a good extractor

C

cheezhed

New member
I broke the extractor on my colt commander and need a replacement. Is a stainless one as good as a carbon steel one or should I go with a blued one. My pistol is satin chrome so I think a stainless would be less noticeable but I can live with a blue one. Any brand better than another?
Thanks
 
My limited knowledge of metallurgy suggests it is possible to make a carbon alloy steel spring that is better than a stainless one, but the fact it is possible doesn't mean that's how it is done. Lots of stainless extractors have gone a lot of miles on stainless guns. I wouldn't worry about that aspect of it, but just buy from a reputable maker.

The Wilson Bulletproof is a good name and has 5 stars for toughness in the one review of it at Brownells
 
How, why did the extractor break?
A faulty one can just break, like anything, but it might not have broken on its own.
If the cause isn't fixed, replacing it might not cure anything.
You might want to do a search for the causes at places like m1911.org and forums.1911forum.com (??).
 
Found it, courtesy of thehighroad:
One common reason for extractor failures is not the fault of the extractor. On some guns the last round will "jump" the magazine and feed ahead of the extractor instead of sliding up under it. When that happens the extractor has to snap over the rim. Snapping over the rim is a no no, and supposedly that will break them. I don't know how common it is, I had a gun that did that until I bought a magazine with a dimpled follower to stop it. The original mag follower didn't have a dimple.
 
A good internal extractor should snap over the case rim regardless. It was one of the requirements in the original testing in case the magazine was lost and the soldier had to load single rounds.

The problem is that machining the extractor out of high quality spring steel, then properly heat treating it, costs money, so modern makers use castings that have very little flex without breaking. The company saves money and the customer gets the sh.... er, let's just say a lesser quality product.

Jim
 
And that's why you see extractor prices range from around $15 to almost $100. It depends how much time and effort you want to pay for?
 
the pistol is over 35 years old and is most likely the most heavily used shooter that I have. I put thousands of rounds a year through it so a broken extractor does not suprise me. I just wanted a little input as to a good replacement.
 
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