Need Help! Re-installed slide on XD-9 without disassembly lever in up position.

[Andrew LB]

Well... the title says it all. I was cleaning my XD-9 and carelessly put the slide back on without the disassembly lever in the up position and the slide locked back and wont budge a bit. Is there an easy fix for this that I can do myself or do I have to take it to a gunsmith? It's such a bonehead move considering how easy this firearm is to disassemble for cleaning. I hope its something easy to do since I don't want to spend the cash or wait a long time to have a smith take care of the issue.

Here is a photo...



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

-Andrew

[Andrew LB]

Here is a photo of the locking block....

[Andrew LB]

Anyone?

Hello out there?

Is there a smithy in the house?

[RoyG]

Ask over at hs2000talk

[Andrew LB]

I already did. http://www.hs2000talk.com/viewtopic.php?p=210447#210447

People seemed more knowledgeable here so i thought i'd get more better help.


Guess i was wrong...


Sorry.... but i just want to get my 9mm working again. It's been a [color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color][color=#FF0000]█[/color]ty day. Tomorrow is shooting day and i have 300 rounds ready for plinking, new bench bags and magazines for my rifles, and the entire day off....

[J.D.B.]

Looks like it'll be a 'smith job. Strange design that lets the gun get in that condition. I've never seen one like it. I don't have an XD, so I can't help directly, and I'm sorry for that. The lever in question is the forward one in the horizontal position? I guess I'm not understanding what parts are actually stuck. It appears that the barrel has become wedged forward and over the locking block. If that is the case, then it will have to be forced or tapped (cringe) backward or forward to free it. Man, that does suck. Is there alot of clearance below the slide, above the barrel hood? Can you move the slide at all? Like maybe to the position that allowed the barrel ride up so far as to clear the locking block? From your post it sounds like the whole works is locked up. I assume the slide assembled easily to the frame, and locked up when you tried to rack it? Not a good puzzle, but there must be a solution. Seems like this problem might have been encountered during development and Springfield might have a ready answer for you. Hope it gets sorted out soon,
Josh

[rangermonroe]

I have tried to recreat your situation with my xd40, without success.

The disassembly lever has an ear that nests into the frame, and will contact the slide when you attempt to reinstall it with out the lever being in the "up" position.

the locking bar is cut out to let the slde pass when the lever is in the up position, but will block reaward travel when in the "fire position." (during reassembly)

Could the locking bar rave inadvertantly been pushed out of its " flush against the frame" position?

The locking bar can easily be removed by rotating the disassembly lever to the 2 o'clock position and pressing from the right side (finger pressure does it on mine.

[Andrew LB]

The slide wont budge in either direction nor will the disassembly lever since it has that little pin that prevents it from moving upward unless the slide is moved more toward the rear of the gun where the knotch lets it move upward.

[DnPRK]

Box it up, take it to FedEx and send it back to Springfield Armory. Let them handle it.

[Andrew LB]

Yea. I've decided to send it in. I'm calling springfield tomorrow once i get out of *gulp*..... jury duty...

[ajamesp51]

Andrew like I told you you will have to force the head of the recoil assembly back over the the disassembly lever. Force is necessary unless you want to take your recoil assembly apart but that requires you break it.

[Andrew LB]

I tried as hard as i could with my bare hands. And i'm not a weakling or anything. Should i use a rubber mallet and give it a whack? It simply wont budge a bit when i use my own strength.

[Andrew LB]

Ok everyone!!! I gave a phone call today to the very helpful gunsmiths at Springfield Armory and the tech, Fred.... was able to replicate my problem of reinstalling the slide and catching the lower portion of the breach against the locking block and getting it stuck there. While James did give me the proper advice, i was hesitent because i must admit i don't believe 100% of what i read on the internet so i didn't give the slide a hard enough whack.

Fred told me to hold the weapon in one hand and start off with slight hits to the back of the slide with a rubber mallet. He said to increase the impact force until it budges, then pull the trigger to uncock the pistol.... then the slide would move foward like normal. I tried it and it worked perfectly after my third swing of the mallet.

These guys at springfield really rock. Fred intentionally messed up a pistol while on the phone with me just to help me fix my problem. I don't have much experience with having to call for help on a firearm issue but i must say i was impressed. So kudos to fred as well as James who helped me in fixing the weapon and I apologize for pre-judging you all and your knowledge.

Today is such a good monday.... not only did i fix my pistol, i also got out of Jury Duty!!!!

Here are some pictures of what occured i took with my new camera (which i still haven't mastered yet... Canon Digital Rebel SLR)

I've put over 4,000 rounds through it so far so its got a little wear and tear... but thats expected for my workhorse pistol.

Fixed XD-9mm



Installed Recoil spring assembly with some wear and a scratch on the end... Its a tiny bit rough where it came unstuck when i whacked it with the mallet... i'm considering smoothing it out a tiny bit with some very fine wet sandpaper.... (bad idea?)



Close up of the scratched up recoil spring assembly.



Locking block where the breach was jammed into.



And a couple close ups of the breach itself.

[Handy]

That all looks like hell. That's poor design if the gun can get stuck like that so easily.

[Andrew LB]

Perhaps you should read the thread instead of making ignorant comments like that. I specifically said that I screwed up when re-assembling the weapon and caused the problem. There is nothing wrong with the XD design. This was 100% user error.

