fifth round, every time

DavidAGO · October 24, 2018, 08:55 PM

I took out a newbie to pistol shooting this afternoon. he did well, but my Colt .38 super did not. the first few magazines it shot great, then not. the fifth round would not eject the casing. did not matter which of 4 magazines I used, did not matter if I was shooting it slow or rapidly. I could remove the casing and then it would shoot the rest just fine.

when it first happened he was shooting it and I thought he might be limp wristing it, but nope, did it for me.

these were my reloads, same load I have shot for months and months,jacketed round nose. I pulled cartridges from two different batches, no change. In fact, once it started doing this it did it every time, no exceptions. Brass was mixed but there was no correlation there.

Any ideas where to start looking?

David

BTW, this young man was a deer hunter, but new to pistols. We shot my Ruger gp100, S&W .41 magnum, a few different 1911s all in .45 and my CZ75 clone in .40s&w. he loved them all.

74A95 · October 25, 2018, 12:31 AM

It extracted the case from the chamber but did not eject it? Was it a stovepipe? What is your load data?

Perhaps the extractor needs to be adjusted. Could be random that it's every 5th round, perhaps not, but it's not obvious why it would consistently be the 5th round every time.

**JohnKSa** · October 25, 2018, 01:10 AM

Were you only loading 5 per mag? I mean, was the fifth round the last round in the mag?

There are some things that could cause the last round in the mag to fail to eject, but having it consistently fail on round 5 out of 8 (just an example) is pretty bizarre.

T. O'Heir · October 25, 2018, 12:03 PM

"...might be limp wristing it...did it for me..." It'd happen with every round and not both of you.
"...not matter which of 4 magazines..." Indicates an odd extractor issue.
"...these were my reloads..." Got any factory ammo to test? Isn't likely the ammo as it'd happen randomly if it were.

RickB · October 25, 2018, 01:21 PM

Failing to eject the last round - fifth of five - could be too little extractor tension; the prior rounds have a live round rising into feed position to help kick the empty out.
My .45 Commander sometimes does this, leaving the spent case to fall out along with the mag during the ensuing reload, but yet to cause any sort of stoppage.

If the problem is that the gun somehow senses which round is the fifth one, when there are more than five in the mag . . . well, that's a magic gun.

October 24, 2018, 08:55 PM	#1
DavidAGO Senior Member Join Date: October 7, 2008 Location: Magnolia, AR Posts: 340	fifth round, every time I took out a newbie to pistol shooting this afternoon. he did well, but my Colt .38 super did not. the first few magazines it shot great, then not. the fifth round would not eject the casing. did not matter which of 4 magazines I used, did not matter if I was shooting it slow or rapidly. I could remove the casing and then it would shoot the rest just fine. when it first happened he was shooting it and I thought he might be limp wristing it, but nope, did it for me. these were my reloads, same load I have shot for months and months,jacketed round nose. I pulled cartridges from two different batches, no change. In fact, once it started doing this it did it every time, no exceptions. Brass was mixed but there was no correlation there. Any ideas where to start looking? David BTW, this young man was a deer hunter, but new to pistols. We shot my Ruger gp100, S&W .41 magnum, a few different 1911s all in .45 and my CZ75 clone in .40s&w. he loved them all.

October 25, 2018, 01:10 AM	#3
JohnKSa Staff Join Date: February 12, 2001 Location: DFW Area Posts: 24,986	Were you only loading 5 per mag? I mean, was the fifth round the last round in the mag? There are some things that could cause the last round in the mag to fail to eject, but having it consistently fail on round 5 out of 8 (just an example) is pretty bizarre. __________________ Do you know about the TEXAS State Rifle Association?

October 25, 2018, 12:03 PM	#4
T. O'Heir Senior Member Join Date: February 13, 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 12,453	"...might be limp wristing it...did it for me..." It'd happen with every round and not both of you. "...not matter which of 4 magazines..." Indicates an odd extractor issue. "...these were my reloads..." Got any factory ammo to test? Isn't likely the ammo as it'd happen randomly if it were. __________________ Spelling and grammar count!

October 25, 2018, 01:21 PM	#5
RickB Senior Member Join Date: March 1, 2000 Location: Boise, ID Posts: 8,518	Failing to eject the last round - fifth of five - could be too little extractor tension; the prior rounds have a live round rising into feed position to help kick the empty out. My .45 Commander sometimes does this, leaving the spent case to fall out along with the mag during the ensuing reload, but yet to cause any sort of stoppage. If the problem is that the gun somehow senses which round is the fifth one, when there are more than five in the mag . . . well, that's a magic gun. __________________ Runs off at the mouth about anything 1911 related on this site and half the time is flat out wrong.

October 25, 2018, 12:31 AM	#2
74A95 Senior Member Join Date: November 26, 2016 Posts: 1,568	It extracted the case from the chamber but did not eject it? Was it a stovepipe? What is your load data? Perhaps the extractor needs to be adjusted. Could be random that it's every 5th round, perhaps not, but it's not obvious why it would consistently be the 5th round every time.