Sticky / Stuck Slide?

[Slono]

I put together this Kimber Warrior with a metal Nova kit and all seemed fine until I started shooting it. First the trigger didn't work about 20% of the time, and when I thought I fixed that another problem arose. Once the trigger is pulled, the slide proceeds with its normal functions. I know it blows back because I can feel it kick, but what I don't know is how it gets stuck in the position you see in the pictures. It feels like the tolerance is too tight between the slide and its rails and I have to use strength to unstick it before manually racking it and sling shotting it back to battery. This happens very often. It has been lubed and racked a million times so I don't know what's wrong.



Internal upgrades:
- Recoil and Hammer springs
- KM High Flow Valve
- Tanio Koba Twist Inner Barrel
- Firefly Hop up rubber

I do not know if any of these upgrades can be a factor in the aforementioned problem, but I listed them to let you know what I have replaced in the gun. Has anybody else had this problem before with their guns? Does anybody have a solution? Or perhaps a diagnosis? Any help is HUGELY appreciated. I just finished building this baby and want to shoot her without something going wrong.

[m102404]

Looks like the edge of your hammer is getting caught on the inside of the blowback unit when the slide is being returned to battery.

Do you have a 150% hammer spring in there? If so, just as a check...swap it back to stock and see if it goes away.

Also...when it's stuck...if you reach in there and gently pull the hammer down a hair...does the slide continue forward?

You can polish the part on the BBU that it's catching...and/or the tip of the part of the hammer it's catching. I've re-beveled a couple of hammers to fix this. Doesn't take much...just take a close look at it when it's catching to see what angle to change it to.

Tys

[Slono]

I replaced the upgraded recoil spring with the stock spring and it still gets stuck about 90% of the time, except the slide gets stuck a little farther back. The slide catch is almost at the slide catch notch where the slide can lock back. The weird thing is that the mag is never empty when that happens so it shouldn't go back that far.

And like with the upgraded recoil spring, once it gets stuck, any space between the receiver and slide becomes so tight that there's almost no movable space. Its like something along the rails are forcing them together. I examined the rails but everything is completely flat.

Edit: I can still slide it back and forth even when it feels really tight and there's a point where if I move it fast enough with force or forward enough (nearish to resting / battery position) OR back enough (nearly fully cocked back), something makes a clicking noise and I can feel something move or change within the receiver. Once it clicks it slides smoothly again. Is this a rail misalignment or something to do with the hammer assembly?

Hammer assembly = all the little pieces that work together to move the hammer.
If there's a specific name for those pieces I would like to know so I don't have to make names up or use the wrong ones.

[RacingManiac]

When it gets caught, if you push the outer barrel from the tip inward, will the slide cycle?

[Slono]

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

When it gets caught, if you push the outer barrel from the tip inward, will the slide cycle?

No. The outer barrel goes in a touch when I push it but the slide will not cycle.

[RacingManiac]

Does the slide move smoothly without all the internal? Does it move smoothly with BBU but without the barrel/recoil spring assy?

[Slono]

Originally Posted by RacingManiac

Does the slide move smoothly without all the internal? Does it move smoothly with BBU but without the barrel/recoil spring assy?

No, there's something coming in contact with the sear disconnector and I think it has something to do with the BBU. When I use a tiny bit of force to slide it past the point when it gets slightly...blocked or caught by the disconnector then it slides smoothly again. But I don't think its that... or at least I can rack it fine normally with the gun fully assembled. Its when the gun completes the blow back cycle and the slide is returning to battery when the problem arises.

Actually, there was one incident when I racked it back with the mag in and on the first rack back it got stuck before I could rack it back completely. I tested all 3 mags I had, 2 of which were completely new and it wasn't the mags that were the problem. The feeding lip and everything was not scratched.

Edit: I found out that the slide is actually hitting the piece with the little spring on the LEFT side of the gun. When the slide gets stuck it has already gone over the sear disconnector so that is not the problem.

[jamuke]

Did you tighten the blow back unit into the slide really tight.
I find the tightness of this affects my slide cycle.
I just tightn it to the point where it stops gently and then play around( i use blue thread lock)

[pusangani]

Originally Posted by jamuke

Did you tighten the blow back unit into the slide really tight.
I find the tightness of this affects my slide cycle.
I just tightn it to the point where it stops gently and then play around( i use blue thread lock)

yes, same here I usually let gravity settle the BBU in and then tighten the screw slowly while watching to see if the unit is "passing" the rails

[Slono]

Originally Posted by jamuke

Did you tighten the blow back unit into the slide really tight.
I find the tightness of this affects my slide cycle.
I just tightn it to the point where it stops gently and then play around( i use blue thread lock)

The BBU is in really tight. It was an ILLusion lightweight blow back unit, but its modeled after the TM 1911 one and the 1911 one works fine... at least I've heard anyway.

Originally Posted by pusangani

yes, same here I usually let gravity settle the BBU in and then tighten the screw slowly while watching to see if the unit is "passing" the rails

It is passing the rails. Unless a nano-metre makes a difference in the way the slide moves.

[Slono]

Originally Posted by jamuke

Did you tighten the blow back unit into the slide really tight.
I find the tightness of this affects my slide cycle.
I just tightn it to the point where it stops gently and then play around( i use blue thread lock)

The BBU is in really tight. It was an ILLusion lightweight blow back unit, but its modeled after the TM 1911 one and the 1911 one works fine... at least I've heard anyway.

Originally Posted by pusangani

yes, same here I usually let gravity settle the BBU in and then tighten the screw slowly while watching to see if the unit is "passing" the rails

It is passing the rails. Unless a nanometre makes a difference in the way the slide moves.

[pusangani]

loosen the screw a bit n see if it moves back and forth smoothly, then tighten it up to the point that it still works

*edit

Also make sure that ur rear sight is seated correctly and that the top of the bbu is mating correctly with it.

[Slono]

Originally Posted by pusangani

loosen the screw a bit n see if it moves back and forth smoothly, then tighten it up to the point that it still works

*edit

Also make sure that ur rear sight is seated correctly and that the top of the bbu is mating correctly with it.

To my understanding if the rear sight was not mating correctly with the top of the BBU that would mean the BBU would be pushed down and it wouldn't line up with the rails. There is a small gap between my rear sight and the slide, but the BBU is sitting flush with the rails so the sight probably isn't the issue.

[Slono]

Update:

I found out the it only gets stuck when the mag is it in. I'm re-lubricating it and I found out accidentally that when I put the mag in and rack it gets stuck about 5% - 10% of the time.

[RacingManiac]

How much material did you remove(if at all) from the bottom of the BBU?