Remington 1911 R1

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Ole Humpback

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I recently bought a brand new Remington 1911 R1. Its a great no frills gun. I field stripped it before firing and Remington did a great job on packaging it. All it takes to disassemble it is to turn the barrel bushing, remove the spring plug and the rest is cake. Getting it back together is a bit of a trick from handling the spring plug and bushing wrench in the same hand, but thats not a problem in and of itself.

Put 50 rounds through it yesterday and aside from 3 problems feeding (this is most likely the magazine still getting broke in as the feed issue always happened with two rounds left in the mag, need to see if its just one mag or both of them) the gun shot very consistently. My shooting needs to improve a lot (I was having trouble shooting a 4" group at 5yds), but it was a lot of fun to shoot.

I look forward to learning the ins and outs of this gun.
 
There is a way to take down a 1911 and put it back together without any need to fight the recoil spring plug.

Pull the slide back to the take-down notch, and push out the slide stop.

Now wrap your hand around the slide and dust cover and slowly let the slide go foreward off the rail.
While holding the compressed recoil spring in your fingers.

Once the slide assembly is off, you can pluck out the recoil spring and guide.
And have your way with the barrel bushing free of spring tension.

You can put it back together the same way.

rc
 
I recently bought a brand new Remington 1911 R1. Its a great no frills gun. I field stripped it before firing and Remington did a great job on packaging it. All it takes to disassemble it is to turn the barrel bushing, remove the spring plug and the rest is cake. Getting it back together is a bit of a trick from handling the spring plug and bushing wrench in the same hand, but thats not a problem in and of itself.

Put 50 rounds through it yesterday and aside from 3 problems feeding (this is most likely the magazine still getting broke in as the feed issue always happened with two rounds left in the mag, need to see if its just one mag or both of them) the gun shot very consistently. My shooting needs to improve a lot (I was having trouble shooting a 4" group at 5yds), but it was a lot of fun to shoot.

I look forward to learning the ins and outs of this gun.
What ammo did you shoot?
 
Congrats on your purchase. Pics are always nice.

Pics attached. It comes with two mags, Owners Manual, and a cable lock. Bear in mind this is the first time I've ever shot a 1911 and only the third time I've ever shot a handgun. Prior to that target, I could count on one hand the number of handguns and rounds I had shot out of them. So, before I say the gun has problems, I'll work on my handgun shooting skills.

Recoil wasn't bad for me. The gun weighs 2.5lbs without a loaded mag and weighs nearly 3lbs with the mag in it. My BLR with scope & sling and 5rds of 257 Roberts comes in just under 7lbs. So its a weighty gun for certain.

There is a way to take down a 1911 and put it back together without any need to fight the recoil spring plug.

Pull the slide back to the take-down notch, and push out the slide stop.

Now wrap your hand around the slide and dust cover and slowly let the slide go foreward off the rail.
While holding the compressed recoil spring in your fingers.

Once the slide assembly is off, you can pluck out the recoil spring and guide.
And have your way with the barrel bushing free of spring tension.

You can put it back together the same way.

rc

I will have to try this the next time I clean it, which should be after my trip to the range this weekend.

What ammo did you shoot?

Magtech 230gr FMC. Its $30 a box for 50rds compared to the $45 a box for 20rds of the Federal JHP Personal Protection ammo that I also have for it.

The ammo fed just fine. The feed issue that I had was when the next to last round was being chambered, the last round in the mag was also trying to slide out and feed as well. Next time I shoot, I'm labeling the mags to see if it is a single mag that is the problem or if its just the mag springs breaking in.

Other than that one hiccup, the gun worked perfectly. I'll figure I'll hold judgment and tweaks until after I've put about 200 more rounds through it.
 

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Congrats and your groups will get better with practice.

Thanks! I was very happy with myself that I was able to at least shoot consistently and not wander all over the place on every shot.
 
Nothing wrong with that ammo usually. Could be indeed a new magazine that needed a little stretch exercise. I also own an R1 and shoot it for sports. No problems. It is every bit as good to me as the Colt Gold Cup was.
 
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love, put some buffalo horn grips on and must say it is purty. Shoots great to boot

7360669214_4a616f5c61_z.jpg
 
First, congrats on the new purchase. Second, I have had a Remington 1911r1 since pretty close to when they came out, and I also had an issue similar to yours near the end of the magazines. And, not that it's any help, but maybe it's a little hope. My springs wore in a little and the problem DID disappear, so yeah. Congrats again. It's a nice pistol for the price especially.
 
Ole Humpback wrote,
Getting it back together is a bit of a trick from handling the spring plug and bushing wrench in the same hand, but thats not a problem in and of itself.
I'm kind of surprised to see you need a bushing wrench for the R1.
 
