Springfield 1911 Ammo Question - HELP PLEASE!!

[00BuckShot]

I have a Springfield Ultra Compact 1911 in 9mm (PX9161L). I love this little gun and she's a great shooter when it comes to ball ammo. But when I tried to feed her HP's she won't load. Not even one round from the magazine. I was trying the Federal Hydra Shocks and I haven't tried anything else. I'd like to add this weapon to my CCW application but I don't see any reason to carry it if I can't load a good self defense round in her. One gunsmith that I talked to said that he could do a reliability work up on it but it would be $165 and he'd guaranty (whatever that means) that it would take anything but wadcutters.

Any help on another ammo to use?

Any advice on whether I should just take it to a gunsmith for a work up? And if so, who in the IE does good work on 1911's? (Does $165 seem a little high?)

Thanks in advance!

[ap3572001]

ALL 1911's I ever owned would not work well with JHP ammo
MOST stock 1911's in 45 also work best with ball.

From many years of shooting 1911's, I can say that MOST of them work best with ball.

[OneSevenDeuce]

Try PowR'Ball from Glaser. It is an expanding round that is designed to feed like ball. It has a polymer ball on the tip of the bullet to allow for better feeding and prevent it from expanding too soon, such as when it hits clothing. It's a great little round, 9mm +p.

[1911Luvr]

Any advice on whether I should just take it to a gunsmith for a work up? And if so, who in the IE does good work on 1911's? (Does $165 seem a little high?)

Thanks in advance!

Take it to Will O'Hara of Will's Gunsmithing in Corona. He specializes in 1911s and does amazing work. He is currently working on two builds for me and has done a lot of work to another 1911 of mine. His number is 951-371-4971.

[MA2]

email or call springfield customer service...they should take care of thing with nothing out of pocket.
If you want any custom work, its a good time to do so (no shipping charge), since that will retain the lifetime warranty on anything they do. I find their prices fairly competitive.
Just expect a couple of weeks time for each side of the shop for any work.

As far as reliability feeding hollows, maybe your barrel need to be throated or feed ramp polished.

[00BuckShot]

I called Springfield and they said that the model in question wasn't designed to feed hollow points. I guess I could call customer service back and dig a little deeper into what that means. I didn't see anywhere in the manual that it couldn't shoot +P.

[Ed_Hazard]

Try useing Remington Golden Sabers. the Hydra shocks tend to have too flat a face for some guns. Otherwise as stated above give Powerball a chance, pricey but quality defensive ammo.

[SixtyDashOne]

I've never had a problem with Speer Gold Dots in any of my 1911s.

although I've never owned a 9mm 1911

[intl1911]

I would have asked Springfield WTF are they talking about. They are suppose to fire and work with hollow points. The problem with these guns is that they use the integral feed ramp which does to feed reliably well without the extra work to do it.

Call them back and tell them you want to speak to the person in charge of customer service. That is B.S. That they would tell you that.

S.A. Has been awful going on horrible. Out of the 6 that I have owned only 1 worked without having to go back to S.A. For repaire. Yes even the two quallity loaded models that I have bought from them. With a barrel that was no good and a slide that was horribly out of spec.

S.A. Needs to fix this and make it right it won't take much to do.

[littlejake]

OH great. I have a SA Loaded model 1911 (PX9109LP) that's never been fired. Now I wonder if it's good to go.

[BHPFan]

I have a Springfield Ultra Compact 1911 in 9mm (PX9161L). I love this little gun and she's a great shooter when it comes to ball ammo. But when I tried to feed her HP's she won't load. Not even one round from the magazine. I was trying the Federal Hydra Shocks and I haven't tried anything else. I'd like to add this weapon to my CCW application but I don't see any reason to carry it if I can't load a good self defense round in her. One gunsmith that I talked to said that he could do a reliability work up on it but it would be $165 and he'd guaranty (whatever that means) that it would take anything but wadcutters.

Any help on another ammo to use?

Any advice on whether I should just take it to a gunsmith for a work up? And if so, who in the IE does good work on 1911's? (Does $165 seem a little high?)

Thanks in advance!

I would have Springfield do the work themselves as I am not certain if the warranty will be voided if you go to a third party to do the gunsmithing job.

However, for a pistol made for CCW, I find it unacceptable that it does not feed JHP.

Now, on the subject of ammo, like OSD mentioned, try shooting the CorBon Powerball. If you want to shoot standard load, I recommend the Federal 115 gr JHP C9BP though I don't know how well these expand on a 1911 UltraCompact, but I read its design allows feeding on all barrels.

I am not certain if the current Remington 115 gr JHP +P will feed on non-throated barrels as I read an old 20 yr old article that they did back then.

[00BuckShot]

OK so here's an update. After speaking with someone who seems to know what they're talking about, JHP's should feed fine. When asked about the round count I stated that it was fairly low as I don't shoot this particular hadngun all that often. Maybe 100 round through it, probably less. They suggested taking it to the range and putting some more rounds down the pipe and try the Hollow Points again. Break the gun in a little more. If then I have issues with it, I could send it back to them for a going through. The guy I spoke with seemed really knowlegable and I'll give it a go with a couple hundred more rounds. Then maybe I'll try those Powerballs. It's such a good looking gun with a great feel, I'd hate to not be able to carry it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

BTW....can't use +P's, but most defense rounds should be fine according to Springfield.

[00BuckShot]

UPDATE: So I took it and put about 200 more rounds through her last night. She worked flawlessly. So I took 20 rounds of Federal "Low Recoil" Hydra-Shocks and every round worked great. I even mixed in a HP with the ball ammo to see if I could get it to hang up and it didn't. I don't know if the problem is fixed but so far so good.

[hitman13]

I e read the same on ultra compact 1911s.... Long break in period to get it to feed JHP reliably. I'm getting ready to buy a 1911 in the near future and am just planning on dumping a mega pack through it the first day...