Ruger p89 ftf

[rockinlespaul07]

I'm mostly a rifle shooter and occasionally dabble in clay pidgeon shooting, but have gotten more into handguns in the past couple years. Picked up a used ruger p89 to add to my collection from my local gun shop because i was told it was a work horse of a gun (and the price of 9mm is much more appealing than .40) Upon getting home and loading some rounds, i found that the gun pretty consistantly ftf's and occasionally fte. I cleaned extremely well and lubricated, but with no different results. When it feeds wrong it jams the round face up out the top and closes on the casing. like an upward facing stovepipe exept on feed with a live round. i'm planning on trying a new mag first. Also the gun never feeds the last round, it just stays open with the final round in the mag (i'm guessing thats a worn mag spring). any ideas of suggestions are appreciated! thr rocks!

 

[Blue .45]

Since it is used, you might want to go ahead and replace the recoil spring too.

 

[rockinlespaul07]

any thoughts on the "heavy" recoil springs? my general perspective on life is that if more is better than too much is just right.... but i'm not sure if a heavier spring will ensure sucess in this situation.

 

[Blue .45]

I usually stay with the factory rated springs, unless I plan to shoot a bunch of +P+ loads, which I never do.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=585492


This is from the product info. page that I linked to. It gives a better explanation of recoil springs than I can.

In general, heavy loads need heavy springs and lighter loads need lighter springs. A spring that is too light can cause the handgun to open and close early and hard, increasing the felt recoil and battering the frame. A spring that is too heavy can cause the slide to be hard to open and could even keep the gun from cycling completely, jamming it. Installation requires disassembly and reassembly of the slide.

 

[Hoth206]

It sounds like the magazine spring/magazine may be the entire problem. From what you're saying, the feed lips on the top of the mag aren't holding the cartridge until the nose of the round is lined up with the bore.

I would go with a factory weight recoil spring (can't remember what that is at the moment, but should be easy enough to find), and order yourself a new magazine.

I have one with about a zillion and three rounds through it. The mag springs do get weak, the wolff extra power mag springs are relatively inexpensive and work great, but it does sound like the premature lockback and failures to feed are related to damaged feed lips and/or follower.

 

[rockinlespaul07]

thanks for the help

thanks for the help everyone! i just ordered a new mag and factory (11lbs) spring from midwayusa. hopefully it fixes the problem

 

[Hoth206]

Be sure to let us know how it turns out...I'm curious.

 

[Smaug]

Send it to Ruger

Ruger is very good about supporting their guns, even if you're not the original owner and it is out of warranty.

I bet if you send it to them, they'll fix it and send you a bill just for the cost of parts. Probably will cost you more to ship it to them than it will for the repair.

When they send it back to you, it will be like new, mechanically speaking. This is part of the reason Ruger is such a respected company.

Send them a letter with the gun with the ammo type and exactly what kind of jams you're getting.

 

[Hoth206]

Agreed, Ruger has TERRIFIC customer service. If the new mag doesn't fix your problem, do not hesitate to send the pistol in. (I prefer to email them with pictures of the actual malfunction/problem) I don't think that Ruger even technically has a warranty, but, if you send one of their guns to them, they'll fix 'em. Doesn't matter if you're the orignal or the 10th owner.

While I wouldn't count on it, I'd say there's a very good chance that they won't even charge for the repair or parts.

My p89 has had a total of 2 "click-no-boom" malfunctions.
one was a Remington Golden Saber that had a good primer dent but didn't go off (scary)
the other was a stovepipe when my sister limp wristed it on her first time shooting a pistol

Neither of those were the gun's fault.

After untold thousands of rounds, the recoil spring was so weak, you could drop the slide and go grab a cup of coffee before the slide went into battery...but the stupid pistol would still empty the magazine just fine.

 

[rockinlespaul07]

got the recoil spring and new mag yesterday. comparing the new and old springs the old one was definitely worn quite a bit. It would barely hold erect, and was actually about a half inch shorter than the new one (compression). The new mag feeds flawlessly, and the gun cycles much smoother. Only had enough time to put 150 rounds through it today, but had no ftf's or fte, and it fed the last round every time. The only thing is that when the follower hits the catch to keep the slide open sometimes it slips off to the side. I'm guessing that it's because it's an aftermarket mag, or the slide catch is worn. (midway was out of stock of factory ruger mags so i had to settle with an aftermarket) I plan on buying a factory one, and keeping this one as a back up as for i can settle with the slide closing after the last round. And since this gun is mainly just going to be a target gun it won't really matter anyhow. Once again thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Hoth206]

Glad you're up & running.

The problem with your mag not locking back may be due to a weak magazine spring (I know...it's new, but there's no telling when it's an aftermarket). The spring may not be strong enough to push the slide lock up when slide is back after the last round.

When you order your new Ruger magazine, you may want to go ahead and order a couple of extra power magazine springs (they're relativley inexpensive) and you'll be good to go for a long time.

And in case no one's told you yet...the P89's almost univerally agreed to feel better with the Hogue overmoulded grip. May want to look into that as well.

 

[rockinlespaul07]

funny you mention the grip, i just ordered one new off of ebay 10 min ago.