SR45 will not open

[MAKsmith]

Hi I am new here even though I have been here reading for a while.
I got a SR45 in that the customer said he fired 3 rounds and the 4th did not fire.
Now the slide will not come back and there is a live round in it.
I have worked on many rugers but never one that the slide is locked forward and has a live round in it.
The slide comes back far enough for the barrel to drop down but will not come back any farther but not far enough to try to get the striker cover off to try to get the pin out so I can feel more safe to work on it. Even when I push the extractor down so it is not on the shell it will not rack.
Any Ideas on how to get this open?
Thanks in advance.
MAK

 

[Carry_Up]

It would be great if people noticed if the striker operated or not...assuming the striker does not move, be sure you have an empty magazine in the gun and a bright light to look into the ejection port.

I have seen this happen once and read a number of similar complaints on lots of forums. All of a sudden it won't fire and won't open the slide. Everyone sent it back for repair. This model and ones like it have a questionable arrangement of trigger disconnector, manual safety, magazine out safety, firing pin safety, etc. Ruger knows about it but won't comment. The first step is getting it open or getting it to fire, so a range trip is in order. If it won't fire, with some careful manipulation you can remove the striker cover (firing pin stop). Take the backstrap and grips off, wiggle things around until something comes loose. Once it is apart, careful examination of the parts listed above should give you some ideas. Focus on part 40, 41, 43, 44 and the inter-relationship. Not my favorite design. I think one guy played with the slide until he could fire the gun, but obviously that didn't really solve the issue in the long run. Let us know what you find.

Carry_up

 

[MAKsmith]

The slide would not come back far enough to get the striker plate off so I keep working on it and called the costumer to bring up some of the ammo he was using and when he did I found out he was using semi wad cutters that were reloaded and all were not crimped and not set correctly. Lead was in and out and the primers were set at different depths.
So I took a 2x4 and cut out a notch that the gun(barrel) would fit in and I was able to push it far enough and it pulled the brass right off of the lead(which was stuck in the chamber).
After getting it open I was able to do the work that was needed to get it back to working order.
Thanks for the info. it is appreciated.
MAK

 

[Carry_Up]

Thanks for the added information. Are you saying that the OAL of the reload prevented the slide from going into battery? I guess that customer likes to live dangerously. Now that the jam is cleared, it would be interesting to have your observations on the trigger/disconnect/safety arrangement - a very complex setup in this design.

Carry_up

 

[MAKsmith]

This is what I "THINK". From what I had to do to get it open and what happened.
First the slide did go into battery but would not come back not even far enough to drop down.
The lead on the round was not set (it stuck out to far) and when It chambered the lead was forced into the barrel and the lead stuck and would not let the slide pull it out with out force and when I forced it the brass was so loose it pulled off the lead leaving it in the barrel. It took a little hit with a hammer on a wood dowel to get it to drop out of the barrel after I got the slide off.
It did not fire because the primmer was so far in the brass that the pin did not even make a mark when the trigger was pulled. Lucky for him.
I do not reload and do not know much about it but when I saw the other live rounds that he reloaded and saw the lead sticking out of some of the rounds way to far and also saw primers that were even with the brass and below the brass and also sticking out beyond the brass.
I told him NOT to use these and intill he learns to reload he should use factory ammo.
As for the trigger/disconnect/safety arrangement I do not like it. IMO I believe it was over thought and could have been done without the way they did it. But I have not had any in with problems so I guess that says something.
But then I also believe that if you want to shoot a .45 then the 1911 designed gun is the best.
But I have been carrying one for years so these thoughts are slanted.
MAK

 

[Carry_Up]

Thanks for the added info. I've been seeing a lot of careless and ignorant loading procedures lately as well. It seems natural to me that a person would know not to mess with explosives without any training. You can see it in their gun handling as well. I spend half my time at the range doing safety corrections and not just because I'm a nice guy. But I digress.

