Posted: 3/10/2012 7:18:46 PM EDT
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Well, after bragging about my 1911s reliability on this forum this week all that went down the toilet today. While shooting my SA Champion I started having malfunctions that have never happened before. Using a year old CMC Power Mag and three new Power mags I would get the occasional malfunction where the nose of the bullet would jam up against the bottom of the feed ramp. I could pull back the slide and then it would chamber normally. It did this with both 230 grain ball and 230 grain Gold Dot ammo. It looks like the follower wasn't letting the bullet nose rise up quick enough to enter the chamber. I thought it was the older Power Mag but it did it with one of my new mags also. It also did it once in my Sig Tac Ops.
I've had the gun for almost seven years and I have never had any problem with that Champion using 47Ds and standard seven round mags. The fact that it did it in my Tac Ops leads me to believe it's a mag issue. Should I try different mags to be sure? I'm thinking about getting a couple of Tripp Cobra mags since I've read so many positive things about them. I was planning on using this gun as a CCW but I will not until I'm convinced that it's 100% reliable. |
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Dirty mags? This, also, have you cleaned the extractor/tunnel lately? (I don't know how clean you keep the gun, and a lot of people seem to never clean the extractor or extractor tunnel) A gunked up extractor can increase extractor tension, which won't let the round slip up as easily...which could create the issue you're seeing. And, just because the magazine is "new" doesn't mean the spring isn't weak as well...see about replacing mag springs with a good set of Wolff or ISMI springs if the magazine tube is clean and the extractor and tunnel are clean. Weak springs could very much do what you're describing as well. |
| Well, the older mag could be dirty but the others I just bought last week. However I would bet the extractor channel is dirty. I will have to check it out. The only thing is that it did the same thing in my Tac Ops too, that's why I was thinking it was the mags. |
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When was the last time you replaced the recoil spring, and what weight is it? I'm not sure. The gun has been sitting in my safe for a couple of years because I rarely shot it since I hated the sights that were on it. I know I've changed the spring once before, but I don't remember the poundage. I had to call Springfield to find out. I used whatever they said was the factory recommendation. It wouldn't hurt to change it again, it's not like it's an expensive part. |
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First thing to go on a Springfield is extractor.
Seems like all I get for repair are Springfields and everyone of them is fixed with a new extractor. Try backing tension off extractor for the heck of it. Then go test at range. Recoil spring is suspect. Magazines unlikely. SA extractors tension with use. First thing I do is toss and replace with spring steel extractor. |
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First thing to go on a Springfield is extractor. Seems like all I get for repair are Springfields and everyone of them is fixed with a new extractor. Try backing tension off extractor for the heck of it. Then go test at range. Recoil spring is suspect. Magazines unlikely. SA extractors tension with use. First thing I do is toss and replace with spring steel extractor. I will try that, thanks. I have a new recoil spring on the way, I wish I would have thought about the extractor before I placed my order. |
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Gun malfunctions? New springs
Order a new batch of reloading components for .45? Buy new springs Gun been sitting in the safe long? Put new springs in it Run it hard im training/lots of dryfire practice? Put new springs in I can put new springs in my STI 2011 for about $10. Thats less than the cost of a single box of ammo and takes less than 5 minutes. Springs will wear out eventually and are disposable. I trusted my life to that gun for years. Springs get replaced frequently and often as routine maintenance after learning my lesson the hard way. |
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My Combat Commander used (and still has) the same spring as when I bought it used. Thousands of rounds through it. No issues.
Replaced the spring in my Series 70 not for functioning issues (it was used, too), because it was dinging the case mouths pretty hard. I've been lucky I guess. My Colt's just keep on working. Oh, in a thread on M14 Firing LIne Gus (former armorer in the Marine Corp) stated that 1911 springs should be no shorter than 6 inches. To me that means if the stock/GI spring is still longer than 6" out of the gun on the cleaning/work bench it should work fine. |
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Sorry for your problems OP. SA is known for great customer service so I'd send it back to them ASAP and let them make it right. Good luck, keep us updated on your situation. Thanks! I think it's going to be a spring issue. I've had the gun for nearly seven years and it's never done this before, it's been one of the most reliable handguns I have. I mean it's too coincidental that I've had it for so long and never had a problem and all of a sudden it starts. I'd really hate to send it off for something that is probably a $10 fix. Plus, SA had the gun for five months last year. I sent it to them to have night sights installed and to be refinished. |
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Sorry for your problems OP. SA is known for great customer service so I'd send it back to them ASAP and let them make it right. Good luck, keep us updated on your situation. Thanks! I think it's going to be a spring issue. I've had the gun for nearly seven years and it's never done this before, it's been one of the most reliable handguns I have. I mean it's too coincidental that I've had it for so long and never had a problem and all of a sudden it starts. I'd really hate to send it off for something that is probably a $10 fix. Plus, SA had the gun for five months last year. I sent it to them to have night sights installed and to be refinished. Had a thought- your mags might need retiring. They're technically expendable items! I think you noted you were looking at Tripps in your first post, but then again sleep deprivation has had me saying all kinds of dumb things today - either way try new mags and try tripps.  
