Series 80 Gold Cup

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whughett

whughett

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My 1911 has on three occasions ejected an unfired round, two this AM at a range session. I load five and count shots, the first I didn't know until the slide locked open after four. The second occasion the round bounced off my chest and landed on the bench. One last week hit the dirt in front of the bench. They all load and fire normal when reloaded. I'm assuming a magazine problem as the gun doesn't jamb. I have several mags so haven't had a chance to stick with one at a time to see if that's the issue. Its a 200 grain SWC load I have fired for many years from this same piece. Any others experienced this. My shooting buddy has the same gun, shoots the same load and has never had this happen.
 
My $ says mag problem. Number or color code your mags. Next time you go to the range, see what happens and take notes. Its probably 1 offending mag.
 
rskent said:
Inertia feed. Time to buy some new magazine springs. Wolf 110 % are great.
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​

I've had the piece from the early eighties and it has a lot of rounds fired thru it, the slide has developed a little wiggle in battery .Three Original mags also. In early 2000's it went thru Colts factory for a tune up, when I dropped it off I ask the tech how they addressed loose slide and he said" put in in a vise, squeeze, and hope it doesn't crack" The wiggle is a very slight side to side movement and other than the ejected live round thing It still shoots as well as I can hold the sights on target, so think I'll just leave it alone. The mags are numbered and at Mondays range session I'll see if I can isolate which magazine is faulty.
 
whughett said:
I've had the piece from the early eighties and it has a lot of rounds fired thru it, the slide has developed a little wiggle in battery .Three Original mags also. In early 2000's it went thru Colts factory for a tune up, when I dropped it off I ask the tech how they addressed loose slide and he said" put in in a vise, squeeze, and hope it doesn't crack" The wiggle is a very slight side to side movement and other than the ejected live round thing It still shoots as well as I can hold the sights on target, so think I'll just leave it alone. The mags are numbered and at Mondays range session I'll see if I can isolate which magazine is faulty.
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I wouldn't worry too much about the slight wiggle in the slide. The 1911's we had in the National Guard in the 80's shook, rattled, and rolled. Remember, the military hadn't bought any new ones since like 1943 (except the "race guns" that belonged to units like the AMU and certain Special Ops units). Most of our malfunctions were due to bad mil contract magazines. I have had excellent performance from 1911 mags made by Chip McCormick (shooting star) as well as Wilson.
 
rskent said:
Inertia feed. Time to buy some new magazine springs. Wolf 110 % are great.
Click to expand...
whughett wrote,
The mags are numbered and at Mondays range session I'll see if I can isolate which magazine is faulty.
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If I were a betting man, my money would be on a CheckMate hybrid feed lipped mag causing the inertia feed. While replacing the springs is what I'd do if you find it to be a Wilson mag, my experience is spring replacement does not fix the CheckMate mag.
 
rskent said:
Was colt using Checkmate’s in the eighties? How are they marked?
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I don't think so, though they change all the time. My 1980's era Colt OEM mags are Metalform. They have an "M" stamped on the floor plate.

CheckMate mags would have a "C" stamped on their floor plate.

I'll also note, the hybrid feed lip design is Colt's. CheckMate is just the current producer of them. My 1980's vintage Metalform's have hybrid feed lips, and while I've had problems with my CheckMate versions of the design, the Metalforms have been perfect.

I do think CheckMate makes a good mag, and I have some of just about all of their models. I prefer their wadcutter mags, and won't buy any more of their flush fit 8 rounders regardless of feed lip style.
 
Range day, tested all three mags, the culprit was # 2 and its a Checkmate. Love these forums never paid any attention that one of the three was marked with an M and two with a C. Its marked two but I think it might have been one of the two that the FFL holder added to the order as extra mags. The M was original. Early eighties and the FFL was a co-worker. Back then a lot of guys held FFL's and traded out of their homes.
 
Always number your magazines. It saves a lot of time finding a bad one. I replace all magazine springs every two years. They are expendable and feed relibility is far more important than anything else if you carry the gun.
 
Drail said:
Always number your magazines. It saves a lot of time finding a bad one. I replace all magazine springs every two years. They are expendable and feed relibility is far more important than anything else if you carry the gun.
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It is a good idea to number magazines, which I'm guilty of not following.

When I start having problems, I do mark the magazines so that I can identify which magazine, if any, is causing the problem. Maybe I'll start marking magazines.:)
 
Back in the Olde Days when I used to work on 1911s I seem to remember having a steady flow of customers bringing me guns that they claimed would not run. In most cases a magazine was the problem. If the magazine was not physically damaged a new spring made it run like new. I finally started asking guys to bring all of their magazines in with their gun. Nowdays it seems that we have a huge number of guys that do the IDPA thing and they drop their magazines onto concrete floors constantly and beat the feed lips to death and pop welds loose. Personally I could never treat a nice magazine like that. I guess I just ain't all that tactical......... Since the Olde Days I have gone completely rotary and pretty much only shoot revolvers these days. No more feed problems for me.
 
Off my own thread , but like Drail, I'm at heart a revolver guy, and these days a cap gun shooter primarily. I've just not mastered the Gold Cup, despite many years and many rounds. Part of the problem is switching tween too many guns and caliber me thinks, and most of those are big revolvers.
 
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