Model 41 Failure to Feed

[jjgun]

I’ve been using my S&W Model 41 for Standard Pistol events. With a lighter recoil spring I was shooting Aguila Standard Velocity ammo and the gun worked fine and was very accurate. Then I started having a problem where after firing the casing would eject and the hammer would cock, but the slide wouldn’t go back far enough to pick up the next round. I put in a 6 lb recoil spring (that I even cut down a little) and a lighter hammer spring, but it didn’t help. I tried a different lot of Aguila and other target ammo (SK Std Vel and Eley Practice) and none worked. Using CCI Standard Velocity, the gun works every time all the time. However, it’s not as accurate with the CCI – My scores dropped significantly. I would like to know if anyone has any ideas about the gun or could you suggest another accurate ammo that has more energy than the Aguila, but less than the CCI. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks…………JJ

[slinger]

I had a model 41 that I was TRYING to use Aguila through also. I took a 6 lb recoil spring and had cut up to 6 coils off of that and it would still only function 95% of the time. It would however function just fine with CCI Standard. I have also realized that there are some very soft lots of Aguila out there as well. As an ammo, it tends to be soft.They claim FPS is 1135, but I have shot Aguila over a chrony and never saw anything past 988, and there was over a 60 FPS spread in a 5 shot test. Considering we usually shoot 5 inch barrels, I guess that is par. Good luck, hope you can get it to function.

[jjgun]

Thanks Slinger,

I can't get it to be consistent with any "soft" ammo. I'll shoot slow fire fine and then the first sltring of timed or rapid fire I'll get an alibi. Murphy's law I guess. I shot Aguila for about a year with almost no problems and then all of a sudden it started. I'm hoping to find aan ammo about 1/2 way between Aguila and CCI. No luck yet.....JJ

[slinger]

Let me know what that ammo is please! I bought my first cae of Aguila for $99 delivered,,,I just got another case a few weeks ago and it was $205 delivered. I am sitting on 2 cases of CCI Standard that I hate to shoot due to prices. I always had good luck with it cycling a pistol. Aguila on the other hand varies dramatically I think. My 41 used to not eject the "spent" case and it would get lodged above the new round that was TRYING to feed in the chamber. I have shot some of the Aguila Match , Golden Eagle I believe they call it, and it is not any hotter but I don't have the amount of rounds that take 2 hammer strikes to go bang that I do with the standard velocity stuff. Somehow it must have a slightly better spec I guess. On the other hand Aguila standard velocity will cycle all 4 of my Marvels, but I will still get alabis.

[Spencer]

at the risk of being 'jumped on'...

the pistol has had a thorough clean and lubricate?

Spencer

[tenex]

JJ,
On my Marvel, I was getting occasional failures to cycle due to contact between the dot mount and the top of the slide (rear sight extension on the 41 barrel). Could you have given the barrel an inadvertant whack? My buddy's 41 had a bent barrel (that was contacting the slide) and when we called S&W, they said it happens all the time, they even have a jig for straightening out backstraps.

It's a long shot, but worth a look.

Steve.

[jjgun]

Spencer,
I won't jump on you. Yes, I keep it clean and I've tried different amounts of oil, different viscosities, etc. I was trying to figure out if temperature had an effect. Nothing helped but CCI.

Tenex,
That's a new one. I have some rub spots on my frame from the slide. The machining on the slide was poor and i thought that was rubbing and maybe causing the problem so I sanded and polished the inside. didn't help. I called S&W and explained the problem. They told me to shoot Mini-Mags and i wouldn't have a problem. Had to bite my lip on that one. I did send it back to S&W, but all they did was polish the feed ramp and chamfer the hammer. Of course, that didn't help. They didn't say anything about a bent backstrap. Moving the slide by hand everything works easy and with a light recoil spring I can't believe that even soft ammo won't cycle it.

Thanks for the responses.............JJ

[Fred T]

jj

Over the years I have had several different Model 41's. some worked better than other at first but I got them all to work eventually. I give them all the same treatment. Make sure the bolt face is tight in the slide, polish the lips of the magazines and then tune and time them so the next round is not riding on the bottom of the slide. THe first time I undertook this I buggered up a magazine until I figured out what to do. It was worth the learning cost.
The 41 that I shoot will shoot almost anything reliable now.
Good luck

Fred T

[David Levene]

....polish the lips of the magazines and then tune and time them so the next round is not riding on the bottom of the slide.

I'm intrigued. What holds the next round down, waiting to move up to be picked up by slide moving forward.

[JamesH]

Could be a rough or pitted chamber

[jjgun]

Thanks for all the good ideas. I've come up with a lot of great theories on why this is happening, but when testing them I always have to come back to one fact: if I use CCI SV the 41 works every single time. This has shot down just about every theory I had.