First malfunction.
Saturday I experienced the first malfunction with the 4516 no dash. Let me say up front, at the risk of sounding like one of those gunrag writers, that the malfunction was mag related and not gun related. Completely my fault too. As I knew this particular magazine to cause problems but loaded and used it anyway.
I went with my shooting partner to the local indoor range on Saturday AM. He wanted to shoot a LNIB 4566TSW he got from the Henrico County VA Sheriffs office. I figured I'd throw a few more rounds through the 4516 no dash.
I was in a hurry and reached into the plastic tub I keep my "range only" 7-round mags in and grabbed four. Without looking at them. Turns out, one of those mags I grabbed was the same mag that caused my only other S&W 3rd gen 45 stoppage. In my 4516-3 no less.
That was around 4 years ago. It happened during annual qualifications. I messaged member Fastbolt during the lunch break and followed his instructions, replacing the mag spring and follower. But I never "trusted" that mag again, so I marked its baseplate and threw it into the range only tub. Where it was used frequently for some time.
We were shooting drills when the malfunction occured. The drill we were shooting was double taps on the head of a Mixson target at the seven yard line. My shooting partner had been doing the drills with his new to him model 10-5 snub, so I was only loading 6 rounds in my mags as well.
I fired two doubles and then one single, then as I was coming out of recoil I noticed the bullet protruding from the top of the slide and blocking my view of the front sight. My first reaction was to do a malfunction drill and clear the stoppage, but I caught myself. I put the gun down on the bench and examined it while it was cooling off. The malfunction was a text book example of a stovepipe. The cartridge held vertically between the slide and barrel hood. Just the bullet protruding.
Ammunition in that mag was Federal 230 grain ball. The stoppage occured at round 44 of the session. I picked up the mag after clearing the stove pipe and saw the tape on the bottom of the baseplate, confirming that this was a problem magazine. Hence the range only restriction I put on it. Then I checked the guns ejector and the extractor. Both OK. Had to be this problematic magazine.
Sunday I decided to verify my suspicions about that mag being the culprit. I got two of my "for serious" carry mags - both with black followers, two range only mags with yellow followers and two range only mags with red followers. Plus the problem causing mag which had a fairly well used black follower in it. I took each one apart and examined them carefully. The following are my observations.
I've been told here for some time that all the magazine springs for the 6, 7 and 8-round S&W 3rd gen 45's are the same spring. That may be true today, but evidently was not the case in the late 80's and early 90's.
The magazines with the red and yellow followers have magazine springs that have 12 bends in them - top to bottom. The current production magazine spring has 14 bends. I is over a full inch longer than the earlier springs as well. In addition, the 12 bend springs are different from the current 14 bend springs at the top as well. On the 14 bend springs the circle or coil at the top - which goes under the front of the follower - is "even" or "in line" vertically oriented with the other coils in the spring.
On the 12 bend springs from the mags with the yellow followers, the top coil or circle which goes under the front of the follower is set back almost an 1/8th of an inch from the vertical orientation of the coils.
Even stranger, on the mags with the red followers the top circle or coil which goes under the front of the follower is bent up at almost a 45 degree angle. Seemingly propping up the front edge of the red followers.
The problem mag contained a slightly worn black follower. I recall placing it in new around 4 years back. But the spring I pulled out had only 12 bends in it. It was similar to the springs from the mags with the yellow followers. Except it was 1/2 an inch shorter than them, from excessive use. I also noticed that the feed lips on this problem mag are slightly spread at the rear. This mag was one of five I picked up for $7 a piece several years ago at the local cop shop. I more than got my moneys worth out of it. I did strip it for the follower and base plate and bagged the mag body and used spring. It won't be used again.
I went to my spare mag springs, which I keep in a large Zip-loc bag. I have around 14 springs. Sure enough, I found 3 more of the early 12 bend springs in there. So I segregated them from the newer 14 coil springs and placed them with the range only mags.
So thats my take on the malfunction. Not the guns fault. My fault. You must use magazines with springs that are fairly fresh to assure 100% function in these little 4516 guns.
The little 4516 no dash went on to fire 45 more trouble free rounds that day giving me 89 more shots to add to its total. These were a mix of Federal 230 ball and Speer Lawman 230 ball. For those keeping score, 341 + 125 + 89 = 555.
If we count the probable 500 rounds fired before I got this pistol, we are over the 1000 round mark with one stove pipe caused by a weak mag spring. Thats a very reliable gun in my book. I have enough confidence in it that I have been carrying it off duty for the last few weeks. I intend to try to run an IDPA match next Sunday with the 4516 no dash. If all goes well I will qualify with it during my in service training scheduled for the 9th, 10th and 11th of April.
A couple of asides here. The front white dot sight on the 4516 no dash had been bugging me. Through neglect or poor storage it had become a yellow/tan color. At least it had not fallen out as seems to be common with todays S&W pistols.
So I went to Target and picked up an I <heart> Nails pen. Gloss white. These are what females use to draw on their fingernails. They are in the beauty section at Target. Around $7 IIRC. Much better than a paintbrush as it is a fine point tipped pen. Made the front white dot on the 4516 no dash just like new.
I also got the best concealment holster for a compact 45 that I think I've ever owned. I got it off Fleabay for $27 shipped. It is a LH BLK Don Hume number 33 007K. Open top belt scabbard. Fits 4515 no dash, 4516-3 4513TSW w rail as well as the rail free 4513TSW.
I like it for the 4516 no dash best as with the other guns the wider decock paddles and thicker slide stops spread the protective "wings" at the top of the holster reducing its concealability.
I have a few other thoughts on shooting this 4516 but I will post them later. Regards 18DAI
Oh, for those constantly harping for photos, here you go. The "target" on the bottom left was shot at the 10 yard line with 6 rounds of Federal ball. It is the scoring target which is printed up at the left of the B27. Aim small miss small.
One accurate little 45!
