1911 Failures Ressurected

Last month I posted about the feed failures I was having with my Colt 1991A1. My problems appear to be over and I wanted to relate what the cure turned out to be.

I was loaned a reliable magazine from a very reliable source for which I am very grateful. (I wasn’t granted permission to post his name, so I won’t.) Anyway, I made the trek to the range with my magazines and his and guess what? I didn’t have any failures with his although I had multiple failures with mine. The troubles were the same as I’d had originally in this thread. (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=165983)

I took the gun home and cleaned it thoroughly, including stripping the slide. I usually clean the extractor channel by shooting brake cleaner through it. This time I used k’bob sticks and long swabs. There was quite a bit of dried bullet lube, powder residue, and dirt in there. I checked extractor tension after cleaning with a new S&B FMJ and it seemed okay (it seemed okay before cleaning as well). I determined “okay” by inserting said cartridge under the extractor and shaking the slide. The cartridge would wiggle around a bit but not fall out.

Back to the range with my freshly cleaned 1991 and freshly cleaned magazines had the same results. The gun functioned flawlessly with the loaner mag and had multiple troubles with my Mec-Gars. I had one failure with one of my McCormick Shooting Stars (I think I misidentified these earlier as Wilson’s) and none of these failures with my Colt magazines.

The cleaning certainly helped, but the root cause of my problem was the magazines. I will soon be putting Wolff extra power magazine springs in my Colt and McCormick magazines and sending the Mec-Gars back for replacement (again). Maybe I’ll get lucky with the Mec-gars this time, but I’m convinced it is only luck that makes them work. By the way, the Mec-Gars are the MGCG4508-PF 8-rounders with the plastic floor plate.

The magazine was my loaner. It's been many places in the U.S. and has convinced many shooters of the merits of a proper magazine. It began life as McCormick Shooting Star that was hurled downrange by its former owner, retrieved by yours truly, gutted and upgraded with a Metalform dimpled 7-round follower and a Wolff 11-pound spring...and used hard between loanings.
It hasn't failed yet in any gun that it's been used in.

Cheers!

The vast majority of time, it is the simpler solutions that tend to correct one's problems. My latest pastime is reading manufactures alibis/excuses on their firing failures, in no special order: not reading manual, cleaning, mags, ammo, part changing, Bubbaizing & "limp-wrist". You notice no mention of poor quality-control, design failures, etc. It's always US!

The vast majority of time, it is the simpler solutions that tend to correct one's problems. My latest pastime is reading manufactures alibis/excuses on their firing failures, in no special order: not reading manual, cleaning, mags, ammo, part changing, Bubbaizing & "limp-wrist". You notice no mention of poor quality-control, design failures, etc. It's always US!


Seems pretty clear that the magazines in question were the problem here!

--wally.

Seems pretty clear that the magazines in question were the problem here!

--wally.

As is generally the case.

Magazine...Extractor...Ammo...If that don't cure it, you've got a problem, friend.

The magazine was my loaner.
Never would have guessed. :rolleyes:

Congrats on the fix.

I ran into the magazine woes with my Charles Daly EFS fullsize. It came with Mec-Gars, but I would get a failure to feed with nearly every magazine, usually near the end of the mag. I replaced the Mec-Gars with Chip McCormick Shooting Stars (8 rounders) and my problems went away. After a couple hundred rounds with the CMC mags (ball and HP) without any problems, I thought perhaps my pistol had broken in enough to run the factory mags. I loaded up the factory mags and ran into the same old failure to feed problems. Put the CMC mags back in and the pistol hasn't missed a beat since then. Don't know if it's the follower, or the springs. The CMC mags work, and that's all I need to know. I run Mec-Gar mags with other pistols/calibers and they've been flawless.

edison

In my experience the only reliable 8-round magazines have been the Wilson. All my other magazines are original 7-rounders.

In my experience the only reliable 8-round magazines have been the Wilson. All my other magazines are original 7-rounders.

And I've seen several pistols choke on the Wilsons too...yet behave themselves perfectly with a 7-round standard mag. It seems to vary a lot from gun to gun. In my own experience, I've found that the McCormick Powermags work the best of the 8-round variety. Dana...question. Had the 47Ds been resprung...or were they as delivered? Tryin' to work out a solution to the IDPA shooters' problems (at the local range) with the 47ds. The mags started out like gangbusters, but fell flat with hard use pretty quickly. Those guys have a considerable investment in a pile of mags, and I'm in the middle of finding a longer-term fix for'em. It's been a real pain to reengineer standard Wolff springs to work with the Wilson-Rogers followers. Is there a source for good springs that'll drop in?

As is generally the case.

Magazine...Extractor...Ammo...If that don't cure it, you've got a problem, friend.
Amen.

Bought a Colt 9mm Commander over the Internet. Pretty little gun, even if the finish wasn't original. Accuracy wasn't bad. Only problem was, it was a single shot .45. It was virtually impossible to get two consecutive shots out of it. Played with extractor tension, didn't seem to help. After a bit of an argument, the seller sent me back $50 to cover the cost of a new extractor and my troubles.

I sent the top end to a 'smith to change out the non-Colt, fugly sights, and I also sent him the old extractor. He recognized it immediately -- said it was small wonder it didn't work. Seems some well-meaning (?) soul had stuffed a .45 extractor into a 9mm pistol.

Dana...question. Had the 47Ds been resprung...or were they as delivered?

All four 8-round Wilson mags I have are stone cold out of the package, aside from having low-profile baseplates attached. I haven't had an ounce of trouble with any of them, even using them in several original GI pistols without any problems. Then again, I bought them all about 10 years ago, and have no idea if their quality has slipped lately or not. I know it has with Wilson's pistols and some of their replacement parts.

Tuner,

About a year ago, after reading another of your many posts on the Metalform flat follower and Wolff 11lb spring, and your difficulities modifying the springs to work with the Wilson follower, I decided to order a set of springs and followers for ALL of my 1911 mags, INCLUDING my 2 Wilson 47Ds.

I wasn't sure that replacing the follower in the Wilsons would work, but I tried it anyway. It seems to have worked out OK. Both function fine in my Kimber and Colt (both 5" models) Of course, they are all now 7-round mags, but the trade-off for reliability has been more than worth it.

Would this help your IDPA buddies?

Whaddya think?

Rob

Then again, I bought them all about 10 years ago, and have no idea if their quality has slipped lately or not. I know it has with Wilson's pistols and some of their replacement parts.

Maybe that's it. I know this fairly recent batch is givin' the lads rollin', screamin' fits...

Robear...if I could get'em to drop that 8th round, I could fixed'em a long time ago. Their guns work with my magazines, but they won't give up on 8 rounds OR the 47Ds. I guess they'd rather do malfunction clearance drills during a match than ring steel.:rolleyes:

I believe ISMI springs makes a spring for the Wilson type follower.

do springfield's still use metalform mags? I've never had a problem so far with the factory mags purchased with the Loaded coupons.