SR1911 2nd time out, new issues :(

rubberdown

rubberdown

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Some may have ready my last thread about my NEW SR1911 leaving a nasty gouge on my brass when loading the rounds or ejecting the brass. I am told its no big deal and to just use it or mod/replace the factory extractor.

Today we took it out and put about 60 more rounds though it, some were my own berrys bullets plated reloads, some were Wolf rounds, all were 230 grain RN. On at least 3 occasions after the last round in the magazine was fired, the slide did NOT lock opened as it is supposed to. This happened once to a friend shooting the gun, and twice to me, on my instances, once was with a 7 round Ruger mag and once was with a 7 round Remington mag. I had 1 round stove pipe on me, and my friend had another issue but I want to confirm exactly what it was before I explain it because it sounds impossible.....
 
I had the problem with new Remington mags that came with one of my R1's - failure to lock back on the last round. I think it was caused by the plastic mag follower, as it doesn't happen with other mags.
 
First thing to do is try a few different mags. Generally when the slide does not lock back it is the mag that is the problem. Easy fix if that is all it is.
 
Nothing to worry about. Quite common. Best to insert a new loaded mag before the last round. Sometimes while shooting 2 handed your left hand thumb will be holding down the slide lock without realizing it. Other times its your mags. Or your slide stop is a little worn.
 
rubberdown said:
Some may have ready my last thread about my NEW SR1911 leaving a nasty gouge on my brass when loading the rounds or ejecting the brass. I am told its no big deal and to just use it or mod/replace the factory extractor.

Today we took it out and put about 60 more rounds though it, some were my own berrys bullets plated reloads, some were Wolf rounds, all were 230 grain RN. On at least 3 occasions after the last round in the magazine was fired, the slide did NOT lock opened as it is supposed to. This happened once to a friend shooting the gun, and twice to me, on my instances, once was with a 7 round Ruger mag and once was with a 7 round Remington mag. I had 1 round stove pipe on me, and my friend had another issue but I want to confirm exactly what it was before I explain it because it sounds impossible.....
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i think i already mentioned this somewhere, but the Ruger's recoil spring is STRONG. reloads may be just stout enough to cycle it, but not quite enough to reliably lock the slide back. stovepipes can easily indicate that the slide isn't moving fast enough to the ejector to TOSS the shell out, it's moving just barely / kinda slowly at that point to only nudge the empty out.

i had the exact same issues - and more - when shooting my friend's various reloads through my own SR1911.
next day shooting factory ammo, 100% flawless.

the spring is TIGHT. if you want to shoot reloads, either load them hot, or get a softer recoil spring.

if you have another / different 1911 available, compare the spring tension when you manually rack the slide. i have an equally new Sig 1911, and the recoil spring tension is quite noticeably different. so much so that the Sig cycles the gentle reloads ok while the Ruger didn't. with factory stuff, both cycled properly.
 
The stovepipe was during extraction.

All of the followers on the 2 remington mags and the 2 ruger mags are steel, no plastic ones on these 4 mags.

The recoil spring is very stiff compared to my Remington R1, which was a lot stiffer when it was new, so maybe it will soften up over time.

I will try running a test with just wolf bullets for 50 rounds and then my lighter hand loads for 50 rounds, this may be the ticket right there, thanks so much guys.
 
The Ruger has a heavy recoil spring(about 18.5lb I think) as well as a heavy mainspring(due to it having a titanium firing pin with heavier firing pin spring to pass drop tests)This combo could well mean that you could see stove pipe jams as well as failure to lock back if youre using somewhat lighter reloads.I changed the recoil spring to a 16lb ISMI spring which is the weight that the 1911 was designed for with standard loads.This works great with major power factor IPSC loads and makes it a lot easier to work the slide.

Other causes of failure to lock back would be tired mag springs(unlikely as youre using new magazines and the ruger mags have pretty strong springs)or riding the slide release.You may also see this if youre using a recoil buffer which is a bit thick and not allowing the slide stop to engage fully.
 
Lots of good advice here.

It is possible that the slide stop is out of spec. You can check engagement of the magazine follower with the slide stop by inserting mags without the slide in place. But you shouldn't suspect any parts issues unless you've been experiencing these problems with a clean and well-lubed pistol. Get/make some dummy rounds to check function while slowly hand-cycling.
 
The gun was cleaned and lubed after my first range visit that included 105 rounds being fired, all reloads and no issues as described above. I'll clean and lube it again this week and do my test of 50 wolf rounds (or more) and 50+ rounds of my lighter hand loads.
 
Well.... I guess I will have to chalk up my last issues to the gun being new, or a freak rare occurrence. I took it to the range today and put 25 rounds of Wolf bullets through each of the 4 mags I have (2 Ruger and 2 Remington mags) for a total of 100 rounds of Wolf somewhat hot rounds. Only problem near the end of the first 100 rounds was a failure to feed 1 single round. Next I did the same test with 25 light hand loads in each of the 4 mag, no issues at all.

Gun is prettydirty now, this WIN 231 really seems to be a dirty powder, unless its because the loads are pretty light?
 
alpining said:
Good to hear. You should change the title of your thread then.
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No he should not.

If another member is searching the threads for what he/she thinks are issues, a title change might eliminate this thread. People should be able to search and see that it wasn't a real issue.
 
padawan said:
No he should not.

If another member is searching the threads for what he/she thinks are issues, a title change might eliminate this thread. People should be able to search and see that it wasn't a real issue.
Click to expand...

It's as simple as just adding "resolved" to the title. Win/win.
 
This thread would not feel complete without some guy telling you that his Norinco was reliable out of the box and he bought it with a case of 45 for less money ?!!! :HR:

Just sayin' ;)
 
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