Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns So who has a 1911 that doesn't work?

Come on, fess up...you know these things don't work. I mean, never mention that I've NEVER had even one malfunction with either of my 1911...I'm just a liar and can't be trusted anyhow.

All we ever hear from the Glock-a-holics is that 1911's don't work.

So who has a 1911 that:

A - Doesn't work
B - Malfunctions often
C - Malfunctions rarely
D - Just can't trust.

If you do, let's hear what the issue is?

I have had oodles of 1911's, and ones that have been to shooting schools and therefore "driven hard" over several days of heavy shooting. I've competed at the regional level with a number of 1911's; those guns were worked even harder than the one's that went to schools. Truth be told, back in the early '90's when I went to shooting schools and competed on a regular basis, the most common gun to go down on the range was Glock (all models but 17 & 19).

The ONLY 1911 I had real problems with was a Series 70 Commander I had back in the early '90's; it drove me nuts. I did EVERYTHING and just couldn't make it work reliably. A friend decided to drop a headspace gauge in and it wouldn't even enter the chamber...I was dumbfounded. The chamber was horribly under-cut. Once we corrected that issue (and I've never see that on any other pistol since...one time occurrence), that gun was a garbage disposal. Weird thing was, with a horribly under-cut chamber, it was still a tack driver...Bizarre!

One of the principles at work that keep Glocks running is that they have very generous chambers...that's not a bad idea for a serious gun.

On the other hand, I constantly run into a LOT of problems that need to be fixed with 1911s from every manufacturer, but once those problems are fixed they run well.

The various issues are too long to list, but it's almost a given that function issues, that are related to the pistol, most often arise from attempts to "improve" the original JMB design specs.

Issues with ammo and mags are often a result of the same principle, ie., making alterations to the original specs.

It helps to keep a 1911 clean and properly lubed as well.

I've only ever owned two 1911s, in .45 acp. Both of them were utterly reliable. Still have one.

Oh, and they were both Colts.

I've got a springfield mil spec from 1990 that never fails. It's box stock. I've got a Norinco milspec that's box stock. It never fails.
I ruptured the barrel in the Springfield doing double taps and I had a squib on the first shot. It took a bit of extra force but I got the slide open and the pistol disassembled. I ordered a replacement barrel from Midway and it dropped right in. No hand fitting required and it shoots and runs as perfectly as it ever did.

What's not to love.

My Ruger 1911 would choke on loads that fed every time through a Springfield XDm. I had loaded them a little too long and at least once in every magazine they would hang up on the feed ramp halfway into the chamber. And this wasn't a "quick rack the slide" clearance, either, sometimes I had to really haul back on the slide with all my might to clear it. A couple of times I had to tap the front of the slide on a wooden bench to get it loose.

I could take the bullet that jammed the Ruger, bury it somewhere in the Springfield's magazine and it would feed with no problems. Come to think of it, that Springfield's been 100% since the first shot - no failures to feed, fire, extract and eject at all. That one sits by the bed with 14 rounds ready to go.

Seating the bullets about .1" deeper solved the problem with the Ruger but it made me realize how even 1/10th" in ammo length jammed it up.

Had a Colt Series 70 standard 1911A1 that broke a collet finger, that jammed the slide up solid. Had some stovepipes with the Series 70 as well before a gunsmith lowered the ejection port.

A box stock "Colt Gov't Model" my father bought in 1969 was 100% but that was never fed anything but standard 230 FMJ ball ammo.

The only issue I've ever had is with an "Ultra" size Kimber (3" barrel). It won't feed SWC's. Other than that, all other 1911's I've owned have been flawless and that Kimber is flawless with everything but the SWC's.

I had to do some breaking in on a Kimber once, lost patience and finished my breaking in with some 400 grit sandpaper in a couple of places, but other than that my various 1911's have run wonderfully so long as the magazines were correct. That, plus ammo length and no bulges, are the chink in the armour of the 1911's - IF one can call it that - which can make them a tad bit frustrating until one understands how they run and what they need.

My inexpensive RIA in 10mm has been dead nuts reliable with good mags and ammo, plus stupid accurate.

I will take a little bit of magazine sensitivity and ammo testing needs to get a nice, crisp, clean trigger break and wonderful ergo's. Something that a Glock and most other krunchentickers (credit for the term to Jeff Cooper) cannot deliver.

Well,having started early with mil-spec 1911's,I discovered the Hi-Powers,now some of your guys are saying there are more pistols out there?

A friend had one of those Filippo pieces go full auto on him,the hammer and sear had rounded out at 400 rounds..buy junk,get junk

RIA is now US made, in case you had not heard. Manufacturing plants in several states now. And the hardness of the parts is excellent of late. How long ago did your friend have a 45 go full auto, and who diagnosed the problem? I have seen pre 70 series Colts go full auto when a non gunsmith did a 'trigger job' on them.

Don't be a hating but I've had two 1911's. The first was an STI Ranger that I loved up until it had about 75 rounds through it and it would jam. Clean it and all would be well again.

