Funny thing happened to me at the range yesterday...
I was up at French Creek yesterday, enjoying some Jesus-on-a-stick day celebratory shooting with my nephew. It was cold, not many people there, and soon enough it was just us and two guys who had some pistols. The one guy had a Kel Tec, and the other had a Llama Minimax in, I think, 9x19. Maybe it was .380. He seemed to be having trouble and I went over to check it out when I noticed his buddy looking for a stick to poke down the barrel to knock something out. Never a good sign. I pulled a 9 mil out of it regardless of caliber: stuck in the chamber slightly out of battery. Dunno if it was the gun or the round. Just picking at the thing with my fingernails I couldn't get it out.
First thing I noticed was that his extractor was gone. D'oh!
I noticed the thing was laid out exactly like a little tiny 1911. "Isn't that cute," I thought to myself, and field stripped it for him. As soon as I got the slide off the recoil spring went "ping!" and shot me in the gut with the guide rod. Weird shaped little thing.
I took the barrel out and finagled the shell out while I set both of the other guys to looking for the extractor. They found the pin that holds it in (no mean feat at an outdoor range carpeted with gravel and spent casings!) but not the extractor itself. The trouble came when I, Mr. Gun Guru (to them) couldn't figure out how that stupid recoil spring guide went back in there.
It had a curved part that seemed to correlate with the curvature of the barrel, but it was lopsided. My nephew theorized that maybe it was broken. There's a captive tube that the spring goes into at the muzzle end of the gun, where I'd expect the guide rod to go. The guide doesn't fit inside it. It doesn't seem to fit right against the link at the other end of the barrel, pointing towards the muzzle... I can't figure out where the spork it's supposed to go! I tried every way I could think of and none of the above seemed to work. My nephew came up with another theory: We had it right, but someone had bodged the wrong spring into this gun, maybe one out of a full size 1911.
I don't know.
I put the thing back together with no recoil spring, gave the guy a little baggie for his extractor pin, spring, and guide rod, and suggested he call the manufacturer or whatever shop he got it at. He'd have to order a new extractor anyway.
Going home to look it up online, though, I still couldn't figure out how that funky guide rod goes back in there. Somebody tell me before it drives me nuts!
I was up at French Creek yesterday, enjoying some Jesus-on-a-stick day celebratory shooting with my nephew. It was cold, not many people there, and soon enough it was just us and two guys who had some pistols. The one guy had a Kel Tec, and the other had a Llama Minimax in, I think, 9x19. Maybe it was .380. He seemed to be having trouble and I went over to check it out when I noticed his buddy looking for a stick to poke down the barrel to knock something out. Never a good sign. I pulled a 9 mil out of it regardless of caliber: stuck in the chamber slightly out of battery. Dunno if it was the gun or the round. Just picking at the thing with my fingernails I couldn't get it out.
First thing I noticed was that his extractor was gone. D'oh!
I noticed the thing was laid out exactly like a little tiny 1911. "Isn't that cute," I thought to myself, and field stripped it for him. As soon as I got the slide off the recoil spring went "ping!" and shot me in the gut with the guide rod. Weird shaped little thing.
I took the barrel out and finagled the shell out while I set both of the other guys to looking for the extractor. They found the pin that holds it in (no mean feat at an outdoor range carpeted with gravel and spent casings!) but not the extractor itself. The trouble came when I, Mr. Gun Guru (to them) couldn't figure out how that stupid recoil spring guide went back in there.
It had a curved part that seemed to correlate with the curvature of the barrel, but it was lopsided. My nephew theorized that maybe it was broken. There's a captive tube that the spring goes into at the muzzle end of the gun, where I'd expect the guide rod to go. The guide doesn't fit inside it. It doesn't seem to fit right against the link at the other end of the barrel, pointing towards the muzzle... I can't figure out where the spork it's supposed to go! I tried every way I could think of and none of the above seemed to work. My nephew came up with another theory: We had it right, but someone had bodged the wrong spring into this gun, maybe one out of a full size 1911.
I don't know.
I put the thing back together with no recoil spring, gave the guy a little baggie for his extractor pin, spring, and guide rod, and suggested he call the manufacturer or whatever shop he got it at. He'd have to order a new extractor anyway.
Going home to look it up online, though, I still couldn't figure out how that funky guide rod goes back in there. Somebody tell me before it drives me nuts!