Even though the 1911 is still the best when it comes to .45 ACP, it needs to be assembled and fit by hand in order to be reliable. That skill is not available at most manufacturers or else costs too much. Little do they know how many people would fork over the cash for a correctly made gun of any kind. I believe the reason the manufacturers get away with making trash is that a high percentage of customers never shoot their firearm and are not aware that it doesn't work right. So, all of us in the 1911 club either became gunsmiths or switched to another sport like bowling. There isn't any alternative. I never liked bowling much anyway.

Carry_up

 

[Mobuck]

If the pistol went into battery after loading the round from the magazine, why didn't it fire?

 

[GP100man]

It did not fire because the primmer was so far in the brass that the pin did not even make a mark when the trigger was pulled. Lucky for him.


The primer was probably crushed .

The real cause IMHO was the brass was'nt flared enuff to let the lead boolit seat properly, then it shaved the sides or pushed the lead up to over 452 dia & when the boolit was caught on the brass enuff it deformed the meplat enuff to cause the front band to stik out enuff to jam into the lands of the barrel, dubble trubble ! Thus the boolit stayed in the throat/barrel & the case pulled off.

But the misfiring was caused by the primer too deep/crushed .

Workin on a loaded firearm can get hairy , & makes ya very uneasy , or it does me!

Glad a safe outcome was reported !!

GP

 

[MAKsmith]

Yes that is what happened.
Thanks Buckeye for answering that for me I do not have allot of time these days to come here every day.
And yes working on a gun that has a live round in it makes me loose weight from the sweating.
But it is part of the job.
MAK

 

[Mobuck]

"It did not fire because the primmer was so far in the brass that the pin did not even make a mark when the trigger was pulled"
I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds of handgun ammo and can honestly say I don't see how a "primer was so far in the brass the pin did not even make a mark". Inverted, forced into the pocket sidewise, spent primer reseated by the priming punch, seated too deep, but not so far the firing pin didn't leave at least a small mark.

 

[GP100man]

I've reloaded on single stage presses most of my life & seated primers with hand tools mostly now .

BUT in my quest of time I`ve tried progressives & press mounted tools & I've seen/done some terrible things to primers !

I'm in the fall of my life now & things are heavier, summers seem hotter & winters colder .

& it seems primers are larger or the pockets are smaller ??? Anyways primers are harder to seat for me by hand than they used to be , but 1 things for shore ,I can feel when they bottom out with the hand seaters now more than ever !

GP

 

[Jimbo357mag]

"It did not fire because the primmer was so far in the brass that the pin did not even make a mark when the trigger was pulled"
I've loaded tens of thousands of rounds of handgun ammo and can honestly say I don't see how a "primer was so far in the brass the pin did not even make a mark". Inverted, forced into the pocket sidewise, spent primer reseated by the priming punch, seated too deep, but not so far the firing pin didn't leave at least a small mark.

Good chance the round didn't chamber correctly (too deep) probably didn't seat on the mouth of the case if they were made as bad as it sounds. :roll:

 

[SATCOM]

MAKsmith,

How did he take your instruction regarding his reloading technique?

SATCOM

 

[modrifle3]

I have reloaded for years and never seen a primer set to far to be struck. Some of the progressives like large dillions if the decapper is set to low can push the primer pocket down, but then it sticks out. He may have gotten creative with the pocket prep tools. Most likely for some reason the striker didn't reset during all this or he noticed something and pulled the mag then dropped the striker.

You may want to remind him that shooting lead requires a bit more care in cleaning. There have been many times that casings have gotten stuck in my old Reminton Fieldmaster pump.

 

[MAKsmith]

MAKsmith,

How did he take your instruction regarding his reloading technique?

SATCOM

I am not a reloader so all I could say was that he take better care when he reloads.
I Can not say what he did to cause what happened all I could say is what happened AFTER I got the gun to fix.
MAK