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Sorry for your problems OP. SA is known for great customer service so I'd send it back to them ASAP and let them make it right. Good luck, keep us updated on your situation. Thanks! I think it's going to be a spring issue. I've had the gun for nearly seven years and it's never done this before, it's been one of the most reliable handguns I have. I mean it's too coincidental that I've had it for so long and never had a problem and all of a sudden it starts. I'd really hate to send it off for something that is probably a $10 fix. Plus, SA had the gun for five months last year. I sent it to them to have night sights installed and to be refinished. Had a thought- your mags might need retiring. They're technically expendable items! I think you noted you were looking at Tripps in your first post, but then again sleep deprivation has had me saying all kinds of dumb things today - either way try new mags and try tripps. The mags that were giving me trouble are CMC Power Mags. I have four of them and it was two out of the four that I was using when the problems started. One of the mags is less than a year old, and the other three are about two weeks old. No way they've been used enough to be replaced already. |
| Did the gun sit in the safe dirty? Even if it was stored clean, it should have been field-stripped, cleaned and re-lubed prior to shooting. Old lube gums up and pretty well make shooting unreliable. Just saying, this can help you isolate the problem by eliminating the obvious. |
| Did the gun sit in the safe dirty? Even if it was stored clean, it should have been field-stripped, cleaned and re-lubed prior to shooting. Old lube gums up and pretty well make shooting unreliable. Just saying, this can help you isolate the problem by eliminating the obvious. |
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Did the gun sit in the safe dirty? Even if it was stored clean, it should have been field-stripped, cleaned and re-lubed prior to shooting. Old lube gums up and pretty well make shooting unreliable. Just saying, this can help you isolate the problem by eliminating the obvious. No, it came back to me clean as a whistle since it had been refinished. Plus I lubed it like I normally do. After I got it back it functioned normally for a few hundred rounds over the course of two or three different weekends that I went shooting, and the problems started during the last range trip. It had been cleaned prior to the day I started having problems. I'm still of the belief that it's a spring issue because it is too coincidental that the gun functioned fine for two or three range sessions for a few hundred rounds, then the last day I went out the problems started. |
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1911s = unreliable Trust me I wish it wasnt true but it's just a fact of life. I owned an RIA, STI and a Kimber. All had feeding issues plus the normal draw-backs of it's antiquated design. And it most definately is not a CCW. |
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1911s = unreliable Trust me I wish it wasnt true but it's just a fact of life. I owned an RIA, STI and a Kimber. All had feeding issues plus the normal draw-backs of it's antiquated design. And it most definately is not a CCW. With respect my response, BULLSHIT. Come spend a day with me partner. 
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I see posts all the time about unreliable 1911's. I've just never seen one. None of mine. None of the ones we had in the Army. None of them my cousin owns (he may have more than I do, I'm not sure).
Worst thing I can say about any of my 1911's is the series 70 dents case mouths sometimes. I keep reading these type of threads in case I ever do run into an unreliable 1911 hoping maybe I'll remember some of the stuff I read so I can try it on my gun. Good luck with your troubleshooting/fixing efforts. Oh, last month I had my brand new M31 Glock (less than 300 rnds through it now) hang an empty up (backwards) in the ejection port. It is now less reliable than my 1911's. I'll still keep shooting it. |
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1911s = unreliable Trust me I wish it wasnt true but it's just a fact of life. I owned an RIA, STI and a Kimber. All had feeding issues plus the normal draw-backs of it's antiquated design. And it most definately is not a CCW. If you have such negative feelings about the 1911, why do you bother to even come into the 1911 forum? |
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I've been meaning to update this for a while, but here it is. The stoppage occurs before the round gets up to the extractor. The round goes straight out of the mag into the frame below the ramp. I replaced the spring with a Wolff 24# spring and it still does it, but ONLY with CMC Power mags. I firmly believe it's the Power mags because it did the same thing in my Sig Tac Ops. When I use the mags that came with it, or even my old seven round mags it works fine. Although I did have a weird stovepipe with a 47D. The empty case was wedged in the ejection port backwards. That was probably because I had messed with the extractor previously.
I put several mags through it yesterday, and I'm going to do the same this afternoon. What's weird is that I didn't have near the same amount of stoppages yesterday as I did the last time I shot it and I didn't do anything differently. Still, one stoppage is too many for me. I'm going to order a couple of Tripp mags because I want to know if that will make a difference or not. |
| V. Tripps brother took my NIB Series 70 and went completely through it doing a Stage II reliability / upgrade which included refitting the bbl. and tightening the slide/frame and retensioning the extractor. It ate everything from grungy reloads to wadcutters. I heard some people running 12-13 lb. recoil springs so I figured if my stock 16lb. spring loss some weight it was OK. 8,000 rounds later it all of a sudden won't feed anything. FTE and rounds nosediving into the feedramp. I'm replacing all the springs and see if that cures it, if not I'll probably put Virgil's spring and follower kits in all my mags. If that doesn't cure it I'm tossing my CMC mags and restocking with Cobra or someone elses mags with consistantly uniform feedlip angles. |
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I've had this same thing happen back when I thought CMC was the shit. Hell I even did Tripp updates. Which worked with all metal Tripp followers.
It's a tension issue. Be it mag springs, followers weakened or recoil spring. Could be one , two or 3 at once. You have to figure out what changed. |