Strange occurrence with a Remington 1911

Yes, premature slide lock can occur - give Remington a call and they'll probably tell you to send it in. It probably has to do with magazine follower / slide lock fitting/tuning.

Or the shooter inadvertently pushed the slide stop up, locking the slide.

The round in the chamber probably was dislodged somehow, either at the shot or on the way to the table or both.

Buy more mags, number them, pay attention and see if it happens again. (which is unlikely)

Assume nothing about guns.
Check and double check everything, always.
Them shootin' irons are sly critters.

It's called "Inertia Feed" and it comes in a few flavors. Basically, what happens is that the last round "jumps" the magazine when the slide hits the impact abutment in the frame. Depending on just when it happens, it can show up with the slide locked and the last round lying loose on top of the magazine...the next to last round being ejected by the last round rising, and feeding the last round...and the incident that you noticed. If you've ever found live ammo among your empty brass...heeeeere's your bug.

It can also cause push feeding, in which case the round is shoved into the chamber ahead of the extractor. Sometimes the slide stops out of battery and sometimes the extractor claw climbs the rim and gives the impression that the gun is functioning fine...until you start getting failures to extract or eject...or erratic ejection because the extractor has lost tension. In extreme cases, the extractor breaks off flush with the breechface.

Overspringing the slide makes it more likely to happen, but the cause is a weak magazine spring or a smooth follower...or both. That little speed bump on top of the original follower was put there for a reason.

It never ceases to amaze what I learn here. Tuner, you are a true asset to this forum

I think Tuner's explanation is part of the story, but I suspect that the last round in the magazine ended up laying on top of the follower just as he says, but that the person who picked up the pistol pointed it downward, allowing the loose round to fall into the chamber.

In any case, a good example of the need to FULLY check a gun to make sure it is not loaded. Just seeing the slide locked back or removing the magazine does not ensure there is not a round in the chamber.

Jim

Absolutely. Wish I had a nickel for every time a live round was ejected or fell out of a gun that just seconds before, I was assured was unloaded.

It's not clear until the slide is locked open or the cylinder swung out and the chamber(s) visually checked...by me. With single-action revolvers, I want to look at each chamber as it indexes. Don't bother telling me that it's unloaded. I won't take your word for it, and I don't expect you to take mine.

I count the rounds I load. If I load 10 the gun better go bang 10 times. If not, things get checked out at the line.

When the slide locks back, I still check the chamber.

I trust nothing.

All the Best,
D. White

My SA Milspec would do stuff like that. Mainly it would double feed: one round half in the chamber, the next one coming up from underneath behind the extractor. I would also have loaded rounds pop out the top from time to time. Drove me nuts. I got a Colt.

-J.

-J.
A Colt is always a great choice

The beautiful thing about the 1911 pattern pistol besides how easy it is to shoot well is that it is very old technology. I think it would be very hard to have a failure that wasn’t very well documented. The problems you had with your Milspec were most likely very easy to fix. I had similar problems with a 1911. It turned out to be as simple as me over lubricating the gun and oil getting down into the magazines.
Those slippery little rounds just popped out on their own.

That's why they say a gun is ALWAYS loaded.

This is what it looks like in the middle of the action. By the time it's done the cartridge is in the chamber.



CAW