1911 Question

[caliberetta]

I've had a 1911 for only a few months (my first 1911, but far from my first gun, been shooting for over 20 years).

I have shot about 700 rounds through it. Works fine. Yesterday while at practice, something odd happened in the middle of the session.

I was on the 4th round in the magazine, I pulled the trigger, nothing happened at all, the trigger didn't even budge. It's as if the Safety was on, but it was not. I thought I had inadvertently engaged the Safety somehow. But the Safety was not engaged. I pulled and pulled on the trigger, but it would not budge. Really weird.

The range was closing in a few minutes so I did not have time to look into it.I just racked the next round and it started firing as normal again. I shot another mag or 2 after that without issue.

What could have happened there? Any insight from the experienced is most appreciated.

[Fjold]

The disconnector could have hung up. I've had them stick when they get dirty.

Type "1911 disconnector sticking" into Yahoo/Google and it will have a lot of information.

[someoneeasy]

Was your slide all the way forward? I've had it happen before when I had a round where the primer wasn't fully seated and prevented the slide to return all the way forward.

[caliberetta]

Thank you @Fjold - I will check out the Disconnector issue

@someoneeasy - The slide appeared to be in a normal position as I did look at it a couple of times, pulled the trigger (nothing), looked again, pulled that trigger (nothing)... When I racked it, the live round ejected and fell to the floor amidst a lot of other brass. I didn't care to look for it, as I was more intent on testing the next round, and another couple magazines to see if it would happen again before the range closed. But it went back to normal as quickly as it started. It would take me a while to find that live round among the hundreds of brass casings on the floor. The round was a reload from a very reliable company everyone knows. After I left the range, I realized I should have looked for that round, but ran out of time.

[JTROKS]

If it was an out of battery then your gun did what it is supposed to - "Not Fire". If it wasn't an out of battery you may have crud preventing the disconnector from resetting the trigger. By cycling a new round it may have dislodged the offending crud. It can happen that's why we practice malfunction drills.

[C&Rcollector]

Sounds like an 80 series malfunction.

What 1911 do you have?

[caliberetta]

Sounds like an 80 series malfunction.

What 1911 do you have?

Kimber UC II, less than 1 yr old

[Spartan301]

Series 80

Sounds like an 80 series malfunction.

What 1911 do you have?

I agree! Some Series 80 Mark IV 1911's have a raised area on the grip safety to enhance grip pressure. If you lighten your grip while shooting, you can make the gun malfunction, making it feel like the thumb safety is on.

[Snoopy47]

I'm going to guess you didn't engage the grip safety entirely.

It even happens to me from time to time on some of my 1911s where I don't have a hump on the grip safety.

[caliberetta]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I think I've figured out what happened, thanks to your suggestions. I did check the gun and it is very clean. Disconnector seems to be ok.

I am still relatively new to the 1911 platform. Also, the last time I owned and shot a .45 was a Sig P245 that I sold over 10 years ago (of course I regret it).

On this particular day, I was trying to improve my .45 shooting by loosening my grip on the gun. I remember clearly telling myself "just relax, let the bullet go out."

I normally shoot the 1911 with my right thumb resting on the Safety. On this day, since I was practicing loosening my grip, I was deliberately pointing my right thumb out to the left, and away from the Safety.

Today, I tried to replicate what I was doing and sure enough it appears I was not engaging the grip safety enough and somewhat locked in a limbo position that the trigger would not engage. I almost sure this is what happened.

I didn't think about this at all ... Lesson learned! Thank you guys.