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Colt 1911 doesn't feed my handloads

4K views 56 replies 12 participants last post by  rojkoh 
#1 ·
I have a newer Remington 1911R1 I worked up a nice load that the Remington shoots well with no failures to feed. I also have a Glock 21 that give great accuracy with these loads with no failures to feed. Now we come to my trusty Colt 1911A1. I get at least 2 failures to feed out of each magazine.

The Colt shoots ball ammo just fine. My reloads use 230gr Hornady XTP's. It must have something to do with the shape of the bullet tip. Has anyone run into this problem previously, if so, is it fixable and how.

Thanks
 
#3 ·
I inspected the ramp in the Remington and did not see anything different than what was in the Colt. Although I will say that the Remington is a lot tighter than the Colt, its a typical rattle trap. Any suggestions on where I might look to see a picture of where this elbow should be worked in, or how to work it in?
 
#4 ·
the elbow I am referring too is "elbow grease" polishing the feed ramp if it seemed to have any unfavorable marks or defects that may hinder smooth feeds.:)
Ball ammo is almost malfunction free feeding the 1911 type pistols and is also what the 1911's were designed to use in it's beginnings. It is known that HP ammo may give ftf problems. I keep all my feed ramps polished to mirror finish and use fmj ammo mostly but the few HP ammo I use always feeds without failure. I carry fmj ball or flat tip ammo when carrying the 1911 for CC. BTW welcome to the forum:)
 
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#5 ·
Take a look at the ramp, are you seeing any copper rubbing marks on it? Also the spring tension with your 1911A1 might be different or "tired" compared to the Remington and Glock.Of course as mentioned genuine 1911/1911A1s do not have such a well tuned or polished feed ramp. If you're not sure how to deal with it, let us know. I've seen a lot of people over polish the area including the support of barrel chamber and undermine the support for the case.

What's the load and the COAL you're using?
 
#7 · (Edited)
1911 ftf

A sharp edge? Where on the outside of the case mouth? I started putting a slight bevel there and it still hasn't fixed the failure to feeds. Its not always at the same point in the magazine either. Sometimes the first and third, other times fifth and eighth, or sixth and seventh. No patterns with the magazines. I have Colt mags, Wilsons, Kimbers, some generics from a gun show. No difference.

I am shooting 6.2 gr of Unique behind 230gr XTP's with CCI standard primers, and new, never fired Starline brass. I clean the brass, full length size it in carbide dies. Trim all the cases to 0.896 and bevel the outside of the case mouth. COAL is 1.273

I do not use any crimp. I take my micrometer with me when shooting and I typically will measure rounds left in the magazine, rounds that failed to feed, and rounds that fed successfully. There is no bullet creep, they all measure 1.273

I've tried making the cases shorter in .001 increments with no change to the problem. I've tried making the COAL longer and shorter in .001 increments with no change to the problem. One suggestion I'm going to try is replacing the recoil spring. I have several friends with Colt 1911's. I'll drop in their spring at the range and see if it makes a difference.

What do I use to polish up the ramp? Emery cloth? what grit and what should I wrap it around to make the surface equally distributed?
 
#26 · (Edited)
A sharp edge? Where on the outside of the case mouth? I started putting a slight bevel there and it still hasn't fixed the failure to feeds. Its not always at the same point in the magazine either. Sometimes the first and third, other times fifth and eighth, or sixth and seventh. No patterns with the magazines. I have Colt mags, Wilsons, Kimbers, some generics from a gun show. No difference.

I am shooting 6.2 gr of Unique behind 230gr XTP's with CCI standard primers, and new, never fired Starline brass. I clean the brass, full length size it in carbide dies. Trim all the cases to 0.896 and bevel the outside of the case mouth. COAL is 1.273

Stop wasting time trimming .45acp brass. Never met anyone that did and we used to burn 2-3000 rounds a month (all 1911s), this since the mid 70s.

I do not use any crimp. I take my micrometer with me when shooting and I typically will measure rounds left in the magazine, rounds that failed to feed, and rounds that fed successfully. There is no bullet creep, they all measure 1.273
OK, in a rifle with no bullet set back, it's OK. in a 1911/45acp, you really need a crimp, even a light one (which is what I do), originally I had my crimp set heavier decades ago, but I've backed off.

Most important not is COAL for one simple reason, the way to ogive engages the feed ramp. Some bullets work different from others. Since i don't know the bullet you're using, work it back to 2.60 which was the COAL we worked from for years. You might have to ease off the powder charge, but you may get better feeding.

