joe817
Member
I just rescued a Colt MkIV/Series 80 Government Model 380 from my brother in law. It's been on a shelf for years. I originally purchased the gun in 1984 or '85 as a birthday present for my father in law. He passed in 2000, and B.I.L. got it. I traded him for it, so it's now in my possession.
Last night I field stripped it, as I do on all guns I acquire, and when I went to reassemble it, it would not go into full battery. Today, I took it apart again, cleaned it, oiled it. It was totally bone dry. The bore had dust in it.
Same thing happened. Wouldn't go to full battery, by 3/8". I'm assembling it correctly as per manual, but this has me stymied. Everything appears to be going together to the point of pulling the slide back. In addition, the slide will not fully function. I can only draw it back about 1.5" then it hangs up. I'm not forcing anything since this is such a neat little gun. When putting on the slide, I'm not having any trouble of pushing ejector down to clear the slide.
It seems like it might be a slide stop pin issue, or maybe the extractor. I can't tell.
I just don't know what's going on, and I'm taking it to a gunsmith next week if I can't figure out what's wrong.
Any ideas anybody?
Last night I field stripped it, as I do on all guns I acquire, and when I went to reassemble it, it would not go into full battery. Today, I took it apart again, cleaned it, oiled it. It was totally bone dry. The bore had dust in it.
Same thing happened. Wouldn't go to full battery, by 3/8". I'm assembling it correctly as per manual, but this has me stymied. Everything appears to be going together to the point of pulling the slide back. In addition, the slide will not fully function. I can only draw it back about 1.5" then it hangs up. I'm not forcing anything since this is such a neat little gun. When putting on the slide, I'm not having any trouble of pushing ejector down to clear the slide.
It seems like it might be a slide stop pin issue, or maybe the extractor. I can't tell.
I just don't know what's going on, and I'm taking it to a gunsmith next week if I can't figure out what's wrong.
Any ideas anybody?