Smith CS9 question

[Storm]

Yesterday I took my used but new to me Smith CS9 Chiefs Special to the range. The first two mags shot perfectly with no malfunctions and pretty darn amazing accuracy at 31 yards. Then, all hell broke loose. There were FTEs and FTFs, failure of the slide to lock back after the last round, and the slide didn't want to go fully into battery requiring me to push it closed the last 1/4" to 1/3". I put the gun aside suspecting a weak recoil spring. On the way home it occurred to me that after having cleaned the gun completely with GunBlast, leaving completely dry, I had failed to lube it. That's the first time I have ever made that mistake in almost thirty years of shooting so I have no precedent. I had no oil in my range bag to see what I could do. I won't make that mistake again either.

I'm wondering if this alone could have caused the problems. That it started off shooting fine for the first two mags makes me suspect that it was a lubrication problem. I suppose I'll order a new recoil spring just to be on the safe side. I'll aslo rule out the magazine as the culprit, but I doubt it. (or maybe it is the mag)

Thoughts? Are some guns more sensitive to this kind of thing than others or could I expect that with any semi-auto?

BTW, that little CS9 is a really accurate gun. I really hope to have it running right as it will be a keeper. I continue to think that overall Smith autos are underrated.

 

[fastbolt]

Sent you a PM.

 

[Storm]

Thank you Fastbolt, that PM really puts this issue to rest.

Over the past day I have received the opinions of two extremely knowledgable people (fastbolt and someone in the gun biz) as well as had the gun examined by two gunsmiths who kindly looked a the gun during a search for more mags.

The problem centers around the lack of lubrication. Consistent with what had been witnessed fisrthand by another at a range a number of times, the unlubricated gun would perform fine for the first two or three mags and then as it heated up (and this varies from gun type to gun type) things would expand causing abnormal friction between the slide and rails. This was consistent with the gun failing to go into battery, having a difficult time stripping the round off the mag, as well as the failure of the slide to lock back on the last round.

Some also pointed to a probable mag issue and they turned out to be right as well. One smith commented that the follower to mag body "fit" felt dry and that if dry/dirty it could hang up the follower. When initially cleaning the gun I had hit the dirty follower (without disassembling the mag) with some PowderBlast and gave it a quick wipe. Obviously the PowederBlast dried out the inside of the mag body and follower. I should have disassembled the mag and cleaned it entirely and then re-lubed. There are no shortcuts without risk.

So, the combination of dry gun and dry mag caused all hell to break loose. I think that the dry rail to frame would have been enough, but add to that the dry mag and I had almost every major non-catastrophic malfunction that you could imagine.

Lesson learned. I'll shoot the gun properly lubed next week.

 

[erikd65]

I had a CS9... the same one... TWICE

Great little pistols. Every time i get rid of one, I wish I hadn't.

By the way, you don't need to lube the crap out of it, just a nice light coat of CLP worked great for me.