I have an old Astra 400 (got it cheap) that I bought a few years ago. When I shot it sometimes it would double/triple. I put it in the safe and forgot about it. I got it out of the safe this week and gave it a thorough cleaning. Gun shoots great but did double three times while shooting 50 rounds. I guess I need to replace the sear. Has anyone had this problem, did the sear fix it? Thanks.
Astra 400 Question
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italiansport
Member
You really need to get a gunsmith to look it over. Sometimes all that is required is dressing/deepening the sear notch.\
As an aside: These are well made pistols and are usually trouble free.
Jim
As an aside: These are well made pistols and are usually trouble free.
Jim
You might also note what ammo you were using. IIRC, the 400 was chambered for 9mm Bergman-Bayard. It'll also use 9 mm Browing Long and 38 Auto quite happily. 38 Super should not be used as it's way above the operating pressure the 400 was designed for.
Some folks had a bad habit of burning whatever would chamber regardless of caliber and may have caused excessive wear.
Some folks had a bad habit of burning whatever would chamber regardless of caliber and may have caused excessive wear.
IIRRight, the 400 has a 2 piece firing pin,,the front piece is coil spring loaded to keep both retracted unless pushed forward by the internal hammer.
Sometimes the rear half can jam in the forward position when the gun is fired. It;s held in place by one of the simple L shaped assembly pins that keep the big Astra pistol together. The firing pin retainer pin is the front one of the two inserted into the right lower side of the slide at the rear. The other keeps the extractor in place. The 'leg' of the L shape makes for a somewhat easier time of field disassembly.
If the firing pin jams forward and stays there due to a bent pin, crud in the slot of the assembly or rust, ect,,the gun can slam fire the next round,,or two,,or more,, as the slide closes on the live round, Generally it only fires a round or two as the action tends to push the offending firing pin back into place where it works OK for a while till it jams again and the doubling reoccures.
Another cause can be the sear notch on the internal hammer and the sear itself.
Worn engagment surfaces, dirt and gunk causing the parts to only partially engage or even a worn or weak sear spring may be the cause allowing the hammer to fall once in a while from the shock of of the slide closing firing of the next round.
The sear is U shaped and lays surrounding the hammer around the back of it,,a coil spring behind it powers it. The hammer is powered by a very strong coil spring set up down the back strap much like a 1911.
The sear engagement is a little different than most as it is along the back edge of the hammer rotational surface instead of in the front like most pistols.
You can see the parts and the engagment surfaces pretty well with just removing the slide. Sometimes a carefull cleaning will help. You can let the hammer forward with the slide off but buffer it w/you finger(s),,don't just let it snap.
If you do have to remove the hammer and sear,,careful with those springs!,,They are powerful and have no regard for your well being; Eye protection a must when doing any of this work.
One other possibility is a worn or bent disconnector, The dissconnector is easily gotten to by removing the left grip. It's the L shaped stamped steel part connecting the trigger with the sear. I think the Spanish trade calls them a Trigger Bar for that reason and it's a very common design in their pistols big and small.
The verticle part of the piece forming what I call the L shape is the dissconnector part of the piece.
It is activated by the slide movement. When the slide is closed the L shaped piece under spring tension is pushed upwards and into a slot in the slide rail and that allows the the other end of the bar to engage the sear.
Once the trigger is pulled and the shot fired, the slide moves rearward and the dissconnector is pushed clear of the slot in the slide and the part 'disconnects' the trigger from the sear.
If the part is worn or more commonly bent it can allow the sear to be engaged all the time and allow the hammer to simply follow the slide forward and fire a second and/or third round at times.
It can be a stubbon part to install during reassembly,,kind of a puzzle part that appears to be no way it came out of where it's supposed to go back in,,but it does.
So it's not that uncommon for them to be a little out of shape from an impatient gunsmith. Look for plier marks on the part where someone straightened it out after install to make it all good again after bending it to get it back in.
The are excellent pistols made with good materials and heat treatment. But like any machine they can wear and sometimes suffer from plain abuse.
FWIW,,There is also an Astra 400 look-a-like pistol that was made at the same time as the 400 by a small competing company. Maybe more than one but I do recall the one,,of course I can't think of it's name right now.
MAny parts interchange with some work but the quality of the steel and HTreat is much less than the Astra.
Sometimes the rear half can jam in the forward position when the gun is fired. It;s held in place by one of the simple L shaped assembly pins that keep the big Astra pistol together. The firing pin retainer pin is the front one of the two inserted into the right lower side of the slide at the rear. The other keeps the extractor in place. The 'leg' of the L shape makes for a somewhat easier time of field disassembly.
