1911 not ejecting

[Davejb]

So I have an Auto Ordnance 1911 Army that I got used for very cheap money a number of years ago (it was made in the 80's I think). It's not very reliable and has been ignored for a while for that reason. I recently decided to give it some love. IIRC it had either feeding or ejection issues. I figured I'd start with a new mag and recoil spring before I dive in deeper.

A trip to the range on Friday (with new mag and spring) confirmed it has ejection issues. Out of 2 mags I had 4 failures. The round seems to be extracting but either partially ejecting or not ejecting at all, but still being held by the extractor.

Appreciate any input.

 

[92G]

1. try more than 1 magazine type. be sure to use solid non-tilt mags like meg-gar, checkmate, tripp, etc.

2. what type of ammo are you using? if reloads, switch to factory FMJ for now

3. if the above two do not fix the issue, then your extractor tension is probably off. remove the extractor and clean it. this is the most sensitive area on an internal extractor 1911 design.

 

[Davejb]

I've tried 2 different mag brands, what exactly is non-tilt?

Ammo is Blazer 230gr

I gave it a thorough cleaning before I put it away last, I'll watch the video and have another look

 

[Downwind]

Google: 1911 extractor tuning
Hope this helps

 

[Mountain]

Blazer aluminum case? I'm not a fan of that stuff. If aluminum, try something else- even cheap brass ammo like Winchester white box or Aguila.

 

[Davejb]

Blazer aluminum case? I'm not a fan of that stuff. If aluminum, try something else- even cheap brass ammo like Winchester white box or Aguila.

Nope, brass. I use brass only, even though it costs a bit more.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

I prefer an extended ejector for more positive ejection in 1911s.

 

[Greschner 4]

Tripp mags are flawless.

 

[Dan S]

Without having the pistol to look at, first place to look is insufficient extractor tension.

 

[drgrant]

Blazer aluminum case? I'm not a fan of that stuff. If aluminum, try something else- even cheap brass ammo like Winchester white box or Aguila.

I've used literally thousands of rounds of that stuff (Blazer AL 230 FMJ) in 1911s and other guns without a problem. Even in my KRAPBERs the ammo worked fine. It's just unsuitable for open bolt SMGs, that's about the only thing you can't use it in.

The only reason I stopped using it is the price delta isn't enough anymore to justify not using brass cased ammo instead... well, that and I shoot less
than 500 rounds of 45 a year at this point. (it used to be 2000-3000 when I was reloading it and killing bowling pins every weekend, LOL).

-Mike

 

[45collector]

The older Auto Ordnance 1911's are not the same quality as the newer production ones (which are made by Kahr now, and much better than the original AO's). It could just be that the extractor or ejector were not fit properly at the factory. If you have mags that are proven 100% reliable in other 1911's I would start looking at the ejector or extractor first, as others have said. If you were closer to Cape Cod I'd take a look at it for you.

 

[Davejb]

Ok, so I finally got around to checking and the extractor was quite loose. Now who has an easy way to get the damn thing back together. It has a firing pin block and I seem to be one or two hands short

[edit] Got it figured out, empty brass is being held in place lightly now, rather than just falling out. We'll see what happens.

 

[92G]

Ok, so I finally got around to checking and the extractor was quite loose. Now who has an easy way to get the damn thing back together. It has a firing pin block and I seem to be one or two hands short

[edit] Got it figured out, empty brass is being held in place lightly now, rather than just falling out. We'll see what happens.

too much extractor tension and it cannot eject, so often it will look like a double-feed but the empty brass is still under the extractor or only partially rotated outward.

too little extractor tension and the case isn't kept in place for the ejector to hit it properly, so can get failures to extract, stovepipes or brass-to-face.

if your extractor wasn't holding the empty brass in place then it's definitely too loose. if the gun is old i would consider getting a new extractor. for 1911s i'm a fan of EGW parts, but i'm not a 1911 expert by any means just had good experience w EGW in general and somewhat loyal to them.

 

[45collector]

for 1911s i'm a fan of EGW parts, but i'm not a 1911 expert by any means just had good experience w EGW in general and somewhat loyal to them.

I've used Ed Brown and Wilson Combat extractors and both work well.

 

[Davejb]

So I made it to the range today. After dumping 300 rounds through my P320rx I tried the 1911. All went well for about 60 rounds then the slide stop started trying to remove itself, and I started getting FTE's again after that. Gonna check the tension again, if it's off I guess I need a new extractor. As far as the slide stop I can only assume it's damaged and will need replacing as well. At least the parts are cheap.