My Baby Eagle does not like non factory ammo. I reload and I get a lot of FTB fail to go to battery, the ammo specs are good, they work in my 1911 anyway. Wolff does not make springs for them. A call to Magnum Research and they said they have the springs but also said "do not use anything but factory ammo" well that was not good news and not acceptable to me. They also said that a new barrel has to be fitted. I am wondering if there is anyone out there w/ experience that has fitted a barrel on a similar weapon, Tangfolio, Witness, CZ that has any tips on "tweaking" the barrel, ramp, chamber, lugs, slide to barrel fit, hood etc etc. OR has anyone out there been able to use handloads w/ any success in one of these?
Need help w/ Baby Eagle .45acp
- Thread starter 3006mv
- Start date
similar problem
hey just to give you a heads up i had bukoo failure to eject problems with my 9mm be. but with a good scientific method..isolate the problem. for me it was the ammo. belive it or not my be did not like winchester white box and another ammo i picked up at the range. then i went to a gun show and on a whim picked up 500 rds of wolf...i know i know..hold your comments! belive it or not i didnt have one single fte. Not one, and it shot great. I'm not saying wolf ammo is the answear...but try a couple different types of ammo and see if you notice any differences. let me know if it helped. i do think after i pick up my sa1911 a1 blk stainless i just bought i am going to send it in to get the night sights i will have mag res take a look at the extrator but for now a change of ammo is the solution.
heres a pic of what i shot yesterday...50 rds 12-15 yds...not to shabby ehh?
hey just to give you a heads up i had bukoo failure to eject problems with my 9mm be. but with a good scientific method..isolate the problem. for me it was the ammo. belive it or not my be did not like winchester white box and another ammo i picked up at the range. then i went to a gun show and on a whim picked up 500 rds of wolf...i know i know..hold your comments! belive it or not i didnt have one single fte. Not one, and it shot great. I'm not saying wolf ammo is the answear...but try a couple different types of ammo and see if you notice any differences. let me know if it helped. i do think after i pick up my sa1911 a1 blk stainless i just bought i am going to send it in to get the night sights i will have mag res take a look at the extrator but for now a change of ammo is the solution.
heres a pic of what i shot yesterday...50 rds 12-15 yds...not to shabby ehh?
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thanks for the info guys, I do use the Lee factory crimp die, they are all to spec, and I know it is not a magazine issue. I just cannot figure out why it won't take hollow points and such. I am leaning to the too tight chamber. I will buy some factory hollow points and even maybe some Wolf ammo and start measuring and recording everything w/ my micrometer and see if I can narrow it down. I even take out the barrel and drop them in one by one and see what happens, they all drop in and out fine, and the ramp is polished, I am just surprised b/c the ramp angle and feed angle from magazine is almost parallel, maybe that is an inherent design problem? b/c my 1911 w/ a sharper angle feeds everything I mean absolutely everything I have loaded, factory, lead, semi wad cutters, +P you name it! It's a Rock Island Armory 1911A1 GI. and has well over 3000 rounds through it w/ basically no need for a break in period out of the box. Anyway, are there any tuning tips out there for my B.E. It has had over 1000 factory rounds through it by now and that is getting too be too spendy. It is however very accurate. Also when I get the FTB it is really hard to eject it by racking it out, is this b/c of a too tight chamber? would reaming/polishing help at all?
maqueswell
New member
I just purchased a baby eagle .45, and i was thinking about reloading .45's cause i now owen 2 of them, but in the manual, it states that the baby eagle should only use factory ammo.
I did notice one thing, so it may be a spring problem? Sometimes when I rack the slide (empty or no magazine inserted) with the safety ON it will not close all the way, it hangs up. With the safety OFF it will close all the way. I do not do this a lot b/c I heard it is bad to slam a slide shut w/o the "pressure" of a round being there. Again, my handloads are to spec, HP Remington Golden Sabers for some reason insert and eject fine, I need to test these still at the range, I haven't shot these through this weapon yet, with any luck these may be the only handload that will work, it looks promising (keeping my fingers crossed) hope to find out this weekend at the range. And yes Macueswell like Handy stated, gunmakers say not to use handloads (usually for legal/protection issues). But to me what good is a pistol if you cannot use handloads? I don't use lead bullets in any of my weapons (personal preference) but I know there are of people out there that do and with good performance, some factory and some handloads. I just NEED to try to make this thing work so it will again be my favorite pistol. Tater are you using factory HP's? What brand and weight? Are you using any handloads at all and not get function problems? I will probably be ordering a new set of springs from MR here soon too and try to isolate the problem.
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Huchahucha
New member
I have a .40 Baby Eagle that gave me nothing but problems for the longest time. I only use factory ammo, and when I first bought the gun it would only shoot FMJ ammo. Hollow points were unthinkable, as the gun would have feeding problems every third round. Eventually it got to the point where the FMJ loads would not feed right. As I gained more knowledge about autoloaders and how they work, I noticed tool marks on the breach face and ramp on the barrel. I was thoroughly frustrated with the gun anyway, and there isn't a gunsmith within a 100 miles of where I live, so I broke out the Dremel and ground and polished the tool marks out myself. I figured if I screwed something up the gun would still serve me well as a door stop, which is really all it was anyway. After working on the barrel I took it to the range to try it out with 50 rounds of FMJ and 50 round hollowpoints. I didn't have a single feeding issue, but I started having problems with the slide not closing completely. If I applied a little thumb pressure to the back of the slide, it would move into place and I could shoot. So, I went home and got on the computer, and ordered a CZ75 spring kit from Wilson Combat. The kit comes with a 12 lb recoil spring and a 15 lb recoil spring. The 12 lb spring is much beefier than the spring that came in my gun, but I put the 15 lb spring in and headed back to the range with an assortment of rounds. I didn't have a single malfunction this time. Now my big thing is getting used to the fact that the gun is fixed and is more reliable than when I bought it.
thanks that is good info, I will definitely be buying some new springs, I have the similar slide not closing problem, for my .45. I have polished the ramp but may work it some more w/o changing the angle. Maybe I will try the 200 gr gold dots and xtp.s too. thanks again, will post later w/ any findings. Did the Wilson springs come w/ the smaller "internal" spring too? Or just the bigger outer one? Oh and one more thing, what is the equivalent CZ or Witness model in .45acp? is the cz75 9mm or .40 cal?
Huchahucha
New member
The Wilson kit comes with two recoil springs, a firing pin spring, and a main spring. I couldn't find any info on Magnum Research springs and I read on these forums that the Baby Eagle is a CZ 75 clone, so that is why I tried those springs. I just realized the Wilson springs might not work for you because my .40 is a standard size pistol, but I think the .45 only comes in sub compact. Also, from what I could find,the CZ 75 is 9mm or .40 S&W so you might have to get springs from Magnum Research.