Taurus TCP-738 .380 random jamming fix.. (pics)

[backfire]

This is the trigger-end of the lower frame rail assy. that sets against the upper slide face when the two slam shut during operation. I true'd these both up by putting it onto a piece of glass to measure / watch and only removing the material I needed, to get both faces even. These two edges are now parallel w/ each other, which should allow the action to set squarely on the lower frame rail when closed, ready to fire.

BTW- That little black spec you see on the right side is actually a low spot- that's how far out of whack these two planes were w/ each other!

 

[backfire]

This last picture os of the trigger assy. In this gun, the trigger pivots on a ball-and-socket arrangement, held in by a perpendicular pin and loaded by a spring for trigger tension. Don't make the mistake I first did when I first cleaned it before my first firing, where I put a drop of gun oil on this ball/socket, thinking that I would do it good. Well, it didn't work as well as I thought and only attacted dirt instead, making the trigger feel "crunchy" during the pull.

I've now only added a tiny amount of gun oil on this ball via a Q-tip that has a 1/2 drop of gun oil on it. Now it's got just enough oil to do the job, without having too much that attracts dirt.

BTW- I washed all my parts with a tooth brush in very hot soapy water, using DAWN dish washing soap. I've found the oil stripping Dawn soap to work VERY well on gun parts, without being stinky like gun cleaners are or without being too harsh on small, fragile (polymer) parts. Tamp dry w/ a lint-free towel, blow out with compressed air and whaa-laaa, clean, oil free gun parts, ready for re-assembly!

 

[backfire]

I'll try to get back to the range this week to try this baby out. If it don't work any better after all this work, I'm going to have the neatest door-stop ever!!

 

[backfire]

I've been pretty sick w/ a cold these last coupe of days, where I felt like total garbage, so I haven't been to the range just yet to test this firearm. I'm better now and itching to get out of the house, so I intend on going to the range this Friday or Saturday sometime.

I did perform a couple of other minor improvements I noticed while I was test-fitting everything together, so I'll post them too when I get a minute.

1. I polished the hammer face to remove that casting line that's on there from the factory and I also polished the hammer cocker rail (lack of a better term) under the slide to reduce the friction of manually pulling the slide reward and cocking the hammer when the action is in operation.

2. I polished the machining marks from the outer barrel surface to make the slide work more smoothly over the barrels length as the action is in operation.

3. I also used Remington DriLube on all the external surfaces to provide gun part protection, without making anything "wet" with gun lube that might attract dirt- especially in the magazines and on the trigger pivot.

I think the TCP is a "good" gun right out of the box, it just needs a little TLC to bring it up to a real "GREAT" gun that I'd trust my life with.

 

[booey50]

OP do you have an easy way to disassemble everything like you did??? I am just lazy and don't want to look it up. A problem with mine is the magazine is catching on the internals of the magazine release and I need to file this down a bit. Other than that mine has ran smoothly.

 

[backfire]

Disassembly of the entire firearm, right down to the bare grip is via removal of the two small steel dowels located at the front and rear of the grip. I placed my gun on a padded leather "pillow" to keep from marring the gun, while I used a brass straight-punch to drive out the dowels.

 

[backfire]

These are the last of the durability/reliability enhancement photos of this gun, as it's going back together for the last time and taken shooting this weekend. Everything has been modified, fitted or adjusted to my liking, which should increase the gun's smoothness of operation, eliminate the random jamming and correct the notchy slide and trigger operation for the better. Now it's off to have some fun with it.

All stripped, except for the sear, pin & spring, firing pin and extracter- which I already had re-installed when I thought to take this picture.

 

[backfire]

Deburred the breech face to enable snag-free cartridge chambering and so the cartridge lip sets flush/square with the breech face.

 

[backfire]

Lightly sanded down the huge parting line on the hammer with 1500 grit machinists sand paper, then followed up with a polish job to make the hammer face as smooth as glass. This improvement will reduce friction and make the hammer face slide more smoothly over the hammer cocker rail on the upper slide.

 

[backfire]

Did the same polish job on the hammer cocker rail under the upper slide.

 

[backfire]

Last one.. Polished most of the machining grooves off the external surface of the barrel, making it slide in/out of the upper slide easier during recoil action.

 

[jason867]

Get on with testing it already!

 

[backfire]

Interesting note: After I got everything back together and dry-cycled each part to make sure it all worked ok, I found that the ammo in one mag. seemed to "hang up", causing the cartridges to not feed upward. I took that mag apart again for inspection, only to find nothing amiss that would cause that issue.

