Anybody Ever Have A 1911 "Run Away", i.e. Full Auto?

[Foto Joe]

Yesterday morning in my travels around town I stopped by Borks Guns and picked up my 1911 and had a little conversation with Tony Bork about why she might have "ran away" on me. He had done a complete tear down right to the screws and firing pin and found among other things that it was pretty dirty inside, one of these days I'm going to have to get up the courage to learn how to completely strip a 1911 even if it means taking it to a gun smith in a baggie to put it back together. He said that the only really interesting thing that he found once it was apart was that the disconnector was about .007" out of spec which he replaced. He ruled out a "bump" fire as a possibility as the trigger over-travel screw adjustment was fine and also eliminated worries about it being a firing pin issue. I now have a REAL nice trigger on this gun with no creep and a nice crisp break to it as well. I'm finding out that custom 1911 builders usually don't have anything positive to say about factory triggers on these things. I haven't shot it yet and won't have time until next weekend but I suspect this will have been the last run away I have on this particular 1911. Before I leave for the southern climes this fall I'm going to have to get my compact carry gun in to him to let him work his magic on the trigger of that one. Altogether the damage to my wallet totaled $100.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Hopefully no one else saw your full-auto gun. I'm told (by the French model I met on the internet) the BATF considers this an illegal machine gun, even though it's from a malfunction and not purposely altered.

 

[ID-shooting]

"I went on to shoot another 50-75 rounds normally with no issues."

Since the OP stated he has reloads, what are the chances of having a few rounds where the primers weren't set deep enough?

 

[Doc7]

Hopefully no one else saw your full-auto gun. I'm told (by the French model I met on the internet) the BATF considers this an illegal machine gun, even though it's from a malfunction and not purposely altered.

http://totalrecoil.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/malfunctioning-ar15-becomes-a-machine-gun/

"In July 2006 a Wisconsin gun owner lent an AR15 to a friend who took it to a local range to shoot. At one point the gun briefly went full auto and then jammed. Police officers who were on the range at the time observed this and decided that it was in effect a machine gun and the owner of the gun was charged for illegally transferring a machine gun. The case came to trial in January 2008 and the individual has now been convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison."

 

[Foto Joe]

@ID-shooting,

That thought did cross my mind when it happened but I quickly eliminated that possibility. First off the odds of having five proud primers all lined up at the same time not only in the magazine but in the ammo box is beyond minute. Second on my Lee Turret press if you get a proud primer you will find it almost impossible to remove the round from the shell holder. And third, the expended rounds showed no signs of the primers protruding above the primer pocket although recoiled "could" have seated a proud one if that actually were the case. All in all I'm almost positive the issue was with the gun not the ammo.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

My 38 Super Colt Super Stallion will occasionally do a double or even a triple shot but I think it is more a problem of sear bounce due to the steel trigger (NM style) and the sear depressor spring not being stiff enough. I know when I shoot it to keep a good grip on the gun.

 

[Zach S]

25 round magazine, after the two controlled pairs the 21 rounds that went full auto stayed inside the A-Zone on the third target. He did an excellent job of controlling it, and the 5 port compensator helped also.

Saw something similar locally a few years ago. It was a .38S built on a para frame kit, with (I think) Grams extensions. 25 rounds sounds about right.

Anyway, after a few shots, it went full-auto. While he was in the store I reeled his target in from 25 yards and the center was chewed out of it...

 

[VAPOPO]

Ive had 2 runaways in my life with a 1911. One was a partsgun put together with an assortment of GI and aftermarket parts and the other was a brand new Taurus PT 1911 AR. It basicly confirmed my thoughts about Taurus QC But after smashing the factory trigger components flat A C&S Tactical Match trigger kit solved that issue and got rid of that stupid hammer lock. It is somewhere north of 5000 rds now and performing like a champ. The MixMaster was repaired and traded off long ago.

 

[Keb]

1967 Colt Govt double

A nice local man was raising moneyby selling colletion guns. I bought a 67 Colt with the box.

It doubled a few times.

Gunsmith discovered a poor trigger job.

Nice now.

 

[Jim K]

FWIW, I have known a couple of cases of unintentional full auto fire due to broken or worn parts, that BATFE (or a predecessor) witnessed or learned about. All they did was take the owner's name and tell him to get his gun fixed.

Often local police are not so understanding.

But there are different versions of the case Doc7 mentions. One is that the owner repeatedly bragged about having made a machinegun and loaned the gun to another guy so the second man could "try it out." Not quite the same thing as a worn or broken part accidentally causing a semi-auto to go full-auto.

Jim