Slide Locking Open with 1 Round Left

[MikeAvery71]

I finally had a chance to try out the Lakeland followers and the slide would lock open on every magazine with one round left. Eventually the two 7 round magazines started performing correctly, but not the 8 round one. What could be causing this?

[Ed M]

What locks the slide open under normal circumstances? The slide lock.

When you fire the last round, the follower pushes the slide stop up, thereby locking the slide open. But with one round left in the mag, the follower isn't even close to the slide lock. SOMETHING has to be hitting the slide lock and moving it up to lock the slide back. Three different mags with three different followers - what's the one constant in the equation? Your thumb.

Try shooting it left handed and see if that works. Maybe your grip changes with the longer 8 round mag, causing your thumb to contact the slide stop. Worth a shot....

Next thing I'd check is interference between the round and the slide stop. Take the slide off the frame, and put the slide stop back in the frame. Put a mag with one round in it in the frame and check for contact between the round and the slide stop. I think this is covered somewhere in the forum stickies.

[MikeAvery71]

It is definitely not my thumb. I contacted Al from Lakeland and we believe the bullet itself is contacting the slide lock while being chambered. The crazy thing is, it was always the second to last round that locked the slide open. When I load 2 rounds and cycle the slide manually there is no premature lock up. Only while firing does it occur. So I'll take apart the one magazine that is still misbehaving, clean it up, and work another 200 rounds through it at the range to see if I can get some insight into this. Al has never heard of this before. Perhaps some slight filing down on the slide release is necessary. I believe I read about that before. There isn't much clearance between the bullet and the release mechanism. Al is a great guy to work with and he has great support for his products, so nothing against Lakeland at all. I think it is just a particular issue with my firearm.

[Ed M]

Sounds like you're doing all the right things to resolve your issue. Given the effort you've already put in on this gun, I sure hope you get this problem solved. A new slide stop is $24 and change. If I were in your shoes, I'd be tempted to buy one and see if it works. You'd also have a spare in case you decide to modify the original and mess up....

My money is on you winding up with a great firearm that'll last a lifetime.

Good luck Mike - I'm rooting for you.

[MikeAvery71]

You know what Ed, that my friend is a very good idea.

[MikeAvery71]

Here's the deal. I went to the range again and all 3 magazines were acting up. Premature slide lock about 30 percent of the time. I was able to verify that the bullets are indeed contacting the slide release. Hollow points worked fine, fmj ammo not so much. So I put the stock plastic mag follower back in one of the magazines and that solved the problem. I guess I'm either going back to plastic or take a file with me to the range and clearance the slide release.

Today was fun. I went to a range that allows rapid fire and practiced quickly pointing the firearm and emptying the magazine as fast as I could. From a distance of around 30' I was making enough contact in critical areas to feel comfortable in my ability to quickly lay down some lead if needed. The K9 is super smooth and easy to shoot and isn't jumpy at all. It makes me feel like a champ at the range. I am happy with this firearm despite a couple of setbacks. But I think I have mostly everything worked out now. I have almost 500 through it.

[kwh]

Good diagnostics. Thanks for the follow-up.

[jtsmall]

Mike, a couple of follow up questions.

1. What followers are you using in your two 7 round mags and your 8 round mag?

2. Did you try a new slide stop?

3. Did you file anything for clearance?

Thanks.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

[MikeAvery71]

Mike, a couple of follow up questions.

1. What followers are you using in your two 7 round mags and your 8 round mag?

2. Did you try a new slide stop?

3. Did you file anything for clearance?

Thanks.

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

Sorry for the very late reply. I went back to the stock plastic followers and it performs perfectly now. The metal ones not so much.