1911 load question

I don't carry a 1911 for sd. I often carry down on the farm for "finishers", or for the unlucky 'yote that gets within 50 yards. My load is a 260 grain swc from RCBS mould 45-255 KT. Big flat point (can't bring myself to say " ogive"). Has shot clear through two "found after season" deer carcasses that the "shoot til you run dry" neighbors let run off to die.
I did my own feeding mods, none agressive, and get 100% reliability.
(Polish slide face, bevel, slightly, bottom of extractor flat behind hook, throat and mirror polish feed ramp, removing virtually no material. Half a dozen of these so far among no feeding problems except the occasional button nose swc.
 
doubleh said:
Back in my youth the 1911 had many fables told about it. It would only feed FMJ ammo
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Mine wasn't a fable. The first gun I bought myself upon turning 21 was a real USGI 1911. All that was available at the time - 1960s - was Norma 230 gr hollowpoint which had a small cavity in a lot of exposed lead above the jacket, and the then-new Super Vel 185 gr JHP with a rather stubby conical profile. Neither would feed reliably. I was already under the influence of Jeff Cooper, so I carried with one or the other hollowpoint in the chamber and ball in the magazine.
 
No. I don’t do that.

Mine likes 230 gr Hydra Shok and 230 gr ball. But I use one or the other and don’t mix them in the same mag.
 
Jim Watson said:
Mine wasn't a fable. The first gun I bought myself upon turning 21 was a real USGI 1911. All that was available at the time - 1960s - was Norma 230 gr hollowpoint which had a small cavity in a lot of exposed lead above the jacket, and the then-new Super Vel 185 gr JHP with a rather stubby conical profile. Neither would feed reliably. I was already under the influence of Jeff Cooper, so I carried with one or the other hollowpoint in the chamber and ball in the magazine.
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Maybe I am just lucky or by the time I got into 1911s the feeding problems were improved. Of my 3 the other 2 have been just as reliable as the Colt. I shoot a stainless Ruger playing with steel targets now and whatever I stick in the magazine works. My Taurus PT1911 was the same but resides with grandson #2. Moving out of 45 ACP I also shoot a stainless Taurus PT1911 in 9 mm and it shoots whatever is loaded into it although I usually use 115 gr. RNL as steel really doesn't care what it is shot with. As to recoil my oldest great grand daughter would shoot the 9 but not the 45 after trying one mag a year ago but would most like shoot either now. Unfortunately physical conditions prevented me from taking her on any range trips this summer and too many people moving close prevents me from shooting anything more powerful than pellet guns at home.
 
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doubleh said:
Maybe I am just lucky or by the time I got into 1911s the feeding problems were improved. Of my 3 the other 2 have been just as reliable as the Colt. I shoot a stainless Ruger playing with steel targets now and whatever I stick in the magazine works. My Taurus PT1911 was the same but resides with grandson #2. Moving out of 45 ACP I also shoot a stainless Taurus PT1911 in 9 mm and it shoots whatever is loaded into it although I usually use 115 gr. RNL as steel really doesn't care what it is shot with. As to recoil my oldest great grand daughter would shoot the 9 but not the 45 after trying one mag a year ago but would most like shoot either now. Unfortunately physical conditions prevented me from taking her on any range trips this summer and too many people moving close prevents me from shooting anything more powerful than pellet guns at home.
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Pretty much the same for me. It’s only been 20 years or so since I’ve gotten into 1911s but in the 15 or so I’ve had over the years have all run well with anything I feed them. Couple needed to have the extractor tension adjusted, but that was easy enough for even me to handle.

Heck back in the ammo crunch during the Obama years I got a case of Remington ammo with a bunch loaded too long OAL and would jam my Sig 220 mags (I didn’t reload or have dies at the time), so I just segregated the long rounds and ran them in my Springfield GI without issue.
 
