I _hope_ this is a new thread....

(I've been hanging in the "Para" section for a couple months, but not here.)

I inherited a nice old Commander a while back, and it just sat. Somewhere along the line I took it out a few times, and was impressed enough to grab a Para Tac-Four. (I don't like "condition one" much.)

Between hither and thither, the Commander's been on the shelf again until last week. I took it out and had a bunch of feed failures "out of nowhere".

What's happening is that the fired casing is sticking to the extractor & breech face, and the next round, of course, can't feed. Clean, well lubricated, etc.

I _think_ that the ejector is broken. It doesn't look "right", but I'm not an expert. (I ordered a new one from Brownells - should be here tomorrow, but the pictures in their catalog look about the same as what I've got.)

What I have is a rectangular ejector with a long about 45 degree bevel on the top of the corner that would contact the shell. My Para's ejector has a protrusion that's a good quarter inch long. This one kind of looks like it had a protrusion, but it was broken off....

I'm told that diddling the ejector is not unusual in "tuning" a .45 for a particular load, etc., and that other issues might be causing the problem. (The ammunition used - bulk reloads from a local commercial reloader - last week was somewhat hotter than the same sort of reloads I was using before, and seems to be a little lighter than Wolf FMJ's, which also made it through before. I didn't have any with me this time.)

I wish I could ask the guy who set this one up, but he's no longer with us. He never mentioned what he'd done to the Commander. (I was supposed to get a 1911 in .38 Super, but one of the other bequest recipients wanted it and I wanted something in .45 Cal anyway. They look at you funny at Wally World around here when you ask for .38 Super....) I'm not sure who did the work - he was capable, but....

SO, any thoughts. I've got two other barrels (and what appear to be matched springs - whatever that's all about).... One extra barrel looks "stock", but the other is a bit long No idea what that means. Standard short guide rod, rubber recoil pad , extended slide stop and safety, and Pachmayr grips. Shoots very well when it doesn't hang up. Very well....

(It's also got a very heavy trigger - the previous owner had Diabetic Neuropathy, and set it up so he could really feel the thing. I'm going to get that changed when time permits. I ordered a new spring for that, but will probably let a gunsmith actually do it.)

Thanks!

I hope this is in the right place too.

sounds like the extractor broke off, Commanders have extended extractors, everything you said seems to point at a broken extractor.

You also mentioned Wolf Ammo. Wolf ammo has a metal case, I've heard that it may be bad on the ejector. Some people swear by wolf. I'm wondering if the ammo may have caused the failure?

Slabsides:

Could be....

I wandered through Brownell's catalog, but the pictures of the Commander ejector looked more like what I have than what I want. OTOH, a "Commander Style" aftermarket ejector has the "extension"....

The new one should be here tomorrow but I'm beginning to think I should have ordered one of the "aftermarket" ejectors to be sure about this. OTOH, it said "Commander Style", and I _think_ that the ejector for the full-sized 1911 won't fit a Commander. Which seems kind of silly, but....

Seems to me that the ejector was "small" originally, but I really never noticed until I compared it to the Para _after_ the first failures.... The Wolf ammunition is indeed steel cased, but it really shouldn't break the ejector. It's supposed to be rough on the extractor, though....

Theory being that the ejector has to wrap itself around the rim, and may bite it a bit, or be deformed by a too-hard case. The ejector, OTOH, just has to whack the cartridge head to flip it out of the extractor. One would think that would be less likely to be damaged unless you got some strange stovepiping action going on. I don't recall any of that.

(OTOH, I barely remember breakfast. Which one of us did you say you were? )

Well I'm trying to recall breakfast myself, but, I don't recall..........
I almost want to start over, What I understood was that the case was staying in the extractor and against the breech after the round was fired, It would seem that it would have to be the ejector (if that is what I understood what I think you might have said.) I had heard that thing about wolf ammo, and most people seem to like wolf, (I don't know if I like wolf but I don't even know if I liked breakfast) Well seeing that the part will be there soon, I say throw it on and if it works we can both act like we know what we are doing, Maybe someday we'll go to breakfast,

It could be a broken ejector, it happens, but not very often. What ammo are you using. The ammo could be too weak for recoil spring. Are you using a shock buffer on the recoil spring guide rod? If so, get rid of it, they cause this sort of problem in Commander and shorter models. Is the chamber smooth and totally free of debris? Does the extractor hold a round tightly, or does the rim just drop from under the extractor?

