Baer TRS last round FTF - diff ammo, diff mags

[jcaoloveshine]

Issue happened before with Wilson 47D mags, but they were used so I chalked it up to old mag springs and got new CMC mags (about 3 weeks old).

Same issue now happens with Chip 7 round Shooting Star and Chip 8 round Powermag. Tried different ammo and also happens, all 230gr ball ammo with OALs that are well within spec. Gun has had about 2000 rounds put through me, and about 500 from 1st and 2nd owner (of course hard to verify).

The last round gets fed about 80% into the chamber, but slide doesn't close all the way. The round jumps ahead of the extractor and pushing the back of the slide will not put the gun into battery, so it's not a FTRB. I have to yank the round out of the chamber.

I'm also getting brass marks on the slide, but I've heard that's a common occurence. Do I need to replace the recoil spring?

Someone also told me I should get dimpled followers, but Chips are good mags and I'm not sure it's mag related. Any ideas?

[sammy]

The brass markings are normal. I would not blame the mags. My range mags are the Les Baer units with orignal springs. Very weak now but they still run great. Super easy to load now.

It sounds like a timing problem. Try replacing the recoil spring with a 18.5lb Wolff unit and see what happens.

Any chance you can give us a pick of the breachface when this happens? Are you saying the extractor is not grabbing the rim? With your failure could you hit the back of the slide making the extractor jump the rim? Not that you would want to but is that what you are seeing?

[redcliff]

Sounds like an inertial feed where the slides rearward movement causes a slide hammer effect that allows the cartridge to slip forward in the magazine, putting it ahead of the extractor, before the slide comes forward and picks it up in controlled feeding as designed.

It can be caused by a combination of several things; worn (weak)recoil spring, insufficient magazine spring tension, spread magazine feed lips, or oil in the magazine.

For 8 round magazines I'm firmly in the Tripp Research camp now after trying most others extensively.

[jcaoloveshine]

Hmm, good idea. I'll order a Wolff 18.5lb spring and see if it still happens.

The issue is the round jumps in front of the extractor so the extractor does not claw the rim. I tried tapping the back of the slide thinking it was an FTRB, but no dice since the round wasn't even gripped by extractor. Only way was to take a flat head screwdriver and pull the round out by the rim.

[sammy]

Hmm, good idea. I'll order a Wolff 18.5lb spring and see if it still happens.

The issue is the round jumps in front of the extractor so the extractor does not claw the rim. I tried tapping the back of the slide thinking it was an FTRB, but no dice since the round wasn't even gripped by extractor. Only way was to take a flat head screwdriver and pull the round out by the rim.

Oh, jezzz. Don't do that. If you must, hit the back of the slide hard. It will jump the rim but is hard on the extractor. Leave the screw driver home. For whatever reason I have tried it and smacking it hard works. Doing it a few times will not hurt it. Give it a try and you will see what i mean.

For whatever reason the timing on 1911's is important for reliability. The new recoil spring should do the trick. If not send it back to Les Baer. They will make it right. Sammy

[jcaoloveshine]

Cool, just ordered a 18.5lb Wolff variable recoil spring (Baers use the variable 18.5lb).

That should hopefully get it back to 100% again. Weird, don't recoil springs wear out around the 5000 rnd mark? Does this mean seller was dishonest about round count....

[jeffrice6]

Issue happened before with Wilson 47D mags, but they were used so I chalked it up to old mag springs and got new CMC mags (about 3 weeks old).

Same issue now happens with Chip 7 round Shooting Star and Chip 8 round Powermag. Tried different ammo and also happens, all 230gr ball ammo with OALs that are well within spec. Gun has had about 2000 rounds put through me, and about 500 from 1st and 2nd owner (of course hard to verify).

The last round gets fed about 80% into the chamber, but slide doesn't close all the way. The round jumps ahead of the extractor and pushing the back of the slide will not put the gun into battery, so it's not a FTRB. I have to yank the round out of the chamber.

I'm also getting brass marks on the slide, but I've heard that's a common occurence. Do I need to replace the recoil spring?

Someone also told me I should get dimpled followers, but Chips are good mags and I'm not sure it's mag related. Any ideas?

Have you called Baer?

[redcliff]

Cool, just ordered a 18.5lb Wolff variable recoil spring (Baers use the variable 18.5lb).

That should hopefully get it back to 100% again. Weird, don't recoil springs wear out around the 5000 rnd mark? Does this mean seller was dishonest about round count....

Generally you should replace 5" barrel 1911 recoil springs at 2500 rounds. The shorter the barrel the shorter the recoil spring life as a general rule; I've seen 3 and 3.5" barrel 1911's that require recoil spring replacement at approx 1000 rounds.

[BitterOldMan]

Sounds like an inertial feed where the slides rearward movement causes a slide hammer effect that allows the cartridge to slip forward in the magazine, putting it ahead of the extractor, before the slide comes forward and picks it up in controlled feeding as designed.

It can be caused by a combination of several things; worn (weak)recoil spring, insufficient magazine spring tension, spread magazine feed lips, or oil in the magazine.

For 8 round magazines I'm firmly in the Tripp Research camp now after trying most others extensively.

After 500 rounds, I had CMC Powermags with bad feed lips as redcliff suggested. I just changed the magazines. Check the feed lips against a brand new magazine.

[Snoopy47]

Cool, just ordered a 18.5lb Wolff variable recoil spring (Baers use the variable 18.5lb).

That should hopefully get it back to 100% again. Weird, don't recoil springs wear out around the 5000 rnd mark? Does this mean seller was dishonest about round count....

Nope, you are beyond the life of the spring. 2000 has been my norm

[teflondog]

Issue happened before with Wilson 47D mags, but they were used so I chalked it up to old mag springs and got new CMC mags (about 3 weeks old).

Same issue now happens with Chip 7 round Shooting Star and Chip 8 round Powermag. Tried different ammo and also happens, all 230gr ball ammo with OALs that are well within spec. Gun has had about 2000 rounds put through me, and about 500 from 1st and 2nd owner (of course hard to verify).

The last round gets fed about 80% into the chamber, but slide doesn't close all the way. The round jumps ahead of the extractor and pushing the back of the slide will not put the gun into battery, so it's not a FTRB. I have to yank the round out of the chamber.

I'm also getting brass marks on the slide, but I've heard that's a common occurence. Do I need to replace the recoil spring?

Someone also told me I should get dimpled followers, but Chips are good mags and I'm not sure it's mag related. Any ideas?

I've seen this happen with a friend's Colt when using mags with wadcutter feed lips. We believed it was because the round was released too early. The issue was solved when he switched to mags with hybrid feed lips. (Wilson 47D and CMC mags all use wadcutter feed lips so that may explain why the problem persisted even after you switched mags.)