1911 feed issues- nose diving rounds

[Lead Waster]

If you’re going to buy new mags, try out a seven round magazine as well.

[flyboy3394]

That sounds like most of your problem right there.

I'm surprised you have ever been able to get a whole magazine through the ProMag without a jam.

Any 8-rd Wilson 47D is immediately suspect after more than a year.

You need some good mags to see what the pistol will really do. At the high end, costwise, is the Tripp. At the more affordable end are the excellent Metaform mags

Ironically, the promag was the only mag i could manage to get through (one time) without a single jam.

Your statement about my wilson being "suspect" after one year seems.... suspect. Can you please explain what you mean, and back that up with some kind of evidential finding/study?

I do need more magazines anyways, so I will try something other than Wilson, perhaps Tripp or Chip McCormick.



In other news, I deep cleaneed the gun last night, and it cycled (snap caps) a whole lot smoother than before cleaning it. I am wondering about the feed ramp being gunked up and contributing to the feed issue.

Going to try and take it to the range soon to test it out.

Nobody knows of a 1911 smith anywhere remotely close to the SF Bay Area? I am happy to ship it off anywhere, but would like to stay local if at all possible.

[mtenenhaus]

a couple of years ago someone asked the same questions...here's the link, maybe there is someone you could use listed there:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=398979

Were it up to me i'd send my pistol off to Brett Cifaldi who was kind enough to post above, or one of the other well known and well trusted smiths like Bruce Gray, John Jardine, Alex and John Hamilton, Ted Yost etc.

I've come to the age and realization that most every time i've compromised on quality work i've come to regret it.

[k1dude]

I haven't had much luck with Wilson or Promag mags. I've had no problems with Chip McCormick and Mec-Gar mags.

[walmart_ar15]

Guess I better throw my 10-15 year old Wilson mags away. They are all working fine but are beyond their expiration date.

The interesting thing I find is that when a 1911 has everything properly in spec they seem to run perfectly fine with all sorts of brands of mags without issue.


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+1

1911 was designed to be stupid reliable by JMB for a military sidearm. It only became less so over the years as people try to "tune" it. Then folks start to design new magazines to "optimize" those "tuned" gun.

Get some old GI standard 7 rounds mags, and try them out. Being a 70's era Colt, those mag may work better.

To see how the round loads. Get a snap cap and hand cycle the slide slowly and watch how the rounds feed into the chamber. You'll see the rounds first slides up into the extractor, then it jumps up as the mag lip release it, aligning the bullet with the chamber. If the round does not slide up and get release at the right moment, it will nose dive.

Whatever you do, DO NOT start to polishing the feed ramp with anything more than just a barrel brush.

[flyboy3394]

+1

1911 was designed to be stupid reliable by JMB for a military sidearm. It only became less so over the years as people try to "tune" it. Then folks start to design new magazines to "optimize" those "tuned" gun.

Get some old GI standard 7 rounds mags, and try them out. Being a 70's era Colt, those mag may work better.

To see how the round loads. Get a snap cap and hand cycle the slide slowly and watch how the rounds feed into the chamber. You'll see the rounds first slides up into the extractor, then it jumps up as the mag lip release it, aligning the bullet with the chamber. If the round does not slide up and get release at the right moment, it will nose dive.

Whatever you do, DO NOT start to polishing the feed ramp with anything more than just a barrel brush.

I have the old mags that my grandfather had with the gun when he died. Not sure if they were USGI or otherwise, but they did not feed reliably.

[R.Mac]

As cheesy as it may seem, the "lips" at top of mag are crucial to feed properly. They are just sheet metal, and can get distorted easily over time and being dropped on the ground. They can however, be re-formed into shape where the cartridge will feed slightly nose up towards the ramp and still maintain the proper retention for good feeding.

[CifaldiPrecision]

[MosinVirus]

I asked earlier...

What is the plethora of issues? Can you list them, as they may indicate related problems or causes of feeding issues.

And, you say "lately" when you describe issues with feeding. Can you let us know why you said Lately?

[FeuerFrei]

16# recoil spring installed?
All mags but one cause failures. What's different about the good mag vs malfing mags? Answer could be right there.
My sop for a new to me 1911 is to install a new recoil spring. Round counts from used gun sellers are not to be trusted IME. I also test with a known good mag and quality ball ammo to set a base line for function.

Sent using a long string and 2 Dixie cups

[flyboy3394]

I asked earlier...

What is the plethora of issues? Can you list them, as they may indicate related problems or causes of feeding issues.

And, you say "lately" when you describe issues with feeding. Can you let us know why you said Lately?

Plethora of issues was mainly my dramatic flair but the main issues have been feed related, lately. By lately, I mean the last 6 months to a year.

before that, there were issues related to light ammo (200 grain) not cycling properly due to a compensator on the gun. That is now removed, and new issues have replaced the old ones.

Addressing the #16 spring comment, I am unsure of what spring is in there currently. Nor am I aware of what I should be using given i shoot 200 grain and 230 grain ball ammo mainly.

I did a deep clean on the gun and will take it out this weekend to see if that helped.

[MosinVirus]

Plethora of issues was mainly my dramatic flair but the main issues have been feed related, lately. By lately, I mean the last 6 months to a year.

before that, there were issues related to light ammo (200 grain) not cycling properly due to a compensator on the gun. That is now removed, and new issues have replaced the old ones.

Addressing the #16 spring comment, I am unsure of what spring is in there currently. Nor am I aware of what I should be using given i shoot 200 grain and 230 grain ball ammo mainly.

I did a deep clean on the gun and will take it out this weekend to see if that helped.

With a compensated gun you may have been running a lighter weight recoil spring. Especially if you had cycling issues. However, you would have had issue with feeding back then as well if the recoil spring was the culprit.

Though a light weight recoil spring would not cause the rounds to nose dive. Not feed, possibly. Stick into the ramp and not move any further, probably. But not nose dive. At least I don't think it would.

If you do not have a picture of the jam, can you please take one when it happens? Showing where the nose of the round is, whether the nose is pointing downward, and where the rim of the case is at the time the gun jams.

[FeuerFrei]

Plethora of issues was mainly my dramatic flair but the main issues have been feed related, lately. By lately, I mean the last 6 months to a year.

before that, there were issues related to light ammo (200 grain) not cycling properly due to a compensator on the gun. That is now removed, and new issues have replaced the old ones.

Addressing the #16 spring comment, I am unsure of what spring is in there currently. Nor am I aware of what I should be using given i shoot 200 grain and 230 grain ball ammo mainly.

I did a deep clean on the gun and will take it out this weekend to see if that helped.

Standard weight recoil spring for a full size 1911 is 16#. That's a starting point for any factory loaded 45acp ball ammo. If it's an unknown then I reccomend getting a new one.
Get it reliable with 230gr ball first and then move on to 200gr only after success is achieved.

Sent using a long string and 2 Dixie cups

[flyboy3394]

Recommendations on springs? Wilsons? Wolff? I am really none the wiser on that front.

Say this is the original spring from when the gun was purchased, 40+ years ago, with well over 2000 rounds through it. Would that warrant spring replacement?

[CifaldiPrecision]

Recommendations on springs? Wilsons? Wolff? I am really none the wiser on that front.

Say this is the original spring from when the gun was purchased, 40+ years ago, with well over 2000 rounds through it. Would that warrant spring replacement?

Wolff.


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