1911a1 problems

[rp85]

hello;

purchased a used 1911a1. know nothing about this type of pistol, shot revolvers all my life. nothing is stock, appears to have an after market slide, trigger, hammer, and goodness knows what else.

the problem; pistol will almost feed a round, but the slide will not close so the pistol will fire. must hit (bump) back of slide for it to close and pistol to fire.

with slide open, tried to feed a round into the chamber, but the slide does not close, stays open @1/2’. can hit back of slide and the slide will close, pistol will fire and eject just fine. loads next round, but will not shoot. chamber appears closed but will not fire. hit the back of slide and the pistol will fire.

tried military 8 round clip and it would almost close leaving an
1/8" gap, with federal ball. hit back of slide, it closed and fired next round fed.

having to hit back of slide to fire almost every round.

using federal 230 grain fmj ball and remington 230 grain h.p. magazines are kimbers and one mil. surp. magazine. the problem occurs with all magazines.

thanks for any input.

rp

 

[Buck8Point]

Sounds like the chamber may be caked with crud or residue.
Try disassembling the slide and scrub the hell out of the chamber end of the barrel with solvent and a round brass brush.
After a thorough cleaning, put it all back together and try cycling a few rounds thru the chamber and see if it has improved the issue.
Buck8Point

 

[SpeedRacer]

First things first, perform a thorough cleaning and lube. Sounds like it may be an extractor issue or worn recoil spring.

 

[oleheat]

So you're saying it's failing to chamber a round into the barrel?

 

[rp85]

first thing i did when i got the pistol home was a good cleaning and lube job.

is the round completely in the chamber if the slide will not close all the way????

all i can tell for sure, the pistol will not fire unless you hit (bump) the back of the slide first when you try to feed a round into the chamber from the magazine. then it will "go bang".

rp

 

[oleheat]

I was wondering if maybe it was a "throat" issue.... Hmmmm. If it were me, I'd consider bringing it to a gunsmith and let him give it a once-over....

 

[SpeedRacer]

Are you "riding" the slide home when checking it by hand? What happens if you slingshot the slide (pull the slide all the way back and quickly release)?

When you feed a round into the barrel by hand, you should be able to tell if it's going all the way into the chamber or not. The ass of the round should not protrude past the "hood" at the top of the barrel. If it isn't, the problem is in the barrel/chamber. If the round is fully seated but the slide doesn't go into battery, I'd check the extractor and recoil spring. Either the extractor isn't properly tuned and is hanging up on the rim of the cartridge, or the recoil spring is not strong enough to get the extractor over the rim.

ETA: I sure hope you're doing this with dummy rounds or snap caps. No offense, but you should really take the time to learn how the 1911 functions before you start worrying about how to fix it or throwing rounds in it and banging on it.

 

[Blackhawk]

My first suspect would be the recoil spring. I pulled up one of the army .45 tech manuals to see what the specs are. They specify that the recoil spring should be no less than 6 inches long and no longer than 6 7/8 inches, with 28-32 coils (including half coils). In another place they describe the recoil spring as supposed to be 6 1/2 inches free length.

I had a similar problem with a colt .45 but the spring length was OK, so maybe spring length is not the deciding factor. I finally just bought a Wolf spring pack from Brownells and problem solved. I seem to recall that the 18 pound recoil spring was what worked.

You might also check for burrs by running a cotton ball over all of the parts. A burr will pull cotton threads off the ball.

Just an after-thought. You might assemble the slide onto the frame, without the barrel installed, and check to see if there is a tight spot in the frame/slide rails that is restricting movement. Just slide the parts back and forth to see if any restrictions.

 

[SpeedRacer]

The correct spring weight for a standard 5" 1911 is 16lbs. I would try that first, a heavier spring may make the gun function but it's a bandaid fix at best.

 

[MyTFAL]

Every time I've seen this issue it's ended up being a recoil spring, start there.

 

[rockmup]

Nother vote for a recoil spring. Buy a Wolf spring kit from Brownells. Then at least you'll know what its not.

 

[scooterj]

hello;

purchased a used 1911a1. know nothing about this type of pistol, shot revolvers all my life. nothing is stock, appears to have an after market slide, trigger, hammer, and goodness knows what else.

If the slide is not original, the pistol is probably out of time or the barrel lugs aren't fit correctly. The fix COULD be as easy as changing the barrel link.

 

[.45-70]

Spring and magazine.... cheap easy to test .... try these first.

 

[beauxdog]

Where are you located. If in the BR area then bring it by the store and lets look at this thing. If not then take it to a gunsmith for a check-up. Something is not right or someone may have worked on this gun before. Give me a call @ 225-389-6077.


Bryan

 

[GatorCATM]

The correct spring weight for a standard 5" 1911 is 16lbs. I would try that first, a heavier spring may make the gun function but it's a bandaid fix at best.

+1

 

[o gambit o]

If your located in New Orleans area then i will look at it i have 3 1911's and i'm a gunsmith. Just let me know.

 

[rockmup]

The correct spring weight for a standard 5" 1911 is 16lbs. I would try that first, a heavier spring may make the gun function but it's a bandaid fix at best.

Yes, it is. I just changed out a 28lb spring on an MC Operator to a 16lb. I could barely rack the slide

 

[bearfutedninja]

If your located in New Orleans area then i will look at it i have 3 1911's and i'm a gunsmith. Just let me know.

where did you go to school to become a gunsmith?

 

[o gambit o]

where did you go to school to become a gunsmith?

I went to Penn Foster and I've been fixing and messing with gun for a few years now. Why do you ask?

 

[Sin-ster]

If the gun won't go into battery under spring tension, but a simple "tap" gets it running again, I'd put my money on the recoil spring as well. Cheap and easy fix-- and upgrading never hurts, so there's really no such thing as "wasted money" in this regard.