[Bob C]

Today I had several fail to ejects with a Springfield Armory 1911A1 which has always been very reliable, all with +P's, and all on the last round from the magazine, and happened with different magazine. Same gun, same bullet, standard pressures did fine.

Any suggestions? TIA.

 

[jaydee]

Check your extractor...

Could be the lot of +P you were shooting may have had narrow cut rims in the case compared to the standard pressure stuff you shot...

Check for signs of the extractor not gripping the case rim on the +P cases you fired, or any unusual marking of the case rim.

 

[JerryM]

I almost hate to make a guess, since I am not in the same county in the area of knowledge as most others on this forum. Here is what makes sense to me.

It would seem that the +P rounds would give a higher slide velocity. Also, last round in the magazine malfunctions are very often magazine problems with weak springs.

Is it reasonable to think that if you replaced the recoil spring with a heavier one it might reduce the slide velocity enough so that the magazine spring would have the necessary power to get the last round in position? I would try it and maybe replace the magazine springs also.

Let us know what works, and also I suspect the pistolsmiths here will give you the correct diagnosis.
Jerry

 

[Bob C]

To give a few more details, the cases were all out of the chamber, and were in a modified stovepipe with the case mouth wedged against the edge of the slide. The case rim was partially back under the magazine lips about half the time. The mags were my "practice" mags, but included Shooting Star with Wolff springs, which are usually OK. With the load reduced 10% (resulting in 800 or so FPS with a 230 grain bullet) function was fine. The bullet was a 230 Flat Point by NBC.

Also, the problem has now occurred twice, and after the first time I replaced the recoil spring with an 18.5 pound spring, and cleaned the extractor channel.

 

[Dave Severns]

That's what you get for using bullets made by a liberal TV network. :grin: Seriously, I agree with jaydee. Have a pistolsmith check your extractor.

 

[jaydee]

On 2001-07-01 11:59, Bob C wrote:
To give a few more details, the cases were all out of the chamber, and were in a modified stovepipe with the case mouth wedged against the edge of the slide. The case rim was partially back under the magazine lips about half the time. The mags were my "practice" mags, but included Shooting Star with Wolff springs, which are usually OK. With the load reduced 10% (resulting in 800 or so FPS with a 230 grain bullet) function was fine. The bullet was a 230 Flat Point by NBC.

Also, the problem has now occurred twice, and after the first time I replaced the recoil spring with an 18.5 pound spring, and cleaned the extractor channel.

Okay... From what I am getting... All the cases were similar in size/brand, and the change that produced reliable results was lowering the charge to produce a slower velocity...

Is the Ejector an extended, or standard style? I am guessing it's a standard... I am still thinking that the Extractor may be low on tension, and is losing the grip on the case rim.

As you have mentioned FTExtract, and not FTFeed, I wouldn't be looking at the mag spring, but it's a good thing to verify... This occur with ALL mags, or just the "practice" ones...

The tell-tale sign here is that the cases are not getting "cleared" from the breech, as it starts to move forward, and is shoving the case mouth into the top of the slide...

Either the case rim is slipping off the extractor on the rear stroke, or it's not hitting the ejector firmly to fling the case out of the breech...

You say this is happening on the last round... I take that to mean that the mag is empty when the last round is fired, and it appears that the slide is not locking back either... Not sure that it's adding to the problem...