EAA Windicator issues and repairs.

Status
Not open for further replies.
bohab1969

bohab1969

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
21
I was at a gun show recently and I traded some ammo I no longer needed for a steel framed EAA Windicator. .357 4in blued
The gun was 100% as far as I could tell and functioned well.

I took it to the range the next weekend and fired off half a box of .38 specials and was impressed by the smoothness and great trigger.

Then I switched to some .357mag. that is where the problems started. The cylinder, trigger and hammer were jamming up intermittently with .357 ammo.

I oiled and cleaned the gun thinking it may have been fouled but no dice.

After a disappointing range session I started researching this on the net. Most people just called the gun junk and had unsuccessfully sent the gun back to the factory where they got a NPF (no problem found) and had to pay shipping and fees.

Someone on another forum mentioned that the Windicator has a short cylinder and rounds with a longer than normal OAL may bind up on the forcing cone.

After loading some .357's I did in fact see the tips of bullets poking out ever so slightly and they hit the forcing cone when the cylinder was turned.

I found one of my wife's emery boards for her nails and gently made a few passes over the forcing cone taking off about .002 according to my feeler gauge
The gun now shoots perfectly and functions with full length .357 mag cartridges.

Hopefully this helps anyone faced with this very common issue that EAA seems to be ignoring.
 
Jim Watson said:
Interesting. Before Ruger offered the SP101 in .357, M. Ayoob's local gunsmith was rechambering the .38s, but "we recommend Federal brand 125/.357M only. Other ammo may be too long!"
Click to expand...
Makes sense.
I've been shooting for years and the only ammo problem I encountered was rounds not fitting in the cylinder due to not being resized properly during reloading. This OAL issue is giving Windicator owners fits and trashing EAA's reputation.
 
bohab1969 said:
found one of my wife's emery boards for her nails and gently made a few passes over the forcing cone taking off about .002 according to my feeler gauge
Click to expand...
So, does that open up the cylinder gap too much, or can you tell a difference?
 
I found one of my wife's emery boards for her nails and gently made a few passes over the forcing cone taking off about .002 according to my feeler gauge
The gun now shoots perfectly and functions with full length .357 mag cartridges.
Click to expand...
Probably not an ideal solution to open up the cylinder gap by that much unless it was already unusually tight for a factory gun.

It probably won't really hurt anything, but a better solution might have been to find ammo that was a bit shorter overall length. As it stands, if 0.002" made a difference in what would work and what wouldn't, the odds are that you still may run into some .357Mag ammo that will be too long to work in the gun. If you do, I highly recommend that you don't try to fix things by filing more off the forcing cone.
 
I'd be putting a feeler gauge in there to see just how much gap you have. You start getting 8/1000th's+ and bad things happen. It isn't worth getting hurt or worse hurting bystanders.
 
forrest r said:
I'd be putting a feeler gauge in there to see just how much gap you have. You start getting 8/1000th's+ and bad things happen. It isn't worth getting hurt or worse hurting bystanders.
Click to expand...
I mentioned the feeler gauge on my original post but I just stated the increase and not the original or result.
It started at 0.004 and ended up 0.006
 
I'm impressed, 0.004" is a pretty decent cylinder gap on an out of the box revolver. I would have expected something closer to 0.006".

Are you measuring it with the cylinder held to the rear as far as it will go?
 
I'm surprised that an emory board for finger nails would cut steel. I would have thought it would have just made it dull looking.
I'm kind of wondering if you were just sanding off some lead fouling from the end of the forcing cone.
Either way, I'm glad you got your gun to work.
 
JohnKSa said:
I'm impressed, 0.004" is a pretty decent cylinder gap on an out of the box revolver. I would have expected something closer to 0.006".

Are you measuring it with the cylinder held to the rear as far as it will go?
Click to expand...

Yes. It was measured with cylinder to the rear but the filing occurred with the cylinder off the gun.
 
tightgroup tiger said:
I'm surprised that an emory board for finger nails would cut steel. I would have thought it would have just made it dull looking.
I'm kind of wondering if you were just sanding off some lead fouling from the end of the forcing cone.
Either way, I'm glad you got your gun to work.
Click to expand...

