Posted: 4/20/2011 6:03:27 PM EDT
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hello;
purchased a used 1911a1. know nothing about this type of pistol, shot revolvers all my life. nothing is stock, appears to have an after market slide, trigger, hammer, and goodness knows what else. the problem; pistol will almost feed a round, but the slide will not close so the pistol will fire. must hit (bump) back of slide for it to close and pistol to fire. with slide open, tried to feed a round into the chamber, but the slide does not close, stays open @1/2’. can hit back of slide and the slide will close, pistol will fire and eject just fine. loads next round, but will not shoot. chamber appears closed but will not fire. hit the back of slide and the pistol will fire. tried military 8 round clip and it would almost close leaving an 1/8" gap, with federal ball. hit back of slide, it closed and fired next round fed. having to hit back of slide to fire almost every round. using federal 230 grain fmj ball and remington 230 grain h.p. magazines are kimbers and one mil. surp. magazine. the problem occurs with all magazines. thanks for any input. rp |
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What ammo are you using? I had some handloads that were slightly out of spec. The case mouth didn't get enough taper crimp to remove the case mouth belling. The case would catch in the chanber and lock the pistol up. A case gauge fixed that problem.
You said it appeared to have an aftermarket slide. How tight is the slide to frame fit? My dad and I built up a Frankenpistol once with a new in wrapper slide that was such a tight fit I had to help it into battery for the first hundred rounds. Jim |
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Does the recoil spring need to be replaced, maybe? Just a thought.
They should be replaced like every 2000-3000 rounds. If the spring is weak it may be the cause of the slide not going (all the way) into battery, or contributing to it. Good luck BD Edited for clarity |
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Coming up an 1/8' short quite freqnently involves the interface between the extractor and case rim. In that regard, check the extractor shape and tension - that would be my estimate as the most likely cause of the problem if factory ball ammo does not allow it to come fully into battery. Replacing one is cheap and easy to do.
It's also worth checking to ensure the barrel is properly fitted. Barrel links come in different sizes but a DIYr may not understand how to properly fit the barrel and slide. |
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It might be a weak recoil spring ... I would probably replace that first and see what happens.
If that doesn't work and the slide and/or barrel were indeed replaced by someone then there is a good chance that's your problem ... either the barrels hood, upper or lower lugs were not fit correctly ... if your not familiar with 1911's then find yourself a good smith. This is a good read with cutaways to show how everything works together ... good time to start learning. 
http://www.m1911.org/locking.htm |
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Quoted:
hello; purchased a used 1911a1. know nothing about this type of pistol, shot revolvers all my life. nothing is stock, appears to have an after market slide, trigger, hammer, and goodness knows what else. the problem; pistol will almost feed a round, but the slide will not close so the pistol will fire. must hit (bump) back of slide for it to close and pistol to fire. with slide open, tried to feed a round into the chamber, but the slide does not close, stays open @1/2’. can hit back of slide and the slide will close, pistol will fire and eject just fine. loads next round, but will not shoot. chamber appears closed but will not fire. hit the back of slide and the pistol will fire. tried military 8 round clip and it would almost close leaving an 1/8" gap, with federal ball. hit back of slide, it closed and fired next round fed. having to hit back of slide to fire almost every round. using federal 230 grain fmj ball and remington 230 grain h.p. magazines are kimbers and one mil. surp. magazine. the problem occurs with all magazines. thanks for any input. rp Ok, first, as others have said replace the recoil spring (use a Wolff variable power spring, if it is having trouble going back to battery buy an 18lbs and an XP 20lbs, try both and see if one cycles the pistol better). Second, I would also replace the firing pin spring and confirm there are no brass shavings in the channel. Third, i would brush the extractor with a nylon brush and if you have a can of Rem oil spray the nozzle down into the extractor channel (it will drip all over the place but its fine, wipe it off). Your description of appearing to be in battery but not firing most often is a timing issue that can be compensated for with the XP spring. Check the frame below and behind the barrel link, is there excessive wear on the link or on those two parts of the frame? If yes, the pistol needs to be timed correctly, it will function but it will run better if properly timed. Last, since this is an a1 it is not a full length guide rod and they generally are less finicky however check the rod and see of there is excessive scratching on it. If there is, buy a new guide rod. PM me with any follow up questions. |
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Yes, lets get off the idea of "replace the spring". A couple pounds more or less on the recoil spring will make no difference.
What you have is a called a "stem bind". This occurs when the rim of the cartridge can't properly pivot in extractor. The major symptom here is that the slide will stop about an 1/8" out of battery AND be able to be tapped into battery. This differs from a three point jam in that a three point jam can't be remedied by tapping the slide forward. A three point jam can be caused by a bad magazine or by an improperly timed barrel (incorect barrel length) where the feed ramp is presented uncorrectly to the incoming round. There is some middle ground where a slightly improperly timed barrel could contribute to the problem. So let's go back to my original advice - if the extractor is 1)improperly tensioned (i.e too much tension) or 2) hooks too far in toward the centerline, or 3) has the wrong contour on the lower edge, the round will fail to feed in exactly the manner you have been describing. There are some other possible (but less likely) causes including a rough chamber, a rough breech face or rough locking lugs, but those three options are easy to visually detect. More to the point, you can test for an extractor based problem by removing the extractor and then seeing if the rounds chamber. If they chamber, you've just found the problem. The easiest solution is to replace the extractor. If it is properly contoured (and know what that looks like or have another worlking 1911 to compare it to) you can play withe the amount of tension and "hook" of the extractor (less is better in this case) but replacing it is a better long term option. Or you can replace every single spring in the thing and have a non functional pistol with all new springs. |
| I should add one more comment. If you look you'll see the difference beteen the mil spec magazine ( tapered feed lips) and your Kimber magazines (parallel "wadcutter" feed lips). The tapered lips are intended to properly present 230 gr hardball rounds and allow the nose to come up as the round advances. They don't always work all that well with shorter rounds or rounds with a different nose profile, bit with 230 gr hardball they allow the round to rise horizontally and it presents the rim straight into the extractor. However for other lighter rounds, wadcutters, etc, parallel feed lips work better by releasing the round sooner. However, with a hardball round and an early release the Breechface can force the nose down while it engages the extractor - aggravating (but not actually creating) a stem bind condition. The short story being that you want to use the right feedlips with the right rounds and/or use an extractor with a profile that accommodates a wider range of rim angles. |
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Good tips Dakota.
I think the thing to do is check the easy stuff first. Will it go into battery with no magazine and no ammo? If so does it do this with different magazines, or is it just with a single mag? If it still jams after trying different mags but does OK with no mag or ammo remove the extractor ans see if it feeds. If it comes down to the extractor we can talk you through how to check and adjust tension. Jim |
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Quoted: "purchased a used 1911a1" Step one - disassemble, clean throughly ... Step 1.5 , put a dab of grease on the slide rails (I use Rig +P, but even automotive bearing grease will make a difference) ... and install new recoil spring. Evaluate again after that. Fixed |