p230sl feeding problems

[poole]

Im having some trouble with my p230sl jamming. When I fire the brass is ejected fine, but when the slide is pushing in the next round out of the magazine, sometimes it ends up standing almost straight up in stead of climbing the feed ramp and making its way into the chamber.

I thought maybe the slide was not coming all the way back which I could test with some hotter ammo or different recoil springs, but the slide lock will catch and lock open on an empty mag. It its coming back far enough to catch the slide lock it should be coming back far enough to properly rack the next round.

The only way I could manually reproduce the same jam was to pull the slide back and stop just before it would catch the rim of the brass, then slowly push forward, it would bite into the side of the brass, push it forward than stand it straight up in a jam. Every time I ran the slide back all the way to past the rim of the brass it would properly push the round it feed fine. Kindof makes me think the slide is not getting back far enough, but I dont understand why it would get back far enough to lock the slide open on an empty mag if thats the case.

Somebody mentioned maybe bad magazines or magazine springs??

Any ideas?

Shooting federal (american eagle) fmj 95 grains.

 

[usp9]

First thing to be clear about is the condition of the gun. The P230 likes to be clean and well lubed.

The original recoil spring is 16#. Is that what is in the pistol now, or have you changed the spring weight?

If these are the original mag springs, they may need replacing. Keep the other mag parts because the old mags are better quality, (all metal).

Last but not least... sometimes a certain brand of ammo just won't worrk. Try another brand. Cheaper range ammo such as Winchester, with it's truncated bullet, may solve the problem. Remmington UMC is another cheap brand available most places.

 

[poole]

The gun was given to me by my dad about 8 or 10 years ago. I believe it was used when he got it so I dont really know the entire history of the gun. I have a new factory recoil spring on the gun as I cut the old one down while experimenting with the jams originally. I also replaced the slide lock/extractor. The old slide lock showed some wear and would not lock back on the last round. It now locks back on the last round without fail and have never had any failures ejecting.

I have thoroughly cleaned the gun and lubed it several times while trying to figure this out. Ironically, I shot 8 rounds in a row last night without any trouble prior to cleaning it. Its spotless and lubed today, so Ill shoot it some more and see what happens.

So far I have only tried the federal fmj's. Ill try some different ammo and see what that does.

 

[poole]

The mags and mag parts are original to my knowledge.