Garrison Joe

Gun is not in battery (ready to drop hammer on firing pin) until the rear surface of slide and rear surface of frame just below the joint between them are perfectly flush. This is not a jam, or a failure to feed. It's a failure to go into battery. If you push the slide forward with a strong tap of heel of your off-hand, does this resolve the failure-to-fully-chamber problem and let it fire? If it does, do you keep the disconnector tip lubed with a drop of oil every time you take gun apart for cleaning? Are you using range pickup brass to reload? If so, you really need a chamber check gauge to see if your brass has a base bulge common with loads that are hot enough to swell the case just in front of the extractor groove. Barrel plunking probably will not find these bulged brass situations. Spend $20 or so and get a good loaded round checker gauge! The most common problem new .45 auto loaders have is they run into brass with bulges at the base, which the sizer die in .45 auto will not remove! That is where the Lee bulge-buster kit comes in really handy. This consists of a push-thru die and a push rod which install on a spare single-stage press. Even a loaded round can be pushed through this die safely. But the best way to use it is "bulge bust" all fired brass that you know you did not shoot from your own guns, before you reload it. If you sometimes shoot almost +P level reload ammo, you may want to bust all your own fired brass, too. The bulge if not removed, sometimes means the round will not fully chamber, thus will not fire. Second cause of failure "just short of fully chambered" is a bullet seated long enough to jam the ogive of the nose into the very short throat of the 1911. If you find the rounds that do not chamber and inspect the exposed bullet nose for rifling marks, it should tell you if that round was over-length for your gun. No part of the cylindrical SHANK of the bullet should be in front of the case mouth. Only the rounded ogive of the nose can hang out in front of the mouth. good luck, GJ

Show us a picture of the jam next time you have it happen. That will tell us which of several types of feed jams you are having. Jam with nose on ramp, jam from nose diving of the round, three-point jam, etc, etc. Get a couple of pictures for best info - one showing the nose of bullet and front half of case, and another of the rim of the case and whether it has slipped under the hook of the extractor. Happens under what condition? First round out of a full mag, or the last one out? Both of these situations may point to a magazine problem, but different causes. Randomly? Could be the extractor is not tuned to pick up the round real well. In fact, that would be my first guess, especially with a lower price range gun. The extractor is not just for ejecting a case - it controls a "controlled feed" of the round into the chamber. What the #*@) does "dropping a round into the mag" mean? You mean just loading a single round into the mag? I hope so, because if you are placing a loose round on top of the mag follower (not into the mag itself) or into the chamber loosely and dropping the slide, you are putting a LOT of stress on the extractor making it snap over the rim. As for mags, I would not trust an "unverified maker's" OEM mag from Taurus. I would trust a Wilson or Tripp or Checkmate. Not so much the McCormick without replacing the spring and follower. But show us how your failure to feed occurs before you run out and buy anything! Your "ejection of cases" test shows your springs are about right. good luck, GJ

I would recommend your function check after any tuning/repair or every couple of years of use. On a safe outdoor range, load a mag with 1 round, a couple with 2 rounds, and several full mags. When time to test "proper disconnector" function, shoot them in that order. Be ready to control gun with two hands after the first mag. If you have any doubles (or worse), fix it better. There often is no place at a match to do this kind of test. Nor time to conduct it, nor time to fix it. Bring a working gun and working ammo to a Wild Bunch match! good luck, GJ

Every EOT WB held at Founders Ranch had random rifle and pistol ammo from "random" shooters pulled and tested for meeting the +150 PF level. I know from personal experience as I attended all of those matches. And usually there were weight checks and functioning safeties tested. Some of those I conducted or supervised. Even if no thumb safety application is practiced at any WB match I've been in. good luck, GJ

No one ever has done official "function checks" in that detail at a WB match. While it may be critical to buying a gun, it's not IMO critical to shooting a match safely. We have a whole bay full of safety officers watching the shooter, and able to stop the action if they see a serious safety problem. The test of a working grip safety and thumb safety has been part of the rules compliance testing of 1911s (along with weight, parts and modifications falling within rules, etc). I was a TO at a major WB match several years ago and issued two Stage DQs on the same stage to a very careless shooter (second one after a Cease Fire had been put in place). Neither was a failure of 1911 function. I think the real safety concern at matches needs to remain "Is the shooter following good safe gun handling". Just like we do now. good luck, GJ

Murphy says, "when you think they won't test PF, they will" good luck, GJ

You have a rolled crimp on group "A." Most taper-crimp dies if set too far down on the case will force the crimp to change from taper to a roll crimp. The length / seating position looks great on "B". I would tighten the crimp slightly on that and try to see half the wall thickness of the case show when you look down on it. Kinda surprised "B" will plunk into the chamber fully with a mouth diameter at 0.475"+, as 0.473" would be the "straight wall" diameter for a .45 AUTO load. But, if it will chamber 100%, shoot 'em. For comparison, my loads are averaging a 1.180" OAL, but I shoot a truncated cone bullet that has a shorter ogive nose than your rounded nose slug. And the mouth of the crimped case runs right at 0.472" and there is no roll to the crimp shape and half the case wall is visible from above. good luck, GJ

