SR40c problem

Well, it finally happened -- I am having a problem with a new firearm, my Ruger SR40c. Problem is simple: after each shot the slide locks open as though it were the last round. I can manually rack the slide, but if I fire the gun, with each shot the slide locks in the open position.

I have tried all 9 of my magazines and two types of ammo. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? Google did not yield anything on this subject.

Incidentally, this happened at the range today after I had fired about 100 rounds. I took the gun home, cleaned it (including the striker and striker channel) and went back to the range. Same problem with no change.

Curious? I bought an SR40C yesterday and am headed to the range this morning. I'll follow up with a range report later. Anybody else experienced this problem? I was thinking it might be a magazine issue but not all 9.

I have a 40c with about 300 rds of various brands of ammo with no problems, please share anything you learn on this issue.....good luck.

The slide stop button/lever is only supposed to lock the slide back when the magazine follower reaches the top of its travel (i.e., the magazine is empty, inserted and locked into position). The mag. follower pushes on a little tang of metal inside the gun, which pushes the lever UP and causes the slide to lock back.

Try this:

Unload the pistol and the magazine completely. Close the slide. Put the safety back on just for "safety".

With NO magazine in the pistol, look closely at the slide stop lever. You should be able to move it UP by about 1/16th of an inch and it should INSTANTLY spring back DOWN when you let it go.

Now, put 1 round into a magazine and insert it. Do not rack the slide, just leave it closed. Don't load the chamber, in other words.

Look closely at the slide stop lever. You should STILL be able to move it upward by about 1/16th of an inch, and it should STILL drop back down under spring pressure instantly with a round in the magazine.

Drop the magazine, remove the round from the magazine (so that it is empty). Reinsert the magazine.

Look closely at the slide stop again. It should now be in the "UP" position all by itself (actually it's not fully up yet, but it is waiting to get there, it is butting against the bottom of the slide and being held there by the spring pressure of the magazine follower) and the only direction you should be able to push it is DOWN 1/16th of an inch. This is the position it's supposed to be in when the magazine is empty and the magazine follower engages the small tang on the internal surface of the slide stop lever.

In other words, with the slide closed:

Magazine LOADED (or Magazine OUT) -- Slide stop should move UP but not DOWN with finger pressure, and then spring the other way.

Magazine UNLOADED but IN -- Slide stop should move DOWN but not UP with finger pressure, and then spring the other way.

Whenever you insert an empty magazine into the gun (slide closed), the slide stop button should move UP as the magazine clicks home. When you eject the magazine it should instantly spring back down.

It sounds like maybe your slide stop lever is bent and/or binding in a way it's not supposed to.

The other thing I thought of, which doesn't indicate a malfunction of the pistol but might be your grip:

If you're shooting with your right hand and because of your grip, your right thumb is situated in such a way that it presses upward on the slide stop lever, it's possible that you're inadvertently locking the slide back yourself. It doesn't take much pressure on the lever to move it upward into a position where the slide will lock back. So as the gun recoils if your thumb is nudging that lever up, you'll lock the slide back every time.

I could easily see this happening if you have particularly large hands and you're carrying your thumb high enough on the frame to nudge the slide stop lever upward as the pistol fires. You might not even notice you "did" it because you're suddenly thinking: "Wow, the slide just locked back" and don't realize your thumb actually pushed the lever up. Stranger things have happened.

NixieTube thank you for your info. No luck though. You might be right about the slide stop lever but I cannot detect anything wrong.

I broke the gun down including the Striker system, cleaned and reassembled. Same problem; no go. Slide locks open after every round. The gun is going back to Ruger immediately after the July 4 week shutdown.

I really like the pistol when it functions. Superb fit and finish and startlingly accurate. We will get there I am sure.

Oh well, it is not as though I don't have other guns to shoot.

I was really bummed to read this, I know how much you where into your SR40c. I'd like to know what happens with it once its sent off and back again in terms if they give you a indication on what exactly was going wrong.

Glad ya got a backup, I don't atm but that's something I plan to correct very shortly.

RedlegM109A1 said:

NixieTube thank you for your info. No luck though. You might be right about the slide stop lever but I cannot detect anything wrong.

I broke the gun down including the Striker system, cleaned and reassembled. Same problem; no go. Slide locks open after every round. The gun is going back to Ruger immediately after the July 4 week shutdown.

I really like the pistol when it functions. Superb fit and finish and startlingly accurate. We will get there I am sure.

Oh well, it is not as though I don't have other guns to shoot.

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You're welcome, and it's sad to hear. I know you were enthused about the gun, but I'm sure Ruger will fix it and tell you what the problem is/was.

As an aside, there's a longstanding debate/feud here at Rugerforum concerning the SR series guns and the slide stop lever. One side of the debate expresses indignance that Ruger recommends *not* using the slide "stop" lever to release the slide all by itself. Ruger recommends using two hands, basically: "slingshotting" the slide by pulling it back while pressing down on the button.

It's possible that if you were using it as a slide release it got tweaked.

When I bought my SR9 it was the second semiautomatic pistol I'd ever owned and I just read the manual and adapted to its instructions, but there are people who have come from other pistols and are accustomed to using that lever to actually *release* the slide with their thumb. That's not the procedure Ruger recommends and it's not an imaginary phenomenon that it could damage the lever, if you do it enough.

I see merit on both sides of the argument, and I'm officially agnostic since I learned it the way I know it -- therefore I didn't have to "unlearn" anything. People who trained on a different pistol to drop the slide by pushing on the "release" however, can get upset that Ruger designed the thing that way; they've got a point, also.

There, I'm a conciliator now :lol:

Rei40c said:

I was really bummed to read this, I know how much you where into your SR40c. I'd like to know what happens with it once its sent off and back again in terms if they give you a indication on what exactly was going wrong.

Glad ya got a backup, I don't atm but that's something I plan to correct very shortly.

Click to expand...

Oh, I'm not complaining. Ruger customer service was super-nice. I got a pre-printed shipping label and he estimated turnaround in about 1 1/2 weeks. No cost to me, not even for shipping.

UPDATE -- the SR40c is on the way to the Mother Ship.

By the way, Nixietube, I was aware of the issue of using the slide stop as a slide release. My practice on all of my firearms is to never do that. I slingshot all my semi-autos. As best I know, all manufacturers recommend against using the slide stop as a release to load the firearm.

Stands to reason that using the slide stop as a release puts more mechanical stress on the part thereby reducing the mean time to failure. In any case, I don't do it.

I will most surely report back here on my experience with Ruger. In 35+ years of buying Rugers this is the first time that I have ever had a problem with a Ruger, or sent anything in. Should be interesting.

Hey, did you ever find out what the exact problem was from Ruger? I actually ran into the exact problem last week with my Ruger SR40C. This was only the 2nd time I fired it - used Blazer 150 grain for just plinking. My first 15-round clip fired fine. After that, though, it kept stopping after every single shot. Any up-to-date advice?