Okay, I dropped my commander off at a smith to have a Wilson combat barrel fitted.   Picked it up and it wouldnt chamber a round, not even ball.   I pulled out the kunhausen manual and noticed the barrel had no gap from the frame feedramp, there was no 45 degree angle on the top of the hood either.    I addressed both of these myself and now it feeds okay but it seems to be a bit sticky on going completely into battery.   It does it fine most of the time but occasionally it will not go.   I really wish I'd have sent it off to Wilsons to do right   I filed a bit at the barrel feet where the link goes and that helped and did some polishing of the top lugs.   What else should I look at?  I also had to clearance the bushing a bit in the lower ass end of it.  

I'm damned unhappy that a formerly 100% reliable but inaccurate gun is now accurate but wont function for shit.  

What else should I look at?

Don't mean to be smart A here, but are you saying you took this weapon to a good gunsmith for the barrel and he returned it non-functioning?  Then instead of taking it back to gunsmith, you started working on it?

R.

Kind of hard to take it back to him, he's out of the country now for a year.

         I agree that you should have dealt with the smith issue before messing with it yourself . The fit of various parts on a 1911 is a tricky thing for us that are not experienced in fitting one.
          Another thing to check or try is getting a new mainspring , even if your old one turns out to be ok they are cheep and it's a good spare to have on hand . The commander runs a heavier mainspring than the full size 1911 . If my cloudy mind remembers the full size is an 18 lb and the commander wants a 21 lb . Many times someone will replace a standard spring in attempt to get the gun to run better with less than full house loads (target type or lower recoil handloads ) . Many times this will be hard on the gun with full loads and also can affect the overall reliability . My main point is if the gun has an unknown history or has been "worked on" by someone a name brand replacement spring of correct weight is a good starting place . I seem to remember some 45 guru recomending replaceing the mainspring every 3000 to 5000 rounds as they can go soft after a bunch of cycles . Sounds like you are on the right track and once you get close shooting is only going to help .

It has a new recoil spring.   I got the piece back just a few days before the smith left the US and did not have time to run it before he left so taking it back to him was a no go unless I wanted to be without this pistol  for a full year.   It's much better now than when I first got it back.  I have basic tools and the appropriate manuals.   I'm afraid the smith just rushed the job to get it out  of the shop before he had to leave.  I have to fix it myself or ship it to someone else to get it right.  

If you hadn't messed with the pistol yourself, then I would have suggested you send the pistol elsewhere to get fixed, and send the bill to the first gunsmith to pay when he returns.

Quoted: If you hadn't messed with the pistol yourself, then I would have suggested you send the pistol elsewhere to get fixed, and send the bill to the first gunsmith to pay when he returns.

That definitely wouldnt happen without a major PITA, dont want to fuck around with it I just want to get it running.    I've got others to compare with and make sure I'm not dicking it up more.   I'm pretty sure it's the front of the lugs on top of the barrel but I damned sure dont want to make it a sloppy fit either.  

Point is, I'm going to fix it myself.   Just need a suggestion from a knowledgeable person if I'm overlooking something.    The worst thing that will happen is I'll need to buy a bar sto barrel and just have them fit it.    I wont be returning to this smith for any further work.

All the "you should have done this" and such is not what I'm looking for.    I should have won the lottery but that damned sure wont balance my checkbook now will it.

It would help to know where the round is hanging up.

Is it a three-point jam where the nose of the round wedges against the roof of the chamber after going up the feedramp?

Is it catching on the throat?  

According to Kuhnhausen, there should be a 1/32" gap between the barrel and feed ramp when the barrel's fully linked down.  If there isn't, the bottom edge of the barrel must be recut to create a gap.

Quoted: It would help to know where the round is hanging up. Is it a three-point jam where the nose of the round wedges against the roof of the chamber after going up the feedramp? Is it catching on the throat?   According to Kuhnhausen, there should be a 1/32" gap between the barrel and feed ramp when the barrel's fully linked down.  If there isn't, the bottom edge of the barrel must be recut to create a gap.

I did the gap according to the manual.   The issue is that occasionally it will not fully lock into battery.  I have to give it a rap on the rear of the slide to put it fully forward.   It's not much, I'm suspecting either the lugs or the bushing.   I may try the stock bushing as it's a somewhat looser fit than the Wilson bushing but it's not sloppy by any means.  

When I first got it back there was absoloutly no gap and even ball wouldnt feed.

The title of this thread should be  changed to 'The OWNER of this Commander needs help'.

WILSON barrels are notorious for having long hoods on them(its the part that touches the breech face).If its too long it will bind agains the breech face and cause alot of problems.I dont remember what the exact spec is but a few thousands between the hood and the breech face should be fine.Also WILSON barrels are bad about having the lug area oversized.It can get complicated fitting the lug area.You have to file the width,the depth and the heighth of the lugs.THE SHOP MANUAL addresses all of this....good luck.

