1911 Barrel Fitting Question

[GaryK]

I installed a Springfield barrel on a Norinco. It was a new barrel that I bought from a gunsmith who had removed it from a gun that he was building. I installed it and it fits and locks up fine. It has a Wilson #3 link. I made up several dummy .45 rounds and cycled them through the gun. All appears to be okay but I did see a 1/2 moon dent when I looked at the ejected rounds. The next thing that I did was to look up Tuner's instructions on stem binding. I lightly scraped the top edge of the barrel throat with a knife and smoothed it with 600 grit sandpaper. This did not correct the situation. The next thing that I did was to remove the recoil spring, push the slide to the rear, coat the slide stop pin with black marker and push the barrel down and back into the frame with moderate pressure. The ink was rubbed off the front of the slide stop pin. I believe that this indicates that the link is too long. I ordered a .275 link from Brownell's this morning and plan to try that when it gets here. Am I heading in the right direction? Should I shoot the gun first?

 

[GaryK]

I removed .003 from the top of the large hole in the link. This cleared up the stem binding. I will install the .275 link when it gets here. I took it to the range this morning and shot 75 rounds through it. Everything worked okay. I only had a couple of FTFs that turned out to be magazine related. Once I quit using that magazine it ran fine. When I got it home I detail stripped and cleaned it. There were no damage to either the barrel or slide lugs. The slide stop pin looked okay also. I also examined several of the fired brass. They looked normal with no bulging or flattened primers. The reason that I swapped the original barrel was because the gun was fairly inaccurate. I tried a tighter bushing, but because the Norinco barrels are straight, I couldn't get enough clearance to use it. It seems noticibly more accurate now. Now that I am more comfortable that it is running okay I plan on taking it to an outdoor range and see how it does at 25 yards.

 

[rcmodel]

I will install the .275 link when it gets here.

Well, if it ain't broke don't fix it!

A long link will push the barrel up tighter into the locking lugs and will give better accuracy. (As long as the barrel isn't dragging after it unlocks.)

It soulds like what you got now is good to go!


rcmodel

 

[1911Tuner]

Gary...Your stem bind sounds more like a full-on 3-Point Jam. Sometimes excess extractor tension can aggravate the condition, but it's most often caused by the bullet nose hitting too low on the barrel ramp...which is usually due to the wrong angle on the feed ramp. Sometimes Dremel Dan rounds off the top corner on the feed ramp, and causes the same thing...the bullet nose striking the barrel ramp.

The barrel ramp...aka "throat"...isn't a feedway or an extension of the feed ramp. It's a clearance that isn't supposed to contact the bullet nose any lower than at the top corner as the cartridge glides over. Think of pushing a refrigerator up a flight of steps. You want it to slide over the corners instead of hitting the face of a step.

Color the barrel ramp with a Sharpie marker and hand-cycle a few rounds without the extractor. If the ink is being removed any lower than just barely below the corner...where it turns into chamber...that's probably where the bug has nested.

 

[GaryK]

Tuner, I think that part of my problem was a bad magazine. When I installed the barrel and was testing it with the dummy rounds the magazine that I used was the one that gave me the jams at the range today. When using any other magazine I did not have the problem. This makes me question my original diagnosis of stem bind. I bought the gun new and have not messed with the ramp. The barrel was removed from a new gun and was not altered either. The barrel link was okay when the barrel was in battery but the slide stop pin rode the link when it went around the corner of the barrel lug. Removing .003 or so from the top of the large hole in the link fixed this. I am thinking that this is a good thing that should be left alone. I have .275 link on order that I may install. The barrel fits really nice with almost no perceptable movement when pushing down on it when the slide is closed.

 

[1911Tuner]

I think I'd chalk it up to the magazine. Be sure that the .275 link doesn't cause any problems. Recoil spring free, slide full rearward...slidestop pin installed with the arm hanging vertical...push the barrel down and back firmly and see if the slidestop will swing free. If it gets into a bind, the new link is too short.