Poly80 Help - Slide/Frame Issue

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  • hodgepodge

    Senior Member (Gold)
    Sep 3, 2009
    10,081
    Arnold, MD
    OK, I've assembled two Poly80 PF940v2 pistols. The His and Her versions.

    p1.jpg

    I've assembled one previously. No issues. This time, I followed marinegunbuilder with his accent and his emphasis on first time quality, polishing all the pieces and aligning the holes.

    Pistol 1, hers, the black pink combination, goes together easily. The slide goes on, racks, sets the trigger. No issues.

    Pistol 2, the FDE, has an issue. The slide won't go on, stopping where shown. I believe I may need to take a little more material out of the channel. The slide does go onto the frame without the barrel or recoil spring.

    p2.jpg


    But it gets confusing. The FDE slide won't go onto the black frame. This tells me I have a FDE slide issue. It stops at the same place as the FDE/FDE.

    The pink slide won't go onto the FDE frame. Different issue. It appears to go on until it gets to the rear rail. (And I really don't like this color combination.)

    p3.jpg


    So, here's the plan. I'm going to disassemble the FDE frame and slide. I'm going to remove some more material from the channel.

    p4.jpg
    P5.jpg
    p6.jpg

    Then I'm going to reassemble the pistol. I can try both the frame and slide with a Glock 22.

    But does anyone have a thought on where the issue is? Is there anything I to which I should pay particular attention.

    Thanks.
     

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    • p7.jpg
      p7.jpg
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    GuitarmanNick

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 9, 2017
    2,221
    Laurel
    I think you should focus on the barrel channel in the frame and remove a little more material. Looks like the barrel and/or recoil spring may be contacting it and causing the issue.
     

    Speed3

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 19, 2011
    7,807
    MD
    Almost looks like the slide safety plunger is stopping it from going back? But I cant tell from the pic.
     

    Decoy

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 2, 2007
    4,926
    Dystopia
    It's hard to tell from the pics but make sure your slide lock spring is fully seated and check your trigger bar, the trigger bar could be getting caught on the firing pin safety plunger.
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,257
    HoCo
    you can dissassemble the slide and pull the safety plunger out and see if that has any effect. The bar on the trigger that contacts the safety plunger on the poly 80 are notoriously high. I compared mine to my stock glock 17 and it was measureably high needing to be trimmed back and polished. My old V1 Poly 80 was so high that it was scraping the slide before even touching the plunger. figure out what you can pull off and test the slide movement to isolate the problem. There is always some variance due to manufacturing tolerances from sample to sample, even with the same brand/model item. so when one does not fit but the other does, can mean the contact is very slight and within the tolerance of machining. Some brands hold tighter tolerances than others so thus you have to do some "fitting". For my poly 80, I made sure to modify anything that did not work with my stock glock 17 gun.
     

    DutchV

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 8, 2012
    4,695
    Take out the barrel & recoil unit, then try fitting again. That will determine if the recoil spring channel is the issue.
     

    outrider58

    Eats Bacon Raw
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 29, 2014
    49,709
    1) Definitely take more material out of the channel. Polish it while you're at it.

    2) Try swapping the safety plungers. See if that effects the pink slide going onto the black frame. That might tell you whether you have a FDE slide problem or just an out of spec safety plunger.

    Another suggestion not necessarily dealing with your problem- disassemble both frames and put the rails back in. No guts, just the front and rear rails. Once you've done that, stand the frames on a very flat surface, rails down(granite counter tops are great for this). See how the bearing surfaces of the rails line up. Obviously, you want all four rails flat on the surface with no cants.
     

    hodgepodge

    Senior Member (Gold)
    Sep 3, 2009
    10,081
    Arnold, MD
    UPDATE: Better, but not there yet.

    1. Cleaned up the channel This helped a lot.
    2. Took out the trigger group, front block, etc.Reinstalled.
    3. Disassembled the slide. Removed and reinstalled the safety plunger. It does seem slightly higher than the good slide, but it seems to function properly.
    4. The slide goes on all the way with the barrel and recoil spring removed.

    But overall, it sticks at this point:

    p21.jpg


    And it sticks at this point with both slides. It feels like the rear rail is hitting something. I'm not sure.

    Anybody near Annapolis who can take a look at this?

    Unless someone suggests something else, my plan is to replace the safety plunger and spring. And swap the rear rail with one from a virgin kit.
     
    I just did seven of these in the last few days. I had five with the version one frames and converted them over to version 2 frames and then built a g19 and a G20. The G20 had the exact problem that you do. The rear rail on one side was not exactly 90 degrees and was hitting the slide. I took the rear rail back out and using a small punch a ball-peen hammer and an anvil was able to bend the one side tab just enough to allow the slide to go on and function properly. I also took a file to the edge because there were some small burrs that you could only feel with your fingernail. Your problem is identical to what I experienced and it's not uncommon apparently according to several others on the 80% Builders Facebook page. To test that theory take the slide off of the other pistol and try to put it onto the slide of the one you're having problems with. If the slide will not go on the problem is definitely in the frame and not in the slide and most likely in that rear rail
     

    Lloyd

    Ultimate Member
    Mar 20, 2012
    1,106
    FEMA Camp
    I mean no offense by this, but it has been an issue in several others' builds, but I would double check to make sure the slide lock bar is oriented the right direction.

    .
     

    3paul10

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 6, 2012
    4,872
    Western Maryland
    I don't know anything about these, but in the 5th picture you have, the firing pin safety appears to be in the slide farther than it should be....is the extractor installed correctly?
     

    hodgepodge

    Senior Member (Gold)
    Sep 3, 2009
    10,081
    Arnold, MD
    Yeah, I'm pretty focused on the rear rails and the safety plunger. I'm planning to replace both.

    Just not today. I need a break.

    And, no offense take, I checked the slide lock.
     

    Speed3

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 19, 2011
    7,807
    MD
    UPDATE: Better, but not there yet.

    1. Cleaned up the channel This helped a lot.
    2. Took out the trigger group, front block, etc.Reinstalled.
    3. Disassembled the slide. Removed and reinstalled the safety plunger. It does seem slightly higher than the good slide, but it seems to function properly.
    4. The slide goes on all the way with the barrel and recoil spring removed.

    But overall, it sticks at this point:

    View attachment 277487


    And it sticks at this point with both slides. It feels like the rear rail is hitting something. I'm not sure.

    Anybody near Annapolis who can take a look at this?

    Unless someone suggests something else, my plan is to replace the safety plunger and spring. And swap the rear rail with one from a virgin kit.

    What If you manually push the safety plunger down...will it slide home?
     

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