M&P40 extractor

E

Evil Monkey

New member
My M&P extractor got problems. Today at the range with Tula steel cased ammo, it was running fine as usual , most likely due to the lower pressure nature of Tula Ammo.

Then I pulled out the Federal Aluminum 40sw..............:mad:

Jeez........every few rounds I would have a fail to extract. I would just slam the slide home and pull the casing out manually. This stuff is HOT HOT HOT. My thumb is still numb from firing this stuff.

Anyway, the extractor wasn't doing it's job. It looks like it's grabbing plenty of case rim. The spring tension is OK. The aluminum casings can be placed back into the barrel and pulled out with my finder nails so it can't be the ammo.

What gives?
 
Did you scrub the chamber before switching ammunition? That is almost guaranteed to be the problem. It's okay to go from brass/aluminum to steel, but not the other way.
 
I figured it may be the chamber being dirty but the aluminum casings do not show any significant carbon residue on the outside walls.
 
Clean the gun / chamber and esp breach face / extractor. I mean clean, solvent, brush, scrub.

Adequate extractor spring strength is not something you can likely eyeball. It may still have spring to it yet be too weak.

Inspect the extractor for chips or dings.

Then if nothig is found, run some quality brass ammo in it and see what happens, if it runs then experiment with the other stuff if you want.

I dislike tul ammo, it is dirty and steel case on steel extractor is a bad idea in my book.

I would personally not chose to slam the slide down on the failure round as it is very hard on the extractor.
 
I can't remember if Tul is lacquer coated. If so you might simply have been in a case of the chamber walls were sticky and preventing the cases from being extracted properly. As Uncle said, clean the chamber and then try again.

I will also say that aluminum always extracts/ejects worse for any of my pistols than either steel or brass. It typically does eject, but pretty erratically.

Lastly the whole steel on steel thing with the extractor is bogus. It takes a steel of equal or greater strength to hurt steel, and the steel case is nowhere close. That said, slamming the slide home so the extractor rides over the case rim isn't a great idea.
 
Tunnel --

I have to disagree, in lots of wear situations a less hard material wears a harder material. I agree 100% tul cases are not, or should not be anywhere near as hard as the extractor. However they are much harder than brass.

Look at enough extractors and you will see brass traces from rubbing as the weapon cycles. Steel has to cause a greater degree of wear in those contact areas.

Is it significant at all, or sometimes In some guns? I have no hard evidance to offer but having wrenched on mostly 1911's and seeing the minor changes angle, tennshion and geometery can make it is not something I want to risk.
 
Look at enough extractors and you will see brass traces from rubbing as the weapon cycles. Steel has to cause a greater degree of wear in those contact areas.
Click to expand...

Exactly, the brass is being worn not the extractor, hence the traces of brass left on the extractor. I respect your experience but this is to me a myth that won't die. Pelting my cedar house with Q tips as opposed to feathers will likely do more wear, but will I actually see that wear in either case?
 
I can't fathom the idea that my extractor is worn out.

Consider the fact that my pistol has about 1,600rds in it. With about 1000 being brass.
 
Given that round count it is unlikely but far stranger things have happened. Clean the heck out of that gun and report back.
 
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