I've tried making the cases shorter in .001 increments with no change to the problem. I've tried making the COAL longer and shorter in .001 increments with no change to the problem. One suggestion I'm going to try is replacing the recoil spring. I have several friends with Colt 1911's. I'll drop in their spring at the range and see if it makes a difference.

Go to a Wolf 18lb recoil spring. I use them even for light loads. If I shoot hot ammo, I often got to a 20 Lb spring (always wolf)


What do I use to polish up the ramp? Emery cloth? what grit and what should I wrap it around to make the surface equally distributed?
I'd suggest you don't unless you absolutely have to. I've seen a lot of screwed up 1911s and once you screw up the feed ramp... you may well toss the frame away.

If I polish a feed ramp, I do it very carefully and only take off as little as possible. With a dremel, I use the fine grinding well as little as possible and then I polish it with their polishing (basically rubber) bit. The old 1911A1 NM I got had to be polished, It's not always 100% reliable because I don't like overdoing it.

There's one other issue people aren't seeing, adding a full length recoil spring guide can sure this problem. especially if the recoil spring isn't working right. I always add them anyway because the slight increase in weight on the front end of the pistol helps cut down recoil (at least on a 1911).
 
#8 ·
Replacing the recoil spring is necessary...

there's a set of three different strengths (comes in 3 colors) that are very handy for different loads.
Dremel tool should have a flapper wheel that fits that radius if it's deeply groved, if not wet emery or crocus cloth works well. Red dot powder and a firm grip after "tapping" the loaded clip also required.
 
#9 ·
I would also suggest trying another recoil spring, it could be that yours is just on the ragged edge of not having enough strength to strip the round out of the magazine and chamber it resulting in intermittent failures to chamber.

Another suggestion would be to use the taper crimper in your seater die to just make sure you've taken all of the bell out of the case mouth after seating the bullet. You just have to make sure all of the bell is removed but go no further. Case mouth tension should be enough to keep the bullet from moving.

As to polishing with emery, I use 400 grit wet/dry emery to start and 600 grit for final polishing. Crocus cloth comes in handy if you wish a mirror finish.
 
#11 ·
I just inspected the feed ramp with a jewelers eye piece. There are no copper marks any place. It could stand a good polishing there are no burrs but under the correct light I see faint machining marks. No work done on this ramp at the factory. The ramp is blued. I have a small tube of Flitz and a Dremel with cotton buffer wheels. I'll give it a go. I'm going to get some polishing paste and junk in the innards of the frame. What do I do? take the grips off and dip the frame in something? then air blow it dry?
 
#18 ·
Something to consider on your Feed Ramp inspection:
You mention Faint Machining Marks.
If they are aligned across the Ramp they need ot be polished smooth.
If they are aligned along the Length of the Ramp they may be polished but should not cause your problem as is UNLESS they are deep enough to 'grab' the Bullet nose and slow its progress to the Chamber..

Polishing lengthwise will remove Crosswise Marks quicker and with a Smoother result.
Don't Polish the Ramp so much you deepen the 'cut into the Chamber Wall as Bad Things Can Happen.

Best Regards,
Chev. William
 
#12 ·
That's the way I clean'em...

The set of springs I mentioned are the best way to cover the range of loads you'll probably be experimenting with in your (basically a "bring back") 1911 --- the mil load was way to strong for the light (most accurate red dot) spring and it really showed in the way the slide hit at the backend --- the target load was having the same problem you are describing with the strong member of the set. I'm sure some of the more experienced 1911 fans will tell you --- you can only get so much out of the barrel bushing models & then it's time to move on. to something more modern.
 
#13 ·
Another potential is OAL.
Typically short cartridge lengths can cause real headaches for feeding.
 
#17 · (Edited)
1911 reload FTF

You did not misread. One of my attempted solutions was to take a small batch of casings and trim them shorter in .001 increments. The max on this effort was .003 The COAL was also decreased by .001 in each loading. FTF's were not as frequent but still occurred with enough regularity for me to deem the whole rig to be unreliable.

I had kept a log of this effort. The 1.273 COAL above is the product of an old memory and incorrect. Glad I kept a log. That was my starting point and I shortened the length in .001 increments from there. At 1.273 there was barely clearance in the magazines. I just pulled out the micrometer and measured 25 rounds and found them all to be 1.224 just like my log says. So any references to 1.273 above should be changed to 1.224

Yes I did interchange the magazines between the Remington and the Colt. Colts worked fine in the Remington, vice versa made no change to my problem.

