DDA went south.

[HarryRod]

Ok. I dont understand this at all.
When I bought my used Charles Daly I immediately went to the range and put 25 through it. Everything went perfect. Couldnt ask for a better shooting gun.
Now I went last night and everything went to hell. I was using the same ammo.....Winchester White Box 230gr FMJ.... and was shooting exactly the same when it started. It was jamming every 4 or 5 rounds. I would be blasting along and then.....click....
I noticed that many time when this happened the slide release lever was actually pushed out of the gun a little bit like it would be when you strip it. It even jammed once when I put one in the barrel and hit the slide release. Three Point Jam.:banghead:
How could this happen when it was shooting so perfectly before?
I was thinking that it could possibly be the magazine since I am not sure if this is the one that came from the factory with it. It has no markings on it whatsoever except for .45ACP written vertically on one corner of it.

Any ideas?

 

[Ebbtide]

Can you describe the "jam" in a bit more detail?

Is it a feeding problem, ejection problem, slide not closing all the way? More info will help.

BTW: your slide stop should not be doing what you describe. That may be the problem. But most likely if it was working fine before and your not sure about the mags, I would guess it is the mag.

If it is feeding fine and you can pull the trigger and the hammer drops it might be the firing pin (bound up with dirt).

If the slide is not closing all the way it may be that your extractor clocked a bit and is catching the rim of the round.

If it is an ejection problem it could be a number of things.

A feeding problem would point to the magazine or feed ramp/barrel position.

Hope some of this helps,

ehenz

 

[Ebbtide]

Unless the "DDA" means thier Double Action Pistol, then I don't know what I'm talking about (thought you were talking a 1911).

Oops,

ehenz

 

[railroader]

What exactly do you mean when you said you were blasting along and then click. Was a round chambered and when the hammer dropped nothing happened? Also don't put rounds in the chamber and then drop the slide on the round. You can mess up the extractor because it has to jump over the rim of the cartridge. The cartridge is supposed to slide up into the hook of the extractor from the magazine then chamber as the slide comes forward. Was the slide locking open with ammo still in the mag? Mine did that when I 1st got it so I bent the slide stop spring to put more tension on it. Now I have to actually tap the slide stop with the base of the mag to get it out it's so tight from the increased tension of the spring. Also if you take the slide stop out and look at there is a slot cut in it for the spring. If the spring has proper tension and rides in the slot the the slide stop shouldn't work out. If you take the slide off and install the slide stop now in the frame you can see what I mean. Keep us posted. Mark

 

[HarryRod]

Sorry bout that. I guess a bit more detail would be helpful. When I said Jamming I should say that it was not feeding the round into the chamber. It actually looked like it was moving the cartridge twoards the barrel at too steep an angle and it was jamming because of it. Not sure though.
I was blasting along and when I say click I mean that the slide was locking open. When the rounds were chambered they fired fine. Not a single misfire at all. The just werent feeding properly.

 

[HarryRod]

Another reason I think it might be the mag is that when I only loaded it with 5 it wasnt doing it as often. Still doing it just only once every 5 or so mags.

 

[Blackhawk]

Few rounds fired.

Some time in between.

Then it starts jamming.

Did you clean and lube it (including taking the mag apart and cleaning it) between sessions? You might also want to smooth any sharp edges on the mag with some 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

When the gun was warmed up during the first session, it could have gotten residue in the tight places that tightened things up a bit too much when the gun was fired later and cold.

Some guns are downright cranky if you don't keep them clean and lubed right. The previous owner may have used some oddball chemicals on it, including unusual lubricants, that may need to be thoroughly cleaned off before you use your favorites.

Just a thought or two....

 

[railroader]

Blackhawk, I was going to say the same thing about cleaning and lubing too. All I shoot is lead and my feed ramp gets filthy.HR, on the mags I have 8 of the dda mags and all of them had small burrs on the plastic followers so I lightly sanded them and cleaned the mag tubes. I just checked my gun out. When I chamber a round slowly it is going into the chamber uphill but as soon as the rear of the shell clears the feed lips the follower pops the round up so it is feeding almost straight into the barrel. If the follower was sticking at all in the mag the rear of the round wouldn't pop up and the round would go right up the ramp into the top of the chamber. Hope you can figure this out. The dda's are good shooters if they are working right.