Heavier recoil spring?

[Sirshredalot]

I have a question...I experienced my first fail to feed on my BDM.

The slide is exceptionally easy to rack compared to my hi-power..which has never failed.

Would a heavier recoil spring be a good idea...The BDM usually ejects shells in a 3 foot radius...The hi-power will throw em 5-6 feet....usually raining down on the shooter next to me...lol.

I usually shoot winchester white box or PMC brass at the range.

All input is appreciated.
Please and thank you

God bless
-Shred

 

[KCJarman]

I first look at the magazine on a failure to feed. Next, I'll look at the cleanliness of the weapon. How many shots have been fired before the FF issue? 1-2 or 10-20, more then likely a magazine issue. 75-150 .... more then likely a need to clean (dirty ammo) issue. If the weapon is fairly new, I wouldn't think the spring is the issue.

Also, what type of FF is it. Does the round stay in the magazine fully or only partially load in the breach? Sometime the casing can catch on the edge of the magazine. Next time it happens, check and see. Then see how much pressure it takes to load the next round. By all means do not force it.

This should help you figure it out.

Hope it helps.

 

[Osobuco]

I have a question...I experienced my first fail to feed on my BDM.

The slide is exceptionally easy to rack compared to my hi-power..which has never failed.

Would a heavier recoil spring be a good idea...The BDM usually ejects shells in a 3 foot radius...The hi-power will throw em 5-6 feet....usually raining down on the shooter next to me...lol.

I usually shoot winchester white box or PMC brass at the range.

All input is appreciated.
Please and thank you

God bless
-Shred

The ammo you are using should be fine. How old is the gun? I was having fail to feeds with with my old smith and wesson 4506 and replaced the recoil spring. Problem solved - for a mere $8.

 

[Sirshredalot]

Gun was made in 1993....but When i got it, It had less than 500 rounds through it.

The gun was not dirty...I clean it after every use, and the failure was hard to call...It "almost" chambered the round...But i pulled the trigger and nothing happened....had to wiggle.jiggle the slide a bit to unbind it...and after ejecting said round...all others were flawless.

Thanks for the input....hope I can figure this out.

God bless
-Shred

 

[WebSnyper]

Gun was made in 1993....but When i got it, It had less than 500 rounds through it.

The gun was not dirty...I clean it after every use, and the failure was hard to call...It "almost" chambered the round...But i pulled the trigger and nothing happened....had to wiggle.jiggle the slide a bit to unbind it...and after ejecting said round...all others were flawless.

Thanks for the input....hope I can figure this out.

God bless
-Shred

With just 1 failure its hard to tell. Could be most anything, including a single round that had some kind of defect. Did you ever shoot the round? Do you still have it? Does overall length, etc look correct compared to others?

This doesn't sound like a weak recoil spring to me.

 

[sloughfoot]

Nothing is perfect. Things fail. They fail when you least expect them to.

My advice? Keep working with what you got. Next time you clean it, look for that place where a bit of carbon can hide and stop the action.

I would replace the spring with a new factory one though. Why not? They are cheap...

 

[Sirshredalot]

Ok...I dont still have the failed round...discarded it as a bad round

I guess my next question is...Why would one want to replace a recoil spring in favor of a stiffer or heavier one?

It makes me uneasy how light the action is to rack the slide...although comforting...if that makes sense....I know the wife could rack the slide easilly....she cant rack the Hi-power hardly....although I keep all my guns cocked and locked.

I can "feel" the round being chambered in the bdm...the Hi-power...not so much or at all....I wish the action was "stiffer" on the BDM....it feels "loose".

Might just be dirt or a crappy bullet....though I cleaned it well and lubed it....but oil loves to catch dirt after all...thats its nature.

You guys rock!

God bless
-Shred

 

[Sirshredalot]

Ok...I detail stripped the BDM and am gonna get it refinshed....the factory finish sucks....Rust right outta the holster....didnt find any burs or un-neccesary dirt build up.

A Browning BDM has ALOT!!! of small parts...by far the most detailed strip I have ever done...OMG how many roll pins there where and small levers!!!

Electroless nickel it is!!!

Once I get it back together and rust free....I'll have a range report...provided I can figure out how it goes back together...this aint no safe queen...My kids are gonna inherit this one.

God bless
-Shred

 

[Osobuco]

Ok...I dont still have the failed round...discarded it as a bad round

I guess my next question is...Why would one want to replace a recoil spring in favor of a stiffer or heavier one?


God bless
-Shred

Shred
A heavier recoil spring will tolerate hotter rounds and depending on how heavy it is some lighter rounds may not throw the slide all the way back and then jams can happen. For me my smith was having FTF/jams. The slide was very easy to rack. I put a new spring in and problem solved. My guess as to the issue was the weak spring was resulting in less force when returning to battery and the next round was not feeding. If all you had is one FTF I would say it was the round.