Extractor Tension

[TMan]

Friday was the last straw. Getting hit in the forehead was bad enough, but this time the case went over the top of my glasses and was trapped below my eye and burning me. I quickly broke one of the club rules and layed down a loaded weapon. I didn't even take time to put the safety on. It hurt.

So, I brought the gun home and looked at it and didn't see anything too obvious. I deduced that the extractor wasn't holding onto the case well enough. I removed the slide, and inserted a round below the extractor. Not good, it wasn't being held very well. I then removed the extractor, added more tension to it and reinserted it. The tension went from ~10oz to ~36oz. I think that is too much, but it is a real pain in the butt to remove it. The more curve you have to it, the harder it is to insert it.

My questions are 1) What will be the effect of too much tension? Will it cause jams, or will it break the extractor?

2) Looking at Brownell's web-site it appears that the extractor for 9mm is different than for 45ACP. They also show a difference between Series 70 and Series 80. My pistol is a Series 90; will a Series 80 extractor work?

3) Are extractors the same length for Government, Commander, and Officer pistols? (This is a Colt Defender, and I think that is Officer size, but I'm not sure).

Although I've never screwed around with one of these before, I figured some day I would so do have the Weigand Tension Gauge set.

["DoubleAction"]

...TMan; I would order the Weigand Extractor Tension Gauge Set, It should only take about 2 - 3 days to receive your order.

1911 Auto Extractor Adjustment

www.brownells.com/.aspx/lid=10261/learn/1911_Auto_Extractor_Adjustment


1911 AUTO EXTRACTOR TENSIONING TOOL
Mfr:WEIGAND COMBATPrice:$29.99Status:In Stock



Improves Case Feeding, Extraction & Ejection

Easily puts just the right bend in the extractor, without over-bending, for precise tension adjustment, right to the ounce. Use in conjunction with the Weigand Extractor Tension Gauges to fine tune the extractor for optimum extraction and feeding reliability. Carry in your range bag to keep the extractor performing its best.

www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=36091/pid=16110/Product/1911_AUTO_EXTRACTOR_TENSIONING_TOOL


EXTRACTOR TENSION GAUGE SET
Mfr:WEIGAND COMBATPrice:$14.95Status:In Stock


Eliminate Extraction Problems Before They Start

Allows the gunsmith or shooter to accurately measure extractor/shell rim tension to help achieve reliable case feeding, extraction and ejection. Place the double-ended gauge between the breech face and the extractor. Hook your 6 lb. trigger pull gauge through the Tension Gauge's hole and gently pull until the Gauge releases from the extractor. The trigger pull gauge shows exact amount of rim tension.

www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=36120/pid=16125/Product/WEIGAND_EXTRACTOR_TENSION_GAUGE_SET

...By The Way; I paid more for a rifle cleaning rod. Would it be okay if some us could borrow these tools in the future ?

["DoubleAction"]

...TMan : "This is a Colt Defender"

TMan; The Colt Defender is a 3" inch Barrel, The Officer's ACP is a
3 1/2 " inch Barrel, The Commander is a 4 1/4" inch Barrel, and the full size is a 5" inch barrel.

I will measure the difference between the four tomorrow. I did measure the distance between the slide recoil one day and found that the shorter the Barrel & Slide, the shorter was the recoil; thus the term "Short Recoil" arrived; I did this to prove to myself. On another forum that their in house 1911 guru has a just that and we was blowing wind that all slides, regardless of barrel lengths, was the same. The 1911 guru was the "In House 1911 Guru"to many monster forums and I caught him in several false statements on more than several occssions. Its real easy to get banned on the monster forums, believe, I know ;D ;D

...By The Way.......Now that you have tighten the tension on your extractor, you might have a more difficult time removing it.
Don't force it from the hook, "Hook a small tool in the stop groove of the extractor and pull out. Figure 22 :

www.surplusrifle.com/pistol1911/fulldisassemble/index.asp

...You might can use a thin piece of rubber, to prevent slippage with the hook ( just in case ).

[TMan]

DA, I left out a comma, which made my post a bit difficult to read (note to self: only post when sober ;D ). What I meant to say was since I anticipated working on extractors at some point, I'd already bought the tools.

The gauges didn't work with my digital gauge, so I made a loop of wire and put in the pulling end. I used that to pull the gauge out and get a digital reading.

Even though my tension is now too high, it didn't cause any problems with feeding today. Ed helped me out by shooting the pistol and letting me watch the brass come out. It is still erratic and coming right back towards us.

The extractor has a bevel on the bottom edge, and I polished that to assist in feeding. I don't know if it helped or not because I don't have a feeding problem, just an ejection problem.

It is a nice pistol, and I'm quite surprised at what you said about it being a 3" barrel. How do you measure the length of a barrel anyhow? Do you include the length of the chamber?

I could only find 3 snapcaps in 9MM last night, and it appeared to cycle okay with them. If I take the firing pin out, is there any danger of using live rounds to test the action?

["DoubleAction"]

TMan : " I could only find 3 snapcaps in 9MM last night, and it appeared to cycle okay with them. If I take the firing pin out, is there any danger of using live rounds to test the action?"

TMan; ( For Some of Our New Unknown Visitors, that might be watching ) The ejector serves two purposes, One is to hold the rim of the cartridge case, upon feeding; the other is to eject the empty cartridge case from the chamber.

TMan; Clearing a loaded chamber on your 1911 pistol : Refer to your factory manual, or ask ............. ;D

TMan; The firing pin on the 1911 was designed to fire, by the means of
Inertial. You see that the firing pin will not protrude from it's port when the slide is in it's rearward position ( Open Chamber ) .

www.m1911.org/STI1911animation.htm

www.m1911.org/1911desc.htm

www.m1911.org/locking.htm

www.m1911.org/loader.swf

...To be safe; I use Weighted Dummy Rounds to test the functions on my pistols, after performing any kind of adjustments or modifications.

To cut to the Chase; You can use "Snap Caps" to test the Ejector.

www.azoomsnapcaps.com/

handgunforum.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Talks&action=display&thread=3051

[MLB]

Jan 18, 2011 18:41:01 GMT -5 TMan said:

. How do you measure the length of a barrel anyhow? Do you include the length of the chamber?

I remember reading somewhere in my stumbling about that there was a difference in the way barrel lengths are typically reported between revolvers and autoloaders.

While the barrel length is pretty straight forward on a revolver (forcing cone to muzzle), autoloaders are typically reported from the breech (case rim). I'll have to confirm with one of mine.

I'd imagine that's because it would be a little difficult to measure from the nose of the cartridge. The interesting part is that if you're interested in comparing apples to apples (say for ballistics testing), you'd want to consider the "effective" length of the barrel on an autoloader, as the part that's holding the casing doesn't contribute to the acceleration of the projectile.