Friend's 1911 jamming. why?

[ndh87]

I was at the range with a friend of mine the other day and he kept having problems with his 1911 jamming. Every few rounds it would pull the empty about half way out of the chamber and try to pick up a new round with the old case still half in the chamber.

It doesnt seem to matter what kind of ammo he uses, and it doesnt do it on every shot, but it does jam on every mag. The pistol isn't that old, probably no more than 2 or 3 thousand rounds, if that many. The extractor seems to be in good shape, it almost looks like the casing is getting stuck in the chamber.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this and how to fix it?

Would polishing the chamber have any affect?

 

[Ken Rainey]

If it's not getting the fired casing out of the chamber, the extractor needs to be tensioned and/or it could be clocking (turning) and letting go too soon. Could just need to clean out the extractor channel...but I'd check for proper tension at the same time and see if the extractor is loose in it's channel - the firing pin stop should fit snug enough to hold it straight, if not, then a wider one is called for. Of course, the entire pistol and magazines should be properly cleaned and lubed to rule out crud as the cause.

 

[ndh87]

A lack of cleaning isnt a problem, he does a very through job of cleaning it, though he is a bit heavy with the gun oil.

 

[Grizfire]

Would polishing the chamber have any affect?

absolutely, at least this worked for my 1911 that had a similar problem. Mine was bought used and the previous owner had fired a lot of non-brass cased ammo which subsequently left a layer of metal oxide in the chamber. Take a look at the spent brass, does it look like the extractor has scraped some of the brass away on the rim, in an attempt to extract?? Also look at the chamber to see if there is a layer of metal oxide that needs to be polished out?

Also try:
1) specifically cleaning the extractor hook
2) Replace/tune extractor
3) broken ejector/....replace if needed

 

[1911Tuner]

Cousin Ken nailed it. Extractor problem. If more tension doesn't squash the bug...replace it.

 

[44AMP]

Before you do anything else....

Shoot the gun with a different magazine! Before you start messing around with the extractor, the chamber, or anything else, replace the magazine and shoot some more, to see if the gun still does the same thing. You may wind up doing something with the extractor/chamber, or something else, but the first thing (and the easiest) is to swap out the magazine.

Although it doesn't seem like it could be involved, the magazine might be the culprit. If, at certain times, the fired case hits the nose of the top round in the mag, you can have a problem similar to what you describe.

Anyway, the mag swap is simple, and if the problem persists, at least you know that the mag is not the problem.

 

[1911Tuner]

If, at certain times, the fired case hits the nose of the top round in the mag, you can have a problem similar to what you describe.

Only way for that to happen is if the case drops too low on the breechface because the extractor isn't holding it.

Slight possibility that a rough chamber could be invovlved...but the extradtor is the most likely suspect by a factor of about 50:1

 

[ndh87]

Shoot the gun with a different magazine!

Tried it with every mag he owns, no change. I'll tell him to check the tension on the extractor and we'll see how it does from there.

thanks for the help.