PapaG said:
I don't carry a 1911 for sd. I often carry down on the farm for "finishers", or for the unlucky 'yote that gets within 50 yards. My load is a 260 grain swc from RCBS mould 45-255 KT. Big flat point (can't bring myself to say " ogive"). Has shot clear through two "found after season" deer carcasses that the "shoot til you run dry" neighbors let run off to die.
I did my own feeding mods, none agressive, and get 100% reliability.
(Polish slide face, bevel, slightly, bottom of extractor flat behind hook, throat and mirror polish feed ramp, removing virtually no material. Half a dozen of these so far among no feeding problems except the occasional button nose swc.
Click to expand...
I have a import commander 1911 45, I use Remington.Golden Saber jhp 185 grain. Never an issue. Hollow point that resembles ball ammo.
 

mljdeckard wrote:
ANY handgun you are carrying defensively should be tested with the ammo and mags it will be carried with. I find this is more important with 1911s than more modern guns, because there is a LOT of difference in 1911 magazines over the last 113 years. I have never regretted using Wilson 47D 8 rounders.​


Wilson 47C seven-round magazines here. They. Just. Work.
 
When I carried a 1911, I generally carried a 7 round mag with 1 in the chamber. I most often carried 4 HP on top, with 4 FMJ below. My reasoning was the cost of rotating carry ammo. I generally carried FMJ for my reloads.
 
I have several 1911’s obtained up to the late 1990’s and they are happy shooting 230 RN ammunition. Hollow points with a similar profile might work in them but expansion is iffy.

Recently, I’ve purchased some non-Colt 1911’s and a Colt Gold Cup NM and they are more friendly towards hollow points. But, again, expansion is iffy.

I like the concept of a heavy, slow moving, large diameter bullet.
 
Guns and ammo seem to have more myths, fables, handed down stories and strong opinions around them than just about anything else. In fact, just today I overheard several eyebrow raisers being swapped amongst folks in the lanes next to me, while I was at the indoor range exercising my trigger finger.

When treated to this, I just smile, nod and pick out any tidbit that may make me a better shooter. The rest of it gets disposed of in my mental out box. :)

Buy this one, carry that one, only load these, those won’t work, do things this way, their way is wrong…it’s a never-ending cycle. I guess it’s how gun magazines get sold, website icons get clicked and long afternoons get whiled away when the weather gets cold and the stove glows red.

Make sure your defensive ammo is reliable in your gun, and load your magazine (or cylinder) accordingly. If things aren’t reliable, alter the variables (magazines, ammo, etc) until you find the winning combo and shoot enough to know all is good.

You are potentially staking your life on your defensive gun/load choices, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to perform some diligence in this area. There should be no reason to stagger various loads for reliability purposes if you have ensured everything you are counting on works as expected. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
I've never loaded that way, but the reason, I presume, is to eliminate the possibility of the top round hanging on the ramp.

The top round is least supported in the magazine and most likely to nose dive into the ramp. This isn't an issue for ball ammo since it will glace off and up to continue on in the loading sequence. With HP though, the points/cavity can hit the ramp and the profile prevents it from glancing off and up, so everything jams up. Later rounds in the magazine hit the ramp higher and at a more favorable angle, so the risk of jamming like this is reduced.
 
My understanding of the original colt 1911 is that because it was designed only for FMJ, later hollow points would not always load correctly because of the tight feed ramp and barrel angles. The newer bullet is shaped just different enough to cause problems.

If your handgun is a newer design like a Glock then this shouldn’t be an issue since it’s made to handle JHP.

My guess is in that veteran’s experience having the more exposed top round in a magazine be a FMJ might ensure that it loads smoothly into the chamber of the 1911 even if the cartridge shifted a little forward or upward while in a mag pouch.
 
I was not a SgtMaj and only did one tour in RVN, so no, I don't do that. I did carry the issued 230 ball ammo in my issued 1911A1. I did shoot it a fair amount, and never had a malfunction. I do understand the rational for loading that way though. Issued guns were not intended to function reliably with JHP ammo. Some might function fine with JHP, some not.

Fast forward many years; I carried a commercial Colt Government model in police work. I used the issued JHP ammo, one in the chamber and seven in the magazine. Worked just fine, but the commercial gun was throated differently than my government issued examples. We had some 1911A1s in the PD armory, acquired through the DOD 1033 Program. I was one of the armorers and could have tested JHP ammo in actual 1911A1 pistols, but did not think to do so at the time..
 
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