This is a Series 80 Colt 1911 and has had about 350 rounds through it according to my inventory of remaining CCI primers, compared to the 1000 that I started with.

I just bought a new box of American Eagle ball ammo (these cycle fine). I measured the width of the mouth on the ball ammo and found it to be .001+ smaller than my reloads. So it appears that there are many viable suggestions here that all bear trying. Here's my plan

1. Load up a batch and slightly crimp the case mouth to approximate the width of the ball ammo case.
2. Polish up the loading ramp. I found a good YouTube video from Wilson's on how to get it done.
3. Wait for the 4 new springs to come in from Midway. If #1 & #2 fails, start fiddling with new springs.
4. Trade the Colt in for a new Remington and be no longer frustrated.
 
#37 ·
emp1952:

Here's an important point. According to the above, Hornady recommends the COAL be set at 1.210 for the 230 gr. XTP. You're seating them at 1.224, further out. How about building a "dummy" round (no powder, no primer) to Hornady specs then feed the dummy through your magazines into the Colt and racking the slide. See if you get any intermittent fail to chambers with the XTP seated deeper. Be sure to give the case mouth enough taper crimp to take out the bell.

You can do this without a range session. Let us know how this turns out.
 
#20 · (Edited)
One or two failures to feed out of a magazine is not the end of the world. Remember, some of the rounds DID feed. You didn't tell us what the failure to feed looked like. Did the bullet nose jam up against the barrel hood? What happened? Simply limp wristing after a shot can cause a failure to feed. Did you save the rounds that failed to feed so you could compare them against your other reloads? Look at your reloads. Do you see any bulges on one side of the case more than the other? Are you sure your powder charges are consistent? Just some things to check for in your ammo.

A series 80 1911 would have the feed ramp and breech end of the barrel cut properly for hollow-point and wadcutter ammunition so I wouldn't be in a hurry to polish these parts. If you must do so, remove the grips, then tape off any openings in the magazine well to avoid getting any polishing compound migrating into the interior of the frame. Painters tape would be a good choice for that inasmuch as it leaves very little adhesive on the frame when removed.

The fact that you have a late model 1911 with very few rounds through it and it DOES feed with intermittent failures, leads me to suggesting that you look at your ammunition first, then experiment with a new recoil spring, swap magazines, but leave the polishing for last. Once material is removed, replacing it usually means a new replacement part if your polishing makes matters worse.
 
#21 ·
Ftf

The failure to feed looks like this:

The slide is partially closed with maybe 5/8 inch opening for visibility into the ejection port. The round looks aligned correctly centered, squared up. When I cycle the slide to eject the round, it hasn't been captured on the slide yet, does not eject and it just lays in the port and I have to dump it out. I have inspected the jammed rounds. Length is same as all the rest width of the case mouth with the bullet in place is the same as the rest. The cases are bright and shiny, visual inspections show no bulges anyplace on the case. I can manually drop the round in the barrel through the ejection port and let the slide go shut and all is well.

When I started having this problem I became meticulous about powder measuring. I throw a charge with my RCBS powder measure withing a grain of my goal, then I take those partially charged cases, dump each case contents into a scale and trickle up to my desired charge. So those charges are as close to perfect as they can be.

The powder is kept in a cool dry place with very little change ever in the environment. I see where you are going with this though. I will load up a couple of batches with other powders that I have on hand and see how it goes. I've been careful, but who knows, everything is suspect now, I may have contaminated the powder somehow and it doesn't ignite properly.
 
#23 ·
I'm still bothered about the fact that you do not crimp. I'm thinking when you seat your bullets, some of the bell in the case mouth springs back and that you have a tight chamber in the Colt so the case mouth on some of your reloads hangs up in the chamber. Have you taken the barrel off the Colt and dropped your reloads one at a time into the chamber yet? All of your reloads should be flush or lower than the end of the barrel hood.

I know now that you are a meticulous reloader and that your powder charges as well as your COL is all uniform. Have you measured width of your reloads at the case mouth? Any belling left over in a tight chamber could prevent the reload from fully chambering and what the recoil spring is doing is using all of it's force to neck down the width of the case mouth upon chambering. You wouldn't have that problem with a looser chamber.

Well, try dropping your reloads into the Colt barrel and see if they all fully chamber. Let us know what happens.
 
