Author Topic: Two cool discoveries  (Read 1581 times)

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Offline SammyOne

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Two cool discoveries
« on: April 14, 2023, 11:43:49 PM »
Discovery 1: I own a Cajunized 97B. The gun is one of my favorites to shoot, but since I have old man eyes, regular sights became tricky for me, so I used it less and less each year. About six months ago, someone suggested I send the slide in to have it milled for a red dot. Big, BIG improvement! I can run this gun full steam, and I love it! In the last three months, I've shot over 3000 rounds through it(it pays to reload). That's more ammo through my 97 than the previous three years combined! So if you struggle with focusing on the front sight, switch to a red dot, and you will not regret it.

Discovery 2: now that I shoot more, I ran into a problem with the slide not going into the battery after about 100 rounds. The slide stays back about 1/4". At first, it would be one round per every two-three magazines, and it would get progressively worse where it would fail to get into battery several times per magazine! The only way to fix it was to do a full cleaning. Now, I am all for cleaning guns, but there are days at the range when everything just feels great. Your shots land, your split times are awesome, and you are flowing like a butterfly! I can easily run through 2-300 rounds on days like that. As you can imagine, cleaning the gun on the range kinda sucks. So after trying many things(thank you forum search button!), I looked at what caused slide "stumble" at the very end of the travel, just before the full lockup. Turns out, the chamber flag gets grimy and starts to impede the lockup! Removing the entire mechanism(tongue, stem, and spring) made the issue go away, but I lost my zero. Apparently, the tongue is used to hold the barrel parallel to the slide! After putting the tongue back in, the gun has been working flawlessly! If you are having problems with the gun not going into full lockup when dirty, remove the spring and stem from the chamber indicator mechanism!

I hope I wasn't too "wordy."

Offline SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM

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Re: Two cool discoveries
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2023, 05:35:09 AM »
I entertained a gun with a red dot some time back so I tried out some of the rental guns at the range and they just are not for me. I know many love them and that's great. I've found a good fiber optic front sight is just the ticket for me.
Never had an issue with the loaded chamber indicator hanging on my 97's but I also replace the recoil spring at regular intervals. Being a standard round wire style spring in the 97 I change them out at every 3500-4000 rounds.
If your lci is actually getting dirty enough to stick and the recoil spring is fairly new I'd be curious to know what powder you are using. I still do all my .45 acp with the old standby Bullseye and my average range session is 350 rounds but as I said I've not encountered a dirt related issue of any kind.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2023, 06:21:46 AM by SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM »

Offline Joe L

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Re: Two cool discoveries
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2023, 06:29:09 AM »
Besides regular replacements of the recoil spring, add some blue loctite to that set screw on the LCI tongue, if you haven't already.  Otherwise it will come loose eventually and you may loose the part before noticing it was loose. 

I love red dots.  I have had a Burris FF3 on a groove mount for years on both a 97B and P-09, and 75B 9mm slide.  But the OR or milled mount is much preferred, especially for run and gun.  I shot bullseye matches for years and the groove mount works fine for that since you aren't really banging the gun around.  The house and carry guns still have open sights, however.

I tried 100 and 200 yards with open sights.  Once.  Red dots rule. 
CZ-75B 9mm and Kadet, 97B"E", two P-09's, P-07, P-10C, P-10F, P-10S, MTR

Offline newageroman

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Re: Two cool discoveries
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2023, 09:19:56 AM »
Great tips! thanks for sharing. I too was recently having issues with the 97 not going into full battery. it got a LOT better after I cleaned it but I didn't pay particular attention to the LCI. I will do that next. Most of my guns dont have an LCI so..
And yes my LCI plate did eject once (over 1000 rounds ago) with some hot rounds to make sure you locktitite it.

As for the dots, yeah they are awesome. I still shoot the iron sights on the 97 but I like Holosuns big Green Ring options.
If you like 97s I have some long form upgrade videos and reviews/comparisons on them on my Rumble Channel - https://rumble.com/c/c-1388111 . I kinda feel like one day YT is just gonna *poof* all the good in depth gunsmithing videos. I'm kind of surprised they haven't already.


Anyway love the 97s! thanks for posting the pics and lets see some pics of it!
Ricky Ace Range Review: https://rumble.com/c/c-1388111
75B-BullShadow SAO (Limited Optics)
SP-01-SAO-comped (OpenMajor)
97E SAO, 97B, SAR copies
..others..

Offline hiketheball

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Re: Two cool discoveries
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2023, 03:47:28 PM »
Thanks for the LCI information and advice.  It seems to be an issue for 97s. 
Like the OP, I can shoot over 100 on a range trip and I usually clean my pistols around 500 rounds.  With this advice, I will pay a little more attention to the LCI.  The 97 is a "beast" -- not in clunkiness; just in the fun of shooting it.

Offline Plinkasaurusrex

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Re: Two cool discoveries
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2023, 10:40:56 AM »

Offline Earl Keese

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