1911 problem

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Bad Words

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Hi, I just bought a new 1911 yesterday from Cabela's. It's a Dan Wesson V-Bob. I shot it today for the first time, and had some trouble. First it was failing to feed the last round in the mags it came with. It fed them properly maybe 1/3 of the time. Not a big deal, as I have plenty of other 1911 mags that have never failed and did fine. But then after around 150 shots I had a catastrophic failure: I found the safety wouldn't engage. I tried shooting a round and nothing happened, I then tried tapping the mag, racking the slide, but it just stuck back with a double feed. I pulled the mag out, worked the slide a few times and the rounds fell out, then I noticed that the hammer wasn't staying back.

The gun was new in box, and I never disassembled it beyond a field strip.

So to recap the problems:

Safety stuck in off position
Hammer doesn't lock

I have a few questions:

What happened? All one root cause I hope?

Can I fix this?

Can a gunsmith fix this quickly? Not need to order any parts, cost?

Will Dan Wesson replace my mags?

I know that I can send it back for free warranty work, but I have a training course this weekend (Insights Training: Intensive handgun skills) and I'd like to have this gun for that. My other 1911 is also out for warranty work (Taurus PT1911 - Ambi safety problem - the left and right aren't joined properly and can move independently). So I'd like to get this fixed by Thursday or else I'll be searching for another gun for this weekend.

Thank you,
Sean
 
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I am waiting for the pics. The safety's not engaging if the hammer is down, that is a simple one, just the way it is designed. As to the hammer not staying back, I am not sure. I am curious to see what is sticking into the chamber a whole 1/2 inch? Firing pin? Post pics, and let some of the more knowledgable gents in here analyze.
 
The safety doesn't engage even if I pull the hammer back. I was wrong when I said the rod was about half an inch long, it's about a quarter inch mabye. Here's a picture - second picture has the rod circled.

edit: Rod was just the ejector as Eddie mentioned (felt stupid when I did a field strip and realized what it was), removing picture.
 
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The Mayor said:
Why not have Cabelas exchange it for another one?
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Do they do this? I looked on their web site and it said they don't accept returns on firearms. I called them earlier and the guy said to bring it down and they'd pay the shipping out to CZ for repair work, I didn't ask him about returning/exchanging though.

I see this other thread where a guy had this problem after removing his mainspring housing, I never did anything like that to my gun. Is it possible it just slipped from shooting? If I detail strip it (which is something I've only done on a 1911 once about 5 years ago out of curiosity), is there anything else I should look out for?
 
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I'd take it Cabelas and have them send it to DW/CZ like they mentioned.

In the mean time pick up a 1911 detail strip DVD from AGI to learn how 1911's work, and pick up some Tripp spring and follower kits for your magazines.

What you're describing deosn't make much sense. It's possible something broke on the guns insides. But unlikely. Sounds like the sear spring isn't working. If you hold the hammer back, you still can't engage the thumb safety???
 
Zerodefect said:
Sounds like the sear spring isn't working. If you hold the hammer back, you still can't engage the thumb safety???
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Correct - I can pull the hammer back and the safety is still blocked. The hammer has spring tension pulling it forward like it's supposed to, but it doesn't catch for either cock or half-cock positions. Thank you for the dvd recommendation.
 
I bought a P7 from them in 2005 and was told I could return it within 30 days. Maybe because it was used they have a different policy than new guns. But if your in a time crunch its worth another phone call or visit, bad right out of the box, that's not right ( for the store not to fix)

My next purchase will be a DW CCO keep this topic updated with your progress so I can see if Cabelas is stand up.
 
lot of threads like this on 1911forum. at least cabela's is offering to pay shipping, as DW's one year warranty doesn't cover that. at least it didn't for my friend. this is why i'm not a DW fan. looking pretty is great, but functionality is more important.

sending it in is your best option.
 
Sounds like the sear spring isn't working.
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Unless the sear spring is broken, the only way I can conceive of this happening in my mind is that the sear spring was taken out and not put in correctly. Surely DW test fired the weapon at the shop :confused:

Bad Words, when you say field strip, how far down did you disassemble exactly? Did you remove the mainspring housing at all?

as DW's one year warranty doesn't cover that. at least it didn't for my friend. this is why i'm not a DW fan.
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I don't know what your friend told you, but I'm pretty sure the warranty on all CZ-USA products is 5 years.


Jason
 
Could you describe thoroughly what you feel as you cock the hammer? Will it go to half-cock, is there normal spring tension, can you feel or hear the sear engaging?

I'd call Cabelas and ask about having a smith look at it. If one isn't available, ask if someone there is capable of stripping it for you and be sure to explain your time constraint. They one took a duck boat back after 6 months (my dad bought) and after we had painted it and drilled holes for wiring and seats. Firearms however are a very different matter for an FFL holder and exchange privileges would likely need authorization from DW.
 