#24 ·
Ftf 1911

Ok good suggestion on dropping the rounds into the barrel. I disassembled the Colt and started dropping rounds into the barrel, out of 100 all but 3 dropped as far into the barrel as possible. Those 3 measured .002 bigger than the ones that dropped in ok. They still dropped in further then when they hang up in the failure to feed scenario.
I put a slight crimp on those 3, now they drop in the barrel. Note that the Remington barrel had all the rounds drop right in. The Remington has a Wilson Match grade stainless barrel and bushing. Is this saying that the inside barrel tolerances on the stock Colt barrel are tighter than the specialty barrel on the Remington.
I'm currently loading up 24 of my standard loading except that this time I am adding a slight crimp. My previous FTF experience says I should have at least 6 FTF's out of those 24. This will be an interesting test. I may not get a chance to get out to shoot until after Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you. Thanks for your helpful advice.
 
#25 ·
I'd be curious as to whether out of those 100 tested rounds, will you get a fail to chamber? Yes, it's possible for the stock Colt barrel to be tighter than the Wilson match grade barrel. As chambering reamers wear, the chambers that they ream start to shrink or get tighter. Manufacturers are supposed to monitor the chambering reamers and pull them from service once minimum tolerances are reached. It's a bit early in the game to point a finger at the Colt barrel so let's hold off until you can fire those rounds. Interesting that when you put a slight crimp on those three reloads, they dropped fully into the Colt chamber. You do need to crimp enough to take the bell out of the case mouth but it's not necessary to crimp the case into the bullet itself.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Hope your tested rounds function flawlessly.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Kane, read the OP. the problem is with a 1911A1. Never met a military 1911 or 1911A1 that had a chamber to tight. That includes using 1911A1 NM barrels in commercial 70 and 80 series.

I'm currently using an almost virginal Colt 60's era 1911A1 NM, only problem I've had with it was the 60's era NRA gunsmithing which is really bad. Corrected most of the problems, but the guy that did it didn't do the lugs right and one broke. Put in a Storm Lake barrel which was basically drop in, still no problems with a tight chamber. Worst I've seen in a couple years was a KImber.

Tightest chambers I've seen over the years was the original Irv Stone BarSto barrels which were made that way and the smith did the final reaming. Irv Jr does it at his shop now. Bill's chambers aren't that tight, even Les Baer's aren't that tight and they are tighter than Wilson's.

Edit: worse problem I've seen with Colt's (aside from mismanagement) is 80-81 when a large amount of Gold Cups were coming back into out repair center, because they were cyclic as in full auto. Frames had to be replaced.
 
#28 ·
If you will carefully re-read posts #24 and 25, it says that by not crimping, the OP found three of his reloads did not fully chamber in the Colt barrel although they chambered in the Wilson barrel. It also says "It's a bit early in the game to point a finger at the Colt barrel . . ." so the Colt barrel itself could very well be in specs. Also the question came up, is it possible that the Colt barrel is tighter than the Wilson match grade barrel to which I replied, "It's possible". Just because it is a match grade barrel doesn't mean it is always chambered to minimum tolerances.

Since none of us can see, measure, or shoot the OP's ammunition or pistol, I would start by eliminating any problems with his ammunition and if it that isn't a cure, proceed onto the pistol. His Colt does cycle his ammunition but with intermittent failures to chamber. You may have a different approach that is better.
 
#29 ·
If you will carefully re-read posts #24 and 25, it says that by not crimping, the OP found three of his reloads did not fully chamber in the Colt barrel although they chambered in the Wilson barrel. It also says "It's a bit early in the game to point a finger at the Colt barrel . . ." so the Colt barrel itself could very well be in specs. Also the question came up, is it possible that the Colt barrel is tighter than the Wilson match grade barrel to which I replied, "It's possible". Just because it is a match grade barrel doesn't mean it is always chambered to minimum tolerances.
I'll go back and check, if so, I stand corrected with one exception... never seen a really "tight" Colt made chamber and that means a lot of 1911 barrels military and commercial. Tightest chamber I've ever usede or worked with were the original BarStos, but they were made that way for a reason.

Since none of us can see, measure, or shoot the OP's ammunition or pistol, I would start by eliminating any problems with his ammunition and if it that isn't a cure, proceed onto the pistol. His Colt does cycle his ammunition but with intermittent failures to chamber. You may have a different approach that is better.

If you noticed, first thing I asked was the information on the ammo, from there I moved on, depending if we're even getting detailed info.

I haven't touched Unique since the 70s and I've never used that specific bullet, but I think his COAL is to long. Remember with the ramp on a 1911, the ogive hitting the ramp properly is part of the issue. I've never loaded 45acp longer than 2.60. Because a friend of mine with a Para Ord sometimes uses my ammo, I tend to seat it 1.257 (a ParaOrd mag issue).
 
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