I then took a little closer look at the ammo itself. I normally use Federal American Eagle 95g FMJ ammo for target practice/plinking and save my Hornady 90g Critical Self Defense ammo for "good". Both have worked pretty well in this gun thus far. However, this time, I purchased a box of Magtech 95g FMJ ammo, 'cause it was the only thing the gun store had in stock at the time, so now this new problem of "ammo sticking" has just started with these...

I found a pretty significant difference between the Fed. American Eagle ammo, compared to the Magtech stuff. The F.A.E. brass case is .3700" in diameter at the base of the inserted bullet area of the cartridge and this diameter remains steady all along the entirent length of the cartridge. The Hornady stuff is like this too- actually .0005 smaller.

The Magtech stuff is much larger in diameter at .3735" in the same area, only there is a decent sized "bulge" at the base of the bullet on the exterior of the cartridge. That's .0035" bigger folks! This "bulge" is just bigger enough in size to sometimes hang-up in the magazine, which would also aggravate feed jamming as well. I don't think I'll be using these in my gun now after seeing this...

Just a heads-up on something I found that might be useful to someone else.

 

[backfire]

Get on with testing it already!

I'm READY!! Going to the range at lunch tomorrow!

I can say that this sucker operates as smooth as silk now!!! It no longer sounds as if it has "gravel" in the slide like it did before...

 

[backfire]

Update:

Update:
Just got back from the range over my lunch hour, where I ran 50 rounds though her almost as fast as I could load/shoot the thing. It never once even hinted at missing a beat, even when it got hot! The slide action, trigger motion, mag installation/ejection and overall operation of the firearm was as smooth as glass! The spent cartridges aren't getting bashed up anymore either ike they were before. (I was using Federal American Eagle 95g. FMJ ammo BTW...)

I now feel much more confident with the gun for myself and for my wife's use. Heck, I like it so much better now than before, I'm probably going to ankle-carry it myself.

I'll post the cell phone video and pic of the body target when I get home.

I'd recommend these refinements to ANY similar Taurus TCP- especially if you want to put your life on it!!


Happy Shooting!

 

[jason867]

Awesome, even though mine don't jam until dirty, I will probably follow your step-by-step guide and do the same to mine.

 

[backfire]

Here is the silouette target I shot 50 rounds at, positioned about 28 feet from me. I didn't really aim at anything in particular, but rather "pointed" the gun at the target and then pulled the trigger as fast as I could through all 50 rounds. The gun was hot to the touch afterward and it never missed a beat! (it would have definately jammed up by now the way it used to be- especially hot)

I'd guess the perp in this case would have had a very bad day.....

 

[backfire]

Here's a quick, kinda crappy cell phone video a nice chap tok for me while I cycled the gun through 12 rounds. These were the last 12 rounds of the 50 I put through it within 8 minutes or so, so it was pretty hot to the touch by this time.

You can see how cleanly the action functioned and fired, including how easy the mags "shot" out of the handle when the release button was simply pushed. This thing would have CERTAINLY jammed up by now as it was before and the mags were always sticky going in and coming out too- especially as the gun warmed up.

All-in-all, I'm pretty pleased with the improvements and I've really gotten to like this gun more and more each time I shoot it. Best part is, I now don't have to wear the thing out by pumping "200 rounds" through it to "break it in" like the factory recommends. I've only got 100 rounds through her and it's BETTER than new now!

2043093235457_ORIG.mp4 video by backfire3 - Photobucket

 

[rala]

Thanks for the write up. I just bought a 738 and will do this before anything. Nice to know what to look for. At the shop they had TCP, LCP, Diamondback and Kahr. TCP was $200, LCP $329, DB380 $380 and Kahr $549. I played with all 4. You get what you pay for. The Taurus will never be as nice as the Kahr, but I'll have an enjoyable evening and $350 bucks to spend on ammo

 

[Ccook1065]

Thanks for the write up. I just bought a 738 and will do this before anything. Nice to know what to look for. At the shop they had TCP, LCP, Diamondback and Kahr. TCP was $200, LCP $329, DB380 $380 and Kahr $549. I played with all 4. You get what you pay for. The Taurus will never be as nice as the Kahr, but I'll have an enjoyable evening and $350 bucks to spend on ammo

I went with the lcp but the tcp was a close second.... For 200 I probably would have done it!