Yeah, it should be under tension. With the slide off of the frame, the extractor should hold a loaded cartridge in place against the breechface.
The extractor plays a critical role in feeding, extraction, and ejection. A loose extractor will cause erratic ejection (hence Lodi's question, I'm sure).
I'm guessing that it's probably due to some feeding issues that you haven't noticed: If a round pops out of the mag lips and fails to feed in the controlled manner for which the 1911 was designed (common problem cause by modern magazine design), it often still feeds successfully, but this forces the extractor to pop around the cartridge rim as the slide closes upon return to battery. This extractor design wasn't intended to do that on a regular basis, and it will eventually lose tension from the strain. Retensioning it will correct it temporarily, but it will loosen up again and eventually it will cause it to break. After many thousands of rounds, probably. I've retensioned mine whenever it loosens up (1000-1500 rds or so). A different extractor will probably not solve the problem, though it might be a good idea to have a replacement on hand for when it does finally fail.
