cycling the 1911

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leveractiontodd

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I recently bought a norinco 1911 which runs factory 230's perfectly except it shoots 3" high at 12 yards. I was hoping to fix with lighter bullets,so i got some 150 and 185 semi wadcutters . Unfortunately both cartridges, as soon as the lead hits the top of the chamber it jams, so the cartridge is on a 45 degree.
Todd
 
The ramped infeed of the barrel might be sticking back a hair past the ramp in the frame. The round nose shapes are radiused enough to skip over the little "step" where the more squared off nose of the SWC sticks. Check for a step in that location and if it's there you may need to carefully change the angle of the lower ramp in the barrel.

Do so only after looking at a lot of other shapes and confirming that the barrel and link are not out of tune in other ways. All this stuff plays together and you don't want to make one change without knowing what it'll do to the other factors.

If you're not tool and metal working savvy then stick to the 230's. To get it to shoot lower you need to either get a taller front sight blade installed or remove a whisker's worth of metal along the top of the rear sight.
 
Disassemble the pistol. Place the barrel into the slot in the frame and push it back and down until the link support legs contact the back of the slot in the frame. The barrel should rest on the curved support surfaces of the frame. Note the gap between the bottom edge of the feed ramp in the barrel and the forward edge of the feed ramp in the frame. The gap should be 1/32nd inch to as much as 1/16th inch. If there is not 1/32nd inch gap or no gap, the chambering cartridge can and will hang up. SWC will just make the condition worse. If your pistol is fine with round nose bullets the gap must be off very little. You can very carefully file the lower lip of the barrel back or use a Dremel with great care. Once your close to the correct dimension,finish working it with sand paper down to 400/600 grit and then give it a light polish. There are lots of posts on the web showing what you want to see when the gap is correct. If you're not comfortable take it to a smith, it's a simple job.
 
So i've checked for that gap and if you push back on the barrel there is none ,there is a couple of thou hanging over.But theres also a good 1/32 of movement in the pin. I tried pulling out on the barrel as i chambered this did not help. The brass is getting dinted from the barrels upper end of the ramp

Todd
 
Craig, you are a gunsmith I take it.
The best shooting 1911 I have done is a china gun.
There are many folks out there that don't want to drop 2-3K
on a first time handgun.
Last couple , There is a lot of new shooters entering the c/f. handgun
fold because they can buy a 300.oo 45acp or 9 mm semi auto,
then a years of later they are buying Sigs, or even a glock.
 
leveractiontodd said:
So i've checked for that gap and if you push back on the barrel there is none ,there is a couple of thou hanging over.But theres also a good 1/32 of movement in the pin. I tried pulling out on the barrel as i chambered this did not help. The brass is getting dinted from the barrels upper end of the ramp

Todd
Click to expand...
The fact that when you push the barrel back it's over hanging the frame is a problem. Assemble the pistol and lock the slide back. How do the barrel and frame sit when locked back? Pull back on the slide from the lock back position and while holding in this full reward position want does the gap look like now? You say there is around 1/32 play in the pin, do you mean the link on the barrel pin? You say brass is getting dented on the upper end of the ramp, that's not clear, explain further.
 
I must say i've learned alot about these guns in the last 24 hrs ,with the slide back and locked if you point the barrel down theres a 1/32 gap if you point it to the ceiling it overhangs a couple a thousands ,pulling back on the slide while locked has no affected.The movement is in the link. As to the dent if the ramp in the barrel was a ski jump just as your skis were leaving the ramp thats whats causing the dint. As a update i took my dummy rounds 150 ,185 swc to a friend which has a 10 year old norico which cycled them fine . He had two completely different mags which both worked fine, in his gun. The one which had short feed lips which i found on the internet is for wadcutters .Well 50 live rounds later its working perfectly and amazingly tite groupings

Thanks for all the help
 
You've run through all the test you can and found your answer, barrel link is not fitted properly. If the pistol was a new, recent purchase, I'd contact the seller and have a chat. They're probably not going to do anything for you, other then tell you to shoot round nose rounds, but you never know. Be calm and don't flip out, explain the problem and let them decide if they want to keep you as a customer.
This is a testament for "you get what you pay for." Companies that can build these pistols in this price range have to cut corners to keep costs down. They do this with materials used and more so on the machining end. When they finally find their cutters, bits, reamers etc. are so out of spec that the firearms barely function they replace just what they have to. This is why your buddies pistol function fine and yours is, for lack of a better term, 'loose as a goose'. The fix through a smith is going to be cost prohibitive, good money after bad money.
You can use lighter grain bullets, just not SWC. Would suggest you go to Campro or Berry round nose they should cycle and will save you a few bucks. If you want to stick with lead look at Bullet Barns offering in a round nose, just order 100 pcs. to try them out.
 
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