Gary Reeder
I think that is part of it but not all of it. Yes there is
Saturday, August 03, 2019, 20:51

more of a chance of a jam with a lightweight frame but only for those that are not used to their gun. I have carried either my Star PD or a Colt lightweight Commander for over 40 years and have shot both a lot. As far as I can remember I have never had a jam due to the slide not coming back far enough to dump the old brass and load the new one. It all has to do with being familiar with your gun. I shot in the combat shoots for about 7 years and put over 70,000 rounds thru an AMT Long Slide and doing that I learned real quick to put a death grip on my gun and forget a one handed hold.

So yes an aluminum frame can cause problems but not because it is aluminum, but due to the shooter not being fully familiar with his gun. We get folks in our shop quite often with jamming problems with their guns. Two in this last week. Usually I will watch them shoot the gun and invariably they will limp wrist it and these were steel frame guns, a Kimber and a Rock Island, both guns were the small 3" barreled guns. They simply weren't giving the slide enough forward pressure to allow it to cycle fully and it ended up with a stovepipe in both instances.

So it is not always the lightweight frame that causes jams. It can just as easily and more often be due to a failure of the shooter to control his pistol.