I am a left handed shooter, and if a gun is kicking brass back and a little to the right, I will often get hit. I had to wear a hat for a while with one Hammerli 208 because it smacked me right in the middle of my forehead. You can also occasionally position a brass net close enough to the ejection port so it bounces either into or at least off of that, and shields your face.
At Canton my first year I shot in a shirt with a front pocket. After the match, I walked back to the trailer to change and dumped out a pocket full of brass belonging to the shooter to my left.

[RandomShotz]

I cobbled up a brass catcher from a mesh laundry bag, some PVC pipe and cheap monopod. It sits on the bench to my right and when it is set up properly it catches ~95% of the brass that comes out of my Model 52. And sometimes a few from the shooter on my left - I always seem to be next to some guy who insists on leaning way out over the bench. It helps that the brass on the floor is usually easily identifiable since few shooters there use 38 special and no one uses Starline brass, advantages I will not have with the 45. The range is usually in heavy use when I can get there and picking 45 brass up from the floor behind me is problematic first because of all the other 45 brass lying around and second because the range officers are constantly walking around and sweeping brass forward ahead of the line. I hope that once I get the 945 operating consistently, it will poop the brass into the net as well.

Roger

[Isabel1130]

I cobbled up a brass catcher from a mesh laundry bag, some PVC pipe and cheap monopod. It sits on the bench to my right and when it is set up properly it catches ~95% of the brass that comes out of my Model 52. And sometimes a few from the shooter on my left - I always seem to be next to some guy who insists on leaning way out over the bench. It helps that the brass on the floor is usually easily identifiable since few shooters there use 38 special and no one uses Starline brass, advantages I will not have with the 45. The range is usually in heavy usie when I can get there and picking 45 brass up from the floor behind me is problematic first because of all the other 45 brass lying around and second because the range officers are constantly walking around and sweeping brass forward ahead of the line. I hope that once I get the 945 operating consistently, it will poop the brass into the net as well.

Roger

If your range officers are sweeping everyone's brass forward, I wouldn't try and pick out mine, I would pick up everything, and only try and sort out any marked brass that a reloader shooting near you may be saving.
I value 45 once fired brass at a least a dime a case, because right now, new brass is at least 15 cents a case from Starline. I figure on any day at my local range I end up with enough extra to cover my losses in the grass and the mud at Perry, and to cover gas costs going to the range and back.