Thanks for your help before in my 1911 search, and when deciding what magazines to use. Well, I got the A1 Loaded from Springfield like I planned, and I absolutely ADORE it! It functions extremely well, is startlingly accurate, and just feels so smooth in every single way. There is one issue, though, that has nothing to do with the gun; one of the two magazines that came with it has caused a couple of problems. Now I have fired it quite a bit (around 700 rounds), 600 of the rounds of which were from the two included magazines. During the initial 600-round break-in period, I fired all types of fmj and hollowpoint from both magazines, and only had two minor feed malfunctions, both from the same magazine. They both were the type where the last empty shell from the magazine doesn't eject all the way out, and gets stuck with its base touching the bottom of the magazine and its body pointed upwards at a 45-degree angle, with its mouth caught on the top of the chamber, near the end of the barrel. These both happened pretty early on and nothing more was heard of it, so I chalked them up to teething issues. After all, one was in the first magazine fired, and the second was in the first magazine of Tula steel case stuff I fired, which was followed by 50 more (100 in total) of this type, with no more issues.

However, when I was out at the range yesterday testing some nice Gold Dots I had bought as my carry ammunition (I CCW this bad boy in a Crossbreed Supertuck, and it feels like I'm not even wearing it). The magazine that had experienced no issues functioned perfectly as always, but with the other magazine, the first round ejected, but the second wouldn't feed. It got stuck with the round pointing up out of the magazine at a 45-degree angle, with the tip of the bullet caught on the feed ramp. It would appear it struck the feed ramp at too steep of an angle, or there was not enough slide force to push it forwards. I say this second part because of what further testing revealed. Pressing the magazine release (which was difficult) caused the magazine to drop a tiny bit, (perhaps a millimeter) at which point the stuck round fed into the chamber normally, and the magazine, which was very reluctant to come out dropped free. The pistol fired the remaining 49 rounds with no incident, but when I got home, I examined the problematic magazine.

I could see that on the top of the right feed ramp at the back, the finish was worn off of the very top, and there was more finish missing from the back corner of the right feed lip, with a bit of a burr forming there. I loaded up a bunch of snap caps and tried different magazine alignments. With the magazine sitting normally and the pistol held upright, pressing the slide release would srip the round and load normally each time, but instead of the feeling of a single sliding motion I get with the other magazine, it felt like there was a tiny, very short motion, a very quick stop, and then a longer slide. It felt like the slide was contacting the back corner of the magazine, particularly on the right feed lip. When I tried stripping the rounds with the magazine pressed as far into the well as it could be, with constant finger pressure holding it there, it would cause the identical type of jam seen before. Each time this happened. However, as I did it a good few times, it seemed to stop jamming, although the feeling of the slide hitting the magazine feed lip and stopping momentarily during its forward travel did not go away. I tried this orientation with the magazine pressed in, and it seemed that the closer to full the magazine was, the more pronounced the contact seemed between the slide and feed lip. This stopped causing an issue as the rounds were now loading, and I figured it was okay, although the snap caps I put through this course started to be deeply gouged about 3mm back from the case mouth portion, I'm guessing by the chamber. This continued happening even when the rounds were being successfully fed.

As a control, none of these issues; perceived "stop" during slide forward travel, gouged snap caps, or jams occurred with the good magazine. I thought that with it feeding things were fine, though, and was ready to end the test and put the problem magazine back into service, when I loaded it full with 6 live rounds and a snap cap on top, inserted it, and then with the gun held upright and no pressure on the magazine base (magazine sitting normally in the well), it experienced the same jam it had before. I took most of the rounds out, and with only one or two in the magazine it did not happen every time, but with 10 successive attempts to close the slide on a full magazine with the gun upright and the magazine sitting normally in the well, this same jam occurred. Releasing the magazine would always cause the round to go into battery, so I concluded it must be a problem of the magazine feed lip interacting with the slide.

I have included a few pictures from different angles of the exact type of jam with which I am dealing. I hope someone can advise me on what to do. I don't want to have to drop $40 each on Cobra Mags, but if these Springfields are problematic, that might be the only solution.

Here is a view of the entire pistol with the jam:

Here is a close-up showing the round's base in contact with the slide:

Finally, this is a view looking into the chamber of the jam:

Any help would be really appreciated!

My work when I got home that evening of loading the magazine with snap caps and actuating the slide release while simultaneously pushing up on the bottom of the magazine successfully wore down the offending edges of the feed lip (a tiny fraction of a millimeter is all it took), and with a little filing and sanding, it was great. The reason I started experiencing jams again was actually no longer a problem with the magazine, but was happening because in wearing down the bad feed lip, I had ripped the hell out of my snap caps. Their rims were all twister and misshapen, and they had huge, deep gouges on the side. These were catching the barrel opening when I tried to chamber them, and that is why the jam which I photographed and included here was happening.

I proved this hypothesis by then doing the same slide-release action on magazines full of live rounds, from semi-wadcutters to all manner of hollowpoints, and I not only did not have any more jams, but the feeling of the slide hitting a bump about 1/3 of the way forward was gone. That feeling of a bump, which I was attributing to the slide hitting the magazine feed lips, was actually the gouged portion of the snap cap hitting the barrel mouth, and most of the time overcoming it. I then did an extensive test firing using first just the bad magazine, and then both with several types of hollowpoints and semi-wadcutters, and the pistol ran like a dream. I am now fully confident putting the troublesome magazine back into regular circulation, although it is still relegated to the position of my backup when I carry concealed!