Marlin Firearms Forum banner

New .45LC random extraction failures

1K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  slash2 
#1 ·
I have a new Big 5 1984 in .45 colt that doesn'r want to extract every 5th, or 6th or 3rd or whatever spent cartridge. It doesnt even pull them out of the chamber. The ones that do extract do it normally.

The loads are light handloads with Winchester brass and the cases will fall out of the chamber if you point the gun up. Put the same fired case back in the chamber and it will flip it right out like it should.

I've taken the extractor out and bent the spring a little to add more tension and it didn't help. The extractor itself looks fine, sharp hook and no burrs. The hook contacts the case and the little nob down on the shaft of the extractor is well clear of touching the side.

My only guess at this point is that the hook was cut a little long, in other words the hook contacts the case about 2/3 of the way up the groove, not very close to the rim, so there is some slop before the hook catches the rim.

Or the corresponding groove in the chamber is not deep enough, thus holding the extractor out from the case and letting it occasionally skip ovet the rim without hooking it?

I'm grabbing at straws here.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
My .32 was doing that too. I took the bolt out and put an empty on the bolt face under the extractor. Then I could see that the point was just a little too thick. The front side of the point was hitting the body of the case and not letting the point in the rim far enough to get a good hold. A few strokes with a file and it runs flawlessly.

Hope yours is that simple,
C.S.
 
#3 ·
The hook on my the extractor makes it all the way into the groove without hitting the case wall, barely.

I did notice that with a shell in the chamber I am unable to see any of the case's groove, which tells me that with the bolt closed the extractor is not contacting much of the rim at all.
 
#4 ·
I may be wrong but I think the case is supposed to seat completely. It headspaces on the rim, like in a revolver. When the action is closed the extractor is pressed against the ramped side of the barrel and as the action is opened it slides off the ramp and catches the cartridge rim. Maybe that was really my problem and possibly yours. With a slightly steeper angle on the front edge of the extractor the point will have a better chance of catching hold of the rim.

Or the "ramp" on the barrel may not expose enough of the rim(too thick) to afford a the extractor a good enough hold.


C.S.
 
#5 ·
I think you night be right on both counts, the ramp doesn't expose enough of the rim for the hook to reliably grab, especially if the angle on the face of the extractor isn't steep enough.

I had tried increasing the angle on the extractor face a little with only slightly better results, so I'm trying a more ham handed approach. Readers please let me know if I'm being stupid.

I probably have voided my warranty, but I took single edge utility razor blade and gently scraped back the surface of the ramp, in effect lowering it's height a little and leaving a small crescent moon edge to it, exposing more of the rim of the cartridge.

I'm going to the range today to see if this helps....
 
#6 ·
The main problem is that the rim of the .45 Colt cartridge only sticks out half as far as a .44mag,.44-40, .357mag, etc. It was designed for revolvers that used rod ejectors, not for guns that use hook extractors. I suspect that is why it was not chambered in rifles until the demand from cowboy shooters.
Your modification to the extractor cut in the barrel will probably improve extraction. Both my 1894's in .32-20 and .357 have a small crescent cut in the extractor grove of the barrel where it meets the rim of the cartridge.
If you continue to have problems, try removing the bolt and coat the front of the extractor with lipstick. Slide the bolt back into the receiver and check where the extractor hits the cut in the barrel. Ideally it should just touch the very back of the barrel for maximum 'grab'.
Keep the cartridges that fail to extract separate from those that do and measure their rim diameter. Even among cartridges of the same brand there can be variations in rim diameter.
M.
 
#7 ·
Modifying the extractor groove did help improve the problem but it hasn't completely solved it yet. The extractor is now reliably pulling the case out of the chamber but in a couple of cases it lost its grip on the case before contacting the ejector, leaving the case in the rifle.

As I mentioned earlier, the extractor seems to be a little long to me, the hook contacts the case about 2/3 of the way up the groove from the rim. In other words it is not holding the case firmly against the bolt face, there is some slop there, and I can see how it would be easy for it to lose its grip on the rim once the case mouth clears the chamber. I don't have another extractor to compare it to, so I don't know if this is normal or not. The gun definitely doesn't eject the empty cases with much gusto, but it will toss a full cartridge about 3 feet.
 
#9 ·
My new extractor arrived, and the spring on it is considerably stronger than the one that was on the gun, it grabs the case and holds it all the way to ejector, which then chucks it a couple feet! Problem solved.

The length is identical to the other one, so it appears it just needed more spring tension.

Thanks for the help guys!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top