My current one is a Colt Combat Commander that had a weak recoil spring (I hope) that has failed to go into battery with factory WW ball ammo a couple of times. I've yet to shoot it after replacing with a Wolf standard power 18# spring, I have a 20# spring to try as well. I also had a bad mag that wouldn't feed but that's not the pistols fault.

I recently acquired a Kimber Rimfire Target 22 that has been reliable so I am trying to like the platform but it's awful funny that my M&P's run hundreds and hundreds of rounds between cleaning and I've never had an issue that wasn't ammo related.

I've also fired other folks' uber reliable 1911's that have failed. One was a Springfield that the buffer came apart, again not the pistols fault but it's taken me a long time to try one again.

My Colt Gold Cup had issues with standard ball ammo when I first got the Colt. It would stove pipe at least once for every fifty rounds but you never knew when it was going to happen. It also wasn't very accurate. This Colt was purchased about 25 years ago. I sent the Gold Cup to Wilson at the time and they got it operating tip top with their magic, a heavier re-coil spring, and a Group Gripper. Oh ya and they added a Colt ambi-safety that actually worked. Last year Wilson replace the rear sight with their low mount adjustable sight with a battle sight blade, Armor Tuff finish, and stainless steel match full ramped barrel. That Wilson?Colt hybrid works like a trooper. Any baubles is always due to operator error.

The biggest disadvantage with the 1911 especially with those of us who like tight fitting 1911s is they all have to be hand fitted and that cost money.

No need to waste the money. Just put the slide in a vise and squeeze it a tad. That'll make it nice and tight.

L.W.

I'm thinking that maybe TAK has quite a few..........might be wrong though.

MM

Of all the 1911's I own and have owned, a bunch, I've had only two that were totally unreliable and had many failures to feed.

Both were STI Shadow Models, which has the Officer's size frame and slide. Both of them would jam at least 2 rounds with every mag. Even with hardball ammo.
I don't know if it had more to do with the officers sized frame, or if STI's quality control just sucked at that time. But I'll never own another Officer's sized 1911, except for my Springfield EMP 9mm which has always worked flawlessly.

I'll stick with my Les Baer, Springfield, S&W, Ruger, Kimber,and Colt 1911's. And if I owned just one it would be my Les Baer.

LMAO

Had a $380 ATI Phillipine import- ran great and took aftermarket parts perfectly.

Had a Sig and a Springfield Loaded- flawless.

Had a Turkish one I tried, brand started with a "C" (can't remember)and I sold it to a friend who really wanted it for way less than half what I paid. It was junk, would not accept the most basic aftermarket parts like grips, but it did run with ball ammo. Of course my friend was warned, and he was cool with the "good" price of more than 60% off what I paid. Lesson learned (again) just buy the damn expensive one you want and keep it.

I'd still have that Sig 1911, was my favorite and everything you wanted in a 1911. Some guy on Hunt-WA forum was wanting one and was willing to trade a 1994 mint Weatherby Mk V Deluxe for the Sig which I paid under $800 for with tax. Gave him some .45 dies and $150 cash and the pistol. The Mk V is one of my treasures now.

Bigfish, was it a Caracal?

Had an AMT Hardballer 45 that was a jammamatic no matter the ammunition or magazines.

I can think of a Kimber 10mm (which I still own) which was fussy about what magazines it would like. Then I polished the extractor hook, and tuned the tension. That seemed to fix it, though it needs more testing.

My Sistema wants nothing to do with hollow point ammo, in limited testing. You might get half a magazine to feed, but it clearly doesn't like the stuff. There's a S70 Colt Combat Commander that I have not shot much, as it is nickel plated and unmodified. IIRC it is generally pretty good, but I purposely don't shoot it much. Both guns are collectible and won't be modified.

The Les Baer does not like weak ammo. I tried some commercial 230gr FMJ a year or so ago, and the LB choked on them. Then I realized the bullets were setting back in feeding, and decided the pistol was jut trying to tell me the ammo was bad It works perfect with full-tilt defense loads, or +P loads.

Out of 20+ 1911's most worked fine with their intended ammo. The ones that didn't sometimes needed tuning, different ammo, or different mags to run right.

The only one that was useless crap was an AMT hardballer, which once jammed so tight I had to beat it apart with a hammer. A couple of Colts from the bad days of the mid-1980's had significant issues, yet were either fixable or would work fine with certain ammo/mags.

The Systema is a hardball gun; I'd leave it that way.

I've had a few bummer 1911's out of about fifteen or so I've owned over the years. One was a stainless AMT Hardballer. It seemed fancy compared to the old Series 70 Gov't Colt that I had at the time. The Colt had lousy sights, but it always fed the the 230 gr. ball ammo I could afford. The Hardballer was supposed to make me a hip combat shooter at my local club. Problem was the damned thing jammed so often I seldom completed a match. The older members tried to help me with it but nobody could make it run reliably.

