.45 Hollowpoints

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Jaenak

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I have heard several people mention to me in the last few months that their favorite 1911 style pistol jams up every time they try to chamber a .45 hollowpoint but it feeds just perfectly with .45 ball ammo. Why does .45 hollowpoints have such bad feeding issues compared to other calibers of hollowpoints? Is there a way to rectify the situation or are these pistols forever restricted to .45 ball only.

Also, I'm not sure what 1911 style pistols were being specifically named. I was just talking to some various people over the course of the last few months about their favorite 45's.
 
i have no issues with jhp's in my MC Operator 1911, my dad's two kimbers and many others.

I am sure that they were probally talking about the 1911. If so you have to remember that the 1911 has one of the most violent process of feeding, as compared to other semi auto handguns.

when the slide goes foward and strips the round form the magazine the round nose dives into the ramp or no ramp depending on what kinda 1911 it is. the slide continues foward and then the nose of the bullet slams into the top of the inside of the chamber and the slide continues onward and then the round is then "locked" in the chamber.

some 1911's don't have the proper ramp/ throat polish/ angle that is needed to feed the jhp's. some need a little polish here and there and they are good to go. but i wouldn't fret over a 1911, or any other pistol for that matter not working with 1 type of jhp load, i would try several, i would check my mags and then if the problem kept up, then it would be time to look into getting the 1911 checked out.
 
The 1911 was not originally designed to feed hollowpoints, as A - it was to be a military pistol, and B - JHPs did not exist back then. Its feed ramp (actually in the frame) and barrel throat design causes the round to jump and hop up from the magazine to the chamber, which can cause problems with the sharp cavity edge hanging up. The problem is even worse with truncated-cone (straight-sided) or very wide cavity bullets. Also, some do not "like" 230-gr. JHPs because the overall length of the cartridge is longer. (The bullet must be longer to make up for the lost material in the cavity and still maintain the same weight without being pushed too deep in the case.)

BUT - any newer-production 1911 should have its feed ramp and barrel throat shaped to feed hollowpoints, and failure to function with them is unacceptable. I would still hedge my bets by selecting a load with a rounded bullet shape and narrow cavity with the same OAL as 230-gr. ball. I found the Winchester 185-gr. Silvertip to be a reliable feeder.
 
BUT - any newer-production 1911 should have its feed ramp and barrel throat shaped to feed hollowpoints, and failure to function with them is unacceptable.
Click to expand...
this is the angle that i was comming from as well.
 
AHem, the 1911 is the most violent in feeding a round cough <BS>

I've got a S&W 1911 - only failure to Feeds have been with whatever
funky mateial is used in CCI Blazer FMJ as well as Federal Un-leaded bullets it feeds every Rem. Win. Win SXT, Gold Dots, Golden Sabers
I've fed it. Removing or throating barrels -AND- when I keep the chamber
cleaned up it feeds 200 gr. SWC as well.... I just did a bit of polish on the
frame/ramp thatzall.... over throat jobs and yah get an unsupported bit
around the case and funny bulges.

Yah wanta spread 2nd hand accounts take notes on what kinda
platforms & ammo - bet there both el cheapo...

R-
 
My Colt series 80 1911 that I bought in 1990 will eat what ever I feed it including Wad Cutters. Oh yeah...185 grain JHP's too...And that has been that way sense it was new out of the box...
 
Yes, as I have admitted in other posts, I have a pre-80 Combat Commander that had trouble feeding JHP's. Feed ramp showed machining marks! You could almost count them with a fingernail. The feed ramp needed to be polished and the chamber throated. Then all was well with feeding JHP's.

On the other hand, a newer 1991A1 Commander came with a decent factory ramp polish and throat job. Didn't have to mess with it. This 1911 liked hollow points out of the box.

So, yes, older ones can have trouble. Newer ones shouldn't, as the solution to this problem is fairly well known.
 
Yeah, Possum I'll tell yah how it's BS - the O.P. doesn't back it up with any examples of platforms or hollowpoint specific data, and you back it up
without any stated qualification

Got a BSEE and written a white paper on semi-automatic desgin?

care to cite a link to a knowledgeable source of the comparisons of
the barrel/ramp designs such as

Traditional Colt
Clark/Para ordnance
Wilson/Nowlin
or no ramp which only
seeminly Kart has figured out?

How is it that the .45 ACP at 21,000 PSI
or .45 ACP +P at 23,000 PIS

IS MORE VIOLENT THAN
9MM Parabellum, .40 S&W, 10m Auto all at
or above 35,000 PSI with the corresponding
recoil spirngs to handle the higher pressurres?

Huh, and the 1911 design is so copied, ok, the
Browning High Power changed it up with the cammed
barrel unlocking/locking but nobody applied that
barrel lockup to a .45 ACP until the Sig 220 about 40
years later. bubba.

