1911 rounds FTF on Feed Ramp

[asbtg]

For our 1911 gurus, is this a timing/mag issue or a COAL issue? Hollows and LFN both catch on the bottom edge of the barrel at the bottom of the ramp as it's feeding. Is this a nose-dive problem with the mag or do I have a bigger issue? 1911 GCNM vintage 70's, not 'smithed, bubba or otherwise. Just looking for where to start looking. Chip McCormick 8rd mags, plus 1 original Colt mag. Seems to happen on all of them. She's my baby and I'd really like to keep from grinding on her. (No comments @Stomper !)

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[F2CMaDMaXX]

HP or ball ammo?

*EDIT - sorry that was the first thin you said - so, mag springs? follower check?

 

[asbtg]

Hollows and Lead Flat Nose, both Plated from Xtreme do it-- catch on the bottom edge of the barrel feed ramp. Loaded up a bunch of Ball 200gn. which I've never had an issue with. I have a bugger-ton of the Xtreme 200 grain target hollow points and LFN's and don't have any other .45's to run them out of.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Can you take a few snaps of the barrel ramp?
Remember, factory .45 cal 1911s are set up and meant to run 100% reliable on 230gr ball ammo, once you start feeding them the Hollow points, you need to throat the barrel and polish the ramp! I suspect you have a standard non throated barrel, and here lies the bulk of the issues! The simple explanation if what' happening is the opening of the Hollow point is catching on the bottom of the ramp or on the sides or the barrels chamber opening, same with the flat point lead bullets. Round ball will slide right past those edges and feed normally with out really catching. If you let the slide slam home on a live round and then eject it and look it over, you can see where it's hitting and sliding past, this will help you visualize what' happening. If you want to keep this 1911 100% origional, I would fit a new barrel and bushing and do the throating to the new barrel!

 

[Stomper]

For our 1911 gurus, is this a timing/mag issue or a COAL issue? Hollows and LFN both catch on the bottom edge of the barrel at the bottom of the ramp as it's feeding. Is this a nose-dive problem with the mag or do I have a bigger issue? 1911 GCNM vintage 70's, not 'smithed, bubba or otherwise. Just looking for where to start looking. Chip McCormick 8rd mags, plus 1 original Colt mag. Seems to happen on all of them. She's my baby and I'd really like to keep from grinding on her. (No comments @Stomper !)

 

[Member 5605]

I was having failures to feed. Polished feed ramps so the round would kick up more before settling down.

Have you polished as an easy step vs recontouring thr ramp?

 

[KKG]

I'd start off by replaceing the magazine. 99% of all issues with an autoloader are magazine related. After that, I would suggest you find a good Pistolsmith. I'm not a DIY guy when it comes to Gun issues. If you DIYourself then you won't have anyone to blame if it doesn't come out right.

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

Can you take a few snaps of the barrel ramp?
Remember, factory .45 cal 1911s are set up and meant to run 100% reliable on 230gr ball ammo, once you start feeding them the Hollow points, you need to throat the barrel and polish the ramp! I suspect you have a standard non throated barrel, and here lies the bulk of the issues! The simple explanation if what' happening is the opening of the Hollow point is catching on the bottom of the ramp or on the sides or the barrels chamber opening, same with the flat point lead bullets. Round ball will slide right past those edges and feed normally with out really catching. If you let the slide slam home on a live round and then eject it and look it over, you can see where it's hitting and sliding past, this will help you visualize what' happening. If you want to keep this 1911 100% origional, I would fit a new barrel and bushing and do the throating to the new barrel!

x2
well said.
agreed.

 

[Alexx1401]

For our 1911 gurus, is this a timing/mag issue or a COAL issue? Hollows and LFN both catch on the bottom edge of the barrel at the bottom of the ramp as it's feeding. Is this a nose-dive problem with the mag or do I have a bigger issue? 1911 GCNM vintage 70's, not 'smithed, bubba or otherwise. Just looking for where to start looking. Chip McCormick 8rd mags, plus 1 original Colt mag. Seems to happen on all of them. She's my baby and I'd really like to keep from grinding on her. (No comments @Stomper !)

