STI Spartan feeding issues

[Deuce044]

I've had my Spartan for a few months now and suffice to say, I love that gun. It's accurate, handles recoil well, and I seem to be more accurate with it than my Sig. Go figure, maybe it's the whole 1911 aura helping me out here.

Anyhow, shortly after I bought it I got a few boxes of Winchester white box hollow points, which were the cheapest I could find until I could find, well, a crate of something else (need a float for brass). And turns out that the edge of the cavity hangs up when feeding at pretty much random intervals.

That raises a good question for me. Are there any .45 hollow points that the Spartan likes? Or I should just try to find some with a narrower "mouth"?

Anyhow, until then I'm just including that ammo in my drills. I get someone else to load up my mags for me, putting in the rounds that don't reliably feed in there at random just so I never really know when I'll be getting a misfeed but I'm increasing the odds of having to do some IA's. At least I can put them to good use by introducing that element of uncertainty.

And on another note, I managed to find a Kimber conversion kit, but the Kimber .22 slide sticks out the back of my frame. Any idea if that would be a serious issue or if I can shoot safely with that set up? But one thing for sure, no putting the safety on for me in that case and that bugs me a bit. Any suggestions here?

 

[Hitzy]

I've had my Spartan for a few months now and suffice to say, I love that gun. It's accurate, handles recoil well, and I seem to be more accurate with it than my Sig. Go figure, maybe it's the whole 1911 aura helping me out here.

Anyhow, shortly after I bought it I got a few boxes of Winchester white box hollow points, which were the cheapest I could find until I could find, well, a crate of something else (need a float for brass). And turns out that the edge of the cavity hangs up when feeding at pretty much random intervals.

That raises a good question for me. Are there any .45 hollow points that the Spartan likes? Or I should just try to find some with a narrower "mouth"?

Anyhow, until then I'm just including that ammo in my drills. I get someone else to load up my mags for me, putting in the rounds that don't reliably feed in there at random just so I never really know when I'll be getting a misfeed but I'm increasing the odds of having to do some IA's. At least I can put them to good use by introducing that element of uncertainty.

And on another note, I managed to find a Kimber conversion kit, but the Kimber .22 slide sticks out the back of my frame. Any idea if that would be a serious issue or if I can shoot safely with that set up? But one thing for sure, no putting the safety on for me in that case and that bugs me a bit. Any suggestions here?

The standard 1911 design hasn't changed in nearly 100 years & was made around feeding ball ammo, which it will generally do with 100% reliability.
You can get it to feed hollowpoints and TC's more reliably, just need to polish the feed ramp and make sure the lip of the chamber is flush with the feed ramp.
Your best bet is to switch to 230g ball, which it was designed for.

 

[G Man]

My understanding is that since the 1911 was designed for ball ammo, hollow points that are closest in shape and length to that of ball would feed the best. I use Golden Sabers (without issues) which have a large hollow point and are shaped like ball ammo with the very tip cut off. I have had more feed problems with the more pointy ammo.

 

[ian_in_vic]

Lot's of guys have success with Fiocchi 230 JHP. Nice quality brass, accurate and fires well out of box stock Norc's with no reliability issues that I'm aware of.

 

[capp325]

You can get it to feed hollowpoints and TC's more reliably, just need to polish the feed ramp and make sure the lip of the chamber is flush with the feed ramp.

Whatever you do, DO NOT polish the frame feed ramp to be flush with the barrel lip. If you do that, there's a good cahnce that your gun will not feed any kind of ammunition reliably. There is a reason why JMB put a small "step" between the feed ramp and the barrel - it is necessary for reliable functioning.

To the OP - before you conclude that the gun is the culprit, try different magazines (it is possible that the top round in the mag is sitting too low relative to the chamber). Also, try a different brand of ammo, as Winchester white box is pretty much the cheapest, lowest quality factory ammo available in this country.

 

[Deuce044]

I had strong suspicions it was the ammo right from the get-go. Everything else I've fed that pistol has gone in and out without any issues. Even white box ball. So my guess is that mouth of the cavity is just too damned wide.

Well, now I just need to find someone who wants a few boxes of Winchester White Box hollow points...

Or burn them off in practice by interpersing them with ball rounds to create a higher probability of stoppage...

 

[smartbomb]

I have the same gun. I'm gonna try out hollow-points soon...
I'm kinda worried about the feeding ramp being dented by the bullet if it gets jammed... you guys think it'd be an issue?

 

[ian_in_vic]

I have the same gun. I'm gonna try out hollow-points soon...
I'm kinda worried about the feeding ramp being dented by the bullet if it gets jammed... you guys think it'd be an issue?

You could discharge a bullet into the feed ramp without denting it, due to the angle invovled. Don't sweat feed damage to the gun, what normally happens is the bullet will get set back into the case in a severe feed ramp failure. It's really obvious, and you just dump the round and chamber a fresh one. Do not try to shoot a round with a set back bullet, the decreased space in the case does interesting and amusing things to the pressure levels, which can in turn make your gun go boom (in a bad sort of way)

 

[jjackman]

While bullet type sometimes has an effect, magazine lips can also be a problem. If you've tried some of the solutions previously mentioned, you might also consider how strong the crimp is on your ammo. I've had several types of commercial ammo that wasn't as strongly crimped so the bullet would compress back into the case ever so slightly and cartridges would hang up on the feed ramp.

Magazines are the most common problem.

 

[smartbomb]

You could discharge a bullet into the feed ramp without denting it, due to the angle invovled. Don't sweat feed damage to the gun, what normally happens is the bullet will get set back into the case in a severe feed ramp failure. It's really obvious, and you just dump the round and chamber a fresh one. Do not try to shoot a round with a set back bullet, the decreased space in the case does interesting and amusing things to the pressure levels, which can in turn make your gun go boom (in a bad sort of way)

Thanx for the tip.