I had a stainless Series 80 Gov't that was temperamental. It would throw a wreck just often enough I never trusted it. A Colt Gold Cup broke roll pins in the rear sight. It's front sight took off to parts unknown during a match. I finished the match, score took a decided down turn with no front sight!

The last one was a Kimber Tactical 4" gun that was fouled up right out of the box. It shot about 18" low at 25 yards. Turned out it had the wrong size front sight on it. Kimber took care of that. Then the MIM magazine catch broke. That was just under 800 rounds through the gun and the mag catch just crumbled into my right palm during a shot string and dropped the partially loaded mag out of the gun. I put an Ed Brown steel part in for a replacement. The right side safety lever got excessively loose early on and required a new safety be fitted. Then it started having extraction problems and it had Kimber's bad attempt at external extractors. I didn't care for it any more and swapped it off.

Sounds close. Stainless with wood grips but they offered a GI model. Think the GI was model 100 and the stainless which I had was a 200 series.

My RIA GI had an occasional misfeed when it was new. Tuning the extractor improved it a bunch, but still wasn't perfect. Turns out that gun didn't like the Novak (ACT) mags that it came with all that well. Switched to using only Colt-spec mags in that gun, and no further problems.

There was a day not too long ago that I would have said a 1911 wasn't worth that kind of bother. What a dummy. Really was no big deal....

I am fairly new to the 1911 camp, but devoted. Haven't sprung for a "good' one like I want yet, so the 3 I own are all "entry level" pistols. My stainless Taurus PT 1911 has been very good so far. It does require proper length in ammo, but doesn't care about bullet type, and seems to be happy with about any magazine I've tried. Shot my Springfield Mil Spec very little before putting the .460 Rowland barrel in it - which is a good way to tell how much a 1911 will take. Have had zero problems with it, do wish it had a better trigger (ditto the Taurus). My latest is a Para Expert Carry, a "compact" with a 4" barrel. By far the best trigger of the three. It did not like the Para magazines it came with, but when I started using my Wilson mags the problems went away. Since then I have tried the Springfield and Taurus mags in it with good results, and it even seems to have decided to run properly with the Para mags now, also. Although I have Ruger, Charter Arms, and Colt revolvers plus Contender single shots in various calibers, I can't see me buying any other type habdgun in the future.

Probably a Citadel

I have had a few 1911s.....an original M1911 from 1918, only fed it hardball ammo but never had a hiccup with the exception of a surplus mag that wouldn't feed right

A taurus PT1911 that functioned flawlessly and a RIA that is smooth as butter and functions flawlessly as well

I have had utter reliability with all the 1911s I have owned, all Colts ranging from WWII A1's through Series 70 and 80. The only breakage I incurred was in a Series 70. After over 10,000 rounds through it the disconnector broke on the 2nd shot of a full magazine, the remaining rounds cycled through on full auto in the blink of an eye. Pretty exciting for a second. I sent it back to Colt pronto, and had it back in two weeks with a new barrel bushing, barrel, hammer, and a set of rubber Pachmeyr factory grips to boot. That was the one and only time I ever sent a gun back to the factory. With all the freebies they tossed my way, I was hoping another one would break...

Only problem I've ever had with 1911's has been obviously caused by faulty ammo. (Mostly cast bullet loads when I was first learning bullet casting and reloading for auto-pistols at the same time.) Currently have a Sig, a Colt and a S&W 945 (strictly speaking not a 1911.) If I get another one it will be a Les Baer and I will be through buying pistols. Probably.

How many rounds do these reliable 1911's go between cleaning and oiling?

Cleaning I have gone a few hundred. How many does it need to go before cleaning? Is there a magic number? I know it will go more rounds then I am ever going to carry on my person.

I carry the same amount of magazines with my 1911 as I do my M&P's. But the M&P's do hold more.

Mine was a Series 70 Commander back in the 70s. Wouldn't feed for crap. Until I learned how to shoot it - I was just a kid. Since then, they've all been perfect.

Ross Seyfried once wrote that he never competed with a clean 1911. That he never went to a match with less than 200 rounds fired after cleaning. A 1911 should always go bang, if not get the problem corrected.

Done pretty well with all the 5" guns. All good with the 4 1/4" also. When you get shorter than that, things start to get sketchy. With quality guns, magazines, quality/type of ammo and limp wristing causes the majority of the problems.

I had one, had race gun parts in it and I didnt know it, replaced them with Ed Brown internals and sold it.

On my Colt and Wilson 300 to 500 rounds of hard ball for cleaning. About every 50 rounds for oiling.

That helps put things in prospective, thanks.

That also explains why guys with Glocks or M&P's like myself think the 1911's are not as reliable. I ran 300+ rounds through my new Shield in one afternoon, my full size M&P has seen more than that without a bobble or sending off to a smith or filing, sanding, adding, changing anything.

But for some unexplained reason, I keep looking for the perfect 1911.

What exactly does that tell you? If you had one pistol that would shoot 500 rounds and then start jamming, and another pistol that shot 5,000 round before it started jamming...but you shoot the 500 round pistol much better; which pistol would you choose?