The short throat in a 1911 barrel catches a lot of new loaders of .45 AUTO by surprise, as they load a few hundred, go to the range, and find every one of the loads fails to go the last 1/8" into battery. Some keys to loading so they will feed well in your gun: 1 - the point on the nose where the upper end of the cylindrical section of the bullet (the shank) STARTS to narrow down (round over) to the nose ogive is the place where the case mouth should be placed during seating. If you crimp down on the shank, the nose will jam into the short throat of the barrel and round will not go fully into chamber. If you crimp out on the ogive of the bullet, you will have collapsed bullets during hard feeding. Remember that there is NO standard nose length on cast .45 AUTO bullets, because there have been hundreds of molds made to cast these slugs over the years. Regardless of what a manual may state. So, don't load to the published OAL, load to put the case mouth at the start of the ogive turn-in. 2 - apply a taper crimp that just returns the case mouth to 0.472", measured with a caliper. You are only straightening out the case from where you expanded the mouth, and just barely catching the surface of the bullet with the inside edge of the case mouth. Looking down from on top of loaded rounds, you should still see a bright ring of brass all the way around the bullet. The case mouth is the headspace location, so if you "bury" the brass case wall all the way into the bullet during crimping, the headspace mechanism is removed and rounds can chamber too deep to fire. 3 - get a loaded round checking gauge, and check EACH cartridge to make sure it chambers perfectly. Several companies make them, including Dillon and Wilson (the trimmer guys, not the gun guys, unless Bill Wilson just happens to be making them now, too). Yes, you can take the barrel out of your 1911 and drop rounds into the chamber, but it will "get old" breaking down your pistol every time you load a batch of ammo. 4 - good on you for bulge busting your "range" cases. But if a round fails the chamber check from step 3, the first thing to try is to bulge-bust that LOADED round. I've busted thousands of loaded rounds and never had a discharge. Second thing to do if you fail chamber-check is to look at the mouth of the case and find any lead finger-nails that "squirted out" during crimping. Depending upon the quality of bullet and your ability to squarely seat a bullet, you may or may not find a sliver of lead needing to be trimmed off the round. Those 2 corrections will almost always get the round to pass chamber-checking. 5 - chrono check and calculate Power Factor yourself. Not every 1911 will shoot a load from the manual at the velocity that the book shows! Sounds like you are well on the way to making great ammo. good luck, GJ

Rules written at different times by different persons? Perhaps influenced by their "home range" safety rules that they are familiar with? And perhaps because shot size is hardly important to shooting 10 yard steel knockdown targets. I have seen several WB shooters not be handicapped at all shooting #9 shot. And I shoot #8 all the time. As to exactly WHY in any of the SASS rules, perhaps developed 25 years ago and modified since then, it is almost impossible for most of us to have a real clue. But it's not like we really NEED to know WHY to play the game. Learn the rules, follow the rules - for the game you are playing. But, if you think the two rules need to be "harmonized" (made the same), suggest that to your local Territorial Governor and see if they want to "pick that hill to die on." good luck, GJ

Not an orange fiber optic sight that "glows" in sunlight. But, sights can be painted or a colored insert or dot (non-fiber) can be applied. The rule: But of course, different rules for Traditional guns: good luck, GJ

I tossed out all my .45 auto brass that had a military head stamp before 1990, and commercial head stamps with the lettering almost smashed level from recoil. Because several of the old (1960 and 1970s) brass cases were splitting upon reloading or firing. Since brass recycling gets me almost half the price of new brass back, it was not all that painful. But never have I seen a primer pocket enlarge enough to start spitting out primers. Which is what I would guess the OP is worried about. good luck, GJ

I have used TG in a lot of .45 Colt loads. I never worried much about the velocity because all my 200 grain loads easily made a power factor of 165 - close to 180. I ran 6.2 grains of TG. But I suggest you start with 5.7 grains. Your load "velocity requirement range" is kinda slow - so with the chamber diameter and even bore variances, you will need to chrono the load. It will be a sooty load and probably not seal the chamber very well. Keeping the gas blow back down to a livable level out of Uberti toggle gun was the main reason I ran about 6.2 grains - that was enough chamber pressure to seal a .45 Colt case, even if not annealed. good luck, GJ

As they say, "it is what it is, not always what one hopes for"

For the staker, check Midway USA and Wilson Combat for possible tools in stock. Midway has the Strobel tool in stock, which is pretty good. good luck, GJ

The most successful taller front sight installations on 1911s are made by milling the slide for a dovetail slot, and installing a front sight with dovetail base. Staking in a tall front sight is a VERY hard job to get solid enough that the sight will stay put. Been there, learned that the hard way. good luck, though, finding a staking tool. GJ

The Brownells tool has about 11" handle and the tool body is about 8", so it will reach at least to middle of almost any tube. It's made for most 12 gauge tubes except Mossberg models. One of the review comments on the Brownell's tool says: Believe Brownells is probably pretty knowledgeable about this one, like they usually are. good luck, GJ

