Gun heats up, rnd won't chamber

[Noreaster]

Need help with a problem. S&W 1911 sub compact (3inch barrel.) Gun runs great until it heats up and then rounds won't seat in the chamber, (make it in 3/4 of the way.) You have to then tap the rear of the slide to seat them.

[1911crazy]

What lube are you using?  Most use a grease on the frame rails, i use a moly.  It could be something binding too.  

How's the barrel to bushing fit?

Hows the extractor?  If you run the slide slowly is it picking up the case rim?

How's the feed ramp to barrel throating relationship?

Are these reloads?  Are the cases trimmed?

CZY

[Noreaster]

All different rounds, (ball, HP...) CLP for lube. There are some shavings on the feed ramp from the brass. The extractor is working fine. It wont push in the fresh round, it pulls out spent rounds fine.

[Bigeasy]

Bad loads would be my guess.   A round that will not fully chamber is almost always indicative of a bullet seat out to long, or a case improperly sized.  If you are getting case / bullet shavings, there may be a feed ramp misalignment, or sharp edge allowing material to get into the chamber, compromising chambering.  There is no way a .45 acp is going to get hot enough thru normal firing for the metal components to get hot enough to change shape in such a manor that a round cant chamber.

Strip and clean the gun.  Lube it with CLP.  Buy a 100 pack or two of Winchester Ball ammo for cheap at Walmart, then go to the range.  Once you have a clean gun, and known quality ammo as a base, its a lot easier to figure any problems out you are having.  Bet it works fine.

Larry

[Savage]

If it only fails to go into battery when hot, most likely  it's a lubrication problem. A light application of a good synthetic grease should solve the problem.
Savage

[Noreaster]

Scandium frame. Anyone chance it has something to do with it. I don't have any experience with scandium guns.  I was leaning toward a tight chamber that needed to be polished.

[Savage]

Scandium frame, SS slide. Dissimilar metals with different expansion rates. Lubrication is even more important. Try the synthetic grease, I'd bet it'll run.
Savage

[williamlayton]

Chambering deminsions make a difference---tolerances, if read correctly.
I always prefer loose tolerances to tight tolerances.
Now, we are not talking bench rest accuracy here---only reliability.
Those little sub have historic problems with reliability.
Blessings

[Bigeasy]

Unless you are running the gun dirty and totally without lube, I don't believe its a lube problem.  If the loaded round is making it 3/4 of the way into the chamber, then stopping, either the chamber is to tight (Very unlikely), or its the round itself.  A properly loaded .45acp round should drop into a chamber, all the way, without any resistance.   

Are you using reloads?

If the bullet / casing is "shaving" somewhere, and leaving deposits in the chamber, that could be a reason, as it gets worse the more you fire...See below

Like I said, try it cleaned and lubed with FACTORY hardball.  If rounds still only chamber 3/4 of the way and stop, return it to S&W.  Please don't "open up the chamber".

Larry

[Savage]

How about it Noreaster, any solutions?
Savage

[Mikey]

Noreaster:  we have to work this one out.  If you do not have any results yet from first cleaning and then lubing the piece before shooting it then please do the following for me:  dismantle the pistol, clean thoroughly by removing all grease and oils, and lubricate it, especially the slide/frame rails and the outside of the barrel.  Before reassembling, hold the barrel in your hand, chamber pointed up toward the ceiling, and drop in one or two rounds (one at a time of course) from different ammo manufacturers and see if any fail to chamber, then don't use those.  Check the ramp on the barrel for sharp portruding edges that would either hang up a shell casing or catch a bullet, which would leave shavings.  Disassemble the magazine that you had in the pistol when it was jamming on you and check inside of the feed lips for sharp edges that would leave scarring on the brass cases or possibly cause bullet shavings, and if you find problems like that, switch magazines.  Reassemble the pistol.  Hand chamber a round while watching the nose of the bullet to see where it impacts the feed ramp and case mouth to determine if any portrusions or edges on the feed ramp cause the bullets to 'shave' off material.  You may need to use some material to cover the feed ramp, lipstick works well, so you can see where the nose of the bullet impacts the ramp to determine if the ramp is shaving the slugs.

If you can't see any areas where the slugs would catch or hang up, then with the pistol properly cleaned and lubricated, head back to the range and see if you can make it fail again.  If the pistol fails on you again and hangs up, take it back and replace it or have the factory fix it.  I have seen some of the shorty 45 autos hang up even with ball ammo.  HPs and other stuff may cause hangups but plain ball should work that piece just fine. 

If something is shaving material off your slugs as they head up the feed ramp then it may be that some of those shavings are preventing the next case from chambering fully and the pistol needs repair to correct that problem, but try it out first after a good cleaning and lubricating and a range session with ball ammo and let us know.  Hope this helps.

[Savage]

The waiting is killing me-------

Savage

[Lloyd Smale]

buddy has a scandium commander lenght smith and it never misses a beat and its a tight gun. Id first check your bullet seating dept. It also could be your bullet design is hanging up on the feed ramp a bit and slowing down the slide. that can also be caused by a bad mag. Also you might want to try a bit heavier spring in it. I know a few people shooting these guns and have never heard of anyone have problems with slides gauling

[Noreaster]

Sorry guys. It's not my gun. It's a buddy I work with. He tried the lube (grease we got with our issued Sigs,) and changed to lighter bullets on advice from his gun smith. The smith noted that the 3inch barrels seem to prefer 200 or 185 grain loads. I'll get back to you when I hear from him. He paid big $ for the gun, hope it starts running right.

[Noreaster]

Little history on the gun owner. He's a long time 45 auto shooter, former firearms instructor, former marine, swat officer. He just switched from a commander size, all steel,  1911 to the 3inch gun. He came to me with the problem and I floated it here for help. I haven't worked with any 45 auto with a barrel under 4 1/4 inch so I put it out on the forum for advice.

We work different lines so I only see him during Dept. training. He was using a ton of different ammo and getting the same results, (ball, hydra shocks, stuff from the 80s...) He came in and got the gun grease and the smith he uses recommended the lighter ammo. Last I talked to him he was looking for some UMC 185 grain bulk ammo. Don't know if he found any yet. Again I'll let you know when he gets back to me.

[Savage]

The 3" guns need good springs, and mine run fine with the 200/230 gr ammo. I hope he's using synthetic grease, petroleum based stuff really stiffens up and slows slide velocity in cold weather. Thanks for the update.
Savage

[Guntrainer]

As the post above suggests, my first thought was a suspect recoil spring. If your friend is an old hand with the 45, the little Smith should not be a problem for him. If you are familiar with the 1911, check the recoil spring strength. The spring should be pretty stout in the little gun.

Gun should be clean and lubed properly with a good gun oil before testing. Don't go out and by "aerospace grease".  Invest in a little factory Hardball, if you are using something else. If the 45 won't purr with Hardball, nothing else matters. The lighter bullets are mainly for recoil reduction and higher speeds in the short barrel.

Where do you live?

[shot1]

Get some RIG grease made for stainless steel and put it on the rails. I had the same problem with my AMT 1911. Runs like a sewing machine with the RIG SS grease.

[SHOOTALL]

Is he holding the gun correctly ? with a small handle its easy to get the same effect as a limp wrist . Some can only wrap 2 fingers around the grip.