Tight chamber in Sig 1911 XO

[hminsky]

I have a Sig 1911 XO, which is very nice, but I notice that sometimes when shooting steel case ammo, the case is just a little fat enough that when the gun cycles, it doesn't fully close on one of them sometimes. If I clean the gun this problem generally goes away, but it's not like its really dirty either. its just the tolerance is very close.

I'm considering polishing the chamber, like I did with my Remington shotgun, using steel wool on the end of a power drill.

Before I do something dumb, does this sound like the way to go?

 

[Mass Predator]

Shooting steel case ammo from a 1911 is your first error.....never, never, never.

 

[DarthRevan]

Tight chamber? Giggidty!

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If you're spending that much on a 1911, you can afford to feed it brass.

 

[92G]

this is a product of the steel case ammo. i have noted the same in the sig 1911, P220 and HK45. for this reason i only shoot the steel stuff from the G21. the sig 1911 runs brass or aluminum just fine.

 

[MAD Geary]

As these other two guys said, shoot brass. Don't go messing around with the chamber to get it to shoot steel, good way to ruin a barrel.

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As these other two guys said, shoot brass. Don't go messing around with the chamber to get it to shoot steel, good way to ruin a barrel.

 

[hminsky]

I have heard the wisdom of the elders, and will change my ways.

If I want to shoot steel case .45 I'll get a beater 1911 someplace.

 

[thormx538]

Chamber is tight because Sig stuff is very close to "match quality", and frankly isn't designed with crappy steel ammo in mind.

You aren't going to hurt anything by shooting steel cased ammo though, so there's no need to stop shooting it. I don't think I'd take steel wool to it though...

I have ARP match quality barrels in several rifles (sub-MOA gas guns), and I was having extraction and feed issues initially with the 6.8SPC.

I took a 20ga bore mop and some Flitz, and chucked it up in a drill. About 20 seconds of polishing is all it took to remedy the problems.

ARP barrels are nitrided though, I think your Sig barrel is bare stainless?

 

[M1911]

I have heard the wisdom of the elders, and will change my ways.

If I want to shoot steel case .45 I'll get a beater 1911 someplace.

 

[SJan]

A brass case, when fired, will expand and fit tight in the chamber, sealing in the gasses. Steel cases do not expand the way brass cases do, so some of the gas escapes into the chamber leaving behind a dirty residue. Eventually the dirty chamber will cause feeding problems. Depending on how tight the chamber is to begin with, it may be 20 rounds, 200 or 2000.

 

[paracarry]

I have never put steel cased ammo in any of my guns nor will I, steel just does flex.

 

[MMArtist]

Steel case ammo is fine. Brass is definitely better... but steel is fine.

I run steel case ammo through hand built 1911s that cost 3x what the Sig XO cost. Multiple thousands of rounds of Tula, Wolf, and Brown Bear... gun runs like a top. And it should..

IMO.. if a production class 1911 is too finicky to run Tula, Brown Bear, Wolf etc. Im not interested in owning it.

 

[Sawicki1991]

Only gun I have that I shoot steel in is my AR. My M&P 45 Loves the federal aluminum 45 sold at wally world.