Jason_G said:
Unless the sear spring is broken, the only way I can conceive of this happening in my mind is that the sear spring was taken out and not put in correctly. Surely DW test fired the weapon at the shop :confused:

Bad Words, when you say field strip, how far down did you disassemble exactly? Did you remove the mainspring housing at all?

Jason
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Never did anything with the mainspring housing - I just removed the slide, barrel, recoil spring, etc. I'm sure they test fired it, it was working fine for ~150 shots, then stopped working.
Skylerbone said:
Could you describe thoroughly what you feel as you cock the hammer? Will it go to half-cock, is there normal spring tension, can you feel or hear the sear engaging?

I'd call Cabelas and ask about having a smith look at it. If one isn't available, ask if someone there is capable of stripping it for you and be sure to explain your time constraint. They one took a duck boat back after 6 months (my dad bought) and after we had painted it and drilled holes for wiring and seats. Firearms however are a very different matter for an FFL holder and exchange privileges would likely need authorization from DW.
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I feel spring resistance while I pull the hammer back, from start until it hits the beavertail. The resistance feels reasonably strong, I think as strong as it's supposed to. During the entire travel I feel or hear nothing. It feels like the only thing the hammer is in contact with is its pivot and a spring. The spring resistance is weaker for the last little bit of travel going back, but I think that's normal. If I let the hammer go at the end, it springs back with force, and with nothing impeding its travel until it hits the firing pin/slide. If I let the hammer back slowly with my thumb, it feels the same as it would on a working 1911 with the trigger pressed.
 
Sonds like the sear spring snapped off, sear snapped off, disco went nuclear, or something is stuck in there.

Something failed. There has got to be a reason the hammer isn't clicking on the sear notches.

Foreighn object debris left over from machining perhaps jammed in the guts?
 
A detail strip is in order. Here is the link you'll need: http://www.marstar.ca/AssemblyColt1911.htm

Once you've examined the individual parts you'll have a good idea what will be needed to fix it. Sucks that it happened but running against the clock I'd say you're money ahead to have parts on hand or be able to explain what's gone wrong to Cabelas or DW. Better than taking a chance on a third pistol or missing class.

Might want to give it a shake and listen for any strange rattle.
 
So the sear isn't resetting (engaging the hammer hooks) which could be caused by a number of things. The immediate problem is to disassemble the pistol but you need to move the thumb safety midway between on/off in order to remove it, so that you can remove the sear and hammer pins along with the sear, disconnector and hammer. You mentioned that you can't move the safety even if you hold the hammer back. I suggest you PM 1911Tuner since you need the V-Bob for a class.

As for your magazine issue, I've used all four Check-Mate magazines that came with my Valor and V-Bob and they work fine in both DWs and a pair of Kimbers, and that's shooting three types of ammunition. The V-Bob magazine followers don't have the dimple on them but the Valor magazines do ... go figure!! Regardless, I've shot hundreds of rounds using all four in four different 1911s without any issues.

I bought two Dan Wessons a few months back because I wanted to see for myself what all the fuss was about, and I'd read numerous glowing reviews and tests by Dave Severns and others. Both DWs arrived with a number of issues but nothing as serious as yours. Dan Wessons have just about every feature one could want, and when you get a good one, they really are outstanding 1911s ... the trick is to get a good one, or if you don't, to know how to get it to where it should be without having to send it away.
 
i can only comment on your minor issue of the last round in the magazine failing to feed. I had that with one of the two magazines that came with my Colt 1911 Series 70 Reissue. After shooting the gun and the troublesome magazine a while, the problem went away. Don't know why. Hundreds of rounds now with no problems through the magazine that used to malfunction. I didn't do anything to it but now its OK.
 
Thanks guys. After getting home last night I was too tired to mess with my gun, and today I received word from Taurus that I'll get my other gun back tomorrow. So time is no longer a factor and I'll be taking advantage of Cabella's free shipping offer for the warranty work. I'll bump the thread when it's all done.
 
Sure you don't want to tap out the MSH pin and see if that sear spring is your culprit? You could have a quick replacement and a few new CMC mags by class time...

Enquiring minds want to know!
 
Zerodefect said:
.......just remember to pull the thumb safety first, then the MSH pin.
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But how can he do that if he can't move the thumb safety? Had he removed the MSH as Skylerbone suggested, it's possible that the sear may have been "freed" from whatever was causing it to bind up.
 
Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. That sucks. Guess they'll have to pull the pin first.

I think if the safety gets jammed you can just use a small pick to move the spring to un jam the thing after removing the MSH.
 
I took the gun to Cabela's for repair on August 13th, and it was available for pickup on September 1st. Issue is fixed, but no communication about what was wrong. Upon getting it back I went straight to the range and fired 67 rounds. All rounds fed properly now, but the slide failed to return fully into battery twice. I cleaned the gun (it came back with a ridiculous amount of oil on it), and fired a hundred or so rounds without any type of failure.

Cabela's sucks in terms of wait time by the way. I spent a couple hours at the store dropping it off, and about 45 minutes picking it up. If I had known how long it would be, I would've opted to pay the shipping myself and not deal with that.
 
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