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1911A1 problem

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
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Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • big mango
    Try a new recoil spring and firing pin spring for starters, then see what happens. If firing 230gr hardball, a 18.5 lbs Wolf spring kit for replacement of all springs in the pistol should be just fine.


    May be as simple as that, or gunsmith will be able to tell.


    Maybe a barrel throat job and polish feed ramp also may be in order.

    Could be a frame to slide fit issue.

    Good luck !
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  • azpowerwagon
    As big mango said, have the chamber throat checked. If an aftermarket barrel the throat may not have been cut. Also, the bottom lugs of the barrel and/or the link should be checked.
    Your mags are not an issue at this point nor is you recoil spring.
    Do not load a round in the chamber and close the slide, too hard on the extractor. The pistol wasn't designed to work that way. Load from the mag only. Good luck.
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  • Garth
    If you lived near me I would recommend a great 1911 gunsmith! My smith can repair or build almost anything 1911 from G.I. Milspec to race gun quality!
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  • oddball7465
    Most difficulties I experience with my 1911a1 is caused by the magazine, so you might try a different one.
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  • yoshmyster
    I say clean it first. It might be simple as gummed up crap that's binding. Or the dude didn't fit the parts correctly. After cleaning I'd take a Sharpie and mark the barrel locking lug (those ribed area)then work the slide a few times and look for friction mark. Now I'm thinking the angle of the dangle might be off on the barrel bushing. If those ain't it gunsmith.
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  • RCrosby
    Possibility of a slightly too long barrel link occurred to me as well.
    Since it doesn't sound like your dealing with reloads it doesn't sound like an ammo problem, but I check all my reloads by dropping them in to the chamber (barrel removed). If it is a chamber problem, that should highlight it. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd suspect that a too weak mainspring would tend to batter your frame, but I doubt that it would create the problem you're having.
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  • big mango
    you have email
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  • yoshmyster
    quote:Originally posted by RCrosby
    Possibility of a slightly too long barrel link occurred to me as well.


    I forgot that one and that too would be an easy fix.
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  • perry shooter
    I don't want to sound rude. But if after a good cleaning and oiling you still have problems . I suggest Because "you don't know anything about 1911" that you take it to a 1911 Gun Smith . There are many aftermarket parts available for 1911 Type pistols ." Nothing is Stock " I for one have built many Match 1911 Pistols but until one understands how all the parts interact. You can come up with a pistol that not only has function problems but also one that is an accident waiting to happen. One of the most common mistakes is recoil buffers . Long links to lock up the barrel tighter and a Dremel tool to remove metal on the feed ramp to try to help function. The last of these modifications can lead to Blown cases because the chamber is unsupported more then Normal. The second thing is Trigger Jobs The hammer and sear are worked on with no regard to how this relates to the safety the pistol is put back together hammer cocked safety put on trigger pulled and hammer does not fall[:)]Then with finger no where near the trigger take safety off to get ready to shoot and KABOOM. [:(!][V][xx(] because the sear moved part way but not all the way out of the hammer notch with safety on however the sear and hammer angles are not correct and when you disengage the safety the sear CAMS off the hammer notch. IMHO most likely the pistol was sold because the person that put parts together did not know what he was doing . Pleas get the pistol fixed before it causes a PROBLEM.
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