Quoted: The title of this thread should be  changed to 'The OWNER of this Commander needs help'.

The smart comments are so helpful.   I'm awfully glad you chimed in with this little pearl of wisdom.    

I appreciate the helpful information, if you have none to offer please troll another thread.

No trolling intended. It is rather obvious that you have no idea what you are doing, hence, the title should be changed. Leave the difficult 1911 work to people who KNOW what they are doing. You cannot learn some of these skills by reading a book or an internet forum. Charles the Gunsmith.

Quoted: No trolling intended. It is rather obvious that you have no idea what you are doing, hence, the title should be changed. Leave the difficult 1911 work to people who KNOW what they are doing. You cannot learn some of these skills by reading a book or an internet forum. Charles the Gunsmith.

He does have a point, many more 1911s have gone down in flame from someone who is trying to fix it then have actually been shot out. It's a nice gun but it does not work, and unless you know exactly whats wrong, you will add to it's troubles. Thats the problem with 1911s sometimes, the unintended consiquences of one problem flow to another..........and so on. It's sort of hard for people to know exactly whats happening where the problem is or if it is multiple problems, and once metal is gone, it's gone. I would'nt mind dinking with a AO or the like but sounds as if it's a nice pistol with some expensive parts. Thus the suggestion to take it to a 1911 smith, before you end up buying new parts again. Not flamin man, but some 1911 stuff takes YEARS to learn.

Wow!  lighten up on the guy. He says he wants to try and fix it himself with help from the manuals and anybody who knows real info about 1911 . He says he fully realizes that if he messes up he will have to pony up for a new barrel and installation . Sounds like he has a grip on the situation .We are supposed to be friends helping friends here , not a bunch of guys takeing potshots at someone who is in a less than pefect situaion .  
Good luck Mr45auto     Nhsport

Quoted: Wow!  lighten up on the guy. He says he wants to try and fix it himself with help from the manuals and anybody who knows real info about 1911 . He says he fully realizes that if he messes up he will have to pony up for a new barrel and installation . Sounds like he has a grip on the situation .We are supposed to be friends helping friends here , not a bunch of guys takeing potshots at someone who is in a less than pefect situaion .   Good luck Mr45auto     Nhsport

Don't believe most of the guys here were pot shotting him, I certainly was not. However, I have no idea exactly what his smith did or did not do, sounds as if it needs to be fitted but that is not exactly easy to convey on the net and I don't want to see him have to pony up a couple of hundred bucks again for parts. Also, it might just need to break in and everything is tight right now. Maybe a few hundred rounds might knock off a few rough or tight edges.

I understand the intent now guys, I may be jumping your asses unjustly but I'm kind of pissy about this whole thing in the first place.


Anyhow after my last bit of fitting I may be doing okay.   I just burned an assortment of 300 rounds through the commander today.   I had exactly one malfunction using wolf ammo.    The rear of the cartridge was pointing down in the magazine with the nose partially fed.   My wild ass guess is that the previous cartridge lacked enough poop to fully cycle but other guesses would be appreciated.  

Accuracy was on par with my bar sto barrelled govt model except for the much heavier trigger pull on the commander and the crappy stock sights.    At a ranged 25 yards I had no problem keeping them in the center of a silhouette.    This outing was more for function than accuracy so I didnt do extensive bench work with it.    

I almost forgot how much less fun the commander size is to shoot than the government models.   It's just not as comfy a shooter as either of my fullsize models.  

Quoted: I understand the intent now guys, I may be jumping your asses unjustly but I'm kind of pissy about this whole thing in the first place. Anyhow after my last bit of fitting I may be doing okay.   I just burned an assortment of 300 rounds through the commander today.   I had exactly one malfunction using wolf ammo.    The rear of the cartridge was pointing down in the magazine with the nose partially fed.   My wild ass guess is that the previous cartridge lacked enough poop to fully cycle but other guesses would be appreciated.   Accuracy was on par with my bar sto barrelled govt model except for the much heavier trigger pull on the commander and the crappy stock sights.    At a ranged 25 yards I had no problem keeping them in the center of a silhouette.    This outing was more for function than accuracy so I didnt do extensive bench work with it.     I almost forgot how much less fun the commander size is to shoot than the government models.   It's just not as comfy a shooter as either of my fullsize models.

Replace your mag spring and see if the submarineing of the round stops. If just wolf and all else works fine, I'd put the blame on the ammo.

I wish I would have seen this earlier.  Unfortunately I don't have a ton of time to go into the possible causes of the problem.  E-mail me, and I'll get back to you by Monday.  I'm pretty sure we can diagnose it fairly easily, and get you squared away.