My second son lamented to me last week that "pistols are really hard to shoot". So, we spent some time in dedicated accuracy training on Saturday. In addition to helping him with shooting, I wanted to figure out an issue with my Witness Stock III in 9X19.
The story of how I got this pistol is out of scope, but it has never run 9X19 quite right. I also have a 38 Super barrel for it that works very well. When shooting 9mm it runs the most or all of the first magazine fine. But always before the end of the second magazine it is hanging up about 1/4" out of battery pretty much every shot. And it isn't a "bump" the slide situation - It is locked up tight, like the brass is out of spec. But it's not, brass is fine and if you clear the gun, and reload the exact round that was stuck it loads fine. I think the chamber is on the "tight" side and as powder residue builds up it causes a clearance issue.
Sure enough about half way through his second 5 shot string the issue manifested and by the end his fourth string it was every single shot. Stripped the gun down and sure enough, factory ammo would not pass a "plunk" test. Rounds could be pushed into the chamber with minor pressure, but they would not fall in and out. I was thinking the reamer fairy might have to visit the gun.
Then I had a thought...Swap in the RSA from my Witness Match in 10mm that had a stiffer recoil spring. A glance in my range bag revealed a 20lb spring just hanging out, so rather than steal from the Match, I just put in the 20 lb spring.
We ran another 150 or so rounds with out so much as a hiccup. It seems it just needed a little extra "help". And, to be honest a 20 lb spring is probably more appropriate for the 38 Super Comp loads I run.
As far as my son's shooting; He had a little issue with trigger control. I feel like a bad coach for not noticing this before, but he took the concept of trigger discipline to a whole new level. He was keeping his trigger finger on the side of the frame until he was ready for the gun to fire, then trying to move from frame, to trigger to shot in one smooth, nearly instant motion. I clarified that once his sights were pointed down-range and he was in shooting position, he should gently rest his finger on the trigger, do his final sight alignment and then just increase trigger pressure until the gun surprised him with a shot. His 6-8" groups that were low-right almost immediately became 3-4" groups clustered around the center of the aim point. Another couple sessions and he will surpass me.