If the firing pin jams forward and stays there due to a bent pin, crud in the slot of the assembly or rust, ect,,the gun can slam fire the next round,,or two,,or more,, as the slide closes on the live round, Generally it only fires a round or two as the action tends to push the offending firing pin back into place where it works OK for a while till it jams again and the doubling reoccures.
Another cause can be the sear notch on the internal hammer and the sear itself.
Worn engagment surfaces, dirt and gunk causing the parts to only partially engage or even a worn or weak sear spring may be the cause allowing the hammer to fall once in a while from the shock of of the slide closing firing of the next round.
The sear is U shaped and lays surrounding the hammer around the back of it,,a coil spring behind it powers it. The hammer is powered by a very strong coil spring set up down the back strap much like a 1911.
The sear engagement is a little different than most as it is along the back edge of the hammer rotational surface instead of in the front like most pistols.
You can see the parts and the engagment surfaces pretty well with just removing the slide. Sometimes a carefull cleaning will help. You can let the hammer forward with the slide off but buffer it w/you finger(s),,don't just let it snap.
If you do have to remove the hammer and sear,,careful with those springs!,,They are powerful and have no regard for your well being; Eye protection a must when doing any of this work.
One other possibility is a worn or bent disconnector, The dissconnector is easily gotten to by removing the left grip. It's the L shaped stamped steel part connecting the trigger with the sear. I think the Spanish trade calls them a Trigger Bar for that reason and it's a very common design in their pistols big and small.
The verticle part of the piece forming what I call the L shape is the dissconnector part of the piece.
It is activated by the slide movement. When the slide is closed the L shaped piece under spring tension is pushed upwards and into a slot in the slide rail and that allows the the other end of the bar to engage the sear.
Once the trigger is pulled and the shot fired, the slide moves rearward and the dissconnector is pushed clear of the slot in the slide and the part 'disconnects' the trigger from the sear.
If the part is worn or more commonly bent it can allow the sear to be engaged all the time and allow the hammer to simply follow the slide forward and fire a second and/or third round at times.
It can be a stubbon part to install during reassembly,,kind of a puzzle part that appears to be no way it came out of where it's supposed to go back in,,but it does.
So it's not that uncommon for them to be a little out of shape from an impatient gunsmith. Look for plier marks on the part where someone straightened it out after install to make it all good again after bending it to get it back in.
The are excellent pistols made with good materials and heat treatment. But like any machine they can wear and sometimes suffer from plain abuse.
FWIW,,There is also an Astra 400 look-a-like pistol that was made at the same time as the 400 by a small competing company. Maybe more than one but I do recall the one,,of course I can't think of it's name right now.
MAny parts interchange with some work but the quality of the steel and HTreat is much less than the Astra.
deadin
US Veteran
I have a 400 with the same problem. I finally just replaced the sear and
trigger bar. (The old trigger bar was pretty beat up.) Bench testing seems to have fixed it, but I won't know for sure until I get it to the range........
My biggest problem with this gun is racking the slide. (I'm fairly old and my hands have gotten so weak I can't hold onto it anymore.)
trigger bar. (The old trigger bar was pretty beat up.) Bench testing seems to have fixed it, but I won't know for sure until I get it to the range........
My biggest problem with this gun is racking the slide. (I'm fairly old and my hands have gotten so weak I can't hold onto it anymore.)
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DWalt
Member
If you haven't disassembled a Model 400 previously, you may wish to read up on the procedure. Not so easily done. At one time, many considered that they were designed to shoot the 9mm Bergman-Bayard (Largo), 9mm Steyr, .38 Auto, and 9mm Luger, and in fact it will fire them all, but using 9mm Luger in one is not a good idea as there is no mouth headspace due to the short case. Using the more powerful .38 Super ammunition is also not a good idea as the 400 is a blowback design.
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I have only been using 9mm Largo in the gun. This morning I dis-assembled the firing pin in the slide, it was dirty but not too bad. Going to take it to the range tomorrow and check function. If it still doubles I am going to replace the sear and the trigger bar, they don't look bad where they connect but I can't really see the sear where it meets the hammer well enough to tell if it looks worn.
DWalt
Member
If you are a reloader, Starline makes several varieties of 9x23mm rimless brass. I use 9x23 Supercomp, very strong cases. You can load with .38 ACP/.38 Super dies if you have them.
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