1911a1 problems

[rp85]

hello;

purchased a used 1911a1. know nothing about this type of pistol, shot revolvers all my life. nothing is stock, appears to have an after market slide, trigger, hammer, and goodness knows what else.

the problem; pistol will almost feed a round, but the slide will not close so the pistol will fire. must hit (bump) back of slide for it to close and pistol to fire.

with slide open, tried to feed a round into the chamber, but the slide does not close, stays open @1/2’. can hit back of slide and the slide will close, pistol will fire and eject just fine. loads next round, but will not shoot. chamber appears closed but will not fire. hit the back of slide and the pistol will fire.

tried military 8 round clip and it would almost close leaving an
1/8" gap, with federal ball. hit back of slide, it closed and fired next round fed.

having to hit back of slide to fire almost every round.

using federal 230 grain fmj ball and remington 230 grain h.p. magazines are kimbers and one mil. surp. magazine. the problem occurs with all magazines.

thanks for any input.

rp
 
 
 

[lynneil]

I ran into a similar problem with my 1911. It turned out to be a buildup of crud on the CHAMBER walls which prevented the rounds from fully chambering. A good cleaning fixed my problem.

[Mikey]

rp:  clean the pistol thoroughly - it sounds like it is dirty.  Replace the recoil spring (Wolffe Springs, Ardmore, PA) and other major springs (firing pin spring, main spring) - they come in packs.  HTH.

[alacharger]

Sounds like a dirty chamber and/or a weak recoil spring. 

Here's a good answer for the dirty chamber...

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=217035

And one for the recoil spring...

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=24874/Product/TYPE_B_FACTORY_REPLACEMENT_SPRING_FOR_HARDBALL_LOADS

[gray wolf]

Sounds like you may have to much tension on your extractor and it can't make it under the hook, would make it bind against the fire wall. NEVER try to close the slide with a round in the chamber.
The extractor on a 1911 is NOT made to jump over the case head. You will ruin the extractor or brake the hook off. Some 1911 have an external extractor, no harm in dropping the slide on a chambered round with that type.  Never drop the slide on an empty chamber either.
Sure way of messing up your hammer sear relationship.

know nothing about this type of pistol


The correct springs  for a 1911 are 16# for the recoil spring, and 23# for main spring.
If you over spring the pistol to make it work, you are just masking a problem that should be fixed.
Be a good Idea if you did know/learn something about that type of pistol.