1911: Failure to Feed

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TunnelRat

New member
I re-lubricated the pistol and cleaned the feed ramp with some metal polish. The feed ramp was quite dirty, but is smooth as silk now.

I am not complaining that the 1911 is "too complicated", I think i can figure it out. Just wanted an idea on a cleaning schedule.

WWB is not my carry ammo, I usually use Winchester Ranger T for that. This was just a function test session.

@shortwave
I am inclined to think along your lines. My wife was loading for me while I was shooting on the second shoot, and while I love her I am not 100% confident that there couldn't have been even a slight amount of user error.

I will likely go shooting again this weekend and report if I still have problems.
 
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mrbro

Moderator
Now those have "patina"!

2 of the frames in the 2nd photo have serial numbers that fall in the range of 1945 Remington Rand pistols. Cool.
 
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Don P

New member
As for the 1911 being finicky and needing cleaning after every range session, again this simply is not true.
The last American Handgunner World Shootoffs I competed in, I shot a little over 2300 rounds of ammo in four days and never cleaned the 1911 gun I was using one time.
I might ad that we were shooting in extreme heat, blowing grit and even a little rain on one day. Again the 1911 gun I was using never had even one failure or stopage of any type.
I brought that gun home and continued shooting it until the slide speed started slowing down, then I decided to clean the gun. The total rounds throught the gun at that time was a little over 5000.
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Just a question Bob, is the above said pistol one of your well massaged hand crafted guns or a off the shelf out of the box. Just curious.
Thanks Don
 
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Twoglocks

New member
My SS S&W 1911 runs best with factory 8 round mags. Springfield Colt and few others will cause FTFs mostly on 3rd or 4th round
 
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Hunter Customs

New member
Just a question Bob, is the above said pistol one of your well massaged hand crafted guns or a off the shelf out of the box. Just curious.
Thanks Don
Click to expand...

Very good question Don, that will also prove another good point that I've stated for years.
To answer your question, the gun I used was a custom gun I built.
The custom gun had much tighter tolerances then many of the out of the box guns or the old 1911 I used in 1968.
So from the general consensus of what most seem to believe the gun with tighter tolerances should have tied up and failed to continue to run at a much lower round count considering the extreme conditions I was shooting in, especially not being cleaned.
However, I've said for years that just because a gun has tighter tolerances does not mean it can't be relied on in extreme conditions; again the custom 1911 I was competing with proved my belief to be correct.

Now the old military Colt I was using in 1968 was pretty loose, it certainly was not tuned and tight, it was lacking in tender loving care, but it never failed me above or below ground.
I never had a chance to shoot it till it quit running, but I would be willing to bet it would have easily digested 5000 rounds with out a stopage.
I staked my life on that old 1911 then and if I had it back in my hand I would not be afraid to stake my life on it again.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
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ltc444

New member
Liked Hunter Customs comments.

Most of my failure to feeds have been caused by the magazine or bad ammo. Since your failures occurred with a single mag then that is were I would look first.

Might try a drop of oil in each of the holes on the side of the loaded mag. SFC Reed trained me to do that. he claimed it prevented failures to feed. Never had a provblem when I complied with his directions.
 
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scottl

New member
Might try a drop of oil in each of the holes on the side of the loaded mag.
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Bad idea.The oil will trap any dirt/dust particles leading to more problems.Last thing you want in your magazine is bunch of gunk.
 
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meatgrinder42

New member
Sounds like the issue I have with 8 round magazines in mine. Colt factory 7 round work best in mine, don't know about your S&W.
 
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Don P

New member
As some have stated the original design was for 7 round magazines. 8 and 10 rounders can/will work and will also be problematic at times. Again when things get changed or modified for the so called better it does not always work out that way. Just my personal thoughts.
Thanks for the response Bob.
 
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