Whatever the type, buy extra recoil springs for your firearm in advance–they’re quite inexpensive–and prepare to replace them when necessary. The same applies to recoil springs: Good quality coil springs as found in 1911s should generally be replaced every few thousand rounds, while the more durable flatwire springs found in Glocks and many other contemporary pistols can often go 15-20K rounds before replacement–but none last forever. Remember: keep plenty of mags on hand for your carry or competition firearm and don’t be afraid to replace them when they begin to create feeding problems. Even if the magazines are of top quality, if they have been heavily used in training or competition-to the point where springs are weak or feed lips deformed–they will not function 100 percent and should be discarded in favor of new mags.

MAGAZINES AND RECOIL SPRINGS: Are your magazines OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or if aftermarket, of top quality? Magazines are vital to the proper feeding of cartridges, and poor feed lip geometry or improper spring tension can hamper the most capable firearm in terms of feed reliability. Much of the same information can be applied to modern rifles such as the popular AR-15 platform, as well. There are a few things to consider when experiencing malfunctions or stoppages, especially when dealing with a gun whose quality is not under question. But, as with any machine, certain parameters must be met for them to operate to their best capability. Buyers of pistols for personal protection have an array of quality choices like never before.

Why do guns jam