Utter and complete disappointment (Steyr M40-A1)

[new_steyr1]

My Steyr M40-A1 came on Wednesday and I could hardly wait for the weekend to shoot it. The gun was everything I imagined it would be. Good fit, nice ergonomics, loved the sights. It was perfect.

Today I went to range after purchasing a box of White Box Winchester .40SW at Wallmart. I shot first 50 rounds without any glitches. It preformed flawlessly. It was a good feeling... until around 51st round.

Than the pistol started jamming. The empty case would not clear/ejected and the new round would jam on top of the empty casing. Out of 50 rounds I had 8-9 jams. Always the same -- empty case would not eject and new round would jam on top of the empty casing. Gun-shop person told me that it looked like an ejector issue but he wasn't sure.

Needless to say this incident shattered my trust in the gun. I wanted to like this gun and would like to keep it but... now I'm having doubts if this was a good decision.

Are ejector problems a known issue on this gun?

 

[new_steyr1]

UPDATE:

Okay. I called Steyr USA. Excellent customer service. I couldn't be happier with how this was handled by Stery USA.

Apparently 1% of guns have this particular failure and they know exactly what the problem is and will take care of it for me. I'm happy. I like the gun and will keep it if they fix it as promised.

 

[nalioth]

Perhaps some research at http://www.steyrclub.com will be of assistance.

 

[outerlimit]

Don't spare the details, what was this problem that they say 1% of guns have?

 

[CountGlockula]

Limp wrist?

Please share what Steyr had to say.

 

[General Geoff]

Apparently 1% of guns have this particular failure and they know exactly what the problem is and will take care of it for me.

Seems that if they know exactly what the problem is sight-unseen, it should have been fixed before it went to market.

 

[new_steyr1]

Just a quick update for those that are interested.

The gun failed because of the extractor claw and extractor spring. This is a known issue and there seems to be a bunch of Steyr owners that are having these problems. I was told that some under-pressurized ammo (I shot white box Winchester 40SW) can cause extractor failure (causing double stacking) and was advised to use a higher quality ammo until they send me replacement extractor and extractor springs. The customer service was absolutely superb. I was happy how they handled this issue for me.

 

[FlaChef]

For the record since the guns came out in 1999 this is the third extractor/spring design.

A quick and easy fix is just to pop in a stronger spring (there is a list at steyrclub of what springs can be used).

Another thing that has been very helpful to some is to break the sharp point of the LCI pin that sticks out of the breechface by just barely taking a stone to it (this will happen anyway over time after a normal 500 round breakin).

I think it is a european ammo thing, but even people who have had problems with their extractors have been 100% by switching to NATO or +p in 9mm guns.

Of course all this is just work arounds until they send you a new extractor.

None of my 3 had this problem (though the S did take a good break in period before it settled down). But once when i lost an extractor spring into the void while dissasembling and they sent me a new extracor assembly (claw/spring/pin) the gun suddenly would not extract cci blazer (brass or al) which had been it's primary diet before.
So the short version of the last 3 paragraphs is, try a different ammo.

 

[zignal_zero]

glad to hear it's working out for you. after reading your first post, i was going to say give them a chance to make it right because you said you love the look, feel, sights, everything. and now you love their customer service. it sounds like this is one minor issue that can be resolved. good luck, and congratz on the new piece