Baby Eagle...Jam-O-Matic?!?

[Kalindras]

Howdy, all...just got back from the range, and I am PEEVED.

Took my brand, spanking new .40 Baby Eagle full-sized, and went to the Bass Pro Shop's range. Loaded up the mag with Winchester white box ammo, racked the slide, and fired.

And jammed.

Now, I'm used to rounds that stovepipe. I'm used to springs that don't quite pull the slide into battery. But this was new to me. I looked into the ejection port, only to find my spent casing about halfway out of the barrel, thus precluding the next round from feeding, but free of the ejector. Thus, the only remedy was to lock the slide back, drop the magazine, and then eject the spent round. Then, pop magazine back in, rack it, and proceed.

Bang.

Bang. Jam. Repeat above procedure.

Bang. Jam. Repeat.

Bang.

Bang. Jam. See above.

And so this went for fifteen rounds. By that time, having had NINE failures to eject, I put the gun back in the case, and went back to my trusty 1911.

Now, this is ESPECIALLY troubling to me, not only because this is a new gun, and a model that I love to shoot (normally), but because I intended this to be my carry gun!!

:banghead:

Now, my intention is to call MRI on the morrow, and speak to them, giving them a chance to make this right. However, failing that, does anyone know of a simple fix for an ejector that lets go halfway through the slide travel?!?

Or is it simply time to admit bad luck, and go buy myself that CZ-75 P01??



All joking aside, though, has anyone had dealing with MRI's customer service? Any experiences to relate? Any names I should drop? TIA!!

 

[hansolo]

Sounds like my first CZ(s)

I have had TWO CZ 75B's replaced on warranty...both had different issues: 1.) FTF/FTE, the second one broke THREE slidestops.

Have you tried another brand of ammo? I don't handload and the Win "value pack" seems a tad longer OAL...it could be hitting the extractor.
Are the recoil and/or magazine springs on the weak side? I replaced mine with Wolff springs.

Good Luck.

P.S. I like your signature line.

 

[JasonK94Z]

Strange. My new Baby Eagle 40 has been flawless. A couple of guys at work have them also, and they haven't had one single problem either. Its usually the 45 caliber that has all the problems.
I love this gun, and I hope Magnum Research fixes you up. I'd hate for you to miss out on this piece. It's really is a joy to shoot, and the accuracy is unbelievable!

 

[gunfan]

Run a box or two through it...

Clearing the jams as they present themselves. Clean the weapon thouroughly and then shoot it again. If it continues to exhibit these problems, disassemble it, clean it then send it back to the manufacturer!

JMHO,

Scott

 

[BHPshooter]

does anyone know of a simple fix for an ejector that lets go halfway through the slide travel?!?

Forgive me for picking the nit, but that would be the extractor.

Due to that, I would assume that it's a weak extractor spring, or maybe a tight chamber. They should make it better -- I'd be very surprised if they didn't.

Wes

 

[Big Mike]

FWIW, my understanding is that MRI is pretty good at resolving problems for their customers. I am looking into the Jericho 941 (frame mounted safety) in either .40 or 9. HTH, Mike

 

[orangeninja]

Another consideration?

I know you said it was a new pistol...but check the extractor for crud buildup...also...I assume you thoroughly cleaned and lubbed the gun? ie. extractor?

Ammo will not cause jams like that, that I have seen. Remember the 500 golden rule though...break in period.

 

[stans]

Could very well be cruddy grease gumming up the extractor. Sometimes guns are shipped with grease that seems to be more like cosmoline than lubricant.

 

[George Hill]

Try a different brand of ammo. Not all guns like WWB ammo.

 

[JasonK94Z]

Let us know the outcome!

 

[CZF]

Yes! I'm also curious about the performance of the Baby Eagles.
I like the polymer 3.5 inch pistol, but don't know much about them.

 

[Cthulhu]

Baby Eagles are shipped from the factory positively drenched in a preservative that approximates Olive Oil in viscosity and would more than likely cause all sorts of problems when mixed with powder fouling. Since he didn't mention that it was disassembled and cleaned before the intital firing, that would be my recomendation. Baby Eagles I've seen as range/rental weapons are exceedingly durable and function well when heavily fouled, but anything will choke if clogged with dirty cosmoline. If the problem still persists after a few boxes of ammo, then look to extractor/chamber issues or contacting the factory for service. In my experience, MRI was pleasant and eager to please. I'm sure they get a lot of CS practice supporting the Desert Eagle pistols.

 

[Kalindras]

Alrighty, then...

Sorry to be a while, folks...been busy trying to get my business open (and some day, I'll tell the story of how the Patriot Act is trying to put me out of business!! Grrrrr... ).

Now, reading through, I appreciate everyone's thoughts and recommendations. I have a couple of questions, though, and some expansion.

