XD slide won't come off

[RNB65]

A buddy of mine has an XD40. He field stripped it for cleaning and put it back together. Now he can't get the slide off. Pulling the trigger isn't releasing it. Something's catching and blocking the slide from sliding fully forward so it can be removed. Anyone had this problem and know what the solution is?

 

[arsenal21]

Is the magazine in it?

 

[RNB65]

I don't think so, but I'll ask when I see him.

I found a thread on TFL describing a similar situation where a guy put the slide back on with the take down lever in the down position and the barrel and guiderod got jammed against it. The solution was to give the back of the slide a smart whack with a rubber mallet to free it up then reassemble with the take down lever in the correct position.

 

[RNB65]

I just talked to him. He said the mag is out. The slide will fully retract and lock to the rear. But when he tries to take it off, rotates the takedown lever, pulls the trigger, and it will only move forward a half-inch or so before it jams. It's got a one-piece replacement guide rod and I'm thinking he didn't properly seat the back end of the rod when he put it back together and the rod is catching on something.

 

[RevolverMan567]

had this happen

in my xd i was rushing a cleaning and not paying attention and the guide rod/ spring assembly slipped out of its notch and when I racked the slide to finish the reassembly the tooth on the barrel at the feed ramp slipped into the small gap of the frame and gun locked up at front and back. there was a gunsmith and a lot of frustration involved in the remedy, hope he didn't do what I did

 

[BamBam-31]

Dunno if this applies to you or not, but some helpful info on XD's w/ stuck slides:

http://www.xdtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17940&highlight=slide+removal

 

[BamBam-31]

oops. double post.

 

[RNB65]

Thanks for the link. Amazing. Apparently, Jammed Slide Phenomenon (hereafter, to be known as JSP) is quite common with XD's. So common, in fact, that it bloody hell should have been fixed by now considering that the XD design has been around for a good 10 years or so.

After browsing the various discussion on JSP at XDTALK, I suddenly find my enthusiasm for the XD to be greatly diminished.

 

[heritageguy]

Is he pulling and holding the trigger when he tries to move the slide forward? If he is, he needs to pull the trigger to release the striker and let go of the trigger BEFORE he moves the slide. If he holds the trigger back the slide won't come off of the frame.

 

[atomd]

Thanks for the link. Amazing. Apparently, Jammed Slide Phenomenon (hereafter, to be known as JSP) is quite common with XD's. So common, in fact, that it bloody hell should have been fixed by now considering that the XD design has been around for a good 10 years or so.

After browsing the various discussion on JSP at XDTALK, I suddenly find my enthusiasm for the XD to be greatly diminished.

That doesn't happen when you re-assemble it properly. I don't find it very challenging to align the guide rod assembly and insert it completely before re-assembling...instead of slapping it in there askew and calling it good. I'd bet most things work better when you put them together correctly.

 

[Walkalong]

Yea, don't blame the XD. Great guns. I "need' another one.

 

[RNB65]

He fixed it. He put the recoil spring on backwards and it jumped off the end of the guide rod which pushed the rod off center and jammed the slide. Below is a link I found of someone who did the very same thing. My buddy fixed his XD using the technique shown in the link. It works fine now.

http://www.txdpsa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2424

I always wondered what would happen if you install the recoil spring backwards on a DGR. Now I know.