Yep, Brownells also has a tool that is the same design, if you want one pre-built for your own. Mag tube dent raiser Pretty pricey, though. A guy with a lathe could turn one real quick. And this one is pretty reasonable and claims it protects from over-expanding the mag tube. From Defender Tactical. Defender Tactical dent removal tool good luck, GJ

i know of none of the custom 1911 smiths who will tune a gun to a 2# trigger pull. Especially for use in an action sport (rather than a bullseye gun). GJ

Nope. Not "certain" at all. With a proper sear to hammer cock notch fit, the 1911 hammer does not move any appreciable amount as the trigger is pulled. If the hammer does not move back, the mainspring does not compress any farther. Therefore, no compression of the mainspring means no extra force is applied to the trigger during trigger pull by the mainspring. Just the force which is applied to the trigger by the leaf of the sear spring which is resting against the trigger saddle. Browning really knew what he was doing when he designed the 1911. It allows the 1911 trigger to be tuned to 3.5 pounds of pull - and that is needed mainly to prevent the gun from doubling or firing when dropped. The 1911 pistol is a single-action design. Pulling the trigger does not cock the hammer. The hammer is cocked by the slide moving backwards during firing or racking a round in from a new magazine. Badly tuned hammers/sears that have a lot of positive angle to the full-cock-notch engagement WILL have a trigger pull that stacks (increases) as the trigger is pulled, and THAT stacking does get worse and more detectable with a real strong mainspring. But, a REAL strong mainspring is not needed for our 150 power factor loads anyway - most guns are well behaved with a mainspring at about 19 pounds of spring weight. And a recoil spring at about 15 pounds. good luck, GJ

Hodgdon publishes data for shotshells that they believe meet their own reliability of performance standards. The soft end of those are are heavier loads than what many cowboy shooters use. Hodgdon is not "your huckleberry" with making cowboy loads either for shotshells or pistol cartridges. They just don't want to get into the testing that we (maybe 2%) of the shooting pubic might need for what used to be called "gallery loads". So, other cowboys' experience is about the best you can count on. What we "need" falls below the velocity (and recoil) of almost any commercial usage - even target loads. When no factory loads that way, why would Hodgdon stick out their neck and recommend them? good luck, GJ

There is no correlation between trigger pull and the hammer impact force. IF the sear and the full-cock notch have a nice tuned fit. The force on hammer fall comes from the MAINSPRING strength and the weight of the hammer. Now, you probably don't want to change out to a different weight hammer. So you will be concerned with the force applied by MAINSPRING. A stronger mainspring, and you get more hammer strike force. Not linear and exact relationship, but that's the way it works. Why does the trigger pull force have nothing to do? Because the sear notch on the hammer is in the same place REGARDLESS of how much force you set the trigger up with. Since the hammer fall starts in the same place (when sear clears the full cock notch), and the mainspring works on the hammer through the same amount of rotation, all that matters is how strong that mainspring is (and how smooth the hammer pin and side walls of the hammer slot in the frame are, to eliminate any friction). A heavy spring on the trigger or sear only adds to the force you have to apply to the trigger. The trigger does not transfer any of the trigger pull force to the hammer. You use the chrono and lower the powder charge (MAYBE 1 GRAIN STEPS) until you get your desired velocity. Once there, you fire 25 or 50 rounds in practice sessions to make sure you get a working discharge of both shot and wad EVERY TIME. Using a double barrel, load two rounds, fire them, then look from the chambers down the barrel to make sure everything cleared the barrel. Pump gun testing would be harder to do (use a cleaning rod to punch out the barrel) and tell you nothing extra about the function of the shells. If you start getting sunken crimps due to the lower charge weights, you may have to find a taller wad or put less pressure on wad seating or lower the level of the crimp die settings. Or use a more bulky powder. Clays was a great powder for light shotshells for cowboy shooting. Titewad and Titegroup are less satisfying because they are not as bulky and can give you fits with the "stack height" that supports the crimp petals and prevents sunken (leaky) crimps. good luck, GJ

You were informed correctly. But, as you note, close up gun inspections have proven distasteful at major matches. Not saying they WON'T happen, but only the "visible at 5 feet" stuff seems to be the norm for call outs of rules violations. good luck, GJ

Point 1 - as far as I have followed the two categories, match directors have restricted ammo to lead bullet only so as to not require clubs to put AR500+ armor steel targets at 100 or more yards. Both the steel and the land is expensive. Point 2 - lead bullet ammo can be made to shoot real well from 1400 up to 1800 FPS or so with little difficulty, and hold accuracy of 2 to 3 MOA over at least 200 yards. Going beyond that requires a fair amount of understanding and testing. Up until about 1895, all rifles shot lead bullets (and black powder, even). good luck, GJ

No filler. BAMM is not THAT much a precision shooting match. Besides, the use of any filler with a shouldered case and smokeless powder is strongly DISCOURAGED by Lyman and Hodgdon. Can lead to ringed chambers, and they don't really understand why. good luck, GJ

Great policy for you. Won't help grow the game, though, if you have any concern there. Won't help keep older folks shooting as joint pain creeps into their lives. And gets SASS into a nanny role on reloading. good luck, GJ