Awesome! Nice handgun...I just bought the Enhanced version a few weeks ago...the bushing is tight on mine as well. So far as your shooting, if I were the bad guy, every one of those shots would have put me down for good!!! :)

Dave
 
No shame in using a bushing wrench. So the manual says. I bet you'll be using your thumb before the end of the year.
 
Thanks for your instructions on R1 1911 take down. I just purchased a R1 and am about to break it down for her intial cleaning. So excited to soon load her up and let her talk...
 
First, congrats on the new purchase. Second, I have had a Remington 1911r1 since pretty close to when they came out, and I also had an issue similar to yours near the end of the magazines. And, not that it's any help, but maybe it's a little hope. My springs wore in a little and the problem DID disappear, so yeah. Congrats again. It's a nice pistol for the price especially.

Thats what I was thinking. And besides, its not like practicing alot is a bad thing. The gun gets broke in faster & I become a better shooter. Thats a win-win-win in my book!
 
R1

First of all lots of good field striping instructions for the 1911 published out there. Follow the ones in your literature as it is laid out for you.

No issues on magazines for me. Over 500 rounds no jams of any sort.

Group at 5 yards was less than 2" and I easily held a 3" group at 25 yards.

The guns are tight and my two shooting buddies who have them also reported very good accuracy.
 
I'm kind of surprised to see you need a bushing wrench for the R1.
All of the Remington 1911's have a fitted bushing, so they all take a wrench to get it out, at least at first. Perhaps mine will wear in eventually so that I don't need it.

Tom
 
Question:

Would I be able to reproduce my "end of mag" feed issue by manually cycling (ie I rack the slide myself) live ammo through the gun or is that too slow for the issue to show up?

Also, would this reveal FTF issues with different types of ammo?
 
Looks like a nice gun, just have a problem with manufacturers only finishing a gun part way, and expecting the consumer to finish the job.

Pistols that need to be "broken in" to fire successfully, are incomplete as far as I'm concerned. I expect a pistol to function correctly out of the box.

I'm OK with them getting smoother as they wear in, but for a new gun to not feed, fire, or have jamming problems is unforgivable.

Hard to think of other consumer products that would be able to get away with this.
 
Question:

Would I be able to reproduce my "end of mag" feed issue by manually cycling (ie I rack the slide myself) live ammo through the gun
The only thing that will solve your feeding problem is new quality mags, IMO.

Try Chip McCormick shooting star or power mags, or Metalform, or Colt, or Mec-Gar, or Tripp, or Wilson, or....
 
Looks like a nice gun, just have a problem with manufacturers only finishing a gun part way, and expecting the consumer to finish the job.

Pistols that need to be "broken in" to fire successfully, are incomplete as far as I'm concerned. I expect a pistol to function correctly out of the box.

I'm OK with them getting smoother as they wear in, but for a new gun to not feed, fire, or have jamming problems is unforgivable.

Hard to think of other consumer products that would be able to get away with this.

This isn't an issue with the gun, this an issue with the magazine and so far since its not a consistent issue, I'm not entirely sure its the magazine. 3 hiccups out of a box of fifty rounds doesn't constitute an issue with the gun, magazine, or ammo. For all I know, I got a bad batch of ammo. Way too many variables/unknowns at this point to be going wagging the finger at Remington.

The only thing that will solve your feeding problem is new quality mags, IMO.

Try Chip McCormick shooting star or power mags, or Metalform, or Colt, or Mec-Gar, or Tripp, or Wilson, or....

The reason I asked if manually cycling the gun with live ammo would reproduce the issue is that I have for the last few days just sat in a chair and cycled Federal JHP rounds through the gun manually. No FTF, Jams, or even the hiccup I experienced at the range.

Instead of saying "go out & spend more money", I need an answer to the question I asked.
 
Instead of saying "go out & spend more money", I need an answer to the question I asked.
I gave you the answer, regardless of whether you like it or not. Hand cycling ammo will not reproduce the feeding problems you experience during live fire. If you're reluctant to buy known good quality magazines, at least get some wolff +power magazine springs for the magazines you have. Have a nice day, sir.
 
Hand cycling ammo will not reproduce the feeding problems you experience during live fire.

Thank you!!! That quoted part was all I needed to know. The rest I had figured out on my own. If the issue doesn't clear up with more shooting, I'll be more inclined to buy different magazines. They run for ~$30 on Brownell's so its not like they are the end of the world to me. I just hate throwing money at problems that can be solved without money is all.


Now, onto my first serious accessory purchase (outside of a holster & mag pouch): sights. I intend to use this for Home Defense and limited carry (ie wearing it while driving around) and the white 3 dot sights leave something to be desired in low light/darkness. I like the three dot setup and would like to retain that. I am not too interested in a light or laser which leaves me looking at Tritium. Since the gun comes with a Novak front sight I've been thinking about having Novak Tritium front & rear sights put on:

http://www.novaksights.com/products/sights/index.html

Experience, opinions, thoughts on this?
 
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