M1911 SWC Bullets

[Marshall Scott DeRemer]

Hello out there in Colt land. I am new at this sight but I have a M1911, series 80 45 ACP Colt that I purchased in the early eighties. I love shooting the pistol but I have a little problem feeding 200 grain semiwadcutters through it. I have tried different bullet lengths to no avail. Can someone give me a suggestion as to what may be the problem?

[Recon]

I'm using an OAL of 1.250" with the H&G 68 200gr SWC in 45 ACP. Also, I'm using a casemouth diameter of .469". These are the same dimensions Wilson uses to test his pistols with. This load dimension seems to work good in a variety of 1911s.

You may want to go into greater detail, if possible, on describing your feeding problem so that the forum members can give you better suggestions.

It's possible its not your ammo. I recently had some clips that had rusted inside and once cleaned reliability returned.

You might want to search through the gunsmithing forum for others with similar problems.

Hope this info helps or leads to your solution.

[jcmios]

Is your barrel properly throated and the feed ramp polished? What kind of jams are you encountering?
We will go from there.

[stans]

Yeah, more info needed. What magazines are you using? What weight recoil spring? How hot is the ammo?

[Harlie]

OAL, feed ramp, magazines, barrel offset to ramp. Worn out recoil spring also can cause issues. Plenty of helpful info available. Give more details. Hope you over come your issues.

[Marshall Scott DeRemer]

Thankyou to all who replied. I putchase my ammo from National Bullet Supply in Cleveland, Ohio. From what I experienced when the round is fired and upon ejecting the spent round, the slide goes back to eject and the barrell follows it for app. 1/8 of an inch. This travel from the barrell is what gets me in trouble. While the new round is going into the barrell it catches on the lip of the throat on the barrell before the barrell reyurns to its firng position. It is hard to explain. I have got a feeling that if I could prevent the barrell from going back that 1/8 of an inch during ejection it would eliminate my problem. Would any one happen to know if a one piece guide rod would eliminate this barrell travel or am I still up in my sleep. Thanks again for the info.

[jcmios]

When you press the barrel into battery does the barrel over hang the feedramp or is it flush? It sounds like you do not have enough of a gap between the feedramp and barrel.
If you have never cut and throated a barrel to match the feedramp I would advies you to take it to a good 1911 smith, the fix is easy but you have to know what is enough and what is too much to remove from the bottom edge of the barrel.

[Marshall Scott DeRemer]

As long as the barrell is foward it is flush with the feed ramp. It seems like the bullet is beating the barrell up the feed ramp before the barrell is actually in place to accept the new round.

[jcmios]

Ideally you want a slight gap between the barrel and the feedramp, this is approximately 1/32nd”. The other factors are magazines, magazine springs and recoil springs. Personally I would have the barrel/feedramp adjusted. This requires a small amount of metal to be removed from the bottom edge of the barrel and rethroating or dressing it out. It is also a good idea to polish the feedramp at this time as it will aid in feeding lead and hollow point bullets.
When a round is chambered the nose of the bullet bounces off the feedramp and into the barrel. With out this small gap the round can't jump or bounce off the feedramp, instead it hits the bottom of the barrel and jams. The lead and especially the lead SWC bullet is more prone to this then a RNFMJ.

[1911Tuner]

Thankyou to all who replied. I putchase my ammo from National Bullet Supply in Cleveland, Ohio. From what I experienced when the round is fired and upon ejecting the spent round, the slide goes back to eject and the barrell follows it for app. 1/8 of an inch. This travel from the barrell is what gets me in trouble. While the new round is going into the barrell it catches on the lip of the throat on the barrell before the barrell reyurns to its firng position. It is hard to explain. I have got a feeling that if I could prevent the barrell from going back that 1/8 of an inch during ejection it would eliminate my problem. Would any one happen to know if a one piece guide rod would eliminate this barrell travel or am I still up in my sleep. Thanks again for the info.

Hi Marshall,

The barrel movement that you're describing is actually closer to 1/10th inch...and it's supposed to be that way. The 1911 is a short recoil
operated weapon in which the barrel and slide move rearward together for a short distance, and the barrel starts to unlock from the slide via the link.
By 1/4 inch of slide travel, the barrel is fully free of the slide and in the frame bed...or it should be if all is operating and timed correctly.

The bullet nose catching on the bottom of the barrel throat is another matter. As some of the guys have mentioned, there should be a 32nd
inch gap between the top of the ramp and tha bottom of the barrel throat.
it can be more, but it shouldn't be less...even though some guns run pretty well with hardball if the barrel sits flush with the ramp.

One thing that will cause that problem is that if somebody has
"polished" the feed ramp until the top of the ramp has a radiused or rounded shape. (Often, this has been done in the mistaken belief that blending the ramp into the throat will smooth out the feeding, but just the opposite is the result.) The round hits the ramp too low, and instead of being deflected upward toward the middle of the barrel throat, it strikes the bottom and hangs up. Much more likely to occur with hollowpoint, flatpoint, or SWC bullet profiles...but it can happen with hardball if the frame has been radically reshaped. I used to see more ruined pistols due to butchered ramp and throat jobs than any other problem. If it's not too badly altered, it may be
salvageable...maybe.

A little more information would help diagnose your bug...Pictures of the ramp and throat area would also be good.

Standin' by...

[Marshall Scott DeRemer]

God morning Tuner,
Thankyou for your input on my problem. The only thing I can tell you about my pistol is all the measurements and angles and other areas which have been brought up by you and all the other folks who have answered my thread is all stock. The only thing that I attempted to do was polish the feed ramp and throat of the barrell to make it a little smoother. There is nothing spectacular about the clips I use and I do beleive the rounds are loaded to an overall length of 1.24 inches. I have tried shorter and longer to no avail. The only thing that seems to trouble me is the hangup on the bottom of the throat of the barrell. I would gladly send you a picture as soon as I learn a little more about the mechanics of this sight, (and I get a Digital camera that will correspond with my computer). Again, thanks for your input and I hope we all can figure this thing out. One more question, Would a one or two piece guide rod help over the stock short one that came with the gun?

[stans]

The short answer is "no".