If the empty case is still under the extractor hook and sitting against the breech face, It's got to be the ejector. With an ejector that is functioning even if something else is broken there is no way the round would stay under the extractor hook, My bet is on the ejector.

Stans:

There is a rubber shock buffer in the thing. It was fine, though, with some other reloads ("manufacturer" stuff, not homebrew), but is now failing with similar (it's actually a tad hotter) reloads. Brass cases, 230gr lead ball, etc.

I also put some Wolf FMJ's through it somewhere along the line. I was using two ranges, and one only permits lead, so I blew away some of the FMJ's at the other one (he doesn't care). AFAIK, this thing never failed until the other night, but we all know that means nothing. It was clean, etc.... I'm not exactly anal about it, but the general rule is that they don't sit more than a day or two after shooting without being cleaned. I probably put too much oil in the action for "storage", but the barrel and breech face (and the slide's internals) are essentially dry. ("Oil film.")

As I mentioned earlier, the guy who originally owned it may have set it up "odd", too, for his own purposes, but it was OK before....

Slabsides:

It's doing exactly what you said - cartridge extracted and sitting against the breech face, held by the extractor....

The replacement part from Brownells is supposed to be in on Wednesday, although I may have to go out before I get a chance to even see the package, but I'll post something as soon as I can figure it out. Normally, Wednesday is Range Night, but we went out Tuesday night anyway 'cause my daughter is in town and wanted to shoot. (She likes my S&W M19 6" .357. I found a box of ancient Norma magnums - older than her - to let her try that. She loved it!)

Thanks to both of you.

Nothing would surprise me anymore. I watched a buddy dry fire an S&W Model 10 (.38 "Military and Police") one night when the firing pin tip went one way as the hammer dropped the other way.... Or the afternoon (about 35 years ago) when the extractor on my brand-new PPK/S broke. That released a spring that held the disconnector into the frame. Bzzzzzztttttt for about three rounds.

I may have to retract everything I said. Shock buffers on a commander just don't work out. The commanders recoil stroke is shorter than the standard government model. The shock buff shortens the stroke even more, That buff may be your problem. Stans probably hit the nail righ on the head when he mentioned the shock buffer.

Slabsides:

Interesting....

You could be right - I could have put the fool buffer (it's just a rubber thingie) in wrong or something equally silly. More likely would be it having picked up some oil and swelled up. Easy enough to test that theory if I can talk the wife into letting me go back out to the range in the next couple days.... The gun DOES NOT have any fancy multiple spring widgets, and has a standard-length spring guide.

(My Para uses a full-length guide. I've read the arguments for both.)

I'm not sure if I'm going to try to swap the extractor (assuming it needs to be swapped) or let a gunsmith do it, but finding something to punch out the pin is probably the only issue there - it's tiny. I think I can handle that without too many parts leftover.

Thanks!

They just don't recommend the shock buffer on anything other than the regular 5" barrel. I personally don't use the shock buffer at all. I kind of see the buffer as a way for some companies to line their pockets. At any rat the commander is 3/4" shorter than the government model, so the slide stroke is shorter, the distance is even shorter when the buffer is on. The commander has an extended ejector but a bit of the extension is erased by the buffer.

Changing the part out isn't a big deal, you just have to be careful when you take the extractor out and make sure you don't break off on of it's legs in the frame, you also will have to cut a notch in one of the legs in the area where the pin goes back in the frame. I'd personally try removing the buffer before I changed out the ejector, It might be a super simple fix.

Just tell your wife that you are going to check the mail. That will get you out of the house, you are on your own when you get back though.