STI Trojan Feed problems - help

[Howard 538]

I love my STI Trojan and shoot it very well, my problem is in matches I have been having many feed failures.  Sometimes when just racking it after inserting a mag, but other times an empty casing will eject and the next round just does not feed correctly.  I have been using Wilson Combat mags.  Is this a magazine issue, a gun issue, or perhaps a problem with who is attached to the gun   Here are two GoPro videos slowed down to 1/4 speed from a match yesterday of just the feed issues.  Hopefully that will help in providing me some diagnostics:

 

 

 

 

 

[Heavyopp 167]

What caliber? --  What bullet shape? -- Have you changed any springs?  

 

Has it just started or done this from the beginning?   

 

Is the gun cleaned and lubed?

[Howard 538]

What caliber? --  What bullet shape? -- Have you changed any springs?  

 

Has it just started or done this from the beginning?   

 

Is the gun cleaned and lubed?

Good questions!  Its a 9mm and I have been using 124gr factory ammo with fairly pointed round noses.  Have not changed any springs and the gun is cleaned after every use and I run it fairly wet.  As far as happening from the start that is a good question.  I initially had so many problems with the mags that I am not sure if this was one of them.  The initial issue is that when fully loaded the mags would not fully seat.  STI had me cut one coil off the mag springs as with the base plate removed there were 9 coils in the mag and 5 outside if you let all the tension off.  Doing that allows the mags to fully seat and the last round still feeds fine.  The gun has about 1,500 rounds through it.

[Heavyopp 167]

If you bring it to steel next sunday I'll bring some dawson mags --  try them and see if anything changes

 

The wilson 9mm mags did not work for me in Jakes Springfield

 

Wilsons work fine in .45 but seem to be finicky in 9mm

[Howard 538]

Thanks. Not sure of plans let but will let you know.

[Vlad G 345]

Traditionally the answer to 1911 feed issues is mags or extractor, but I'm not sure how that applies to 9mm ones. I'd check the extractor just to make sure it isn't overly tight and a round can slip under it. 

[FLHX 1]

I had the same problem with my stock STI mags with my Spartan 9mm. I tried Wilson mags some worked some didn't. I then tried Dawson mags and all good after that. I have also heard that the Tripp mags work well but once the Dawsons worked I went no further. I have seen a lot of 9mm 1911's have this same problem some mags work in specific guns while other don't. The problem I had was nose diving. Good luck buy one Dawson and a Tripp and see what works. You can try my Dawsons at OB USPSA if you will be there.

 

You can find a lot more info on the Enos forum.

 

Read this

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=195148&hl=%2B9mm#entry2162637

 

maybe this

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=193052&hl=9mm#entry2149507

[raz-0 1,259]

Well it looks like a 3 point jam, and either the hood is messed up, the underside of the slide is, the mag is, or the ammo is. The bullet is tilted up pretty far, which means the feed ramp is probably not part of the equation.

 

For ammo, especially if reloading, make sure your crimp is taking all the belling out, and taper crimp, not roll crimp. But too much lip on the case mouth can cause things to slow down and turn into a 3 point jam. SOmetimes bullet profile does it too, but it look slike run of the mill FMJ round nose 9mm stuff, which is pretty forgiving.

 

In general always check the underside of the barrel hood for excessive roughness or damage causing the bullet to drag more and slow down. Additionally for a number of smei auto designs, the rail on the underside that strips the next round can have something wrong with it causing it to do so improperly. It's possible a draggin disconnector can do it too on a 1911, not sure though.

 

For mags, in general, look for the feed lips being open too wide at the front causing the cartridge to tilt up too much, being too tight anywhere, slowing the speed at which the spring pushes up the stack of ammo, the mag body being out of square or warped, and causing the same slowness, or damage to the follower that causes binding.

 

For 9mm 1911 mags, if they shorten the front to back dimensions via a shim, the shim having moved can cause it. I've seen metalform 9mm mags that have a shim in the back that is staked where the shim is shorter than the top to bottom dimension of the spine of the mag, and they can get pushed down into the mag a bit. Which leaves the mag with a deeper dimension front to back at the top than for msot of the mag. Which results in the cartridge being flicked up as the slide moves fully rearward due to the friction and the case head pivoting over the end of the shim rather than stopping on a properly positioned shim.

 

Also how old is the torjan. They had funky mag releases for a while that did not locate the magazine in the same spot as most 1911s did. I forget if that persisted until the introduction of the 9mm version or not.

[FLHX 1]

 

Also how old is the torjan. They had funky mag releases for a while that did not locate the magazine in the same spot as most 1911s did. I forget if that persisted until the introduction of the 9mm version or not.

Good point!! I also had to have my mag release replaced for this exact reason when I first got the gun.

 

Do all of your mags drop free? I had a few that wouldn't, after replacing the mag release they all dropped free except for one.

[Steve_G 51]

Howard, if you come to OB steel Sunday, you can try Jeremy ' s Dawsons and my Tripps and see if either helps.

[Howard 538]

Thanks for the info.  Its a fairly new gun, it has the small word Trojan towards the back of the slide rather than the word in big letters in the middle.  Gun has about 1,500 rounds through it so it should be broken in, but nothing overly warn.  One thing I have noticed at times when I go to manual unload a mag is that when I push on the back of the round the head will dip down and not eject - not sure what causes that but perhaps that is the issue.  

 

I loaded them all up with snap caps and just cycled each mag through six rounds and all but one seemed to work fine.  I got two jams on one of them.  Took it apart, cleaned it and left it with the snap caps in it.  I think next time I use the gun I will try it without this mag and see if maybe it is just the one mag, I had not kept track if it was just one or multiple ones that were causing the problem.

[raz-0 1,259]

New roll marks are within the last year. Mag release should not be an issue.