3914 Gunsmithing
Today I decided to shoot the 3914 I bought yesterday. It shot pretty well, although it liked 1 type of ammo over the others that I tried. It shot 6 inches left at 15 yards with Federal 115 gr FMJ and 4 inches left with Winchester 115 gr FMJ. Then it shot 4 inches high and to the left with Speer Lawman 115 gr FMJ. Since I bought this for concealed carry I tried the Speer Gold Dot 115 gr JHP that I shoot in my Sig P226. It shot dead on with all rounds in the black of a 3 inch shoot n see target. I did experience one thing that I thought was abnormal.
When I shot the gun empty and with the slide locked back, I inserted a loaded mag and couldn't press the slide stop down to release the slide. Then I tried grabbing the rear of the slide, pulling it back a little and letting it go, like I do on my Sig. The slide stayed locked to the rear. The only way I could get the slide forward was to use my shooting hand thumb pressing really hard on the slide stop and pulling the slide all the way to the rear and letting it go. I thought it should be working similar to my Sig P226.
I took the gun inside and inspected it under a lit magnifying glass. I noticed the small spring-loaded pin in the slide stop was behind the flat spot on the leaf spring that's under the top of the grip. That slide stop pin should be riding on that flat spot on the leaf spring. During further inspection I noticed the 1.5 inch long plastic clip inside the left side of the grip, that should be inside the grip frame and holding the grip next to the gun, was outside the grip frame. That caused the entire left side of the grip, and that flat leaf spring to be out and away from the gun frame. That's why the slide stop pin was going down behind the flat spot.
I removed the grip, and used a round punch to push the pin attached to that flat spring out and away from the gun. That pin holds the hammer and several small levers in the gun, so I didn't want to push it out all the way. I was able to use small needle nose pliers to straighten out the flat leaf spring. (It's probably not called a leaf spring, but I don't have a parts list or exploded drawing yet) I reassembled the gun and made sure the clip on the grips went inside the grip frame.
Now that flat leaf spring and the top of the grip is flush up against the frame, and the slide stop pin is on the flat spot on the end of that leaf spring. The locked back slide will now snap forward either pressing down on the slide stop, or pulling the slide to the rear and letting it go. That's just how it's supposed to be. I guess the previous owner had done some smithing on his own and didn't get it put back together properly. Maybe that's why it was on consignment in the local gun shop for what I thought was a good deal.
Guess I didn't give it a close enough inspection at the gun shop. Glad it's working properly now and shoots those 115 gr Gold Dots dead center. Now to find a nice holster.
Rod
