1911 1/16" from battery

[waterhouse]

This is more of an "I'm curious" question, because the gun works fine, feeds and ejects reliably, and goes bang every time.

If the gun is unloaded, and I slowly ease the slide forward, sometimes it closes all of the way, and some times it hangs up somewhere between 1/16 and 1/32 from closing all the way. When it does hang up, all it takes is a VERY light tap (like with the tip of a fingernail) to get it to close completely. I can't replicate this "problem" with any of my other 1911s.

When I pop a mag in and drop the slide quickly it functions perfectly every time, and as I said the gun flat out works, but I'm just curious what might be causing this.

Any thoughts?

 

[asknight]

This is more of an "I'm curious" question, because the gun works fine, feeds and ejects reliably, and goes bang every time.

If the gun is unloaded, and I slowly ease the slide forward, sometimes it closes all of the way, and some times it hangs up somewhere between 1/16 and 1/32 from closing all the way. When it does hang up, all it takes is a VERY light tap (like with the tip of a fingernail) to get it to close completely. I can't replicate this "problem" with any of my other 1911s.

When I pop a mag in and drop the slide quickly it functions perfectly every time, and as I said the gun flat out works, but I'm just curious what might be causing this.

Any thoughts?

Sounds like it could be a few different things.
1. New Kimber that hasn't been broken in yet.
2. Tight "match" chamber that has a few specs of crud or unburned powder in it.
3. Improperly sized brass/ammo.

 

[1911Tuner]

Hangup

Howdy waterhouse.

Sounds like the slide and barrel locking lugs are either slightly out of spec as to their locations or you've got a long link that's pivoting the barrel up and into the slide too early. Do a quick test.

Try to duplicate the glitch with the pistol pointed straight up, and then pointed straight down. If the problem is minor, it shouldn't hang when pointed straight up...and be more pronounced when pointed straight down.
Let me know what the results are...

 

[waterhouse]

Hi Tuner,

When pointed straight down, I can replicate the problem, but I wouldn't say that it is more pronounced. When pointed straight up, I can get it to "almost" hang, but then it slowly creeps for a split second and then closes all the way, sort of like it is cresting over a hill and then it makes it to the top and coasts home.

 

[1911Tuner]

Hangup

Okay...Check to see if the barrel is riding the link just short of dead vertical.
If the slidestop pin is slipped through the link's lower hole, does the link prevent the pin from touching the loer lug by more than the thickness of a sheet of paper? Does the barrel actually lock on the link? (Keeps the pin from touching the bottom of the lower lug when the link's lower hole is aligned with the rear curve of the lower lug feet.)

Many factory-fit barrels do ride or stand on the link a bit without causing problems, even though it's not a correct fit. If you bought the gun used,
somebody may have installed a long link in order to tighten the vertical lockup.

If this describes your link, what's happening is that the barrel is moving up into the slide a little too early. The front corner or corners of the locking lugs are contacting the rear corner or corners of the mating lugs in the slide.

If your link is correctly fitted, and not causing the barrel to pivot up on it,
you may have a lug location issue.(Slide lugs located too far rearward or barrel lugs located too far forward.)

You can determine which lug(s) is/are making contact by coloring the top front corners of the barrel lugs with a sharpie marker and creating the snag a few times. Remove the barrel and look for the area(s) where the ink is removed. It's likely that there's only one lug making contact. Make sure the
lugs and slots are completely dry and free of oil to prevent a false reading.

Standin' by...

 

[RogersPrecision]

I've seen several recent Kimbers with a tighter than usual barrel fit. This can be a 'good thing' !
It is not malfing.....so don't mess with it!
Shoot it. Enjoy it. It will most likely 'wear in' a bit.

 

[waterhouse]

thanks guys.

Tuner, I'll try what you suggest later this afternoon and see what I can figure out.

 

[1911Tuner]

It's Tight!

High probability that Chuck's spot on and it's a break-in issue that'll iron itself out with use. The part that caught my attention was:

Quote:

"When pointed straight up, I can get it to "almost" hang, but then it slowly creeps for a split second and then closes all the way, sort of like it is cresting over a hill and then it makes it to the top and coasts home."

If the slide hangs for a second, then snaps into battery, I'd like to eliminate
the possibility of the lug corners crashing before we proceed.

A couple other things that you can check for while you've got it down:

Hold the barrel up in front of a white background and a good light behind you.
Look carefully at the side to see if the front corners of the locking lugs are square and sharp. if they are...good sign. If they're rounded or have a forward rake...not good.

Install the barrel and bushing in the slide and push the barrel back as far as it will go and hold it there. Use a strong light on the underside while you look through the top side to see if the hood is touching the breechface evenly all the way across....or...if it's not touching, to see if the gap is even.

If all these checks look okay, oil it up and shoot it.
Hey! it's a rough job, I know...but somebody's gotta do it. Right?

 

[waterhouse]

I did the sharpie trick, and there was a very small area (about 1 mm) on the edge of the first lug (the one closest to the chamber) where the marker was rubbed off, so I guess that is where the problem lies.

Is this something that can harm the gun in the furture that I need to keep an eye one, or can I just keep happily shooting the heck out of it?

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

I did the sharpie trick, and there was a very small area (about 1 mm) on the edge of the first lug (the one closest to the chamber) where the marker was rubbed off, so I guess that is where the problem lies.

Is this something that can harm the gun in the furture that I need to keep an eye one, or can I just keep happily shooting the heck out of it?

Okay...Do the other checks that I gave ya in my last post. This one sounds like maybe a timing issue after all.

 

[waterhouse]

Hold the barrel up in front of a white background and a good light behind you.
Look carefully at the side to see if the front corners of the locking lugs are square and sharp. if they are...good sign. If they're rounded or have a forward rake...not good.

They appear to be square and they are very sharp.

Install the barrel and bushing in the slide and push the barrel back as far as it will go and hold it there. Use a strong light on the underside while you look through the top side to see if the hood is touching the breechface evenly all the way across....or...if it's not touching, to see if the gap is even.

It isn't touching, but the gap appears to be even.

The good news is that after playing wit it all day I'm having a much harder time getting the problem to repeat itself.

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Good! That means that it's a little issue instead of a big'un. Go back to what Chuck said and shoot it with plenty of oil in and on the locking lugs.
Things should smooth up shortly.

 

[edwardyoung]

I had that symptom on my(good grief) Auto Ordnance when I bought it. I fixed mine by taking a little 600-grit sandpaper to the bevel at the top of the disconnector. I also eased the front edge of the recess that the disconnector rests in on the slide. It might just be in my head, but it seems to have helped alot.

Easing the front edge of the disconnector wasn't done to fix the hesitation. It just made the slide action feel more smooth.

 

[edwardyoung]

Boy, and I thought I was actually going to contribute

The problem I described happened in the first bit of movement of the slide, not the last. Oh well, at least I was able to diagnose and resolve it. Carry on

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

The problem I described happened in the first bit of movement of the slide, not the last. Oh well, at least I was able to diagnose and resolve it. Carry on

Ya done good, Edward. A draggin' disconnect can interfere with the slide's return to battery. Just be careful that ya don't remove material from the TOP of the disconnect or you'll be needin' another one.

 

[edwardyoung]

Ya done good, Edward. A draggin' disconnect can interfere with the slide's return to battery. Just be careful that ya don't remove material from the TOP of the disconnect or you'll be needin' another one.

I just softened the edge where the sides meet the top.