Witness Hunter issue smoked out

Intercooler · January 14 2014 07:19:27 PM MST

My last shooting session I put it to the Hunter and encountered a problem almost at the very end. The slide wouldn't lock back at all and the trigger wasn't resetting. I haven't been able to duplicate the trigger issue at home but tonight I looked at the slide issue.

Through trials tonight I found it.

I pulled the Hunter stop

Hunter and Limited stops

The Hunter stop looks a little weathered but swapping them did nothing. The slide still wouldn't lock back! I tried another K10 magazine and back to normal. At that point I looked inside to see what was going on as I pulled the slide back. What I saw was the pin being pushed out some allowing the stop to not catch. That and just not enough tension on the stop from the follower to engage it! It looks like something caused wear or movement in the follower and a nice ridge on the side. That part may be related to my stop being wore a bit and I'm asking the gurus now.

In all the magazines I have looked at to date the slide stop just doesn't extend in far enough for my liking. If nobody out there sells an extended version I will ask Henning if he can do one. The short term fix is order a bag of K10 followers.

Intercooler · January 14 2014 07:49:44 PM MST

Picture of the engagement with the slide off

Unacceptable!

Intercooler · January 14 2014 08:08:42 PM MST

The Limited is the same ${$default_sad_smiley}$ All of them will be!

I sent Henning a note about making a stop. He is in Shot Show right now, but might still respond. If he isn't interested I may talk to my Smith to see if he can modify my four. They can even be a little longer and we could file them back for a custom fit. Allow about .005" of clearance to the step and you are golden!

The_Shadow · January 14 2014 08:16:55 PM MST

You may want to have a few extra of those, give EAA a call see if the will send you one. It doesn't hurt to ask about replacement of a worn part. They may take care of you.

schtoolee · January 15 2014 12:16:44 AM MST

Here is mine. It looks like your Slide stop is bent away from the frame, also.
But it dos look like you could add a 1/16th or so to the slide stop.

[attachment deleted by admin]

sqlbullet · January 15 2014 07:43:15 AM MST

On the trigger reset issue. Have you tried duplicating it with these steps:

empty the gun and prep for dry fire (safety first)
dry fire, keeping the trigger depressed.
rack the slide (don't cock the hammer manually, let the slide do it)
release the trigger for reset.

My experience with my Match has been that when I adjust the take up screw right to the limit, after a couple hours crud will build up in the trigger assembly and eventually I have this issue. Cocking the hammer by thumb doesn't reveal the issue as I pull the hammer further back than it gets moved by the slide.

As far as the magazines, you may just have to look at followers as a part that wears and needs replaced. What is the round count on the magazines in question?

Intercooler · January 15 2014 09:31:37 AM MST

I think it's crud from the last session. It didn't do it last night.

Intercooler · January 15 2014 09:33:02 AM MST

The magazine is a recent buy. Possibly 200 rounds on it.

Intercooler · January 15 2014 11:11:38 AM MST

$36 for a new slide stop and $5/ea follower.

Intercooler · January 15 2014 07:44:49 PM MST

Henning responded with a maybe. That's encouraging since the last time it was the same deal with the flat bottom firing pin blocks. Now I have them in all four!

sqlbullet · January 16 2014 07:44:55 AM MST

Yeah...Only 200 rounds on it is not something that should fail. I was expecting 10K rounds being a reasonable service cycle for a plastic follower.

Intercooler · January 19 2014 05:23:29 AM MST

Like was mentioned it looked like my slide stop was bent some. It could have happened when the whole mess started. My info from EAA showed the parts didn't ship until Friday, but I have Chronograph testing to do today. I decided to put a new K10 mag in and work the slide stop.

I put the round end in the vice and gave the slide stop end one whack with a dead-blow plastic hammer. It bent it back just enough to be a couple of thousands from frame contact:

I took a triangular file and deepened the trench some for more positive engagement of the retaining spring that holds the stop in as well:

It feels tight, no malfunctions and I'm ready to roll!

Intercooler · January 19 2014 09:26:29 AM MST

Flawless today! The stop didn't budge, no mag issue and the slide locked back on every empty magazine. I think the stop on the way will be a spare.

4949shooter · January 19 2014 10:41:27 AM MST

I wonder how they are being bent?

Intercooler · January 19 2014 10:50:34 AM MST

I have a theory on what happened here. I think the slide stop moved out a little and caught the follower upon travelling backwards on the outside edge. The day this happened, I shot a bunch of high end stuff! Deepening that groove will allow the spring to sit deeper in the stop metal and not move. In looking at the stop the way it comes from the factory the groove doesn't seem real deep and especially for high impulse stuff. I ran all those big rounds today and it didn't budge.