... at least, I think it's bizarre.  I've never run across it before.

I should mention up front that my 1911 has been altered quite a bit.  It started as a 1991A1 that I bought new in 1998.  I recently put a Cor-Bon 400 barrel in it, added a new 20 lb spring, a full-length guide rod, a new (lighter) trigger, a recoil compensator and adjustable sights.

Here's what happens.  It happens occasionally with regular ammunition (155 gr), and it happens a lot with high-powered ammo (135 gr, 1450 fps).  At some point, when I pull the trigger, nothing happens.  When I examine the round from the chamber, there is almost no indentation in the primer at all.  

Upon further examination, it turned out that the back of the primer had been blown out of the previous round and jammed into the hole that the firing pin comes out of.  It is really weird - the blown primer back is a perfectly intact, circular piece of metal that fits exactly in the hole - requiring quite a bit of effort to pry it out.

On the high powered rounds, it happens every other shot.  With regular "power practice load" rounds, it happens perhaps every 20 rounds.

What causes this?  Is the headspace too big, too small, and what do I do about it?

When I fit the barrel, I reduced the hood a little - should I reduce it more?

Any help is greatly appreciated, since I'm completely without a clue.

As a side note, my two $200 Ballester-Molina copies of the 1911 shot perfectly.  Go figure

Same situation as 38 Super loaded to major with light bullets....The primer is "flowing" around the fire pin and when barrel tilts at unlock, the piece gets shaved by the fire pin hole and falls into the fire pin bore and binds the fire pin.  Call Chuck at 800-387-4045 and get a "long firing pin". It will cost you maybe $15, and get a heavy duty fire pin spring also.

Usually when you look at the primer, all you see is a "yellow dot" where the fire pin hit, but the surface is flat.....using rifle primers helps also.

Too hot loads or the primers are not seated properly, or both. Could be that firing pinprotrusion is excessive, thus penetrating your primers.

Thanks for the responses.

Has anyone had experience with Cor-Bon ammunition, and has seen this as well?

I will definitely check with Cor-Bon.

Another thing the IPSC shooters did to correct this problem is reload their ammo using small rifle primer instead of small pistol primers.  They are the same size but the rifle primers are thicker and stronger to handle the higher pressures.

Might be excessive headspace.  If it is, you are risking blowing up the pistol by shooting it, esp. if you aren’t using a ramped barrel.  Do your empties show any signs of bulges?

While not likely, I’m also wondering if perhaps your firing pin hole is too large and thus is failing to adequately support the primer.

Cor-Bon ammo has a reputation for being pretty hot.

Quoted: Might be excessive headspace.  If it is, you are risking blowing up the pistol by shooting it, esp. if you aren’t using a ramped barrel.  Do your empties show any signs of bulges?

I'm curious about the headspace issue. I don't see any bulging, but I'm not an expert.

Originally, when I installed the barrel, I believe there was excessive headspace.  The primers would sometimes not fire, because the firing pin did not hit them hard enough - i.e. too much space between the cartridge base and the firing pin.  

I took a little off the hood, and it worked a lot better - but now still has this problem.

Is it possible that taking a little more off the hood would correct the problem?  I.e. can it be that part of the reason this is even happening in the first place might be that there is still a little too much space?  

I am loath to start taking more off the hood if it is not necessary, because I am not sure what the consequences of removing too much would be - and I don't want to waste an entire barrel just because I screwed with it too much.

The bulge I’m referring to would occur along the wall of the case near the rim.  It would be on the bottom (6 o’clock) of the case as it lies horizontally in the chamber.  

It is caused by the lack of support by the chamber resulting from the feed ramp groove (I’m assuming your barrel doesn’t have an integral feed ramp).  If you’ve got excessive headspace, the round may blow out at that location.

You really need to get this pistol checked out with the proper headspace gauges.  Otherwise you’re just guessing.

Trimming the hood a bit might solve the problem and it might not – kinda depends on what the problem actually is.  Trimming the hood too much is going to ruin the barrel.

I’d make sure the headspace is OK first, and then go from there.

Quoted: Another thing the IPSC shooters did to correct this problem is reload their ammo using small rifle primer instead of small pistol primers.  They are the same size but the rifle primers are thicker and stronger to handle the higher pressures.

That's true but I think the 400 Corbon is a 45 necked down to 40. If so, it would use Large pistol primers that aren't dimensionally compatible with Large rifle primers. In a nutshell, you can substitute using small rifle primers in the place of small pistol primers but not large rifle for large pistol.

Quoted: Quoted: Might be excessive headspace I'm curious about the headspace issue. I don't see any bulging, but I'm not an expert. Originally, when I installed the barrel, I believe there was excessive headspace.  The primers would sometimes not fire, because the firing pin did not hit them hard enough - i.e. too much space between the cartridge base and the firing pin.

There's no i.e. in the equation! You might have a main spring that's too weak.

I took a little off the hood, and it worked a lot better - but now still has this problem. Is it possible that taking a little more off the hood would correct the problem?  I.e. can it be that part of the reason this is even happening in the first place might be that there is still a little too much space?   I am loath to start taking more off the hood if it is not necessary, because I am not sure what the consequences of removing too much would be - and I don't want to waste an entire barrel just because I screwed with it too much.

If it's an aftermarket barrel there's a good chance the barrel was short chambered to begin with, thus requiring you to ream out a few thousands with a chamber reamer. The hood is also oversized so that it can be properly fitted.

An easy check is to remove your barrel, drop a cartridge into the chamber and see if the hood extends past the base of the cartridge. If it does you need to trim your hood. However, the hood should be fitted to the slide, then you check for lug engagement, and THEN you check for headspace.

Also check your link length. The link might be too short. The thing you need to keep in mind is lug engagement. Not enough lug engagement means that the link and link pin is taking the brunt of the recoil, that's not what they're there for. If the hood makes contact with the slide it might transfer som force into the slide too.

Too much lug engagement will beat the shit out of the lugs and make the cycling of the slide feel "clunky".

I'd advice you to take your gun to a pistolsmith and let him take a look at it. Be sure to point out what parts you installed, and what your problems were and are.