New Witness Match and Slide Stop Function

[OMGWTF10MM]

I recently purchased a Witness Match and proceeded to give it a thorough once over and noticed a problem right away.

The slide stop/takedown pin will not disengage from the up (ie. locked position with the slide rearward) when inserting a magazine with a round in it and pulling back and releasing the slide.

I removed the slide from the frame and reinserted the slide stop and noticed that the thumb lever is not perpendicular to the axis of the takedown pin portion of the slide stop, it is bowed, allowing the far end of the thumb lever away from the takedown pin end to physically contact the frame, causing the malfunction. The slide stop spring is positioned correctly in the frame

Before I go and make the required modifications to fix the problem as I see fit, I wanted to ask other Witness owners the relative shape of their lever in relation to the pin end in their guns, ad the approximate clearance between the lever and the frame, if possible.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[Intercooler]

Can you take a couple of pictures of the parts and where you think the problem is?

[Intercooler]

   You may want to review my thread here:

http://10mm-firearms.com/gunsmithing/witness-hunter-issue-smoked-out/


    This might give you some ideas to run with.

[sqlbullet]

A picture or two would help a ton before we suggest you take a file to your new gun.

[OMGWTF10MM]

Intercooler's previous post and the pictures in that thread has the relevant information for my fix.

Thank you for your replies.

[Intercooler]

So it was brand new out of the box and the stop was bent? If it backs out, it's easy enough for it to smash into the follower causing that plus follower damage. When shooting high impulse 10mm I think it's a good idea to deepen that retention groove the spring sits in.

[OMGWTF10MM]

I recently took the time to address the issue.

After removing the malformed slide stop, I used a drill press to make two parallel holes in MDF. One hole deep enough for the length of the takedown pin and a second to clearance the slide stop catch.

I then placed the slide stop into the MDF so the slide stop lever was flush (as flush as it would get in its condition) to the surface of the MDF and gently massaged the initial bend in the slide stop (nearest to the takedown pin side) with a soft faced hammer. Sufficient correction occurred after three rounds of hammering, checking for fit, and then adding one shim at a time ( 3 total, I used utility blade refills) under the end of the lever away from the takedown pin end until I was satisfied with the function.

The slide stop also had some twist to it in addition to the bend, but it was minimal and resisted my attempt to correct it with a three shim stack and one more round of hammering.

I am unable to supply pictures because my camera died not too long ago and my cell phone camera is garbage.

I will take Intercooler's advice and watch for the possibility of the slide stop backing out under usage. I did take the time to examine that area after looking at the post linked above and would like to add that if one opts to deepen the groove to help retention of the slide stop, pay special attention to the way the spring pressure is applied to ensure slide stop function- The slide stop groove is tilted higher towards the rear of the gun. While making a slight modification would not likely cause a failure because of reduced spring pressure, someone who receives a slide stop with a similar deformity such as I encountered might find that they were right on the ragged edge of proper functioning.