1911: feed empty cases?

[richyoung]

Does the ability of a 1911-style auto to feed and eject empty cases mean anything? I see some posts that regard this as the Holy Grail of reliability - others that dismiss it as completetly irrelevant, or a gun "horse traders" trick, usually involving a "tuned" magazine to make it possible. I've just done some clean up on my PointMan 45 from Dan Wesson - it had a slight lip on the right side top of the magazine well, which I have removed and smoothed. I don't have any resized .45 hulls available - the gun will now feed the empties I have on hand, provided that the case mouth isn't too out of round from ejection - this with a standard, unmodified Chip McCormick PowerMag....Meainingful? Meaningless? What's your opinon?

 

[Fumbler]

My opinion is this. If I intend to shoot something then I will never ever feed any firearm of mine an empty shell. Feeding empty shells means nothing.

If it will feed it then that's fine. If it wont then thats fine too.
My Sig 288 will feed about half the empty shells I try to chamber, but it has never ever had any failure in the thousands of rounds of live ammo that has been chambered in it.

You won't drive your car down the road on its rims with no tires just to check its reliability would you?

 

[ajax]

I personly cant say because i have never owned one that could. Rock Island Springfield and Kimber i've owned. My dad swears by a .45s ability to do this as a signal from the gods. My dad shot IPSC for years and has never pointed me in the wrong direction.Almost never!

 

[mattw]

meaningless. if it works 100% with live ammo and 0% with empties i could care less.... (then again i'm no mechanical engineer, i could be wrong)

 

[Old Fuff]

Well it can work wonders if you are trying to sell a gun ...

Especially if the barrel has an USGI throat.

 

[Zach S]

As a 1911 fan, I think its meaningless.

 

[wally]

Useless flourish -- my AMT 45 Back-up will feed an empty from the magazine.

Note I said "an empty". Try the trick witih two empties in the magazine. Dollars to donuts a jam because the bullet isn't there to help push the round up the breach face. Generally will get the same jam with a dummy round on top of an empty.

The only time I cared if it would feed empties was when I made some wax bullets (drill the flash hole larger, resize and seat a primer, push the empty into a slab of parifin "canning wax" to cookie cut a wax slug in the case) to practice draw and fire from a CCW holster in my garage. Made nice holes in a target taped to a cardboard box and stopped by a 4x8 sheet of plywood from one car length. This is when I discovered it'd feed one empty but not when more than one was in the mag.

--wally.

 

[Geno]

Wondering...

Ba ha! I had a custom gunsmith tell me this about empties...my responce was good, the next time I need to fire empties at the bad guys, I'll be sure to carry your gun!

For the record, none of my many pistols has ever been capable of this feat, but are extremely reliable with all shape of projectile.

Everytime I read something like this, I wish I could get my hands on JM Browning's notes...did HE ever try this, suggest its usefulness? I seriously would like to know that.

Doc2005

 

[Ed]

"You won't drive your car down the road on its rims with no tires just to check its reliability would you?"

Seriously though, I wouldn't rely on it. Heck some can feed FMJ great and jam on hp.

 

[grendelbane]

Before I changed the extractor, my Delta Elite would feed empties 99 and 44/100 % of the time.

The trouble was it would not feed JHP, or FMJ, much more than 85% of the time.

Changing the extractor made all of the difference in the world. Now it feeds JHP and FMJ quite well.

But! Now it will not feed an empty case.

I believe feeding an empty case is a stunt which proves nothing.

 

[45Badger]

Meaningless.............

 

[Maddock]

It’s a stunt.
I’ve have pistols that do it but so what?
I know a guy that had an AMT Longslide that would feed empty cases like a champ, but wouldn’t go fifty rounds of hardball without failure.

 

[richyoung]

...thanks for the opinions...

 

[BHPshooter]

Firstly, I don't own a 1911...

I do have 3 BHPs (haven't shot the third yet). One has never had a hiccup, one only occasionally. Neither will feed empties. What does that mean?

Does that mean that because they won't feed empty cases that they are unreliable? That can't be it, because I've already proven otherwise with live ammunition.

In other words, I would say it is pretty much a parlor trick meant for amusement. Like I said, I don't have a 1911, but I still think it means nothing.

Wes

 

[mete]

I used to work on guns but never attempted to make them feed empties ! I spoke to another "gunsmith" who bragged that the guns he worked on would feed empties .I just said 'I don't shoot empties ' and walked away.

 

[Father Knows Best]

Meaningless.

The 1911 design is very sensitive to magazine design and condition. With a bad mag, any 1911 will choke on almost any ammo. With a good mag, almost any 1911 will feed empties.

I use only high quality mags in my 1911s -- Wilson, CMC (with Wilson followers) and Tripp (CobraMags). With those mags, my 1911s (two Paras, a Kimber and a Colt) will reliably feed any ammo, from ball to hollowpoint and even semi-wadcutters.