Todd Jarrett shot 1000 rounds through a stock 1911 as fast as he could shoot and change magazines without a failure and of course no cleaning.

Is that good enough?

Future son in law has a Springfield the fails to feed about every other mag with every kind of bullet we have tried including hardball.

Give me reliability over reducing my groups by less than half, it's not like I can't keep my M&P on target. In fact you yourself opined that Americans worried too much about accuracy in reference to the AK vs the AR. So why the difference?

I'd love to get a 1911 to run 500 rounds without a hiccup but the fact remains that I've yet to make it through 100 rounds without some kind of failure. Again my main 1911's were the STI Ranger and my Colt Combat Commander. I've shot a few race guns that ran fine but why can't these stock pistols be in working order out of the box?

And why does it piss the 1911 fans off so much when someone has trouble? It's not like I'm trying to trash them, heck I bought a Kimber Rimfire Target to get more familiar with the platform. I want this Colt to work, so please don't hate me cause my plastic pistols run circles around the 1911.

TWR

My STI Trojan had no problems making it to 500 rounds. I have a couple Colts they can make it to 500 rounds.

So this got me to thinking I am going to see just how far I can push my Nighthawk. I just cleaned it after shooting yesterday 200 rounds. So fresh cleaned and lubed gun. The only thing I am going to do to it is a drop of oil every 100 rounds. I will also do it with my Colt.

Do you carry 500 rounds of pistol ammo on you? I am wondering what the round count is for an average gunfight for both military, police, and civilian.

I just don't see handguns as I do shotguns were 1000 rounds at dove in a day is something that happens much.

I understand that is the metric you are choosing to judge by but I just don't see it being necessary.

TWR - shooting one pistol better than another isn't just about accuracy. And just because someone shoots a 1911 better than a Glock doesn't mean everyone will.

To those who ask "how many rounds do you carry" - I think it is fair for a shooter to expect to get through a day of his favorite handgun competition or a training session without having to clean or switch guns. (A couple drops of oil on the frame rails only takes a few seconds though)

Seems like we have a couple cases here that might make for an interesting trouble-shooting thread. I wonder if our resident 1911 'smiths are open to that?

The difference is one is a handgun, the most difficult of all firearms to hit with, and the other is a rifle. [/quote]

If that was my only experience, I'd probably feel much the same way as you.

What I cant seem to wrap my head around is this. I have two 1911's right now that are functionally box stock. Never had a single issue with either. 500 rounds in a day; piece of cake.

I've also competed and built competition 1911's. I've been on the range and seen 1911's go thousands of rounds without a hitch. I've also seen others that couldn't make it through a magazine.

I've watched the 1911 perform quite brilliantly for decades. Suddenly they've become a completely unreliable POS; that just doesn't compute.

I ascribe this phenomenon to the fact that since there are now pistols that are MORE reliable, the unknowing young-ins on the internet extrapolate "less" reliable to mean "un" reliable.

My point about the 500 rounds vs. the 5,000 rounds is very pointed, and doesn't carry over to an infantry rifle; two VERY different animals with VERY different roles.

No one has EVER fired 500 rounds from a handgun in a firefight; EVER.

You can't even count how many have done it with a rifle though, and then were re-supplied and fired another 2,000 rounds. VERY different sort of thing. (BTW I happen to think the AR has demonstrated about a bazillion times that it's more than sufficiently reliable).

A pistol that will go several thousand rounds without needing any maintenance at all is very inspiring. But that is a training convenience, NOT a battlefield necessity; do you see a difference?

So my pistol will go a good 10-20 times farther than my ammo supply without needing any maintenance, and still not exhibiting any malfunctions. I know this because I do it all the time. Would you agree that at that point, my pistol is sufficiently reliable for self defense purposes, and even has a good 300-400% reserve of reliability?

So that part of my criteria is done; I'm good. Now past that, I'm on to other criteria that I consider important, and it's that other criteria that moves me toward non-Glock pistols. Make sense?

Again, I have nothing against the Glock; they're great guns (as are the other synthetic frame pistols). But I have other wants and likes that are not fulfilled by a Glock.

Not intended as a counterpoint to your post, just following it.

The 1911 earned a great reputation as a reliable man stopper doing what it was conceived to do - work in the mud and blood of battle. For that it was purposely made to be loose. It can also be tightened up considerably and be very accurate.

But the two goals are functionally opposed.

Not many people (except soldiers) carry a gun in muddy, dusty, icy conditions. Sure, lots carry a 1911 concealed or otherwise, but they're not sleeping in a foxhole or a trench of spending 24 hours a day in a swamp for a few weeks at a time. The gun lives in a fairly clean environment.

However, lots and lots and lots of people are playing games with 1911's - ID this, IP that, I don't follow those so don't even know all the various abbreviations. Other people shoot at targets on indoor or outdoor ranges, and even the alphabet games put an emphasis on precise accuracy at times.

