Need help with a feeding issue.

[jrdolall]

I have a 1911-22 that is a single shot. It fires fine, ejects the case...and then click. I manually rack the slide and it picks up the next shell, loads...boom. Pull the trigger the second time...click. I have tried at least five different ammo types from bulk Winchester up to Stingers with the same results.

Mag springs too weak? I probably don't have 200 rounds through the gun and both mags are the same. I took it out on Friday and I bet 75% of the time I got a dry-fire. It doesn't seem to be an issue with the ramp as the next round always strips off when I manually rack the slide.

 

[Coyote3855]

Interesting. Has it always done this or did the problem start recently? Is the gun clean? Magazines clean? I'd suspect the recoil spring is overly strong, but the Stingers should have enough power to drive the slide back especially if the pistol was feeding reliably at one point. Might help to know the brand of 1911-22 in case others have solved the problem in the same gun.

 

[jrdolall]

It is a GSG. I have had it 2-3 years but obviously haven't shot it much so I think the 200 round count may be higher than actual. When I first got it it worked pretty well with the occasional issue I expect using bulk ammo but I have had it out twice in the last month and it is acting as described.

Winchester (black box), Aguila 36 grain, Mini-Mags, Stingers, and one of the Federal orange box but I don't recall which. I was actually shocked when it failed with Stingers and was going to run some other high dollar types through it but decided to hold off. The gun was cleaned and lubed though I didn't take all the internals completely apart. As I said, extraction isn't an issue. No light strikes. Just failure to feed while firing. No failure to feed manually.

I will be able to shoot a lot this week and would really like to get it running.

 

[SVTOhio]

Sounds like it needs a complete break down and cleaning. My Sig 1911-22 (same gun as the GSG) get really really dirty inside even after 20-30 rounds. Also there is some after market parts/springs available online for relatively cheap. A lot of people have been having good luck polishing the slides aswell due to some over spray on the slide ramps. Cheers

 

[jrdolall]

I wet it down good figuring the slide was coming back far enough to eject but not to feed properly. It worked well through 100 rounds and then I had to spray it down with Rem Oil and it worked fine again.
I ordered a longer guide rod and springs from CW Accessories and will run them next week.
I will just have to keep it cleaned and WET!

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

I wet it down good figuring the slide was coming back far enough to eject but not to feed properly. It worked well through 100 rounds and then I had to spray it down with Rem Oil and it worked fine again.
I ordered a longer guide rod and springs from CW Accessories and will run them next week.
I will just have to keep it cleaned and WET!

You don't want stronger springs if its short stroking if that's what you ordered. Lock the slide back for a few days and work it often for a week. Lube it up with something a little thicker RIG or something similar. 200rnds is not much and some weak ammo or a weak batch will cause the slide to short stroke.

Dont get me wrong Remoil is great on certain guns and for certain things on certain guns. Just not for that gun for lubing the slide.

 

[RecoilRob]

I had a Walther P22 that started doing that, and inspection found a small bump being peened on the slide rail that was dragging on the slide and slowing it down. Quick swipe with the file and all was well and the bump never came back. Could you have something like that going on?

If it ran decently when new, the recoil spring for sure hasn't gotten stronger...or at least I've never encountered one that did. My guess is something is getting rough somewhere in the mechanism and slowing it down. Carefully inspect and make sure everything is smooth and polished where parts meet and it should at least remove the requirement to be excessively lubed.

Does that gun have a magazine safety by chance? If so...they can be problematic especially on .22's from what I've seen and might be contributing to the issue.

 

[rskent]

I will just have to keep it cleaned and WET!

Interesting, mine runs better clean and dry. Running things wet just collected more fouling faster.
When mine was new I would have to clean it after every range trip. Its broken in and runs smother now.

 

[az_imuth]

I have one of the colt/walther models and it had similar issues until I started running it wet. Tried rem-oil first and while it worked, it was pretty short-lived. Hosed it with CLP the next time out and it has been running like a champ ever since.

 

[MikeJackmin]

If cleaning and lubing (or not lubing) won't fix it, get a spare spring and clip a coil off. It sounds like the slide is just not coming back far enough.

 

[jrdolall]

I ran it again yesterday. Cleaned it thoroughly and did NOT lube it at all. Had the same issues. Put in the new "power recoil" spring and got the same results. I keep Rem Oil in my range bag, liquid and spray, so I soaked it down and it ran like a champ with both springs. I don't think we had a single FTF through at least 100 rounds and I think it was all Winchester M-22 though some Aguila may have been in there as well.

I checked everything for burrs and nothing noticeable is there. No magazine safety. I guess it is just one of those guns. Not really a big deal as I always have oil at the range. I will just have to make sure I clean this particular 22 after every trip to keep the gunk from building up. I'm a threat to not clean 22s after every trip...or every third trip. I have two that I have NEVER cleaned, on purpose, other than to wipe them down with a rag.

 

[RecoilRob]

If cleaning and lubing (or not lubing) won't fix it, get a spare spring and clip a coil off. It sounds like the slide is just not coming back far enough.

I like the sound of this idea! If it runs well when totally wet, but starts to choke when it gets dry, that sure sounds like it's encountering enough friction to retard the slide. The easiest solution may very well be a slightly weaker recoil spring. If they aren't too expensive, you'd be out only that cost if it doesn't work...and potentially make the pistol insensitive to lube and cleaning (mostly).

Walther used to offer a little bullpup .22 the G22 which quickly got panned because they were total Jam-O-Matics. I bought one because it looked cool and figured that it would make a nice project to try and get it to run. Solution was very simple...the mag safety was the culprit, and with it removed that little gun will eat anything all day and if it went BANG..it's coming out and feeding the next one. The safety mechanism was dragging on the bolt (by design) and added enough friction to overcome the energy available. This sounds much like the OP's pistol...though it has no mag safety, the friction is overwhelming the recoil energy unless totally reduced by excessive lubrication. Reduce the easiest source of resistance to movement...the spring...and I'd wager it runs just fine.