A 1911 failure to feed tip.

rosewood

Senior Member
honestly the feed ramp is the last thing to look at on a 1911 on feed issues

magazines and extractors are 1st on the list of most common problems

the actual feeding of the round onto the extractor's hook is the issue there..extraction is the 2nd thing it does

following that can be the barrel setback away from the feed ramp

yes polishing the feed ramp can help but not the most common issue.

Afraid to say I've seen many 1911 messed up by improper "polishing" of the feed ramp. so be careful and stay way from Dremels

I have to disagree on a Dremel. I polish the feed ramp of every handgun I own with a Dremel. It is about how you go about doing it. I take a small barrel shaped grinding stone then wrap it with 1000 grit and then 2000 grit sand paper. Gently go over the surfaces following the factory curvature with the 1000 grit then progress to the 2000 and you get a mirror finish. The trick is going slow and using a fine polishing wheel or sand paper in this case. Do not let the stone itself hit any metal, it is way too coarse for this task.


One thing to always remember on a 1911. Never, ever drop a round in the chamber and let the slide slam on it. Always load a round from the magazine. The 1911 extractor is rigid and not flexible or spring loaded like a lot of modern semi-autos. That practice will bend your extractor overtime and most definitely cause feeding/extraction issues eventually and will require you to re-tune your extractor or replace it. I had done this several times and then began having issues and no one knew what I was doing wrong. I then hit someone's post online that explained the issue. I replaced and tuned the extractor and haven't had an issue with a 1911 since.
 

jglenn

Senior Member
my comment about the dremel is from seeing way too many 1911 feed ramps ruined by folks changing the angle and rolling over the top edge in an attempt to blend the frame feed ramp into the barrel feed ramp... I have used a dremel but only used a felt polishing bob with polishing compound...even the rubber grit impregnated bobs can be too aggressive. Today I'd use my mill to cut the ramp if needed but you do have to setup the right angle(31.5 degrees).

you comment about the extractor is dead on..even seen broken ones from that practice but they were cheap extractors...
 

rosewood

Senior Member
my comment about the dremel is from seeing way too many 1911 feed ramps ruined by folks changing the angle and rolling over the top edge in an attempt to blend the frame feed ramp into the barrel feed ramp... I have used a dremel but only used a felt polishing bob with polishing compound...even the rubber grit impregnated bobs can be too aggressive. Today I'd use my mill to cut the ramp if needed but you do have to setup the right angle(31.5 degrees).

.


I don't change feed angles, just remove the tool marks so I can see myself. :) You treat it like you do your woman, gentle.
 

7Mag Hunter

Senior Member
Kinda late to this party, but seems odd to
look at the "extractor" when having "feed"
problems......
most of the 2 dozen or so of 1911s i have
had feed flawlessly after making sure the mags are clean and un damaged, and action is fairly smooth...
IF you shoot semi wad cutter ammo, it may be necessary to smooth, and or slightly lower the feed ramp,
especially of you have added an aftermarket barrel....
The 1911 was designed as a combat weapon, IME only has problems when
someone tries to fix something that is not broke...
 

Steve762us

Senior Member
Kinda late to this party, but seems odd to
look at the "extractor" when having "feed"
problems......

Not really--the rim of round negotiates with the extractor, long before it even begins looking at the chamber. A problem with that negotiation will increase the likelihood of a failure to chamber, whether solely by it's own severity, or in concert with any other factors that are present to impede the process.

A sharp cornered extractor--alone--might not stop chambering by itself, but add in some fouling on chamber or breech face, a tired recoil spring, or a maybe weak hold, and suddenly that slide just ran out of steam...out of battery.

The 1911 has a few extra twists and tweaks as extractors go, but chamfering the feed edges of any 'slide-up-under-the-hook' style extractor is worth the minor effort.
 

jglenn

Senior Member
here you go

http://animagraffs.com/how-a-handgun-works-1911-45/



notice the second simulation how the rim of the cartridge rides up the face of the slide up under the extractor.. BTW polishing the face of the slide so the cartridge slides easier is another option most folks don't look at.
 

GT-40 GUY

Gone But Not Forgotten
here you go

http://animagraffs.com/how-a-handgun-works-1911-45/



notice the second simulation how the rim of the cartridge rides up the face of the slide up under the extractor.. BTW polishing the face of the slide so the cartridge slides easier is another option most folks don't look at.

If you do what I did also like Wilson does the cartridge pops straight up when released from the magazine and is perfectly pointing straight into the chamber before the slide moves forward. The video shows that it is not perfectly aligned like my adjustment allowes it to be. :D

gt40
 

robinsonfam1

Senior Member
good advice. alot of times with fte and stove pipes is also that the ejector can clock back and forth.
i was having with problem with an old thompson GI issue. I replaced the firing pin block or stop with an oversized from brownells, hand fit it to the slide to help the extractor from twisting. never looked back.
this is more of a problem on lesser quality guns such as thompson's since they were cranked out for war purposes. many times when ppl swap the extractor the new one was made a shade off too though.
keep that in mind too if you continue to have fte issues
 

WayneB

Senior Member
Only issue I had with FTF's was using a recoil spring that was too heavy and did not allow enough time to eject round one from cutout in slide, and allow round 2 to strip and feed.
Basically the action was too fast, round 2 bumped round one on the way out.
Lowering the recoil spring poundage by 2 lb at a time, I found the sweet weight that allowed enough hang time between fully opened and beginning to close again that allowed feeds of any type round, and charge of load.
Think I ended up about 10.5 lb, YMMV.

This explained a lot, and gave an idea of the hang time required to properly feed.
https://youtu.be/w3UVLm2GajI

Coincidentally, it tightened my grouping and bettered my return to POI consistency.
 
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