1911 feeding problem

SJan

SJan

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My 1911 has an occasional feeding problem. It is a Springfield GI done up by Business end. What happens is a round is stripped from the magazine but does not fully enter the chamber, a bang on the back of the slide, or on the base of the magazine usually fully chambers the round.

I have used the original Springfield mag, I have 5 new chip McCormicks, and I tried a wilson combat from a fellow shooter at the range. The problem occurred randomly with all magazines used.

I have tried several types of ammo.

The ramp on the frame and the barrel are polished quite smooth.

I suspect the magazine release may be causing the problem. I think it is not holding the magazine up as high into the chamber as it should be. With any magazine seated, I can move it about 1/8" up and down in the gun. Is this normal?

If that is not supposed to happen, what do you suggest I do to fix it?
 
My magazine is tight and never slides around. I would also assume the magazine release lock and spring may be worn or damaged.
 
My 1911 used to do this, but only when using hollowpoint +P ammunition. I had to go to a slightly heavier recoil spring and that fixed the problem. Stock was 16lb, I went to an 18.5lb. I haven't had a single malfunction since. Since you have used a few different magazines and different types of ammo, I would think your issue likely lies in the recoil spring as well. Give it a try only costs a couple bucks
 
I did replace the recoil spring, but I kept it at 16lb.

I'm sure I could bring it to Business end, but hes not exactly near by.

I also like to tinker with my own stuff, and would love to resolve this problem myself.
 
SJan said:
My 1911 has an occasional feeding problem. It is a Springfield GI done up by Business end. What happens is a round is stripped from the magazine but does not fully enter the chamber, a bang on the back of the slide, or on the base of the magazine usually fully chambers the round.

I have used the original Springfield mag, I have 5 new chip McCormicks, and I tried a wilson combat from a fellow shooter at the range. The problem occurred randomly with all magazines used.

I have tried several types of ammo.

The ramp on the frame and the barrel are polished quite smooth.

I suspect the magazine release may be causing the problem. I think it is not holding the magazine up as high into the chamber as it should be. With any magazine seated, I can move it about 1/8" up and down in the gun. Is this normal?

If that is not supposed to happen, what do you suggest I do to fix it?
Click to expand...

The mags are going to move a little in the frame. If it is happening with all mags and all ammo, then I would look at the extractor, if it is to tight or has a burr or the lower edge isn't rounded, the case will bind up the action as its feeding.

Changing the recoil spring fixes the symptom but is not a solution. The gun should be able to run on a 10lbs spring and feed empty cases
 
Supermoto said:
If it is happening with all mags and all ammo, then I would look at the extractor, if it is to tight or has a burr or the lower edge isn't rounded, the case will bind up the action as its feeding.
Click to expand...
That was my thought as well. I would also check the breech face. Is it smooth? If there are a bunch of tool marks on the breech face, a very gentle polishing might help.

But I'm not a gunsmith, and if none of that fixes the problem a trip to someone like Greg Derr might be in order.
 
Bob P:2079383 said:
Just a quick question -is it the last round in the magazine?
Click to expand...

It happens to the middleish rounds of the mag.

The breech face does not have rough tooling marks but it could be polished upa some more.

I plan on bringing it to the range tomorrow, ill try to get a photo of the situation.
 
you could try/inspect - feed ramp, barrel throat/chamber, extractor hook, breech face. Given them all a good cleaning and polish them as needed - GENTLY.

As said above, forcing the round to chamber with stronger springs only covers the problem, it does not fix it.
 
Send it back to BE.

If you eff it up, there's no more warranty.


Sent from the Hyundai of the droids, the Samsung Replenish, using Tapatalk.
 
I shot the pistol some more this morning. I ran 5 magazines through it 4 times each, the feed problem occurred 2 times, each time with a different mag.

2011-10-22_08-39-50_420.jpg 2011-10-22_08-39-44_26.jpg

I left the photos large for better detail, can you tell anything by this?




I sent Lou at BEC a message too see what he suggests.
 
Supermoto said:
The gun should be able to run on a 10lbs spring and feed empty cases
Click to expand...

This interested me.

I loaded up 2 mags with empty cases, tried cycling the gun by sling shoting the slide, or dropping the release. The case got hung up almost every time.

I disassembled the gun and further polished the ramp on the frame and the breech face on the slide.

I tried the empty cases again and they will now feed almost all of the time.

I think ill head back to the range and try her out again
 
As per out PM convo. I believe it's the extractor tension by looking at the pics. Keep in mind the ramp angle is very crucial and depending on how & what you use to polish it you can change the angle and open up more issues.
 
SJan said:
My 1911 has an occasional feeding problem. It is a Springfield GI done up by Business end. What happens is a round is stripped from the magazine but does not fully enter the chamber, a bang on the back of the slide, or on the base of the magazine usually fully chambers the round.

I have used the original Springfield mag, I have 5 new chip McCormicks, and I tried a wilson combat from a fellow shooter at the range. The problem occurred randomly with all magazines used.

I have tried several types of ammo.

The ramp on the frame and the barrel are polished quite smooth.

I suspect the magazine release may be causing the problem. I think it is not holding the magazine up as high into the chamber as it should be. With any magazine seated, I can move it about 1/8" up and down in the gun. Is this normal?

If that is not supposed to happen, what do you suggest I do to fix it?
Click to expand...

Just from looking at your pics, did BS change the extractor when they "did" your gun? Did you have that problem before they touched it? Looks like to me like they replaced the extractor and failed to fit/tune it correctly.
 
It has the original extractor.

Anyways... I left the gun with Lou for a dew days, he tuned the extractor and test fired free of charge. I have not shot it yet myself, hopefully next weekend I will take it to the range and post an update.
 
Last edited:

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