Got a Springfield G.I. 1911 from my buddy!

[Outlaws]

Never actually owned a 1911 until now. My friend wanted something else so I got a good deal on this. G.I. model in Stainless. $300. I was with him when he bought it a few months back, and it only has about 100-200 rounds through it tops. I am kind of tight for cash right now but at some point I want to fine tune this thing on my own. Kind of a nice learning tool for gunsmithing a custom 1911.

I don't know much about all the workings, but I know one thing needs to get worked on first. The safety. The thing flips up nice, but to flip if off is not really fun. I mean, I can't see it ever accidentally turning off with how it is, but I also can't see myself being able to turn it off in an emergency with how it is right now. It almost needs two thumbs.

I also notice it doesn't feed so well sometimes when I slowly release the slide. But if I just rack it quick it seems to feed fine.

I didn't get any paperwork with it, but it came with two keys that fit in the grip safety, an allen wrench, a rod with a loop, and a little right angled pin looking thing.

So my question is what is good for those two issues and what else is normal to do to this firearm? Also, is there a good website for a complete disassembly? I field stripped it, but I want to take off the grip safety and maybe clean the trigger.

 

[the pistolero]

Good choice for a first 1911. I have the parkerized version and really like it.

I also notice it doesn't feed so well sometimes when I slowly release the slide. But if I just rack it quick it seems to feed fine.

I think that's called riding the slide, and I've heard various people advise against that because the bullet might not seat properly in the chamber. Just rack it & let the spring take it back in.
If you'd like the owner's manual, you can get it here. As for what else to do to it? As of yet, the only thing I've done so far is put a set of Hogue rubber wraparound grips with the finger grooves on the front. They make it feel even better in the hand.

 

[aaronrkelly]

Lots of guns dont feed correctly when you hand cycle the slide incorrectly. Your gun is not defective, your method is.

Grab ahold the rear of the slide good and tight with your weak hand....with your firing hand on the pistols grip.

Now "punch" the frame forward and let the slide "pull out" of your fingers.

It the gun will not feed ammo like that you may have a problem.

But going easy on your pistol will not correctly feed the ammo consistently with all pistols.....

 

[Outlaws]

I pull the slide back and release it to chamber a round. But once in a while I like to slowly release it on my pistols to watch the feed process and make sure everything is operating as it should. I have had a pistol or two that wouldn't do that, but they have all fired fine.

 

[AnthonyRSS]

The 1911, being a controlled-feed design, is not designed to feed slowly and has a hard time doing such without the round popping out of the magazine before getting under the extractor.

Anthony

 

[High Planes Drifter]

quote
I pull the slide back and release it to chamber a round.
------------------

Thats the best way to do it from what I understand. Dont ride the slide forward. It takes all the force of that recoil spring to feed that big ol' fat bullet properly
The safety on my GI was tight when I first got it. It settled in nicely tho. Your gun is still pretty much brand new; I'd give it some time and let everything break in before changing anything.

 

[nucstl1]

Great score!

I picked up the same GI in June and have since put on new Grips, Trigger, and nite sights. The "US" grips looked silly, I got a freebie trigger , and the vanilla sights we not a good combo with my eyes.

 

[Outlaws]

lol I actually like the US grips.

Don't I need to have the slide cut if I want new sights installed? The current sights were the only thing that I really do not like about it. I can barely grab a TV anchor in my sights let alone someone breaking in.

 

[CDH]

Everyone's right about how riding a slide will many times not allow the round to feed properly.

But about that stiff safety... Trust me, you WANT the safety to have a good bit of resistance to snick it off. You say that it "almost" takes two thumbs to snick it off, but does it really?

I wouldn't mess with it other than to work the safety quite a bit and let it "settle" in. I'll bet that it will soften up a little once you break it in and start to feel just right.

 

[Outlaws]

Okay, so there is a minor change. The gun fired off 8 of my made in the USA Winchester white box HP's, but the Winchester white box FMJ's made in the Czech Republic were not fully feeding at all. Ruffly 2 FTF's per magazine...and that is once I managed to get the first round chambered - which was a feat in and of itself.

A 1911 buff at the range said it looks like it needs the feed ramp polished and he gave me a number of a smith. Does Springfield have a transferable warranty? I would rather not pay just to get the thing to function. I know it had a few feed problems before I bought it from my friend, but it wasn't this bad (though we had shot much better ammo at the time).

 

[aaronrkelly]

Why not take some elbow grease to the feedramp......take about 30 minutes tops if you go slow and take your time.

or pay the smith.

By the time you pay for shipping back to Springfield your probably going to spend more money then if you just have the smith do it.

 

[ir3e971]

FTF

I recently purchased a SA GI 45. Sometimes I would get Fail to Feeds when I was breaking the gun in.

What helped me was removing the extractor and rounding the edges on the extractor slightly, and rounding out the bottom a bit. (Check 1911 forum for instructions if you are not clear on this) To accomplish this I used a fine knife sharpening stone.

I also lightly greased the interior magazine walls and the slide.

I have not had a FTF since. Some improvement was probably my fix, and some probably is from finally breaking the gun in with about 500 rounds.

Additionally I took the gun completely apart and greased the internals.

My gun seemed to like grease a lot more than the oil I had been using before.

I know that these are lowtech solutions, but they worked for me.

Hope this helped.

Bob

 

[lurkersince03]

I have a SA Loaded. I guide my rounds in by riding the slide with my palm so that the nose of the bullet doesn't impact further into the casing. Since I'm constantly loading and unloading my 1911 (load when I go out, unload when I lay it on the night stand), it's become irritating to wind up with "compacted" rounds after enough of this (since the same round would be subjected to the slide-racking over and over).

However, all of this is because of my apprehensivity of having the 1911 cocked and locked on my night stand as opposed to on my hip. Lately, I've been getting over this "cocked and locked fear" at home and just have been keeping the round in the chamber, even if it's resting there on the stand. So no more bullet compacting, and no more need to guide the slide with my palm............. but I do it anyway. And it still feeds like a champ.

 

[tegemu]

Before I started replacing parts or doing work on any gun, I would want to be certain that the gun is well broken in, that is, 1000 rounds or more. A good break in, more often than not, solves the great majority of new gun problems.

 

[Outlaws]

Before I started replacing parts or doing work on any gun, I would want to be certain that the gun is well broken in, that is, 1000 rounds or more. A good break in, more often than not, solves the great majority of new gun problems.

I don't have the patients for that. I can't shoot a full magazine with out a FTF or two.