How long have you had this pistol? Guessing it's new to you? As others asked see if you can get a good shot of the pistol with the chamber open. Since you are trying multiple mags my next guess would be maybe someone slapped a new barrel in it before it was sold to you. While the barrels are easy to swap in these it is not uncommon to have one do this when a new barrel is added. May need some minor "fitting", blending the mouth of the barrel to the ramp on the frame.

 

[asbtg]

One day I hope to know as much as you guys (gals) do-- thank you!
For further detail, it is a throated barrel which I assume is stock but am unable to verify. I have used a dummy cartridge and observed the feed process, albeit slowly as I cycled by hand. As the round gets stripped off the mag the barrel lifts off the frame a tiny bit, just enough to catch the hard edge of a flat cone or a SWC/wide-mouth hollow point. Is this by design or is the gun getting loose?

 

[KKG]

A truly properly fitted Barrel and Feed Ramp(Frame) should be able to feed an Empty Case from a proper fitting magazine. I own a Detonics .45 Pistol - which functions 35% faster than a standard Colt - and it will feed Empties all day long. So will my Colt 1911A1. They do that from Quality magazines. As I said, the magazine is the first thing that WILL cause problems with ANY autoloader. Proper fitting does take three things: 1. Knowledge. 2. Proper Tools. 3. Patience. That's why I always recommend a Good Pistolsmith.

 

[asbtg]

I'll try an empty case and see what happens; great suggestion!

 

[Alexx1401]

One day I hope to know as much as you guys (gals) do-- thank you!
For further detail, it is a throated barrel which I assume is stock but am unable to verify. I have used a dummy cartridge and observed the feed process, albeit slowly as I cycled by hand. As the round gets stripped off the mag the barrel lifts off the frame a tiny bit, just enough to catch the hard edge of a flat cone or a SWC/wide-mouth hollow point. Is this by design or is the gun getting loose?

So I take it the gun is "new to you" then. Since it's been around a long time it was never done right at the factory, possible but doubtful after all this time, or someone has put another barrel in it at some time. The worst may be someone else decided to "fix it" and took after it thinking to make it better made it worse. As old as the pistol is this would be a real good possibility. At this point the only real "fix" is a pro. Take it to a Smith to look at. Chances are very good it just needs the barrel fitted better. If you try to fix it yourself there is a real good chance things will just get worse at this point.

 

[asbtg]

Barrel is factory-marked as normal so I don't believe it's been changed. The feed ramp at the bridge has some nice tooling marks as does the ejection port; great job there, Colt. It won't feed empty brass as it hangs up on the ridged feed ramp, so I can't use that as a metric. Is it normal, as the slide comes forward to lift the barrel off the frame bridge slightly? Put another way, the throat on the barrel lifts off the frame by just a tiny bit but just enough to catch the hard edge of the flat cone (truncated cone) round I'm using.
If I can't figure this out, does anyone know of an experienced 1911 mechanic around Seattle?

 

[Argonaut]

A throat and polish job is simple and easily accomplished with inexpensive hand tools. It used to be as common as a trigger job on 1911's using ammunition more exotic than ball ammo. It is amazing how much work you can do on a feed ramp without damaging the barrel out of specifications. My 185 GR hollow points feed perfectly after 30 min of work.

 

[41mag]

Hollows and LFN both catch on the bottom edge of the barrel at the bottom of the ramp as it's feeding

I had a GCNM new in 1979 that did the same thing. After heartbreak & turmoil finally settled on standard 230 g FMJ ball ammo. It fed without issue for the next 25 years. Then I learned to feed it lead 230 g RN, which it seemed to relish as well as 200 RNL home loads.

Never did get such as HP or SWC to work without flaws. And 185s were waste of effort.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Feed ramp is ridged? Ewww
Get it polished, I used a dremmel and some mothers metal polish on mine, worked a treat.