1911 question

[jkgts1]

I have a springfield 1911 GI. Sometimes it will not completely camber the next round. The slide will remain 1/4" to the rear, and all I need to do is give the slide a push with my thumb and it is ready to go. Everything on the gun is stock. I was shooting Magtec 230gn bullets at the time. Any ideas.

Thanks

[tonelar]

clean and oil it?

How's the ramp looking?

[FMJBT]

Check the ramp to make sure there are no rough spots. Polishing with a dremel might help as well. If it's an older gun, the recoil spring might also need replacement. Over time they loose some power and lack the "oomph" to get the slide all the way into battery. Yet another thing to check is the extractor. It may have a rough spot that is catching on the brass case, which would cause it to bind about 1/4" before the slide locks up. Thats all I can think of off the top of my head, hopefully one of those will work.

[Knauga]

How many rounds through it? I'd change the magazine before I monkeyed with the ramp. I used Chip McCormick shooting star mags in mine and it functioned flawlessly.

Change mags, put more rounds through it.

[JMB1911]

If you're using aftermarket mags with stiffer springs (e.g: CMC, Wilson) your recoil spring may be too weak. The stock recoil spring on a 1911 is 16 lbs. I've had this problem before. Swapping the recoil spring to an 18 lb one usually solves the failures to return to battery. Try it out. Recoil springs are cheap enough.

[hawk1]

Also, pull the spring, slide stop, and barrel. Run the slide all the way to the rear and forward. Check to make sure it's not binding up on the rails. Add the barrel and bushing, try again. Add the slide stop, try again. This will help eliminate them as the problem.

While the barrel is out of the pistol, drop in your ammo one round at a time and see that it drops in flush with the case rim. Could be some rounds are oversized and/or a tight chamber.

[m1match]

First, I wouldn't touch the feed ramp with a dremel-not until you've checked out other things first. Stiffer recoil springs may fix the problem, but in my experience with the 15 1911s that I own, problems such as yours are usually caused by something else, and the stiffer recoil spring just covers up the root of the issue. From what you have said, it sounds like it could be something as simple as excessive extractor tension. The extractor should have enough tension to hold a loaded round against the breechface and not let it drop. You can check this by field stripping the pistol and putting a loaded round against the breechface after slipping the rim under the extractor. The extractor should not have so much tension as to make it hard for the cartridge rim to slide up the breechface and under the extractor hook. Where do you live? If you're in San Diego, I can recommend a good 1911 smith who could check over the pistol.

[///D]

First off....what is the round count?

[JTROKS]

Yup! Round count please, but it seems there are very knowledgeable folks on the 1911 here. Lots of good advice. Although polishing the feedramp with a Dremel/Flitz sounds very easy it's not something that anyone with a Dremel should do. You may want to personally talk to an experienced 1911 tinkerer to see where you have to polish and what areas you shouldn't touch too much. Just my 2 bits.

[renardsubtil]

i ran into a similar failure to feed type issue with a new kimber 1911 clone, I ended up waiting a hundred rounds more past the "breakin" period and now it feeds like a champ...

[JTROKS]

That was usually a feature with fitted match grade barrels firing wadcutter match loads utilizing a lighter recoil spring for target/competition purposes. Although I did see some 1911s with 16 lb recoil springs do it for the first 100-200 rounds just enough to break it in.

[rossotron]

I have a springfield 1911 GI. Sometimes it will not completely camber the next round. The slide will remain 1/4" to the rear, and all I need to do is give the slide a push with my thumb and it is ready to go. Everything on the gun is stock. I was shooting Magtec 230gn bullets at the time. Any ideas.

Thanks

same thing happened to me while shooting magtech ammo. i just lubed it up, and that fixed the problem.

rounds are pretty dirty and can foul up the gun fast.

[jkgts1]

I have about 300 rounds through it myself, but I bought the gun used so actual round count I don't know. The gun is clean and oiled. I strip it and clean it after every use. I'll check the the things you guys mentioned, thanks for all the replies.

[tophatjones]

This is most likely an extractor problem. Check for correct tension and tune it. There should be no need to polish your feed ramp (unless it has very deep machining marks that the cartridge is catching on). Also, a properly tuned gun will work fine with a 16lb recoil spring. Using a stronger recoil spring may cause malfunctions with mags that have worn springs, and it will accelerate barrel lug wear.

http://www.m1911.org/technic2.htm