Colt Govt.380 jammed up solidly: any suggestions?

I picked up the gun from Oleg...

...and carted it back to my 'smith here in K-town. (A good 'smith is worth his weight in gold. Especially if he delivers to your doorstep and can cook a mean Hoisin Pork Loin, to boot. ;) :D )


The diagnosis: only about .0010" engagement between the locking lug and the slide. The gun was effectively a blowback .380. After the couple of rounds fired had peened up a small ridge on the lug, the peened area on the lug and the slide galled together in wedded bliss.

Knocked it loose with a mallet, and when the slide stop was removed, the barrel could be raised visibly at the breech end. Since oversized match barrels for Colt .380's don't exist, it'll be a matter of A) hopefully finding a barrel with a more substantial lug, or B) attempting to increase the locking area on this one.
 
The reason cases are made from brass-- on firing the case expands and fills/seals the chamber, after firing the brass contracts and is extracted from the chamber. Steel, on the other hand expands--that's it folks.
 
anyone know were I can buy a stainless 7 round magazine for my colt 380?
Click to expand...
Check places like CDNN and CTD, I bought some a few months ago from one of the big outfits, and they were reasonably priced too. Of course, SS magazines are only cosmetic, the blued ones will work fine in your gun, right? :)
 
Since oversized match barrels for Colt .380's don't exist, it'll be a matter of
A) hopefully finding a barrel with a more substantial lug, or
B) attempting to increase the locking area on this one.
Click to expand...
You got me curious, so I went and checked both of my Mustangs. It seems that it could be the barrel or the slide that's worn, have you considered finding another Mustang and comparing the wear on the parts? There has to be considerable wear to make them that loose, at least it appears that way when looking at my guns.
 
It seems that it's a combination of the locking lug, and the fact that the slide stop pin locates the barrel very low towards the breech end. Not so much "worn" as "seriously out of spec. (There's still all the original nickel plating around the locking recess in the slide, except for the one place where the two galled together.)
 
If it's really out of spec, it could be a bear to fix. You may be looking at relocating the slide stop hole in the frame for all the parts to work again, that's probably not going to happen! I still think I'd compare the parts to a working Mustang to see which parts are out of spec, you'd at least have a starting point. This doesn't sound like an easy or cheap repair, no matter how you attack it. :rolleyes: I guess Colt isn't interested in helping, right? :D
 
Y'know, you may be on to something, there, actually. Wouldn't it be easier to weld up the old slide stop hole than to attempt to build up the locking lug?

Wait, wait. No. Nickel plated frame. Forget I said anything. :(

(When you call Colt about one of these things, they suddenly start talking with a bogus foreign accent and tell you that you have a wrong number. ;) )
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top