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I have a Colt Officer's ACP that jams quite often, about once per magazine. I have cleaned it several times thoroughly, to no avail. Have tried all major brand ball ammo through it, it doesn't seem to care. +P Golden Saber's won't jam, but they cost too much for target practice. I don't handload for it, and I don't know if I ever will.<BR>I asked a gunshop owner (not a gunsmith) about it and he said that most Colt's need a little smithing out of the box to make them function reliably.<BR>I bought the pistol used, and the owner said he had a trigger job done and a replacement firing pin put in. I don't know if this hurt the gun, but he said it jammed on him before he had the modifications done to it. Thats why he sold it. I figured that he just never cleaned it.<BR>Does anybody have any experience with this problem? I searched to see if this topic has been covered before, and Colt didn't even show up in any post. Maybe everybody knows something that I don't.<BR>Does anybody have any opinions on this matter?<BR>Thanks in advance.

CS,<P>I'm not a 1911 owner myself, but have been reading a lot about them in prepeation for the big day. [img]images/icons/crazy.gif" border="0[/img] From what i've been hearing, if the pistol is functioning OK with +p ammo, but jamming on standard velocity, you may need to go to a lighter recoil spring.<P>You might try posting this over at the 1911 Forum, as well. There's a lot of good advise there, and someone's probably run accross this problem before.<P><A HREF="http://www.1911forum.com" TARGET=_blank>1911 Forum</A><P>Good luck... Mac

cs- This could be a number of different things. You may want to try several different magazines. I had several Wilson 8 round clips that hung all the time. I am now using Shooting Star 8 round mags by Chip McCormick and have a lot less jams. You made need to have the feed ramp polished also. I have a Kimber Stainless Gold Match that is very tight. I also have an old Norinco clone that is very loose and almost never jams but is not near as accurate. For a while there I was shooting bowling pins with the Wilson mags and was getting plenty of practice clearing jams and reloading. This may not have been an entirely bad thing. Good practice in a timed event. My neighbor had to have a smith work over his Gold Cup before it would feed right. Try putting several hundred rounds through it before you do anything. Sometimes they work themselves out. If not find a good smith. Good luck. Bob

Hi cs. I second the idea that it's probably magazine related. I own 2 1911's, one Colt and one Kimber. I've owned 3 others. The Kimber only jams with improperly set up handloads. Too much case flare left from reloading, for instance. The Colt not at all-as long as I use good magazines. With any hardball, or HP ammo, they should work fine. To shoot wadcutter target ammo, you might have to tweek it a little. E

cs, Would also agree your problem may well be magazine related. I would recommend Wilson/Rogers 7 round units. Money well spent. Regards, Matt.

cs- Are the jams the classic stove pipe where the fired case fails to eject completely and gets cought in the ejection port. Or is the case ejected and the next round jamming in the chamber and needs to be bumpped forward to lock the slide? You may as well learn how to clear these jams quickly now. Although you want a gun to function properly you never know when a jam might occur. The slide could rub against clothing or cover during a firefight enough to jam the gun. Buy ammo by the case and enjoy shooting the Colt. Good shooting. Bob

Bob, they are all where the case won't eject all the way and botches everything up. I might try another magazine, but the 6 rounders are hard to find locally. I might try a 7 round job.

cs- The slide may be rubbing on the feed lips on the magazine or on the next round. Be careful not to bend the feed lips of new clips. The recoil spring could be too stiff to allow the slide to come back far enough. This will improve with use. The ejector may need a little work if it is catching on the case rim. Buy good clips. Capacity of 7,8, or 10 rounds should not matter that much. Autos sometime take 500 rounds before they break in. Every auto I have has been different. Glock, H&K, S&W, Kimber, Browning, Norinco, Seecamp, AMT, ect. Shoot the gun and see which round in the clip it jams on. See if there is a pattern or just random jams. Mark the clips so you can determine which clip jams. An electric ingraver is great for this. Write down exactly what the gun is doing so you can explain it to a gunsmith. This will help. Keep the cases it jammed on separate and take them with you to the smith. See if there is any differance with these cases compared with the ones that are five feet away. Look for differances where the ejector catches the case. If it just jams on one round per clip it is not too serious a problem and probably just needs a little tweaking. Keep working on it. Bob