I'm sorry I didn't specify, but yes, I pulled the Baby Eagle apart the day I got it home and cleaned it thoroughly. Then I did it again, because I got some better gun oil (Hoppes, as opposed to what was in my cleaning kit). And I checked it all over to make sure everything looked tight, since I was a little nervous (it's a gunshow gun, and I'm always a little extra-cautious with them, since I've been burned before). It looked fine, the slide action felt good, although I noticed one thing.

When cycling snap caps, if the slide wasn't pulled back quickly and with authority, it would "drop" the cap, and jam. My 1911 never did that, but I put it down to maybe being a pistol designed for a higher-energy round, and didn't think anything of it. Now, however, I think I was seeing a preview of things to come.

Am I honestly supposed to put five hundred rounds through this thing? With a 60% jam rate?!? That could take a while!! Also, at what point does a gun manufacturer say, "Look, if you had such a problem with it, why did you put so many rounds through it?" and start to try and crawfish out of a warranty?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but even with as good a deal as I got on this pistol, it's a chunk of cash I don't want to write off. That, and I really, really want to like this pistol!!

 

[stans]

Sounds like you cleaned and lubed the pistol properly, now look inside the chamber. Is it roughly machined? Any gouges? Is the chamber out of round? These things can cause significant extraction problems.

 

[orangeninja]

Send the stinker back.

You paid for a life saving device. If you don't think it will run 100% soon....I suggest you send the thing back. Don't mess with it. Its not your problem.

 

[raz-0]

OK, so you cleaned it. That was going to be my number one recommendation.

Second, don't worry about how many rounds you put through it. I had some problems with my babay eagle and they didn't even suggest that the number of rounds I put through it was even a consideration (it was about 600 at the time and about 7 months since I purchased it).

[note: my problem turned out to be largely related to some metal bits form machining having gotten into the firing pin channel when assembled. It wasn't helped by my cleaning method getting some of the S&B red laquer into the chennel with the solvent to make those metal crumbs sticky to boot. It caused light primer strikes.]

Third, what you are describing sounds EXACTLY like what you get when the extractor spring on a babay eagle/witness/CZ goes bad. Maybe you have a defective one, or it wasn't exactly as new as claimed.

 

[PCRCCW]

Well first off.....bummer, Id look at the extractor/spring and go from there.

Second.....IGNORE hansolo He has had BAD CZ KAHRMA! I know this for 1000%, my telephone psychic told me so

Id send it back and see what happens.

If they dont get it right...for gods sake.....dont get a CZ, they suck. If everyone buys these guns, Sig will lose business, the price of the guns will go up alittle more and well have the CZForum as big as this one

Kidding........PO1 is a killer gun.

Shoot well.

 

[JasonK94Z]

Still haven't called Magnum Research yet? In the time it takes to fuss about it on here, you could have called them and potentially had a resolution to this problem in the works by now. Sorry, but posting on this board won't repair your problem, your talkin to the wrong people.

 

[armoredman]

Definately. There are a coupleother places to vetn, too, as there is a Baby Eagle board, and czforum.com, as your BE is a Tanfoglio CZ clone.....yep.

 

[Kalindras]

Okay, now for the next step...

Well, called up MRI, and they were very cool about the whole thing. Asked me a couple of basic questions (what grip was I using, what type of ammo, how long have I had the gun), and then suggested I ship it back. The gentleman on the line said it'd probably be about a 2-3 week turnaround, so as soon as I have a spare moment, I'll be packing her up, and shipping her off!

So far, the customer service has been excellent. The proof is in the pudding, I guess. I'll see how long it takes, and see if it's right when she comes home!

 

[mdsteele]

Heck no. Sounds like you got a bad one. It happens. My Baby Eagle has been great.

On the same note, I bought a HK USP 9 a few years ago that stovepiped every round.

Those folks were absolute jerks about it, "because they don't make bad ones."

They fixed it, but it just goes to show.................................

 

[R127]

Wolff 25% extra power extractor springs solved a stovepipe problem I was intermittently having with WWBVP. If anybody has failure to extract/eject with a CZ or clone, check these things out.

 

[CZ 75 BD]

My son...

has a baby eagle. After about 150 rounds, the slide stop began backing out of the frame on each shot.
Sent it to Magnum Research, they replaced parts, cleaned and tuned it and returned it within a week, all at no charge. We were very pleased with the service.

 

[mmay1]

As has been said, QC slips sometimes with all manufacturers. We all probably have a horror story or two but none of mine have been with IMI pistols. I have a BE in .45 and a Jericho 941 FB and both have been reliable and accurate from day one. Pack it up and send it back. Hope everything works out for you.

 

[SW9mm]

i had a jamo matic 40 baby eagle too. it went back to the factory once. would jam every other mag or so. a litte nudge foward to the slide and then it would chamber. i finally traded it for a hi power. best trade i ever made. magnum research kept saying it was a shooter problem. i had three different people shoot it. the results were the same. i even had the trigger roll pin try to come out on me. mine was a piece all right, a piece of junk.