FEEDING

I have the same problem as Rick, with a 1917 DWM. It has been reworked, and is beautiful, but it stovepipes all the time. It either jams a round the way Rick described or fails to eject, with the spent case sticking straight up and pinned between the breech and the breechblock. I have tried 124 gr. Winchester, PMC, and Federal American Eagle, plus 15 gr. Winchester. (I buy the 115 gr. Winchester by the case because it usually works well with my other guns.)


I swapped out extractor springs among my guns to install the stiffest one available. That didn't stop the jamming & stovepiping, and now the gun will occasionally extract & eject but fail to strip off and chamber a new round. The breech closes, and I squeeze the trigger on an empty chamber.


Last night, I was showing the "problem child" to the range officer at my gun range, and he said he could tell just by feel that the recoil spring was way too stiff. Suggested storing the gun for a couple of days with the toggle locked open, and polishing the loading ramp, or whatever you call it-- the incline just below the chamber that guides the round into the chamber. I'm trying this, but I have feeling I'm probably gonna just have to take the plunge & change out the spring.