Jack Spade Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 So I ran into a problem with my Auto Ordnance 1911 at the Ides of March wild bunch side match over the weekend. The pistol shot and ran fine at home before I went. Loaded magazines with 7 rounds, using 7 round colt and springfield magazines. First stage, pulled pistol, racked the slide and it hung up, wouldn't strip a round and go into battery. Fiddled with the mag and release and finally got it to go. Mag was fully seated and latched. Next mag same thing. Had to push on mag and hit the slide release. I normally slingshot the slide, wouldn't work. Finally got to a stage that only had 5 rounds loaded in the mag and it cycled and fed perfectly through 5 magazines. I am thinking too much spring pressure in the magazines. Can I cut off one coil of the mag spring? Any other thoughts on what is causing my problem. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 First, sounds like a new gun. Have you run at least 250 factory-strength rounds through this gun to let all the parts run in together? If not, go do that before troubleshooting further. Many 1911s are now built to be smooth out of box. But AutoOrdnance - I would not bet on it. How did it fail to feed? Different locations of where the top round sticks mean different parts of the gun need to be worked. Nose jamming into feed ramp low on the ramp, round partially comes out of mag. If this is a new 1911, most often the feed ramp needs a little smoothing or cleaning up the angle. Especially with Semi-Wadcutter (SWC like H&G 68) slugs. But a rough or poorly angled feed ramp can hold up any lead bullet-shape load. Round "nose-dives" down into the front of the magazine body. The stamped metal followers on lower price mags often tilt and let the first round nose down into the mag when the slide starts to push it forward. I replace all those followers with a skirted follower that will not nose dive. The one I choose is the Tripp follower and spring, which you can buy separate. Last I bought (4 years ago, though) were about $12 each and made some moderate price magazine bodies (like Chip McCormick) work almost perfectly, like ALL my Tripp magazines do. Case catching during the entry to the chamber - the sharp edge of the bottom of the chamber mouth needs a very small amount of radius. (No, don't take a dremel to it, just a little bit of softening with a round stone). Catching of nose on ramp-to-barrel junction - barrel lip at bottom of mouth sticks out past a poorly fitted feed ramp. Look for a little lead shaving going on at the junction between the frame and barrel. I've never had "too strong" a mag spring in any 1911 magazine I've had, shooting a variety of mags through 3 different 1911s. Including Colt mags. I'd look elsewhere for your feed problems. Check also for rough or too-tight (damaged) magazine lips. Too light a recoil spring has been installed in gun? (I don't go lighter than a 15 # recoil spring). Rough or tight slide or frame rails? Since you had same problem with all magazines you loaded with 7 rounds, it's probably not a magazine glitch. It's MUCH more likely to be ammo (bullet shape, overall cartridge length not handled by your feed ramp) or a gun problem. If you had to hit the slide release to partially unseat the magazine and allow it to drop to get the top round to feed, it may be that the slide release needs to be better fitted where it grabs the slide release notch in the mag bodies. And, make sure the inner side of the slide release is not contacting the top bullet in a fully loaded magazine. good luck, GJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Spade Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 I will do some more investigating now that I am not in the heat of competition and try to analyze what exactly was happening. I will report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Dan Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Had a shooter this past weekend that had similar problems. Shooter liked to slam the mag into the pistol causing the slide to release rather than using the slide release or the slide to feed the first round of each magazine. Turns out this caused the forward lip of the magazines to bend down, allowing the mag to sit higher and catch the slide and not feed. Straightening the baseplates fixed it and final stage went without a hitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Bent base plate on the mag(s) would mean they would fail to feed when loaded with 5 rounds, too. Never seen anyone abuse magazines enough to bend the base plate tip downward. Guy must be a weight lifter. ;D good luck, GJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G W Wade Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 Bending base plate seems to happen mostly when slamming mag in with slide locked back, especially with extended base pads. GW 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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