What is my gun doing, and is it a problem?

[limatunes]

All righty then. It's time to play that famous game, "DIAGNOSE THE BRASS."

When I went shooting with my Dad in Wisconsin I discovered that about seven (at least that I found) brass casings were a little mangled when we went looking for brass. I know some brass being bent or beat up can be normal but these all looked the same.

I went shooting yesterday and while picking up the brass I discovered more brass with the same marking on them. I decided to take it home, take pictures and see if anyone could tell me if I should be worried or not.

The gun is not jamming, it's not doing anything negative in and of itself, but I have no idea why the brass would look like this.

This is my Kimber Ultra CDP .45. All of the brass is from Winchester 230 grain FMJ rounds.

Any insight?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[ccw9mm]

What gun, what ammo?

If thin-walled reloads, I can see it getting fried like that, perhaps. But I have never seen the edges/lips of brass casings get chewed up like that, from any gun. Stumped.

Looks mechanical to me, like the brass is jamming up against something, hard.

[limatunes]

What gun, what ammo?

Ooops.. Forgot to mention. This is with my Kimber CDP in .45. The ammo I'm usually shooting is Winchester 230 grain FMJ.

[pgrass101]

It looks like the spent round is being jammed in the port as it is ejecting.

Translation the slide in coming back into battery before the caseing has cleared the ejection port. It could be lower charge in round not fully actiutation the slide and/or stiff springs.

How many rounds have been ran thru this pistol? Are the springs new? New type ammo?

Warning the above can prove to be competely bogus I'm just guessing never having seen the pistol but if this is happening there should be brass residue or scraps on the ejection port.

But going by the cases being indented I would guess this is happening. It would not cause the gun to jam because the cases are mostly ejected when the slide makes contact, which then pushes them out the rest of the way.

[limatunes]

It looks like the spent round is being jammed in the port as it is ejecting.

Translation the slide in coming back into battery before the caseing has cleared the ejection port. It could be lower charge in round not fully actiutation the slide and/or stiff springs.

How many rounds have been ran thru this pistol? Are the springs new? New type ammo?

Warning the above can prove to be competely
bogus I'm just guessing never having seen the pistol but if this is happening there should be brass residue or scraps on the ejection port.

If that's the case, wouldn't it be jamming the gun? It certainly looks like it's hitting SOMETHING, I agree, but the fact that it's not jamming is what's confusing me.

I have put about 400 rounds through the gun. While the springs are not new as far as I know, they are in good condition. This brass is from Winchester.

[limatunes]

And, well, I think I found what the brass is hitting.




The barrel hood. If you line the brass up it's a perfect fit. However, it's not jamming (thank goodness) but could this be a potential problem?

[Ten_Ring]

I honestly can't see how it is not jamming. It does appear to be caused from short cycling or the extractor is in need of tuning. Are there "any" brass marks on the weapon around the port?

[Ten_Ring]

Sorry...crossed post.
And yes....that can be a horrid problem. Check the extractor tension and make sure the ejector is in good shape.

[limatunes]

I honestly can't see how it is not jamming. It does appear to be caused from short cycling or the extractor is in need of tunning. Are there "any" brass marks on the weapon around the port?

No.. That's what I was looking for when I took the gun down and then I saw how perfectly the brass fits onto the barrel hood. Very strange.

[pgrass101]

And, well, I think I found what the brass is hitting.




The barrel hood. If you line the brass up it's a perfect fit. However, it's not jamming (thank goodness) but could this be a potential problem?

I think it could lead to stove piping. See if you can get it to stove pipe or eat brass more when you limp wirst.

Edited to add If it is the barrel hood it is probably to volient an ejection instead of to weak. This could smooth out with more rounds fired thru the pistol or the round could be hot. This is the opposite of the slide bite I mentioned above.

[QKShooter]

Addition: I just caught that. Your Barrel Hood? Are you sure?




I'll bet you can match those two edge dings up to the edge of your ejection port.

My guess is that your extracted brass is hanging up in your extractor and not being kicked out.

Then your slide is returning to battery and slamming the cartridge case into the edge of the ejection port.

Possible Fixes.

Check to make sure that your ejector is not bent, damaged, or broken.

Check to make sure that your recoil spring is not too heavy for the ammo that you're using.

Make sure that your extractor is not tensioned too tight.
Do you know how to do that extractor tension test?

Put a relief cut at the bottom of your extractor.

Install an extended ejector if your pistol is not already equipped with one.

[limatunes]

I actually TRIED to match them up to my ejection port and they don't match in any way that makes sense. In order for them to match the brass would have had to have already been on the OUTSIDE of the gun. That's the only way the brass matches the ejection port.

My ejector looks pretty good (I think)...





I don't know how to do the extractor tension test. How do you do that?

[Ten_Ring]

http://www.m1911.org/technic2.htm

[limatunes]

ALSO.. this is not being done every single time. I have a whole box of brass that looks just fine, but just a few get the crap bent out of them. This is the only casing I found that looking like this on this range visit and I put about 40 rounds through it. On my last range visit I put about 70 rounds through it and found about seven casing that looked like this.

So, it's obviously not happening every time, but the times it does happen makes me want to scratch my head.

[QKShooter]

Well, if the cartridge case is hitting your barrel hood like that then...first of all I don't know how your pistol is cycling at all.
But, I guess it sure is.