I had a very unusual failure to extract today on my low mileage (a bit under 2,000 rounds) Wilson Combat 1996A2. I understand that I'm at the point where Wilson recommends getting a new spring, but that doesn't seem to be the logical source of the problem here. Maybe you can give me some help here.
My friend, registered here as ThomasMagnum, was firing the gun with Wilson 47D mags and S&B ammo. The ammo came from Cheaper Than Dirt today in the same 1,000 round box that I believe CTD received it in. The gun was cleaned (actually detail stripped and cleaned) only a few weeks ago and this was the first firing since cleaning. It was lubed appropriately, with maybe an err to the excess.
I was picking up trash (doing my good deeds for the range) while he was shooting down range. He brought the FTE my attention. An empty case was stuck with the base of the case at the top of the breech and the mouth of the case at the rear of the chamber hood. It was stuck there forward facing with the slide closed on it. It looked like this (recreated later with the same case and dummy ammo):
[IMG]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1600140&a=12195031&p=47829699[/IMG]
[IMG]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1600140&a=12195031&p=47829693[/IMG]
The offending case:
[IMG]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1600140&a=12195031&p=47829695[/IMG]
[IMG]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1600140&a=12195031&p=47829701[/IMG]
There's nothing unusual about the case as I see it. The normal marks from the extractor are present on the rim. The rim is still fully intact.
I've heard of stove pipe FTE's before, but never this. What causes stove pipes? Is it the same cause on this FTE? Any chance this was just a random case that bounced back into the chamber? (We were NOT shooting around any obstacles, so it could not have bounced off anything other than the slide.)
And what *really* steams me here is that I brought my SIG P226 to the range to let ThomasMagnum shoot them back to back and convince him that he should get a 1911. Well, that SIG of mine was purchased back in '92 or '93, spent some time before that on a cops hip, and has been generally abused and neglected (I baby my 1911 a heck of a lot more than my SIG) by me for the better part of 8 years. In that time it has probably digested 1,000+ rounds. It has done it in the rain, sand, with little and lots of lube, mostly dirty (not that 9mm's get that dirty), crappy ammo and the good stuff. And not so much as blink. It's just sat there, shut up and shot the rounds, loading the next one before exclaiming vigorously, "MORE PT DRILL SERGEANT, MORE PT!!" And it's damn accurate.
Why the heck do I have to deal with this kind of crap from a $1,400 1911? Before this, the only problems that I've had with it were traced to improper break-in of the mags (i.e., new stiff springs) and bad out of spec ammo (Georgia Arms loosely packd Canned Heat).
My 1911 let me down today and I'm not sure how I'm going to take it. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Maybe I should just sell the darn thing and get a SIG P210....
[:(]
PS I am very fond of the 1911 and have spent a lot of time and money finding one that would not let me down. I thought I found it. Maybe I'll feel better about it in the morning.