SR45 slide not always locking back on final round

M

Metal god

New member
As the title says , and when locked back . The process of inserting a mag will send the slide home . Now I gave this firearm to my father and the slide always locked back for me but would on occasion fly home when inserting mag .

This was happening with Fed-AE , Hornady critical duty and Winchester WB . Also when I manually rack the slide quickly with empty mag . 20% of the time the slide will not lock back . I don't have the gun with me now so I'm not sure what part of the follower lifts the slide lock . What we did notice at the range was one of the followers of 2 mags did not extend/sit as high as the other when empty . Maybe a 1/16" or a tad less . That mag was the one that seem to be causing the issue .

So I pulled that mag apart and cleaned it real good , spring , follower and inside of mag body . After that it seemed to work well . Almost at the same time the other mag that had not failed to that point started not locking the slide back .

At that point we we had been shooting awhile and just called it a day . Anybody having this issue or no what else other then the mag can be causing the problem . At first I thought he was limp wristing but the fact the slide does not lock back even when pulling it back manually tells me it's the mag not pushing the slide lock up enough or the slide lock sticking and not lifting enough .

What say you ?
 
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Yep either mags or the slide stop is worn and not hitting the tab on the mags.
If its really dirty maybe the slide stop won't engage?
 
Yep either mags or the slide stop is worn[/QUOTE

Well lets hope it ain't that because the gun has less the 500 rounds through it .

I need to swing by my dads and take a look at the slide stop .
Click to expand...
 
Also when I manually rack the slide quickly with empty mag . 20% of the time the slide will not lock back.
Click to expand...

Why are you doing it quickly, is it a race ;)? In seriousness though if it won't lock back when you retract the slide that's a pretty clear indicator of an actual problem, though your use of "quickly" sort of confuses me. Do you mean if you pull it back "normally" it will lock back?

As for not locking back while shooting, shoot it one handed with just a few rounds in the magazine and do it multiple times. If it locks back every time then you're probably hitting the slide release with your off hand.
 
You may already know this, but the most common cause of the slide not locking back on an empty mag is inadvertent upward pressing of the slide lock lever while shooting. From your description, it sounds like this particular gun may be doing it with multiple shooters...so that may not be what's going on in your case.

Sorry to repeat what TunnelRat said above. I didn't notice it until after I posted.
 
Quickly ? The thought was to simulate the gun being fired and the slide moving back quite fast . If memory serves the slide does lock back if pulled back slowly , held back a tad then released . In general I think it shows the same issue . There is an issue with the follower lifting the the slide lock . At this point I'm not sure what it is . I'll put some thought to some how touch the slide release while firing but I know I was not when doing the manual test .
 
"most common cause... inadvertent upwards pressure"

Do we mean inadvertent downwards pressure rather than upwards?

In my mind this is the complete list of possibilities of failure to lock slide back. Roughly increasing order of likelihood / hassle.

Thumbs resting on slide lock, pushing it down. - switch grip, test with firing left hand single handed so nothing touching slide lock
Underpowered ammo.
Slide not reciprocating fully - due to ammo, dirty, hand, friction, etc
"limp wristing" - hold gun tighter for more stable platform or adjust grip
Weak mag spring - not enough upwards pressure
Mag Follower defective/ledge not tall enough for upwards pressure/worn down/sloppy casting so follower too large and does not rise high enough
Mag/feed lips too narrow and does not allow follower to rise high enough
Slide stop out of spec - tab too short, does not overlap onto mag follower

In YOUR case however, since you have narrowed it down to the mag, simplest course of action is to inform Ruger and ask them to replace the mag.

If you are a do-it-yourselfer you could check the width of the walls of the mag to see if they are the same width (calipers) if they are I would think the issue is with the mag follower or feed lips. You could file down a bevel to the upper edges of the follower so that maximum height is taller. However if it does not work Ruger may not back you up so it may be better to go to the source. Feed lips may also be too angled however it may be a bit tricky bend at the appropriate spot (not just purse the top of the lips) - use your judgment if you feel comfortable tweaking a mag with the right pliers. You can compare the feed lips by loading a round in each mag and comparing the appearance - see how much of the round the feed lips cover.

I've had similar troubles with a 1911 mag in which case the slide stop was slipping UNDER the mag follower which had marginal engagement. Needed tweaking.

Final though, perhaps the mag itself is not sitting high enough - hole cut too low or base plate too thick. However you have not been having any feeding problems.
 
I had the exact same problem with my SR45. I sent the gun to Ruger on their dime and they adjusted the slide lock mechanism. When I got it back I discovered it would still not lock back on one of the two mags I had. I called Ruger and they sent me a new mag free plus I bought two new ones also. The new mags fixed the problem. I also noticed a problem later on that when the slide was locked back the mags was hard to eject. I adjusted the tip of the slide stop that rests on the mag follower downward to put a little more pressure on the mag follower. Mag now drops freely.
 
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