So folks take a perfectly functional self defense piece that can be very dirty and fire a 7 round 3-4" group with no problem. And they look at that 4" group and say, "what a POS!". I want an accurate gun.

So, they tighten it up after the purchase, or they complain vehemently to the manufacturers who tighten it up from the factory, and go 180 degrees away from reliability in search of accuracy. And then complain when that gun isn't 100% reliable.

********

As with any post, this will piss of those who, as the Buddhists say, are identified with their possessions and will refute me with a story of their sample of one 1911 that will shoot 1" at 50 yards and is also uber reliable, so there!, but I will stick to my point.

Get a 1911 that rattles and it will probably go bang every time far more often than it needs to under very harsh conditions. And hit a man size target where it hurts out to as far as you'd need to. Make it a target piece and it will be more finicky and require more cleaning and lubrication.

Take your pick.

Jim that makes a lot of sense.

Kevin, let me be clear, I want to love the 1911 and have no fantasies about being in a fire fight but I do expect a pistol to work through a 100 count box of Winchester 230 gr ball ammo. I also thank you for calling me a "youngin" at almost 50 I need that now and then. I would've never said a thing about my 1911 woes but you asked the question.

I ain't giving up yet, I replaced the recoil spring and will try that tomorrow. I also will add oil every 50 rounds. The gun may need a little break in, I don't know but I'm trying to get it to run. Starting a thread insinuating that 1911 trouble is just something that Glock fans made up is just not quite true.

So, TWR - what, exactly, does your 1911 do? Can you describe exactly how it malfunctions? Have you changed anything - and did those changes make it behave any differently? What do your spent cases look like? (photos?)

I'm sure that some here may be able to walk you through troubleshooting way better than I, but if it's really obvious I might be able to help.

DEEP apologies for reading into things and thinking you're a youngster; we're probably the same age. (although, I'd be pretty happy if just once someone didn't call me an old fart).

And again, given your experience I TOTALLY understand the conclusions you have come to...If that was my only experience, I'd have a hard time liking the 1911 too.

Really sucks you dish out that kind of cash and end up with a gun that doesn't work. I'd recommend sending it back to the factory and giving the maker an opportunity to make it right.

Until then, if I were you; I'd carry that Glock. And honestly, if you're happy with the performance and the carrying characteristics of the Glock; why change? I'm certainly not going to try to talk you into the 1911 after the experiences you've had.

As most people know, my favorite pistol is the Hi Power. Would you believe my first Hi Power was a completely un-reliable POS, even with FMJ's? It was a rather ratty Argentine Hi Power, and I couldn't afford to have it fixed, so off it went. It wasn't until I was exposed to LITERALLY a pallet of Hi Powers that had been drug through WW II in China, then stored in Cosmoline for 40 years, only to find out that when cleaned up, over 95% of them didn't miss a single step...that completely changed me on the Hi Power.

We all have our experiences, you stick to your guns and keep that Glock close by. Salute!!

Damn right they should work, especially when you consider the coin you dished out. Man I wish we lived in the same town, I'd get you cleared up in a few minutes.

Generally speaking STI's are very good guns. The two that I encountered the had issues, there were serious and showed that the person whom built the gun did a half arse job.

What I love about Colt's is that they are made right. When you encounter a Colt that doesn't work, it's generally because someone has screwed it up (I mean that's well over 90% of the time) or it's something very minor and easy to fix.

This is just me, but I don't do well with guns that don't work. If I can't fix them, they go down the road with full disclosure. I guess if you have a safe full of handguns though, you have room to tolerate something less than perfect.

I am well over a thousand, probably at least twice that number if you count the empty primer boxes in my trash. My 1911 has failed twice and both times it was a failed to load because of problems with my reloads. That has been solved with a Lee factory crimp die. When I load right it has not had one failure and that is with hard ball, cast round nose, cast truncated cone, and factory HP.

But then I can explain that, you see my 1911 is a high dollar RIA, you know, the $499 military model with no fancy anything.

I run into a lot of Springfields that need a minor tweak here and there. They are better now than they used to be. The older ones I threw out everything but the slide and frame including the barrel...all of their barrels were over-ramped, and two piece to boot.

Tell your future SIL that he can't marry your daughter until that 45 is 100%!

As to how many rounds between cleaning and lubing...a 1911 was designed to be lubed, why run it dry?

If that is of concern for some reason, run a test on your car and see how far it runs with no oil and post the results here...it's the same logic, but I don't see that it proves anything.

Keeping a 1911 properly lubed and ready for action only takes a few seconds, a lot less time than loading a single magazine.

How hard is it to keep a bottle of oil handy? You can just stick one on a strap of your camo bike helmet...but if you are in some kind of survival mode, a few drops of oil from your car's dipstick works just fine.

+1

other than a kimber supermatch I had that didn't work, every 1911 I have ever owned have been as reliable as my glocks.
If they are done right, they work!