The forcing cone is not of a traditional style. It is very thin almost like an extension of the steel barrel liner. A Smith, Colt or even Taurus has much thicker steel which would need a professional gunsmithing file and a vice.
 
Last edited:
As a reloader I'd just seat wadcutters for that gun and my problems would he solved. Filing the cone is not something I would ever do as that is going to cost me velocity. Who knows, you may have cost 10-15 fps already.
 
sequins said:
As a reloader I'd just seat wadcutters for that gun and my problems would he solved. Filing the cone is not something I would ever do as that is going to cost me velocity. Who knows, you may have cost 10-15 fps already.
Click to expand...
Problem was .357 ammo was just a hair too long for the cylinder. Literally .002
I do reload but right now commercial ammo is cheaper than components.
The gun shoots great and the problem is solved.
 
bohab1969 said:
Two passes with an emery board is bubba gunsmithing?
Click to expand...
Yes, it is. It's kitchen table gunsmithing - on a dirt-cheap revolver like Arminius (you call it "Windicator") is somewhat fine, because it's just a beater, but altering the forcing cone in that sort of fashion is definitely not OK. Forcing cones have critical dimensions and that sort of altering, without measuring first and adjusting if needed, is just a lame job. At least use a metal file...
 
Mizar said:
Yes, it is. It's kitchen table gunsmithing - on a dirt-cheap revolver like Arminius (you call it "Windicator") is somewhat fine, because it's just a beater, but altering the forcing cone in that sort of fashion is definitely not OK. Forcing cones have critical dimensions and that sort of altering, without measuring first and adjusting if needed, is just a lame job. At least use a metal file...
Click to expand...
EAA windicator is the name of the firearm. If you re-read my posts on this thread I did measure with feeler gauges. I have metal working files but they would be way too aggressive for the tiny amount removed. In fact I think it was just a rough metal burr on the forcing cone that was leftover from sloppy manufacturing that was binding up on the ammo as it tried to move past the cone.
Yes, I could have taken it to a gunsmith and paid $165 for him to basically do the same thing on a $260 gun.

My bodge shade tree hillbilly hackery worked and the gun shoots wonderfully now with no issues.
 
bohab1969 said:
EAA windicator is the name of the firearm. If you re-read my posts on this thread I did measure with feeler gauges. I have metal working files but they would be way too aggressive for the tiny amount removed. In fact I think it was just a rough metal burr on the forcing cone that was leftover from sloppy manufacturing that was binding up on the ammo as it tried to move past the cone.
Yes, I could have taken it to a gunsmith and paid $165 for him to basically do the same thing on a $260 gun.

My bodge shade tree hillbilly hackery worked and the gun shoots wonderfully now with no issues.
Click to expand...

The armourer of a larger police department in Indiana had been trained at S&W and worked in assembly there, he explained to me why S&W had quality issues. When revolver were put together, the forcing cone often had to be shortened. That was done offhand with a file and unlike a custom revolver gun smith, they did not use a 90° cutter because they got paid by the number of guns assembled. Some of the workers did a great job like this, others did not.

Colt adjusted POI of guns with fixed sights at the factory with a babbit bar and it was not done by Bubba.
 
I had an Astra 357 snubbie that wouldn't take 158gr FMJ 357 rounds. It would shoot 125gr fine so that was all I ever bought for it. 38spl in 158gr was fine. I mostly used 38spl and 38spl +P in it.
I'm not much of a gunsmith, I feel safer adjusting the ammo to the gun.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

CZ-75BD
  • Locked
EAA Windicator Cylinder malfunction.
Replies
9
Views
5K
Panzerschwein
Panzerschwein
vamo
  • Locked
eaa windicator
Replies
12
Views
1K
Jaymo
J
M
  • Locked
EAA Windicator v. Taurus 856 In Store
Replies
9
Views
5K
weregunner
weregunner
K
  • Locked
EAA Customer Service Sucks
Replies
15
Views
2K
Buck13
Buck13
G
  • Locked
Update: Thought I broke my mint 12-2
Replies
2
Views
430
Jim K
J
Back
Top