Nose diving 1911
- Thread starter Firstfishman
- Start date
How are you feeding the first round? Is the slide locked back or are you racking the slide with a closed chamber?
Upon reading post #12 again, since the nose dives are not caused during firing, and mostly the first or second (rarely) round. It tells me from experience its how the first round is stripped from the mag (compression and angle of the first found on the magazine),
it should not be any of the following, ejector or extractor as the spent case ejecting is not the causing the problem, nor is it the recoil spring.
Try this. When loading the mags to full capacity, give them a tap on the backside to make sure the rounds are fully lined up, and the top round is angled up. When loading the mag, do it with the slide locked back and instert with minimal force. Use the slide release to strip the first round. See if this solves your problem.
another method, is use a feeder mag, load the first round, then insert the fully loaded round securly. Giving you +1 capacity, then the fully loaded mag is stripped via the cycling action.
I am guessing you normally load the fully loaded mag into the gun, and racking the slide and the first round is then nosediving?
Upon reading post #12 again, since the nose dives are not caused during firing, and mostly the first or second (rarely) round. It tells me from experience its how the first round is stripped from the mag (compression and angle of the first found on the magazine),
it should not be any of the following, ejector or extractor as the spent case ejecting is not the causing the problem, nor is it the recoil spring.
Try this. When loading the mags to full capacity, give them a tap on the backside to make sure the rounds are fully lined up, and the top round is angled up. When loading the mag, do it with the slide locked back and instert with minimal force. Use the slide release to strip the first round. See if this solves your problem.
another method, is use a feeder mag, load the first round, then insert the fully loaded round securly. Giving you +1 capacity, then the fully loaded mag is stripped via the cycling action.
I am guessing you normally load the fully loaded mag into the gun, and racking the slide and the first round is then nosediving?
Firstfishman
Regular
- Location
- Edmonton, Alberta
Usually, I have the slide locked back, load the mag, and then use the slide release. I've tried to manually allow the slide to close in order to see how the round strips. It nose dives and gets stuck on the feed ramp regardless of the force used. When trying to clear the jam, I have to press the mag release and then really use some force to manually pull the magazine out. Once the magazine comes out, 2 rounds drop out.
I clean all my guns religiously after every use with an OCD driven level of detail. You would be hard pressed to find any part of my guns to call dirty. Sometimes, when I am bored and don't have the drive to make it to the range, Ill strip/clean/reassemble my guns even when I know they're already spotless. Other times I will take a bunch of guns to the range and put a few rounds through them just so I have an excuse to clean them when all I really wanted to do was shoot one of them.
I clean all my guns religiously after every use with an OCD driven level of detail. You would be hard pressed to find any part of my guns to call dirty. Sometimes, when I am bored and don't have the drive to make it to the range, Ill strip/clean/reassemble my guns even when I know they're already spotless. Other times I will take a bunch of guns to the range and put a few rounds through them just so I have an excuse to clean them when all I really wanted to do was shoot one of them.
I would start with good magazines. Any of the following are good choices:
-Wilson 7-round, 47D, or ETM
-Chip McCormick Power Mag (not Shooting Star)
-Tripp Cobra Mag
8-round magazines should have an extended body. The type that tries to fit eight rounds into the same body as a GI 7-rounder with a flush-fitting floorplate is much more prone to nosedives.
-Wilson 7-round, 47D, or ETM
-Chip McCormick Power Mag (not Shooting Star)
-Tripp Cobra Mag
8-round magazines should have an extended body. The type that tries to fit eight rounds into the same body as a GI 7-rounder with a flush-fitting floorplate is much more prone to nosedives.
Here's an inspection you can perform for yourself. As suggested it USUALLY results in the round jamming with the nose pointed up where you're getting a nose dive. But it doesn't hurt anything to do the inspection. It's a fuzzy video but the close up segment in the middle is gold level stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCtQ_aflhQ
It may be that your mags are not seating at the proper height when locked in place. Try thumbing the slide release from locked back on a full mag while pressing the heel of the mag up into the gun firmly. If you can chamber the first round consistently without issue while doing this then it's the magazine lock which isn't shaped correctly and is allowing the mag to sit low. If there's no play at all in the mag when seated and locked then it's something else.
There's a couple of references out there on the slide stop rubbing the side of a bullet and not letting it nose up correctly. Some sharpie marker on the top bullet and close inspection of the jammed bullet after carefully clearning the gun to avoid any additional scuffs in the ink might point to the need to lightly dress off a little metal from the finger that sticks into the mag area and feels for the follower coming up. If you were less fastidious with your cleaning you MIGHT see some copper streak contact mark on the slide release's finger. But if you're OCD on the cleaning you likely cleaned them away. So try that Sharpie trick at the next range visit. Or if you really MUST try this stuff at home then at least remove the firing pin as added insurance against any surprises before running the tests.
There's more to be read if you google for "1911 nose dive first round". Run the search yourself and read up on some options. There's a lot you can do to learn about this issue and others that involve only inspections and tearing down. If at some point you get to where you are comfy with doing your own smoothing or light dressing of some corner I'd suggest that your comfort zone will be larger if you use hand operated stones to remove any small amounts in a more controlled manner. Just leave the damn Dremel in the dark. More damage than good can be done with a Dremel in less time than it takes to say "oh sh.....". Doing it by hand with small slip stones or needle files or even some 400 grit WetorDry sandpaper wrapped around a stick of something has far less risk of going too far too fast.
For slip stones the Lansky system knife sharpening stones either left on the carrier or carefully lifted off work like a charm and can be found in a lot of outdoor supply stores.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfCtQ_aflhQ
It may be that your mags are not seating at the proper height when locked in place. Try thumbing the slide release from locked back on a full mag while pressing the heel of the mag up into the gun firmly. If you can chamber the first round consistently without issue while doing this then it's the magazine lock which isn't shaped correctly and is allowing the mag to sit low. If there's no play at all in the mag when seated and locked then it's something else.
There's a couple of references out there on the slide stop rubbing the side of a bullet and not letting it nose up correctly. Some sharpie marker on the top bullet and close inspection of the jammed bullet after carefully clearning the gun to avoid any additional scuffs in the ink might point to the need to lightly dress off a little metal from the finger that sticks into the mag area and feels for the follower coming up. If you were less fastidious with your cleaning you MIGHT see some copper streak contact mark on the slide release's finger. But if you're OCD on the cleaning you likely cleaned them away. So try that Sharpie trick at the next range visit. Or if you really MUST try this stuff at home then at least remove the firing pin as added insurance against any surprises before running the tests.
There's more to be read if you google for "1911 nose dive first round". Run the search yourself and read up on some options. There's a lot you can do to learn about this issue and others that involve only inspections and tearing down. If at some point you get to where you are comfy with doing your own smoothing or light dressing of some corner I'd suggest that your comfort zone will be larger if you use hand operated stones to remove any small amounts in a more controlled manner. Just leave the damn Dremel in the dark. More damage than good can be done with a Dremel in less time than it takes to say "oh sh.....". Doing it by hand with small slip stones or needle files or even some 400 grit WetorDry sandpaper wrapped around a stick of something has far less risk of going too far too fast.
For slip stones the Lansky system knife sharpening stones either left on the carrier or carefully lifted off work like a charm and can be found in a lot of outdoor supply stores.
