Good news about the Para LTC

After having feeding problems with hollowpoints in the LTC the other day, I tore it down and gave it the once-over.

I found that there was a significant accumulation of carbon fouling on the feed ramp which had hardened in place, but was still soft enough to wipe off with a rag. I had seen it on the ramp when we were at the range and had assumed that it was contributing to the failures to feed. I hadn't cleaned the gun since we'd started shooting it in order to see if any problems would develop and at what point, so now I know. By the time it choked on the hollowpoints it had run through several hundred rounds of ball ammo, which had left a fair amount of crud on the interior of the pistol. I wiped the feed ramp clean, wiped down the rest of the gun and put it all back together after lubing it with Slip 2000. Like I said before, this stuff is slick. Hope it's this good in the long run. I put a few rounds of the Speer Gold Dot 124gr bonded hollow point +P ammo that had failed to feed properly at the range into the factory magazines and attempted to chamber them. This time, whether I loaded the pistol by dropping a locked-back slide on a loaded magazine, or by retracting the closed slide on the pistol with a loaded magazine in place and chambering the round in that manner, the Speer cartridges fed smoothly into the chamber, straight up the ramp and never a bobble. I plan to take it to the range tomorrow and see if it shoots them as consistently as it chambered them tonight but at this moment it appears that the problem is fixed with a wipe down. Should have taken a photo of the feed ramp before I cleaned it, but didn't think about it until just now. Oh well. I'm not getting paid for this, and I'm buying my own ammo so who's gonna carp about my lack of diligence? OTOH, a visual examination of the magazines failed to reveal any obvious flaws that would account for the occasional failure to feed the last round in the magazine in the one magazine. I was hoping that an irregularity in the follower which would have actuated the slide stop would be apparent, but no such luck. Guess I'll have to keep at it, and at some point put a micrometer on the things to see where there are variances in the dimensions that may cause it. That, or get some rum and a chicken and a cigar and work some mojo on 'em and see if that sets it right.
Now where's that book on Santeria that I picked up in Haiti......?