[Handy]

I did read the thread. And I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of autopistol design. A primary goal of combat weapon design is to avoid the possibility of parts being installed incorrectly.

So unless your XD got locked up because you used a hammer to put the slide on, the design of the take-down latch is poor.


I'm sorry this fact so upsets your personal sensibilities, but judging from your pithy "Guess i was wrong..." comment, you're pretty easily offended.


Please enjoy your chewed up pistol.

[Andrew LB]

I did read the thread. And I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of autopistol design. A primary goal of combat weapon design is to avoid the possibility of parts being installed incorrectly.

Then where was your grand knowledge of firearms when this problem occured? Odd how an expert like yourself didn't have a solution since you obviously have encyclopedic knowledge of autopistol design which of course to make such a claim it would have to include the XD ....

I can see by running a quick search that your encyclopedia of autopistol design was reading these forums yesterday and making posts. Such an expert could not possibly not been adequately learned in the XD to provide a novice like myself with a little help.

Please enjoy your chewed up pistol.

Chewed up? There is only a tiny bit of scratching on the slide spring assembly and two tiny dings by the breach. Big f'ing deal. Its not like I bought this gun to be a collectors item. Its a workhorse and has already had over 4,000 rounds put through it. The tip of the slide spring assembly lost most of its black coating due to use, and not because of my mistake putting it back together. The two tiny dings, one on each side of the breach can be easilly smoothed out if they were rough, which they are not.

I love how jaded forum members like yourself have this holier than thou attitude. Its a real turn off to anyone coming to forums like this because they need help from fellow gun enthusiasts.

[Handy]

Sir,

I made a simple statement about how autopistols should work. The only attitude I see is yours, demonstrated twice on this thread. And you forgot to jump J.D.B. for opinioning the same thing:

Strange design that lets the gun get in that condition. I've never seen one like it.

I didn't post a solution, because the obvious solution was to contact the manufacturer, rather than hammering on it first. I'm so sorry I didn't get more creative, since you're such a great guy and all. The "Guess I was wrong..." comment pretty much punched my Ignore button.



So, what GOOD reason do you think there is for you being able to jam your slide open in the event of a misplaced take-down latch? It is obviously a GOOD idea (since I must be wrong), so let's hear the design advantage of a pistol built like a zip tie.

[Andrew LB]

You know something.... i can see why you have so many posts in this forum. And it has nothing to do with actual quality posts, helping others, or making some sort of valid contribution to a thread.

You're nothing more than your typical arm-chair general of guns and need to get out of the house and do something productive.

I'm done with you. My handgun is fixed by people who are actually an encyclopedia of knowledge and not by someone who self proclaims themselves to be one.

/thread

[Handy]

New guy.

I have COUNTLESS posts helping people. You don't know who you're talking to.

[RsqVet]

Handy --- I agree with you and your comments are surely not ignornat, sure does seem like it could be made less goof proof, think about it what if a police officer went to the range before shift, fired wepon, cleaned wepon and then a minor goof --- stuck gun... unplaned day off...

I think rounding off any burs would certianly be a prudent thing to do as well.

[JohnKSa]

Andrew,

Handy's not the most diplomatic guy around here--I've been told I'm not either for that matter --anyway, he's right on this one.

A pistol that can fairly easily be put into a situation that requires tools to get it out of has a design flaw.

Pistols are designed so they can be easily stripped and reassembled under stress. Leaving the lever in the wrong position is a reasonable error for someone to make in such a situation. Needing a mallet to correct this (or any other) "reasonable error" is a significant flaw.

[ajamesp51]

Actually while trying to help andrew I tried it on all seven of my xd`s and could not get any of them to do the same thing andrew did. Instead of being an ass why not help the guy out. And since you know so much about pistol design why not tell me how andrew got it stuck like he did. And what exactly is wrong with the disassembly lever since that was not the problem. I am honest I would really like to know and am not ashamed to ask. So lets do an after action review....what happened????

Ashamed too since he came here thinking you guys were more knowledgable way to treat someone who needs help.

[JohnKSa]

With all due respect, nobody mentioned the design flaw issue until AFTER he stated the problem had been resolved.

Since Springfield was able to replicate AND solve the problem without too much trouble, I'm thinking that they're the ones who should have answers for your other questions.

Furthermore, I'm not sure how you got the idea anyone's giving him a hard time. Someone made the accurate observation that the gun has a design flaw and he jumped down their throat and accused them of making ignorant comments. That qualifies as HIM giving others a hard time, not vice versa.

I don't quite get how you (and apparently he too) have the idea that someone making a critical statement about a gun is an attack on a person who owns that gun. He didn't design it, he didn't manufacture it, he didn't advertise or sell it, he just BOUGHT it. How does a design flaw reflect on him at ALL? If anything, HE'S the injured party and the company who made the gun is the one who's at fault.

If my Honda has a recall and you let me know about it, are you giving me a hard time? If you find out my mechanic ripped me off and you tell me would that make you an ass? Would you be ashamed of a person who told someone else that the firing pin on their CZ-52 will break if it's dryfired?

Negative comments about a product are NOT automatically an attack on all owners of that product.

[Handy]

If someone will point out an exploded view I can get to on the net, I'd be happy to analyze the problem.