Barry, thanks for taking the time to reply.
I'm sorry if I didn't make myself clear the first time...
What started all this off was my trying exactly what you just suggested:
take the slide off the gun and remove the barrel and recoil assemblies and then take a cartridge and from below push upward with the case face against the breech face. If you can push up with no tension or resistance on the case then you have to modify the bearing surface behind the claw to let the extractor "tension " on the brass case.
The shellcase and the extracter DO NOT TOUCH at all!
Now, when you write of the bearing surface behind the claw, are you talking about the inner wall of the "tube" where the extractor lives, or are you talking about removing metal from the back of the extractor?
I've taken the extractor out several times today, and it looks dead straight to my eye, no arch to it at all! I've gotten the idea from reading threads here that there should be a slight arch to the extractor, as in the illustration on Jack Weigand's site (and I understand that the example there is actually under stress in the jig and it would straighten a lot when removed.)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Okay, I just took the extractor out again and tried bending it slightly. Now, when you look into the slide from below, the "body" of the extractor is showing, below the claw portion... am I getting anywhere?
-Jorah
PS: I'll try to modify the image to show the change I just made.
PPS: I just checked the slide really carefully, and the wall of the extractor below the claw is now pressing against the side of the cartridge rim, and I can feel tension against the shell as I slide it up from below, and I can delicately rotate the slide without the shell falling out. I suspect that I am now getting somewhere... time for a quick trip to the range to test function...
Thanks, Barry, and everyone else who posted on this thread. I'll let you know how it turns out.
(new image online:http://www.madstone.net/extractor.html )
[This message has been edited by Jorah Lavin (edited 08-25-2001).]