Geo765
NES Member
I need some advice regarding my pistol. Thank you in advance for your help.
Some years ago, I bought a new Smith & Wesson-made PPK in .32 ACP. The recoil spring seemed overly stiff. I couldn’t remove the slide without using the edge of a table, and pushing down hard.
The gun was mostly a safe queen, but while shooting it a while ago I had a squib. The bullet was stuck in the muzzle, half in the barrel. I pushed it out, checked the barrel, then finished shooting. There were no other problems. I was using factory ammo.
I decided to replace the recoil spring with one from Wolff. The slide was much easier to remove.
Two weeks ago, I was shooting mixed brands of factory ammo when I noticed I was getting some “spit back” on my face. Then I got another squib, this time half way down the barrel. Again, I pushed it out, and everything looked OK. This happened after about 140 rounds. I stopped shooting the PPK.
Yesterday, I was determined to find out why this was happening. I used only Remington ammo, and shot slowly. There was much less spit back, no squibs, and only some failures to feed near the end. I fired 142 rounds. I did notice some of the ejected cases had blackened sides. I noticed this two weeks ago, as well.
My question is, what caused the squibs ? Is the Wolff spring too weak? Is it the ammo? I foolishly threw away the OEM spring.
Thanks for your help.
Some years ago, I bought a new Smith & Wesson-made PPK in .32 ACP. The recoil spring seemed overly stiff. I couldn’t remove the slide without using the edge of a table, and pushing down hard.
The gun was mostly a safe queen, but while shooting it a while ago I had a squib. The bullet was stuck in the muzzle, half in the barrel. I pushed it out, checked the barrel, then finished shooting. There were no other problems. I was using factory ammo.
I decided to replace the recoil spring with one from Wolff. The slide was much easier to remove.
Two weeks ago, I was shooting mixed brands of factory ammo when I noticed I was getting some “spit back” on my face. Then I got another squib, this time half way down the barrel. Again, I pushed it out, and everything looked OK. This happened after about 140 rounds. I stopped shooting the PPK.
Yesterday, I was determined to find out why this was happening. I used only Remington ammo, and shot slowly. There was much less spit back, no squibs, and only some failures to feed near the end. I fired 142 rounds. I did notice some of the ejected cases had blackened sides. I noticed this two weeks ago, as well.
My question is, what caused the squibs ? Is the Wolff spring too weak? Is it the ammo? I foolishly threw away the OEM spring.
Thanks for your help.
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