Back in the bad old days, a buddy of mine bought a satin-nickel Combat Commander, remember those? It choked and gagged on hardball, wadcutters, anything and everything imagineable, and you couldn't get it to feed a Silvertip for anything.

As it turns out, somebody at Colt had mismarked a .38Super/9mm slide, and had it satin-nickeled (that finish wasn't available from Colt except in .45, which was the marking on the slide). The breechface was cut for .38Super, which was too small for a .45 case to work. After his father(a pretty good pistolsmith in his own right) opened the breechface, it ran like a champ.

The '70 Series guns get a lot of praise from some quarters, but none from me, that, to me, was the "bad old days" when Colt couldn't do much right. I've had finger bushings break, roll pins shear(Gold Cup) front sights fly off, you name it. Towards the '90s, things got a good deal better, and the new Colts seem pretty good, if you can find one..............

TWR

I respect you and enjoy reading your post. By all means your pistol should be able to make it through a 100 round box of ammo and them some without cleaning or hiccups. I would not be happy with your results either.

I've got a whole slew of 1911s, and they're all as reliable as any modern auto pistol. Now I have had some in the past (two chopped down style Kimbers) that weren't reliable, but I sold them. I also had an Officers ACP Colt that wasn't reliable, but sold that too. Had to send one Springfield Loaded Model (full sized) back for unreliability, and it came back 100% reliable. I also had an Ed Brown Kobra Carry (ordered direct from Ed) that was unreliable from the start, eventually suffering from a broken extractor after less than a thousand rounds. Tuned a new extractor, installed it, and it became 100% reliable.

I know that a brand new Ford Explorer will run approximately 150 miles with no oil in it before it schits the bed

I put together AR's and completely understand how to run one wet. I am pretty liberal on the 1911 as well, not much runs good dry.

As for my pistol, to be clear it's a series 80 that wasn't shot much at all by the looks of it and is or was all factory except the magazines. Ammo was factory Remington and Winchester 230 gr ball. I bought 100 rounds of the Remington and 600 rounds of the Winchester, fired all the Remington and 50 rounds of the Winchester so far.

With one cheap mag it would not fully load the shell nearly every time and did the stove pipe thing once. I trashed the mag. The other mag is a Chip McCormick 10 rounder that ran most of the time but had the same failure to fully chamber the round. Same with a MecGar mag.

I bought 4 Colt 8 rd mags and thought all was good but had the same issue a few times once it had a few rounds through it. I ordered a Wolf 18# recoil spring and installed it, it was almost an inch longer than the spring that came in it. I also ordered a 20# Ed Brown spring. I will try the 18# spring in the morning and see how it goes, the 20 if needed.

Even my Kimber 1911-22 failed me twice, it failed to pick up a shell from the mag, the first time I thought I just didn't have the magazine seated good. 350 rounds later it did it again but I didn't have my mags marked and don't know which one or ones of the 5 did it. They are now marked and I'll see if it's a single mag issue or what.

While not a problem, I am changing the plastic trigger and ordering a complete Wolf spring kit for the Colt, along with some round Pachmyer followers. I have a buddy who is gonna look it over and change the parts for me. He worked with a pretty good 1911 guy and I trust him. I know from trying to diagnose AR problems on the net that it's really hard to do without seeing the gun but I do appreciate all the offers to help me figure this out.

There is likely something else going on other than the weight of the recoil spring and it could be a number of issues. The 1911 is optimized to feed with a stock 16# spring and will feed fine with a 12# spring if everything else is correct.

First thing I would try is as different brand of ammo. WW White Box has been out-sourced in the past, and is often not made in the US. New factory ammo can be out of spec with oversized bullets, thick necks or rims. Make sure whatever ammo you want to try will drop in the barrel when it is disassembled from the pistol.

I think a 1911 should not be too particular so I prefer larger chambers that will feed just about anything, but some lots of factory ammo are just messed up.

Then there are mags...

I would stick with newer Colt 7rd mags made by Checkmate with the dimple on the follower.

That's #1 and #2 of troubleshooting, but there could just as easily be something else going on.

Anything from the chamber, barrel ramp, frame ramp, link down, extractor tuning, breech face, in addition to possible ammo or mag issues...

Most of these, except for ammo and mags, are gunsmith or armorer level issues. These things are normally relatively minor fixes but need to be done right.

You might want to see if there is a knowledgeable 1911 smith in your locale to take a look at it.

had exactly the same thing happen between a ruger and springfield. The ruger did not like the length of the reload. Shoot it in a springfield, no issue. at to those collet fingers, first thing i did upon tripping accross a series 70mark5 a few years ago was remove that finger collet and put a regular collet in it.

A few thousandths of off the feed ramp should clear the failure to feed issue.

Without looking at the gun/magazine/load,there is no way I could make a blanket statement like this.

Not a blanket statement, it is an assessment of the problem as describe. I had the same issue with one of mine.

A true assessment of the problem can not be made without looking at the gun/magazine/loads. Removing metal off of the frame of the gun is not where you want to start.

I know this will go on forever. I have to leave to go somewhere. Others will chime in.

