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Purchased my first 1911 recently and have been looking for some function / reliability upgrades to do to it. I have seen a lot of chatter saying polishing the feed ramp is a necessity for most firearms, especially 1911's to improve feeding of hollow point ammo. So my question is for those who have polished feed ramps...is it worth it? If so where to get the materials and what has worked best for you. Thanks in advance!
 
Purchased my first 1911 recently and have been looking for some function / reliability upgrades to do to it. I have seen a lot of chatter saying polishing the feed ramp is a necessity for most firearms, especially 1911's to improve feeding of hollow point ammo. So my question is for those who have polished feed ramps...is it worth it? If so where to get the materials and what has worked best for you. Thanks in advance!


Try your kit out with the ammo type you intend to use first. 1911's are "individuals" with their own personality.
 
It took me a while to figure out my 1911s worked better with factory 230 gr ball ammo at spec velocity.

The first several 1911s I had were not happy with the 185 SWC etc I tried to feed them. The 'polish feed ramp' made a little money for the gun smith (yes I was one of those) and never really did much that I thought I wanted.

As I moved into reloading it took a while to come up with the loads that worked best (on mine, anyway). Those were 200 & 230 gr RN either cast lead or plated.

Testing I did with the HP available 3-4 decades ago, did not reveal any advantage for any of the HP bullets I had loaded, as none of the 'expanded'. All of them simply filled the HP with whatever they were shot thru or into.

Today we have far better off-the-shelf HP than any I tried to load, even with my various polished feed ramps.

Good luck, the 1911 is one of the most satisfying platforms on the market.

After a thousand or 2 rounds down the pipe, you'll be able to tell whether you need or want that polish job.
 
I have a series 80 Colt Officers that needed the ejection port lowered a bit so it wouldn't stovepipe an empty case.
There's an old thread about this and a member here by the name of Wichaka made this reply.



"Noooooooooooooo! Uh, did I make my point? :s0114:

The best thing one can do with a dremel is throw it on the road and run it over a few times with a vehicle of your choosing!

Very few 1911's these days don't come with the feed ramp ready to go. Kimber and many others come polished and ready to go.

The 1911 is a controlled feed process, and it also relies on some resistance to get that job done reliably.

If one looks over the feeding process in detail, you'll find if the 1911 in question is feeding properly, the round will hit the frame ramp about the top 1/3-1/4 only. It does not hit that low on the frame ramp, thus most polishing is all for not. But in some cases polishing can change the ramp angle, or shorten the frame-barrel gap enough to cause problems that weren't there before.

I find very few 1911's that ever need a polished feed ramp, and that includes original Colts dating back to the early years.

So proceed with caution. I can't remember all the money I've made from people with dremels.

If you still feel the need to polish the ramp. Take a standard pencil, wrap some fine emry cloth around it (400+ grit) and give it a few swipes, going with the direction the round feeds.
You need not take out the machining marks. If they are deep, then you will end up changing the ramp angle. Just smooth things up, that's all it takes.

What's more important, is the barrel ramp and throat. Smooth that out, and just...and I do mean 'just' take the sharp edge off where the barrel ramp meets the chamber."
 
I'm no expert, but I've owned quite a few 1911s, from 3 1/2" Officers size (2), "commander" 4 3/4" (3) to 5" full size(3), all but one in 45ACP. The two we have left are my Dan Wesson (4 3/4") and my wife's Ruger (5"). I've always handloaded .45 and would try any different bullet I would find, besides wadcutters. Every one of the guns I've owned fed any bullet I put in it, bad magazines or limp wristing excepted.
Based on my experience, if you're shooting 45ACP, I'd say skip the polish job. If the gun doesn't run well, I'd suspect ammo, magazine, or recoil spring before the feed ramp.
 
Purchased my first 1911 recently and have been looking for some function / reliability upgrades to do to it. I have seen a lot of chatter saying polishing the feed ramp is a necessity for most firearms, especially 1911's to improve feeding of hollow point ammo. So my question is for those who have polished feed ramps...is it worth it? If so where to get the materials and what has worked best for you. Thanks in advance!

If you just polish it can't hurt anything. The problem here is often the owners idea of what this means. If the ramp has rough spot polish. If. Often the problem with a 1911 is the extractor. If not that it can be the mag. Nothing wrong with some polish as long as you just polish. If it will not feed there is a lot of other things to try.
 
I think a lot of guy's treat a gun like their first car or a new girlfriend, and I'm guilty myself. I can't remember how much stuff I've buggered up in my life with good intentions. That being said, if polishing a feed ramp makes you happy, do it. When I see a gun for sale and the owner say's he has polished all the internals, I move on.
 
After talking about my old series 80 Colt Officers, I dug it out of the safe for old times sake.
I was going to use it for a carry piece and that's why I had it worked on to make sure I could count on it if I needed it.
It's a heavy little chunk of steel and now I remember why I never wore it on my hip, plus it was too nice to scratch it all up in a holster, when there are lighter plastic guns that will work.


colt 80's  Mark lV officers 004.JPG
 

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