STI Trojan is killing me with feed jams

[Howard 538]

Let me start out with saying I love my STI trojan 9mm pistol.  Its is super accurate and I shoot it better than any gun I own.  My problem is while it works perfectly at the range, it is getting worse and worse at matches.  I am getting so many feed failures that it is killing my game.  I shot an IDPA match yesterday, 10 stages and on eight of them I had at least one feed failure.  I elected to reshoot a stage because the SO started me wrong on one of those failures even though I shot well, hoping to improve without the feed failure.  Well that was a mistake because on the reshoot it failed even worse.  So, that actually made 9 out of 11 stages where it failed.  While I shot well, I would estimate these bad jams cost me between 80 and 100 seconds in the match - killed my entire day.

 

What seems to be happening is the round nose dives and jams and locks things up really tightly.  There are times when it is not too bad and I can just give the back of the slide a hard slap and it will go into battery.  Other times it jams so tight I can't pull the mag and have to ultimately get it to slide lock and then it is still a struggle to remove the magazine.  To say this thing killed my times would be an understatement.  At a loss as to what to do.

 

I had my gunsmith look at it a while ago and he said the tension on the extractor was a little low so he raise it, but I think that has actually made it worse.  Yesterday I was using six different 10 round mags: two each of Wilson ETM, Tripp Cobra and Dawson.  I saw a slight issue with one of the Wilsons, but other than that I could not narrow it down to any specific brand acting worse than the others.

 

I have the Dawson Precision CRP package with the IDPA legal extended mag release.  Some people said it might have to do with that, but I am skeptical.

 

All ideas welcomed.  Thanks.

 

PS - if it matters I am using factory round nose 124 grain ammo.

 

 

I just tried the gun with a Wilson mag and snap caps.  I loaded it up with 10 rounds and did a slide lock reload.  I then manually cycled the gun and twice on the third or fourth round the slide only closed about 1/4" and the head of the bullet was on the ramp just below the barrel entrance.

 

Please excuse the crappy iphone picture, but here is an example:

 

When it is this type of failure a good slap to the back of the slide fixes the issue, but sometimes the bullet head is much lower and it locks everything up.

[ronhonda 86]

Have you contacted Dawson and told them of your issues?

Send it back to Dawson with your ammo and mags. It will be taken care of.

[Howard 538]

Have you contacted Dawson and told them of your issues?

Send it back to Dawson with your ammo and mags. It will be taken care of.

Have not talked to them about this most recent issue.  I had some problems with the Wilson mags when I first got them that I talked to them and we solved that issue.  Hate to have to send it in but that might be the next step.  Any clue how long the round trip might take?

[JT Custom Guns 958]

Polish the ramp................

[Howard 538]

Polish the ramp................

What does that entail?  I have never done that, but am quite capable of following instructions

[seamusSU 0]

Polish the ramp................

I had a similar issue albeit on a different gun and on close inspection there was a small burr on bottom lip of the feed ramp. Try giving that a real close look.

[Zeke 5,504]

What does that entail? I have never done that, but am quite capable of following instructions

Did this on my sr9

Dremel with cotton polishing wheel and some metal polish from pepboys.

No more ftf's

[glockncolts 50]

Same thing with mine. Retuned the extractor and polished feed ramp. No more problems.....

[alec.mc 180]

disregard.

[lunker 274]

I had the same problem with a Springfield Loaded 1911 in 9mm. It would not feed 115grain at all, 124 grain was hit-or-miss like you. It really liked the 147 grain, maybe because of the length. I got rid of the gun because of that fussiness. Try the 147 grain ammo.

[hiker88 22]

Check the OAL of your 9 mm ammo. My ETM's do not like anything longer than a 1.135" OAL. The longer ammo snags on the mag tube and prevents the spring from pushing the follower and ammo up. Make sure you clean your mags regularly as well. The added gunk can also result to jamming your mag.

I have both STI Spartan & Trojan.