I have tried Remington ammo with the same results, 3 different quality magazine types but I'm ordering different followers for my Colt mags and have a guy who is capable of checking it out and fixing most anything on it.

Thanks guys.

Tha's weird because my smith made the same assessment on mine without looking and I removed a few thousandths and cured the problem. No more hanging up on the feed ramp with any type of ammo.
Again we will have to agree to disagree.

And we would know that how?

No problems with this 38 Super except it won't feed Corbon HP's.



A Para LDA in 45 I had was a sweetheart. Should have never sold it.

Ditto - a gunsmith replaced my broken collet with a solid one and it was 100% after that.

That Series 70 was a great pistol overall. It had that little stub of a front sight and a small blade rear but through good fortune it grouped right on top of the front sight for me right out of the box. Accurate as hell, too, even with the new solid collet. Some SOB took it in a burglary in 1981, I do miss it.

Update, went to the range today with the 18# Wolf spring in a clean and oiled pistol. I ran the first mag fine, the second mag I got this on the last round.

Ran the 3rd mag and got the same thing on the last round. Cleared the pistol, loaded that round in the mag and it stove piped.

A buddy that shoots 1911's competitively was there so I let him look at it, extractor felt fine to him and he couldn't see anything obvious so he shot it. It worked fine for him. He watched me shoot it and noticed I had my thumb under the safety. He wondered if I was putting pressure on the slide with the safety so I put my thumb on top of the safety and it ran fine for 3-4 mags until I engaged the slide lock with my other thumb.

Changed up trying to get a good grip and wound up putting it on safe while shooting and had more failures to feed but always on the last round and all 6 mags did it at least once.

I tried the 20# spring, same thing. Took out the buffer, same thing. My buddy shot 4 mags with no issues so I'm pretty sure it's me but the one thing that has me puzzled is why was it always on the last round?

I have been wrong before, but that looks like a magazine issue to me. Does it behave that way with different magazines or always with that one?

(Top pic. Bottom pic, not so much.)

4 new Colt 8 rd mags, 1 MecGar mag and a McM shooting star 10 rd mag. They all do it on the last round.

If you haven't done this take a magic marker and number all your magazines 1 through whatever. This will help identify which mags might be the culprit.

Well, it's a stumper at a distance anyway. Sorry I can't get you lined out there.

Mags are numbered and all did it at least once but while ordering parts for this beast I noticed this on the Pachmyer's followers description;

"Re-designed follower helps prevent last round malfunctions so common with issue followers. Unique "rounded-top"; replaces factory, flat-topped follower without modification. Polished with smooth corners."

While I think I need to adjust to shoot it, it sure sounds like these reliable pistols have a lot of issues... Even my buddy shooting his race gun had a malfunction today.

But anyway I'm another $122 deeper invested in the platform.

Just from memory, i think there are at least two or three, maybe more different types of followers on those mags.

Just from memory, i think there are at least two or three, maybe more different types of followers on those mags.
One thing that does occur to me is as you empty the mag there I think would be more spring pressure on that last round. Just for giggles load one round in the mag and have an open slide and work it slowly to see how it is going forward. All under safe conditions of course. I wonder if the mags are putting to much angle on the round?

The further you get from Saint John's design the more you will have reliability problems. There a cosmetic tweaks here and there you can do but the basic design is pretty much perfect.

Just chiming in as a non-1911 guy. It sounds like your grip is affecting the gun in one way or other (engaging the safety or the safety grinding the slide with partial pressure).

I know on my plastic guns as the mag empties the recoil impulse changes and my grip has to adjust.

I don't know if it would be as dramatic with a steel (heavier) gun with only eight rounds as a plastic (lighter) gun with 20 rounds. But if you already know your grip may be a factor, that's were I'd start looking.

Agreed! Only 1911 mags I run are the Wilson Combat 8 rounders and the Chip McCormic Power Mag 8 rounders. IMO, most factory supplied 1911 mags are pretty crappy. A great 1911 mag sometimes makes all the difference in the world.

Bought a series 80 stainless in 40 S&W that just wouldn't feed anything.. The guy I bought it from was glad to see it go.. I paid him 400 for it. A little ramp pollish and it feeds fine.. Since I have been clear through and customized it. Ill bet that guy bought a glock.
That Is the only 1911 that gave me any trouble. All my 45s did just fine out of the box..or pawn shop or wherever .

I agree the grip has a lot to do with my troubles, trying to change it today induced more problems than I started with. The only thing sticking in my mind is it only does it on the last round whether it's an 8 round mag or a 10.

"I know on my plastic guns as the mag empties the recoil impulse changes and my grip has to adjust."

Blue, you may be on to something... Again!

The 1911 was designed for 7 rounds. I never use anything but 7 rounders.

In the military we had 20 round mags for the M-14. However, the M-14 operated better and more reliably when the 20 round mags were only loaded with 18 rounds. Had something do with spring tension.

Try 7 rounds in the 8 round mag.

