Unit 1 is driving me nuts!

First topic message reminder :

Hey all. Sorry for the length of this post.
I purchased a Marvel Unit 1, on eBay, and put it on my Springfield Range Officer Lower. It's supposed to be a gift for my dad. He wants to try bullseye with me this year. I brought her to the range in hopes of zeroing the 4 dot I put on her. I couldn't get the thing to chamber 1 stinking round. Jammed every time. Went home and did some research. Since then I have added the EGW mag catch, new Marvel recoil spring, Ed brown Competition mainspring, tuned my Colt ACE mags, tried GSG mags, and also tried Promags. Still can't get the thing to run smoothly. Biggest issue is the nose dives off the magazine during feeding.

Can anyone suggest anything I haven't listed? Help would be appreciated. I really want to get my dad into competition with me. But at this rate I'm going to go nuts! Thank you!

If a person bought a brand new unit from Marvel, would this be typical of what it takes to get it running?

No.  Most lowers play nice with conversions.  The Nelson Custom Guns and Advantage Arms Target conversions include design improvements over the Marvel and I have found them to be easier to get them to run well.

So whoever said to get a Nelson and be done with it was on the right track. Thank you.
                          Cliff

I bought a used Marvel Unit 1 from somebody on here.  It came with 2 Colt magazines.  I built my own Caspian based lower unit for it.  It has always worked great; accurate and reliable.  Handles Eley, CCI SV, SK, Wolf, pretty much everything I have fed it.  So no, they aren't all problematic.

I like the Marvels. In my experience that aren't too bad to get running.  Mostly just need to make sure you have 19# mainspring and 8# recoil spring. I always tune magazines to make sure that bullet nose feeds without deformation.  I prefer the EGW higher mag release as well; feeds smoother.
Jon

The key definitely seems to be the tuning of the mags. I have had great results since I spread the lips on the mag. I just has to spread them WAY wider than the marvel guide said. Now that it's working I am consistently getting 1-2" groups at 25 yards off hand and jams have gone from 3 out of 5 to 1 out of 120.

The Nelsons and Advantage Arms slides have slightly different geometry for how it strips rounds off of the magazine and gets them to the chamber.  I think that this helps alleviate the problems that Jwhelan939 was having.

This obviously varies frame by frame....

kwixdraw wrote:If a person bought a brand new unit from Marvel, would this be typical of what it takes to get it running?

Not my experience.  My Marvels (three of them) all run flawless.  I do not get the last round lock back model.  I always insert mag with slide closed then sling shot the slide to chamber the first round. 

My personal best score was with a Marvel 889-38x.  I am very pleased.

I recently put a steel slide in my older Marvel. Am having trouble getting it set up to run the lighter ammo. It works best w/the 1200 fps stuff. Fed or Aguila Match. It won't work at all w/ the 2 metal Colt .22's . Have several AA's which are  better. Getting the right recoil sprg seems to be the problem.

anybody w/ exp with the steel slides? Ideas?
Thanks,
Ron Habegger

Ron, what recoil spring are you using? what mainspring are you using?

I recommend 6lb (white color code) and 18lb Wolff mainspring for your setup.

Rob Kovach wrote:Ron, what recoil spring are you using? what mainspring are you using?

I recommend 6lb (white color code) and 18lb Wolff mainspring for your setup.

Will Have to check. Frame is a '70 Colt. May not be able to trace the mainsprg history. If so I'll just get an 18 wolf in it.

Recoil. Is there a yellow coded sprg or is it a miscolored white? The white is in the MarvelPro and works so am loathe to chg. In other posts you have advised Wolf sprgs intended for the 41, so is a wolf 6 OK here?

Recoil color codes: Red??   Have several from Bob Marvel. No color on my origs, always guessed they were 10's. Originals Just would make CCI. Usually (hmph). Took about 4 (cut coils) as I recall for Aguila SE and the same for Eley Sport.

Cutting coils was standard back in the day. My AMTU accurization manual advises ot fore the WC and maybe the .38's. I have use the Wolfs though for many yrs as the correct length seems important to me. The fellow at our club who we went to for everything BE always said cut the mainsprg 1 5/8" for WC, and 1 3/4" for ball.

I recently aquired a really nice Giles .38. The recoil sprg was so short it extened about 1/2" to 3/4" from the slide after releasing the bushing. I have used Wolf 7's & 8's w good results.

I changd to the steel slide on the Marvel as my arthritis-rotator cuff problems are so painful that lighter sprgs just make the gun more manageable.

Thanks Rob,

Ron

kwixdraw wrote:If a person bought a brand new unit from Marvel, would this be typical of what it takes to get it running?

For me, it was just adjusting the magazine lips on the steel Colt mags.

I just pulled my Marvel Unit 1 out of the safe to put on the iron sights rib for a 22 EIC match. When I couldn't find my magazines I tried the ones from my Nelson - worked perfect!

- Dave