 

Next time you shoot a match at OB or CJ, I'll have you try my S/A "Leatham" 9mm mags (http://www.clarkcustomguns.com/MF9FR-795.htm). They're 9 rounders and work perfect (no jams) at all on my gun. If they start jamming on your Trojan, then we can assume that it's not solely a mag issue and your pistol needs a fix.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

Howard, in the amount of time you have been having these problems, and the amount of money spent on magazines, you could have either A) Purchased another one; or, B) Had it back and forth to the factory several times over.

 

I would have sent it back to STI months ago - they have a fairly quick turn-around and their fixes tend to work. My STI 9mm has run flawlessly from day one. I use Wilson 500 mags and Federal AE 124 gr RN. Send it back.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

[Howard 538]

Bob you are correct that I had some magazine problems when I first got the gun, but I worked those out between conversations with Wilson and Dawson.  This is a newer issue and really only started about a month ago.

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

Did you ever think that this may be part of the same problem? IIRC, part of the magazine fix that you implemented was shortening the spring. Maybe now that they have some age on them there is not enough pressure on the round to put it in a "nose-up" orientation. Even if some of the mags are unaltered, the 9mm round has a tapered case and the nose-down orientation this causes often leads to problems such as yours. I repeat: Send it back to STI.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

[Vlad G 345]

What length is that ammo? Maybe a shorter round would work better.

 

When was the last time you replaced your recoil spring? Maybe it doesn't have enough oomph top push it through.

 

Any burrs on mag lips? They could drag along the case some

 

Can you find the correct mag lip specs? It is possible you may have stepped on or bent in the front part of the mag lips forcing the bullet too low.

 

Are your mags ridding low? Check if there is any vertical play in the mags with the mag inserted and slide locked back. I wonder if they are riding a bit low and bullets are hitting the ramp too low.

[Howard 538]

Well I don't think the mags could go any higher as they just about hit the ejector when they are pushed in.  No burrs on the mags.  The two Tripp Cobra mags got used for a few rounds at the range each and then went into battle yesterday and have never hit the ground before.  They were just as problematic as the others.  Bob is correct that I cut one coil off the Wilson mags, but that is because there was physically too much spring to compress to even let the mag fully insert - there was no option on that.  If that was an issue I would think it would impact the last round or two, not the third or fourth round in a full magazine.

 

I think I will have a chat with the folks at Dawson first tomorrow, as that is where I got the gun.

[Russell 3]

Well I don't think the mags could go any higher as they just about hit the ejector when they are pushed in.

 

My mags actually do hit the ejector when you press up on them!  So they sit a little higher in my Trojan than yours.  And I did talk to STI about my mags hitting the ejector and they said not to worry about it.

 

Call STI, they have great CS and should cover any repairs under warranty. 

[Howard 538]

Actually Russell some of them (Wilsons) do hit the ejector.  It actually lifts up a little when they do.  Dawson is the first line, as they are a master distributor and have great service - if that fails I'll move on to STI.

[Howard 538]

Well the gun is on its way to Texas without me to visit STI.  Hopefully they will improve it's reliability.

[Golf battery 1,223]

Just my worthless input but. If you pay top dollar for a supposed high quality item. Should you be having these problems. Its making a magazine. Not nuclear fission department. No circuitry or anything complex. Did they try them on an array of pistols and do their homework before offering them out. Why is this happening. Its not a blocked or altered mag. Very discouraging. P.s. Thermold mags suck for ar's. Dont buy them.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

Some ammo burns cleaner than others.  Use of a bore snake may also help to keep the feed ramp cleaner.  Use of a mag brush may also help.  If this problem is a "new one" within the last month, that means that something inside the gun has changed, there's a crud condition somewhere, too much or not enough lube, parts have now worn-in, become out-of-adjustment, etc.  I concur with Bob--back to Dawson and they will make it WORK!  (I read that's what you did. please let us know what Dawson says).  And good luck Howard!

 

Dave

[Sandy 44]

Told you to shoot the Glock at the match .

[Howard 538]

Told you to shoot the Glock at the match .

You were right Sandy!!!  I shoot the STI so much better that I figured I would put up with one maybe two jams, it was the other seven or eight that did me in.

[Sandy 44]

I can understand why you favored it for the match. Very nice shooting gun .