springfield 1911 hard on the ammo

[uwspmgc]

sometimes when i chamber a round more than once in my springfield milspec 1911, the bullet gets pushed farther into the cartridge casing making it shorter. this has happened with all brands of hollow points i've tried and occasionally with ball ammo. this is annoying because i can't go from no round in chamber to round in chamber more than once with the same cartridge or this happens. i think my feed ramp may have too sharp of an angle? the gun has never jammed while firing, but i've never tried to shoot the depressed cartridges, i just discard them.
first question- as long as these depressed rounds still feed, are they safe to fire?
second question- is this typical of milspecs, or should i expect springfield to fix this?
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when guns are outlawed then i will become an outlaw

 

[rondog]

Common problem with most autos, AFAIK, especially 1911's. Called bullet setback. When a round is stripped off a magazine and chambered, its little nose is slammed into the feed ramp pretty hard. Some brands do it more than others, if handloading you can increase the amount of crimp a little. Solution is to stop chambering the same round over and over. Either load the gun and leave it loaded, or leave it unloaded. No real good reason to load, unload, load, unload, etc.

But, you're right not to use them. With the bullet shoved into the case beyond spec, it can cause high pressure spikes that are bad ju-ju. The ammo can be saved, however. With an inertia-type bullet puller (plastic hammer thingie), the bullets can be nudged back out of the cse, then using a reloading press, reseated to the correct depth/overall length and re-crimped.

Probably nothing wrong with your gun.

 

[Robert101]

uwsp..... you didn't give a lot of details on the gun or type of bullets you are using. I agree that if the bullet is pushed far back into the case that you should disgard. It seems you have a feeding problem with that gun. My SA Loaded doesn't change the bullet setback very much at all.

 

[mljdeckard]

I think that a little bit of setback isn't a problem, the .45 is a lower-pressure cartridge, but yeah, if it is significant and noticeable, don't shoot it.

I leave mine loaded most of the time, but when I do unload the mags for practice, I scramble the carry rounds a bit to lessen the odds that the same one gets loaded over and over again.

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

i've only seen this issue with remington UMC ammo, that's one of the many reasons i no longer use this ammo.

 

[average_shooter]

This is a normal phenomenon. You'll notice that practice ammo (intended to be loaded once, shot, and ejected) has no crimp or cannelure below the bullet. However, defense ammo that might be cycled for administrative purposes more than shot often will have an extra crimp in the brass below the bullet to prevent setback.

Also, 1911's in general are hard on cartridges due to the fact that the bullet slams into the ramp, then the top of the chamber before being seated. So it's literally a "double whammy" when you load a round.

 

[Drail]

If this is a "normal phenomenon" why have none of my handloads over the last twenty years ever done this? I think it is simply poor quality control. The amount of crimp will have no effect on setback. The solution is case neck tension. I very lightly crimp my handloads. The bullets have never set back or pulled forward.

 

[Sapper771]

I had the same problem when I carried 1911s. I carried my 1911s in condition 1, but while at home, when I retired my 1911 to bedside duty, I would clear the chamber and load a loaded magazine, but not re-chamber a round. Just my choice, but I didn't like to have a loaded (hot chamber) pistol laying out in the open.

I found that if I took an empty magazine, loaded one round into it, inserted it into my 1911, then eased the slide down to chambered that one round,(making sure that the 1911 went into full battery), I lessened the chance of bullet setback. The 1911's loading cycle is rather violent to the round. The nose of the round hits the frame ramp, then it is forced up toward the chamber. The nose then banks off of the roof of the chamber as it gets forced into the chamber. I believe that It is called the controlled feed principle. Lightly Polishing the feed ramps can help. Choosing ammo that has a bullet with a ball-like ogive can also help. I have had good experiences with GI feed lip (old Colt & checkmate mags) magazines and some HP ammunitions.

As far as shooting 45acp rounds that have been set back, I have done it several times with no ill effects, but I don't recomend anyone else to do it. I have been told be a few seasoned shooters that the 45acp is a low pressure cartridge and it would not hurt the pistol. Other high pressure cartridges (9mm, 40, 357sig etc) are a different matter. I have read that for every one tenth of an inch the bullet is seated deeper in the cartridge case, there is a 10,000psi pressure increase. I have 40cal and 357sig rounds that have been severely set back, and I won't even think about shooting them. I have seen them shot on the police range and no one was blown up, but I still won't chance it.

I agree with the gentleman that stated using a inertia bullet puller would be most effective. I have a friend that carries a 1911. When he buys his defense ammo, he takes every round and runs it through his press to put an aggressive crimp on the rounds to keep them from setting back as quickly. He says that it helps, but it is only hinders set back, it doesn't stop it.

 

[average_shooter]

If this is a "normal phenomenon" why have none of my handloads over the last twenty years ever done this? I think it is simply poor quality control. The amount of crimp will have no effect on setback. The solution is case neck tension. I very lightly crimp my handloads. The bullets have never set back or pulled forward.

All I can say is I've noticed setback happen with off-the-shelf WWB and bulk pack UMC, not so much with Federal Premium "Hydra-Shok" rounds or my handloads. I think any handloaded round has better neck tension and crimp on it than cheap bulk pack stuff.

 

[Kingofthehill]

This happens with just about every 1911 i own... Ed Brown, Dan Wesson, STI, Springfield, Kimber, Nighthawk.

Doesn't matter if they are 9mm/40/45/10mm or if the gun is $2,500 or $400... Hollow points of every brand ive come across.

If i cycle it by hand or, reload that same round into the chamber i notice that it presses the bullet into the case.

Once a round of ammo is cycled into the chamber, i check tolerances before i re-insert that round of ammo. Ive cycled some once and had them press in pretty bad, ive had some that have held up to repeated cycling with no problems.

 

[FLAvalanche]

My Rock Island 1911 does this, as does my XD .45 GAp and my XD 9mm.

Normal. The only auto I have that doesn't are my .380 Taurus which has been assigned paper weight duty and my Bersa .380.

 

[Sapper771]

I mostly had the set back issue with Remington Golden Sabres (185gr) and Hornady XTP (200gr). Those are the main two defense ammo's I used at the time.

Never had the problem with ball, but I probably wouldn't have noticed since all my ball ammo gets shot shortly after it gets chambered.