Hi all:

Went to the range today and ran a single magazine through my 228. 13 rounds of 115 gr. fmj plinking ammo. All ran fine, all fired, no squib. Slide failed to lock back which is normal for me as my grip interferes with the slide release lever.

I decocked, dropped the mag and tried to open the slide to confirm clear. Slide moved only about 1/8 inch to the rear and came up hard. I cocked, just to make sure the slide wasn't binding on the hammer and tried again. Same result.

I dry fired the gun several times, to be sure that there was no live round in it. It appears from looking down the barrel that the final case did not eject and may be causing part of the problem.

I then looked at the barrel hood as I pulled the slide to the rear. It appears that the front edge of the barrel hood is dropping below the slide, but the slide will retract no further. The slide does not "bind up" as it moves to the rear, it comes up to a hard stop, and there is no flex or spring to the action once it's hard up.

Any idea how to fix this? Should I drop a brass rod down the barrel and try to tap the case out? Put a wood block on the front of the slide and try to drive the slide back with a hammer? Pulling on the slide as hard as I can is having no effect.

Thanks for any suggestions.

A

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ArtieS,

can you pull the slide assy off the frame?

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:
can you pull the slide assy off the frame?

The takedown lever won't rotate unless the slide is to the rear.

Correct. I can't pull the slide far enough to the rear to rotate the takedown lever.

Put a brass rod down the barrel and knock the case out.

In safe direction place front of slide against wooden table or shooting bench and apply significant force to push the slide back. Kind of like mortaring an AR. Sort of.

I have had that happen with my P250, when a round got badly corroded by hot summer sweat.

Also had it happen with my P938, a loaded magazine was in a hard case with a foam lining. When the magazine was inserted into the pistol, some “crumbs” of the foam sort of welded themselves to a bullet which then jammed itself into the chamber.

In both instances, there was a live round in the chamber when the slide locked up.

The cure in both instance was brute force. Pointing the pistol at something that we did not mind seeing blasted (don’t ask), then use mucho pressure and some judicious tapping, with the front of the slide braced against a piece of wood.

Sort of like what Pedro said, just above.

V tail, it always gets your attention when this happens doesn’t it? lol

Thanks everyone. I know that the gun is completely clear. I can see the case bottom down the barrel and I can see the underside of the slide up the magwell.

At least there is on live round in the gun.

I will have a go at this tomorrow and report back!

A

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
In safe direction place front of slide against wooden table or shooting bench and apply significant force to push the slide back.

Yes, this is the method I have used with success at least a couple/three times.

I took the offending 228 out to my bench a few minutes ago and had at it.

I used an SPD Tools Brass Rod down the barrel and gave it a couple of solid strikes from a wooden mallet. Thank you Scott for the gift of the clearing rod all those years ago at Dr.Dan's place.



The slide came back smoothly and revealed a case that burst in the chamber wedging itself in very well.


All seems well with the world now. I will give it a good cleaning to make sure that there isn't any goop in the chamber, and I will inspect the extractor to make sure there is no damage there either.

Thanks everyone for the assistance in getting this done. For what it's worth, I couldn't press the front of the slide against the bench hard enough to move it. It took the shock of the mallet blow to get things going.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ArtieS,

Glad to see you got it out. Any info on the ammo you were using? Was it factory or reloaded (and if so, headstamp of the brass)? That's not a healthy place to have a case rupture...thankfully the head didn't separate and cause the gun to blow up on you.

I was shooting factory reloads from an outfit here in Florida that I have shot thousands of rounds from without issue. Their qc has historically been excellent.

I think this was a bad case, not an overload, so I don't think that even a full case head failure would have been too much of a problem for the 228. I was also wearing full gear; hat, earplugs and safety glasses.

First time this has ever happened to me with a pistol. I've split some 8mm Mauser at the shoulder, split some 30-06 fireforming to a different chamber, had some .308 torn open by the extractor (which I will be writing up shortly) and had the odd neck split on .357 mag, but I've never locked up an auto pistol before. It truly is a complete failure, requiring tools to fix.

Yeah, I've had plenty of case splits, but always towards the mouth or neck of the case. Those are no big deal, and in most cases I didn't even notice until I picked up the brass.

The only ruptures I've ever had back by the case head like that were caused by out-of-battery discharge in a blowback 9mm rifle. It blew the whole case apart...not at all a pleasant experience...but that's clearly not what you're dealing with here. Glad it worked out and hopefully it's just a one-off occurrence caused by a bad case.

Thanks for the update. It's always good to learn how such things are resolved.