Posted on 11/10/2017 8:25:47 AM PST by TNoldman
I chose my words poorly, I was not doubting that you were having this issue. I Have not noticed this with my pistol cartridges.
“I am sorry for your difficulties.”
I don’t consider it a defect in the rounds. I just don’t think any round is designed to be chambered multiple times.
They do fit, as long as you don’t get the ones for the 22SF or “slim/short frame” version.
They are not desired for design, they are desired in ban states as some of the only high caps that can be proven to have existed prior to the ban. Elsewhere nobody wants them.
Depends on which version you have - the first series was made 83-96 and a revised version has been made since 2011. The former one’s safety, while technically including a firing pin safety, was rather questionable with the hammer down. The 83-88 Mustangs had a recall for sear issues, too.
More here:
“Colt .380 Thumb Safety Problem
Sat Dec 18 11:02:55 1999
A recent problem with the gun of one of our good customers brought the following once again to light. I guess I take it for granted that people who own these guns know of its quirks and foibles, which is a dangerous assumption to make. Sorry. Anyway, here’s the gig.
The thumb safety on the single-action Colt .380s (Mustang, Government .380 and derivatives), though designed to give the appearance of a 1911 safety, is of a totally different design. In operation it actually cams the hammer to the rear and thus holds the hammer from falling; the 1911 blocks the sear instead....a better design from my standpoint.
Because of this design it is possible to fully engage the safety with the slide forward and the hammer down. I’ve had people tell me for years that they think this is one of the best features of the gun, that it allows them to carry a chambered round, but with the hammer down and the safety on. I’ve always looked at them as if they had an immense void between the ears. To us, the gun’s designed to be carried in Conditions One or Three only.
Here’s the rub. Bigger’n hell, those who wind up engaging the safety with the hammer down will ultimately forget to release the safety before either forcing the hammer back to full-cock or racking the slide. Either act causes immeasurable damage to the trigger mechanism of the gun....do that once and the gun will never be the same again. Sure, it’ll probably still work, but the safety will now engage funny, the hammer will catch like crazy while scribing its arc....just all kinds of nasty things are possible.
Bottom line here is simple: Treat your Mustang (et. al.) like a 1911 and handle it in the exact same manner. The safety only goes on when the hammer is back! And if you screw up and begin to either thumb the hammer back or rack the slide with the safety engaged, you’ll feel an inordinate amount of pressure....do yourself a favor and STOP right there. Forcing the issue will get expensive.
Hope this info helps someone out there.”
Thanks for the help.
I am sure that you are correct, and I applaud your observational abilities. I do not tend to rechamber cartridges multiple times. The connection between the brass and the bullet in most cases is held together by friction only. Surplus military cartridges sometimes have a lacquer style sealant but I typically apply a lubricant to cast bullets that I produce to cut down on leading which is one of the reasons I use a fairly tight crimp. Activities which jostle the brass and projectile around are likely to loosen the bond.
Cartridges produced for the military often have projectiles which are designed to stay put even under harsh circumstances, but they still usually come apart fairly easily using a “bullet puller”. I have disassembled many berdan primed corrosive cartridges and reused both the projectile and the powder in boxer primed brass. This helps prevent the corrosive salt residue from berdan primers from causing damaging corrosion in valuable firearms. It sounds like a lot of trouble but actually can be done with minimal effort once you get a bit of a system going and can often save more money than you might realize compared to buying jacketed bullets and powder.
The Airweight hammerless 442 is even better than that, but I chose 10 rounds over 5 or 6. But now I’m down to 7 with my G43.
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I’ve heard of lint causing problems with the hammer, but I wonder if anyone’s had problems with lint jamming up any other part of the gun.
>>I’ve heard of lint causing problems with the hammer, but I wonder if anyone’s had problems with lint jamming up any other part of the gun.
I’ve never found lint anywhere else in the Bodyguard. The hammer shroud is just a natural collection point and then the hammer pinching it against the frame is a natural failure point. I thought about skeletonizing the shroud to fix the problem, but then small 9mms became common.
It’s a Smith & Wesson thing, called the ‘internal lock’, which has no point. I highly recommend finding one without the lock.
Thanks!
Thank you for your follow-up, guys.
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