I carried an old Winchester M14 in the trunk of my car for nearly 20 years. Always kept 17 round in the magazines.

It sure was comforting when things were getting sporty.

I'd give this a shot--Load the mag up and shoot four or five rounds. Set the gun down, dry off your hands, get a good fresh grip and fire one shot, then set the gun down and repeat one shot at a time until they're all fired. It might be that a fresh grip on the gun will make a difference on that last shot. It'd be worth trying anyway.

I'm always prone to look at software issues (stuff I'm doing) before hardware issues (stuff the gun is doing). And I've gotten to where I hyper-analyze everything about myself. But it works for me.

I'll try to take and PM you some pics of a grip that might help. I'm not about to start a "how to hold your gun" war here, lol.

Only loaded 7 rds in the 8 rd mags, my buddy thinks the same way as you and that was his first piece of advice.

He swung by and picked the gun up just now, we really think it's a problem with the safety. It just doesn't have a positive click on or off and likes to stay in the middle. We stretched the detent spring but that didn't help so he's gonna swap it out and get that fixed first.

Still need to work on me but I'm glad he saw something that needs fixing.

I agree on the mags you listed above. But as Topcat said earlier, The Colt 7 round (not eight) made by Checkmate with the dimple on the follower is the Gold standard for .45 ACP. They have the capital "C" stamped on the baseplate. If your using new (not damaged, dropped)Colt 7 rounder's and getting FTF's, then it is time to look at the gun, the gun setup,the ammo and the shooter. In checking:

After the gun has had 3-4 hundred rounds through it at minimum.
Gun should be cleaned and lubed.
Use a solid two handed grip.
Quality of Ammo. Correct taper crimp. Correct OAL, Correct case length,primer seating etc. In testing try not to use "light per caliber bullets". IE: 185gr for 45 ACP.
Spring weight 16-18 lbs. should be used in testing.
Check for any defects/burrs on the breach face. Smoothness of the firing pin opening.
Check the breach face/extractor clearance.
Check for any binding of the spring, guide rod, slide and frame.

Feed ramp:
A lot of good guns are ruined by a novice trying to "polish" the feed ramp. You see a lot of used guns with highly polished feed ramps. Well, that might be why they are for sale. Polish means polish. No metal removal should be done. If you have a rough feed ramp, just hit the high points. 600,1000 grit wet/dry,or better yet, some fine crocus cloth should only be used.

One possible problem to look at closer.
OAL of loaded ammo. Using OAL specs out of the loading manuals and using the truncated type bullets, I have run into problems of the loaded rounds being too long. They will load in the magazine fine, but if you strip the rounds out one at a time using your thumb on the case where the slide would strip the round, as the stack rises, the rounds will hang up in the magazine. Try seating a little deeper. sometimes even .003" is enough. Sometimes, on some bullet styles, you won't be even be close to the OAL listed in some manuals. Adjust your load accordingly. Pressures increase with deeper seated bullets.

Have not been following all the dialog on your issues, but was scanning the thread and noticed the above. I believe your problem is clear. If a vetted 1911 shooter can run your pistol without issue, yet you have issues, and he immediatley noticed bad form with your technique, which would cause your problems....then it is you, not the pistol.

I've carried a 1911 professionally, have shot a 1911 competitively, and have recieved a great deal of training along the way. All the great shooters in my circles shoot "straight thumbs". When shooting straight thumbs on a 1911, one of the fundemental rules are for your thumb to stay over the safety, except for the moment you either re-engage the safety, or you exchange magazines. Without question, the straight thumb technique is superior to all other techniques, past or present, in use today. There is an exception, however, in that it is often a difficult technique to master for a 1911 novice. The same pros who instruct, train, and utilize straight thumbs on a 1911, will routinely push "thumb over thumb" on a novice with the 1911.

Based on your words above, especially if I correctly understand that your pistol has a poorly fitted safety, I recommend you start with an old school "thumb over thumb" technique, and stick with (7) seven rounds in proven magazines while vetting and learning the pistol. I'd also recommend you get some trigger time with someone who has mastered straight thumbs on a 1911 and who is a capable instructer, to run you and your pistol through the proper paces. In addition, you may need to have someone correct your poorly fit safety, so that it is crisp and positive in the on and off postitions while readily operated with your thumb.

Best of luck!

Gibby, the mags with the capital C on the bottom are make by Checkmate. They are the current supplier of Colts 1911 mags.

Those are the next ones you should try, TWR. Colt knows a thing or two about feeding a 1911.

Da! I know that. Brain fart way too early this morning. Thanks for alerting me to my mistake. I fixed it. I hate getting old. Should have proof read.

Must of had spices on my mind.

Thanks again

Figured as much. Kind of like me typing "make" when I meant "made".

Yea, I remind myself every day about getting older.

I have quite a few of the mags. Every so often, I need a couple of Colt "Aces and eights" T-shirts for me or gifts for others. I always throw in a few of the mags on the order from Colt. It is nice to get the best mags for around $20.00 each.