One of our members had a bad experience with his Dan Wesson Commander clone (Not sure what the proprietary moniker is) in
that after having gotten it back from the company armorer...and I use
the term loosely...his slide and bushing was destroyed.
Although this has been covered a few times in the past, I thought it
would be a good time to post instructions on a simple test that will
prevent this in the future for our other members
Whenever a recoil spring is replaced, rack the slide and listen closely
to what the gun is telling you. If you hear a sharp metallic "clink",
chances are that all is well. If you hear a dull sound...not quite a thud
but not quite NOT a thud...sort of a "crunchy" sound...you might not want to fire the pistol just yet.
Take a small strip of masking tape and stick it to the dust cover. Remove the recoil spring plug. If you have the standard "stub" guide rod, leave the
spring in place too. Be sure that the bushing is rotated completely out of the way in a clockwise direction when looking into the muzzle. If you
have a full-length guide rod, you may remove the recoil spring.
Pull the slide fully rearward and hold it there while you make a witness mark on the tape that aligns with the end of the slide. Make this mark
as close to exact as you can.
Replace the recoil spring and/or plug, and pull the slide fully rearward
again. Check the mark on the tape to see that the end of the slide
is aligned with the mark. If the front of the slide aligns with the mark, you're good to go. If the end of the slide is FORWARD of the mark, you have coil bind, and the spring must be trimmed. If the pistol is fired with a coil bind condition, the very least that will happen is that the bushing will be quickly ruined. In a worst-case, the slide will be damaged beyond any reasonable repair, and the damage can be done as early as the first round. Clip a half-coil at a time until the marks align, and you can hear the metal-to-metal sound when the slide is racked briskly...and then
trim an extra half-coil just to be sure.
The package may say that the part is a "Drop-In"...and it may very well
drop right in and work...but it might not. Read the disclaimer that states:
"This part should be installed by a qualified gunsmith."
And so, armed with a little knowledge, we press ever onward...
at that Anaconda. Prolly a hot hand load.
