[firelt]

What does it mean when someone "re-works" an extractor?

[HOSSFLY]

Originally Posted by firelt

What does it mean when someone "re-works" an extractor?

Most likely they just "tweeked" it to make it throw hulls better, farther, different direction, ect- Could have just been not working 100% - They are mostly "adjustable"--

Well, at 2nd look looks like your not asking about a 1911 & you have sum sort of stoppage on a Kahr?
I'm cunfused (again)---

[firelt]

It's a Kahr (Auto Ordnance) WW II 1911A2. I had a gunsmith look at it because of too many stoppages- he said he "re-worked" the extractor, but wasn't too clear about what that meant.

[canebrake]

Originally Posted by firelt

It's a Kahr (Auto Ordnance) WW II 1911A2. I had a gunsmith look at it because of too many stoppages- he said he "re-worked" the extractor, but wasn't too clear about what that meant.

Did it help?

Tuning the internal extractor on the 1911 is not a big deal.

Here's my post in another thread on the subject:

http://www.firearmstalk.com/forums/f57/kimber-pro-cdp-ii-shells-popping-me-face-62949/#post777762

[canebrake]

And here is the procedure (but only if you are comfortable and have the required skillz);

What I'm about to tell you requires some smithin' skillz. If you're not comfortable with doing the following work, DON'T! Take it to a smith and have the work done. But.....if you're comfortable with the process, give it a try and take a step further into the greatness of the world of the 1911.

Read the procedure to the end. Decide if this is something you can do and then, and only then, proceed. If you have more questions.....ASK before you do something wrong. You can't un-ring a bell. This is really a pretty simple job compared to other 1911 smithin'.

To work on the extractor, you will need to remove the firing pin stop. You accomplish this by pushing the firing pin into the slide and moving the firing pin stop down and out of the slide channel. Watch when the stop clears the firing pin or it will launch itself across the room. (If your gun is equipped with a Colt Series 80 style firing pin safety you will need to push the safety plunger up into the slide, push the firing pin in and release the plunger. This will capture the firing pin and hold it in it's channel after the stop is removed.)

With the FP stop removed, and keeping the extractor indexed in its original position, slide the extractor approximately half way out and recheck the indexing is still correct. See illustration below;



Do the following in baby steps! Apply a light pressure to the extractor resulting in a very slight bend and increasing it's holding power on the brass rim.

BABY STEPS, you've been warned! If you break the extractor you applied too much pressure and that's on you....NOT me! It takes a very little change/bend to increase the extractors holding power.

Re-assemble the slide and preform the shake test to see if you need to do more tuning.

BABY STEPS, there I said it again!

If your recoil and main springs are doing their job to provide proper slide timing, you can tune your extractor to beer-pong the spent brass into a dump bag.

For a shooter wanting to decrease the extractor's holding power just reverse the above process.

Please do not attempt this if you have any questions or are not sure your skill-level is up to it!

cane

[firelt]

It helped some, reducing the stoppages considerably. I think it still needs some work, though. I'm fairly handy with tools and consider myself mechanically inclined so I might try tweeking the extractor myself.

[axxe55]

i used Can's advice and information to tune the extractor on one of my 1911's. worked like a charm! follow his advice and so it in baby steps. try a little at a time and shoot it, then try a little more if needed. usually it doesn't take much to get it tuned to perfection. Cane is right, that if you don't feel confident in doing it, take it to a competent gunsmith for work.

[HOSSFLY]

Cane & axxe are right on BUT i think under your circumstances i'd just replace it with a new one & see how it does - Kind of "start from scratch"
You wud at least have a spare to tweek with ---Luck either way-

[SSGN_Doc]

When I have tuned my 1911 extractors I have done the tensioning described above and used really fine sandpaper to smooth out the radiused portions that the shell rim rides up in during the feed process. Mostly just a polishing to reduce friction.

[firelt]

Canebrake- wanted to get back to you on this- I followed the steps and did an incremental improvement on my extractor and it worked like a charm. My 1911 is 98% better and I am again feeling like I could trust it in a real life situation. On my last trip to the range I fed 150 rounds through it and it only had 1 feed issue that I traced back to some dirt in the magazine.

Thanks again!