Clearing a Jam

mmattockx

mmattockx

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While finding a 200gr SWC load for my Armco tuned Norc 1911 I had a few stoppages where the case jammed into the top of the chamber and stuck enough to jam against the feed ramp and stop the slide instead of making the turn into the chamber. To clear it I had to pull the slide back and shake the gun enough to dislodge the round, usually with the mag removed.

I think I have my load tuned now to where this won't happen anymore, but just in case, is there a quicker method of clearing this? I am familiar with the usual tap/rack/bang and stovepipe clearances, but have nothing fast in the way of clearing this with the clock running.

Any ideas/thoughts/experiences? Also, is there a name for this type of misfeed?


Thanks,
Mark
 
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A long time reloader told me that the key to feeding SWC's well is that the nose and shoulders should match the curve you'd find with a regular ogive shaped round nose bullet. That is, if you overlaid the two images the shoulders of the SWC would be right on the ogive curve of the round nose.

In reality I found this to simply not work that well with SWC rounds in my .357 lever action rifle. It suffers regular jams where the shoulders hang up on the edge of the chamber. I finally gave up bothering and went with round nose.
 
Not any type of expert but had the same thing going on with 175gr SWC in my 1911A1. It turned out to be the bullet seating depth. I had to try a number of different depths but once found the problem went away
 
Lodi said:
Sometimes just pulling the slide back a tiny amount will relieve the pressure and allow the cartridge to feed.



If I understand correctly, "three point jam" is the term.

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The extractor may need to be adjusted to help the feeding.
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Yes, that has worked sometimes, and sometimes it is stuck into position enought to need a nudge from a finger to get it moving. Hopefully, Gunnar sorted that out when it was worked over. It is 100% with RN bullets and getting close with my handloads.


Billythreefeathers said:
Not any type of expert but had the same thing going on with 175gr SWC in my 1911A1. It turned out to be the bullet seating depth. I had to try a number of different depths but once found the problem went away
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heyrosco said:
Same here. Found max length fed the best in my Norc, opposite of what some would say. Good luck.
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OAL length is what I have been playing with, along with a slightly heavier taper crimp. Mine also works better with the longer OAL. I currently have it set as long as I can get it and still extract a loaded round. The shoulder of the bullet is engraving into the lands, requiring a good pull on the slide to get the round out. I went through 50 rounds of my latest test load with no hiccups this afternoon, so I am going to load up a couple hundred rounds and see how they do.


plinker 777 said:
Its a Norc, dremmel bevel the chamber lip.
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It is an Armco tuned Norc, Gunnar already worked that over.


Mark
 
I think you're on the right track with OAL and crimp. I guess I lucked out with my OAL when I started building SWC loads, because I've never had a problem with them in my Norinco.

I seat so that there is 1-1.5mm of the "shoulder" of the bullet exposed (200gr SWC). Any reason why you are seating to max length? I believe the pistol headspaces on the bullet itself, but I've never seen rifling marks on mine.
 
Back when the 45 dominated IPSC, the 200 gr LSWC based on the H&G 68 mold was king. The load used by most of the pros to make major (175000) was 5.8 W231 at 1.250 COL so that's what most of us used too. I had a practice load of 5.2 which was very nice to shoot and I always ran them between 1.250 and 1.255. A properly tuned 1911 (ramp, throat, extractor, ejector) should have no trouble with that load.
 
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Viper26 said:
Back when the 45 dominated IPSC, the 200 gr LSWC based on the H&G 68 mold was king. The load used by most of the pros to make major (175000) was 5.8 W231 at 1.250 COL so that's what most of us used too. I had a practice load of 5.2 which was very nice to shoot and I always ran them between 1.250 and 1.255. A properly tuned 1911 (ramp, throat, extractor, ejector) should have no trouble with that load.
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Interesting, I am at 1.190" OAL. The load is 4.5gr of Red Dot and the bullet is a two groove plain base SWC cast by Ben Hunchak. Not sure what mold he is using.

I have to confess I started the load development for a Norc Commander and that was the gun that was engraving the lands. It never would have worked with the 1.250" OAL.

I then bought a 5" Norc from Armco and started over. I never did check the clearance on this gun, though. I just went and test cycled one of my 1.190" rounds and they don't engrave on this chamber. I ran 50 of these through yesterday with no problems and it seems to work better the longer the OAL is.

I can't get to 1.250" without exposing most of the top lube groove, but I can add another 0.010"-0.015" to the 1.190" length before the groove shows.


Gentlemen, thank you for all the input. I will continue to increase the OAL and see how it works.


Mark
 
mmattockx said:
Interesting, I am at 1.190" OAL. The load is 4.5gr of Red Dot and the bullet is a two groove plain base SWC cast by Ben Hunchak. Not sure what mold he is using.

I have to confess I started the load development for a Norc Commander and that was the gun that was engraving the lands. It never would have worked with the 1.250" OAL.

I then bought a 5" Norc from Armco and started over. I never did check the clearance on this gun, though. I just went and test cycled one of my 1.190" rounds and they don't engrave on this chamber. I ran 50 of these through yesterday with no problems and it seems to work better the longer the OAL is.

I can't get to 1.250" without exposing most of the top lube groove, but I can add another 0.010"-0.015" to the 1.190" length before the groove shows.


Gentlemen, thank you for all the input. I will continue to increase the OAL and see how it works.


Mark
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Could be that he's using a different shape mold. There are many out there. I think someone mentioned that if you superimposed the 68 profile over a 230 hardball, the contact point with the ramp would match up, which is why they feed so well. Although I've seen them with 2 grooves, the 68 is typically a single. 1.250 would seat the bullet right between the groove and the shoulder.
 
BCRider said:
I finally gave up bothering and went with round nose.
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Yup, same here. The 1911 was designed for the 45 acp round nose hardball, and vice versa. Any deviation from the original design (gun/magazine and ammo) that result in a reduction in reliability is obviously not a fault of the design. This is not to say that the 1911 should not be customized, but that is another topic.

We gun nutz try to "improve" on our toys especially the 1911 but in the end, we come to realize that John Moses Browning is a true genius and his design masterpiece, the 1911 is best left unmolested. JMHO.:)
 
Just an update on this. I have stretched my OAL to 1.200", which is the max I can get before the top lube groove is exposed. The gun now runs 100% with this load and I am now happy with it.

I will be buying some H&G #68 bullets to see how my Norc likes them and will settle on one bullet once that is done.


Thanks to all for the help,
Mark
 
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