Para feeding and OAL

[Khornet]

Loaded up some 230 gr Golden Sabers for my Para. I've always loaded everything 1.230 fro my .45s, but whatever manual I was looking at said 1.250, so I did that. That's when I noticed feeding trouble, and trouble getting the last two rounds into the mag.

Come to find out, the nose of the bullet is not quite touching the front of the mag, and as you fill the mag the noses get closer until they begin to drag on the mag front. Then the spring can't push the next round up properly nad you get tip-up jams, with the nose pressed into the upper rim of the chamber.

Shorten 'em up, and no problem.

 

[1911Tuner]

OAL

Hmmm

Double-stack pistol? Integral ramp or standard set-up? Don't have much
experience with double stacks or ramped barrels..but any single-stack
1911 pattern pistol shouldn't have any trouble with a 1.250 OAL cartridge
with a shape like the GS. Truncated cone bullets generally need to be about 1.230 or less...but Golden Saber, Black Talon, and hardball should feed fine with that length. Methinks that maybe there's somethin' else afoot...

Luck!

Tuner

 

[Khornet]

Para Tac Four

double stack, integral ramp.

 

[1911Tuner]

hmmmm

Just curious...Check to see if the barrel is riding the link just before lockup.
If it is, it could be causing the barrel to link up too abruptly and causing a
3-point jam.

Standin' by,

Tuner

 

[bountyhunter]

My 1640 would never feed worth a crap. IMO, the Para feed ramps are too vertical and too high with repect to the magazine. I used only Para factory mags with very strong springs, still had feed jams. A lot of times the slide would jam with the round still flat horizontal and the nose against the feed ramp. 18# spring and it can't make the thing turn up and go into the chamber all the time. Sometimes, the jammed round would have the bullet driven 0.1" back into the casing.

I finally got so fed up I re-worked the feed ramp to reduce the steepness and lower the angle pickup zone a touch so the round didn't have to bounce off a aflat wall and go upward as part of the feeding cycle. Feeds better, but had to give away about .050" of case "support" area where the ramp meets the throat.. worth it because I got tired of the jams and throwing away ammo that had been shoved back into the case.

 

[1911Tuner]

Re: Steep Ramp

Thanks bountyhunter. Good input.

The ramped barrels always seemed to be a little steep to me, too...and
not just on the Paras...Still wonder about that link, though.

 

[bountyhunter]

you get tip-up jams, with the nose pressed into the upper rim of the chamber

That's the other kind of jam my Para had when new. But I was shooting factory ammo, so I didn't have the option of shortening the OAL. I had to round over the top of the feed ramp to give a shade more room to let the bartridge get "over the hump" and feed into the throat. My barrel also had rotary milling grooves in the throat which the nose of the round dug into. I polished the top of the throat mirror smooth and ronded the top of the ramp, and those jams stopped happening.

Still wonder about that link, though.

Funny, my 1640 is "long linked". In lockup, the lower barrel lugs are at least .010" above the slide stop pin. Primer strikes are about .010" off center too. But, the barrel/slide cycling is perfect and accuracy is excellent so I left it alone. Learned never to buy another mass made 1911 again. I only bought Para because STI's are no longer legal in Kali..... grumble, grumble.