Randall
 
No, I live in Pullman WA home of the Washinton State Cougars
who were down 42 - 3 at halftime....

SO, let's see how Possum defends his MOST VIOLENT statement
about the 1911 design, yet Dan Wesson Razorback Colt Delta ELite
and other 1911 variants in the 37,000 PSI 10MM Auto seem to be
the design of the day with the exception of Glock 20s.

Randall
 
Retreat is best when the position is
indefensible..... how is it a low pressure
round of large diamater has such a prolemo
and the design endures 97 years

Game Set Match

Nighty Night....

Randall
 
I agree that the 1911 has a violent feed cycle compared to many modern autoloaders. That does not mean a 1911 cannot be perfectly reliable, it just means the nose of the cartridge has a more complicated journey. Many modern autoloaders are designed so that it is almost straight-line feed from magazine to chamber. That does not mean a modern auto will not have feeding issues, it just means there is less opportunity for trouble, from a mechanical point of view. BOTH systems are perfectly capable of working just fine.
 
I got several Colts from 1941 GI to 2007 New agent . They feed hp just fine as does my Kimber and Dan wesson
I shoot and carry 185 DPX Corbon +P
I also have a new American classic It started out shooting Federal, Remington, Corbon HP Pistol was new I was mixing different brands trying to get it to jam . I ran a box of Corbon 200gr HP +P thru it Fri,
I have never under stood the my 1911 won't Feed HP Mine seem to .
I have a Colt Commander 1951 9mm it likes Corbon HP also So not the pistol design.
 
Gunsmith used to throat the barrels of 1911's to feed the broad flat nose SWC bullets used in shooting target matches. Most current manufactured guns I've seen have the chambers throated to the same extent the gunsmiths did. I have several 1911's Government models, a Commander model and they all feed HP's reliably. They will also all feed my SWC handloads well.
 
Guess I just don't understand the question. All my 1911s feed HPs without any issues. I've never experienced the problem and I've been shooting 1911s since the 60s. I have had a number of 1911s fail with SWCs. But, I've never tried to load an HP-SWC into a 1911.
 
I think possum was referring to they way a round gets "knocked around" during feeding in a 1911...

It gets rammed into the feedramp, then the end with the bullet in it pops up and hits the roof of the chamber at just enough of an angle that it chambers instead of stopping right there...Oh yeah...almost forgot....after it starts towards the chamber, after hitting the hood...the end with the primer in it pops up out the mag and the brass rubs the hood all the way in.

Now I know not ALL 1911's are that rough during feeding...and many other factors influence that...but WAY TOO MANY are like that out of the box.
 
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I've never had a problem with ftf with any of my 3 Springfields with any bullet configuration common to 45acp., my Champ's are sometimes mag sensitive, the full length eat's anything and isn't picky about any mag it's fed from. I've used the most common jhp's I guess, that would be Gold Dots, XTP's,Golden Sabres and BlackTalon.
 
I think someone in this thread has had a little too much caffeine :scrutiny:
(it is entertaining, though)

I don't own a 1911. I do have a bunch of Sig P220's, both the old stamped slide and the newer milled slide versions in .45acp. I've never had a problem with any of them right out of the box ;)

My question is, do 1911 type guns chambered in 9mm have the same number of feed issues as the .45s?

If not, maybe its the size of the .45 bullet (diameter) and its configuration (not as pointy as a 9mm) ??
 
Or maybe he decided you weren't worth messing with?
Click to expand...
exactly, i don't owe anything to MR. Blind Justice. Or any one else on here for that matter. and demanding that i defend myself will no get you anywhere, and i will ignore you. de escalation.

think possum was referring to they way a round gets "knocked around" during feeding in a 1911...
Click to expand...
exactly i was speaking nothing of the chamber pressures, or the like but what happens during the feeding process.

this is what i said in the original post
the 1911 has one of the most violent process of feeding, as compared to other semi auto handguns
Click to expand...
.
and then i go into detail about the feeding process. there is nothing in there about chmaber pressures, just the feeding cycle.

Blind Justice maybe you are blind, because you obviously didn't read my post.
 
Real Problem

JAENAK,

When I bought my first .45ACP 1911 back in the 1970's, the first thing you did was get a RAMP JOB. TRIGGER JOB next and of course a decent set of sights.
You bought a COLT because the only other guns were spanish clones by LLAMA or STAR.
I, my brother and all of our friends owned and shot .45ACP 1911's and this was just a fact of life.
Things improved and a new KIMBER or PARA ORDNANCE should not have any problems at all, but they were not around in the old days.

Also, the earliest hollow points (LIKE THE CCI/SPEER 200 grain JHP) had huge hollow points. They could be a real problem.

If you have feed problems with .45ACP hollow points, try REMINGTON brand. They will feed in almost anything.

Jim
 
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