Last Shot lock open

JRaz · Post by **JRaz** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 11:08 am

Have a 22/45 that for some reason has recently failed to hold the bolt open on the last shot. Any ideas? Gun is well broken in and very accurate. Thanks

ruger22 · Post by **ruger22** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:14 pm

First thoughts are, are the hold-open mechanism and magazine clean? Does it fail to hold open with more than one of your magazines?

The hold-open works by the button on the side of the mag coming up against it when the last bullet leaves the magazine. It usually fails to work because of dirt, or a rough spot, interfering with movement of the hold-open mechanism, or movement of the magazine follower.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:34 pm

Welcome to Guntalk-Online.

One would be the follower button is not activating the slide latch in time to catch the bolt. The other is the bolt face or the slide catch lever is worn. This happens when the bolt is released from the catch button instead of by the slingshot process. Unfortunately with the 22/45 even when slingshotting the user must activate the bolt catch with their thumb as the lever is detent ball bearing loaded to prevent gravity operation. If the bolt catch is not squared with the bolt face then this is the likely source of the problem.

R,
Bullseye

JRaz · Post by **JRaz** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 6:15 am

Gun is very clean as far as I can tell. Will take it apart today and investigate further.

Thanks

Post by **Bullseye** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 6:58 am

Check it out and let me know what you find. Like Ruger 22 said earlier a slow magazine follower button can cause the same effect. I don't know if you've marked your magazines or if the problem is happening with all your mags.

R,
Bullseye

JRaz · Post by **JRaz** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:07 pm

Will mark magazines to see if problem follows. Upon closer examination of the internals ( and using Bullseye's pictures) after disassembly, it looks like the slide catch appears to be bent slightly to the left as viewed from the rear end. This may be the problem and if so I guess I could bend it back in alignment. Bolt face and slide catch do not appear worn. Maybe I screwed up assembling it after cleaning some time in the past.

Coach1 · Post by **Coach1** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 2:55 pm

Back in the day, I was taught that one never "bends" a part back into.. rather you "form it " to meet specs.

Replacing the catch lever - if required after forming fails - seems a lot less expensive than a bolt replacement .. as I would expect was the conclusion from Bullseye's photo. Good luck.

Post by **Bullseye** » Wed Mar 09, 2011 8:04 pm

These bolt catches do have a slight leftward bend in them from the factory. Are you sure that it was bent during reassembly or does the bolt catch just have that slight bend in it from the factory? Do you see any indications that the bolt catch lever is misaligned on the front of the bolt face?

R,
Bullseye

JRaz · Post by **JRaz** » Thu Mar 10, 2011 5:10 pm

Bullseye et. al. Not sure that it was bent during reassembly. Point of contact between bolt and and bolt catch is pretty thin, that is, not making a lot of contact on both surfaces. I have a friend that has a mark III will compare the two. I was taught not to allow the bolt to slam shut using the follower button but to ease the bolt forward. I guess this is correct.

Thanks to all for your ideas.

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 6:47 am

If you disassemble the pistol, check in behind the bolt catch for any leftover shipping preservative. If this is present it will collect grit from blowback and cause a timing problem for the bolt catch. The pistol can appear very clean and still have this material present. It looks a lot like rust colored oil. The preservative will definitely harden over time.

R,
Bullseye

JRaz · Post by **JRaz** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 7:29 am

Well after a couple of trips to the range and taking things apart I found that I had reassembled the magazine slider button on the wrong side. DUH! O well part of the learning porocess. Thanks again to all who replied

Coach1 · Post by **Coach1** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:16 pm

Glad to hear that you found the real cause of your problem. Regardless of the source or fix - it is always better to resolve the problem than to have it just disappear.

Good luck and have fun from here on.

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 6:19 pm

I didn't think to go back that far with your original question. You didn't mention that you had disassembled the magazine(s). I'm glad that you discovered the problem. I'm sure you will keep an eye out for that in the future.

R,
Bullseye

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 6:24 pm

Bullseye, You may want to update your trouble shooting guide to check that the button is on the correct side. It might jog there memory as to where to look first.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Fri Apr 15, 2011 8:42 pm

Or just include a picture illustrating how the BHO works with labels slong the lines of "check that the button engages the internal lever firmly" or something.

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