1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
Reliability with the 1911 can be as nearly perfect as any machine can be, if key areas are tended to. Essentially, it rests on a 3-legged stool. Good magazines. Good extractors. Good ammunition. While some pistols are more sensitive than others with any one or all three of these criteria, if one of the legs is missing, you're going to have problems sooner or later. Moreover, this is true of ANY autopistol. The 1911 doesn't hold top honors by any means.
Note that "Good Ammo" doesn't necesarily mean the high-priced, top of the line stuff. It means ammunition that is in-spec dimensionally. There are some bargain basement lines of ammunition around that are perfectly adequate for the task. PMC and Sellier & Bellot hardball are two such. Winchester Q45 (White Box) is another. If your pistol won't function with these, something's wrong somewhere.
It's been said that all feed malfunctions can usually be traced to the magazine, and that's true in about 75% of the issues that I've seen...but other things can have an effect too. Extractor tension is one that rears its head often enough, but one often overlooked area is the leading edge of the barrel throat itself, and the point of contact that the bullet has on the throat as it enters. The higher on the throat the bullet ogive makes contact, the smoother the feed, generally. This is because of the way that the barrel moves up into lockup. When the round contacts the throat, it pushes the barrel forward a little. Due to the design, when the barrel moves forward, it also moves upward. The higher in the throat this contact occurs, the deeper the round is in the chamber when the barrel rises, and the smaller the angle of entry as the round finally breaks over to horizontal and goes into battery.
Much has been made of the condition called "Stem Bind", but unless the round heads straight for the chamber from the magazine, there is always a little stem bind present. The trick is to keep it from stopping the slide. Excessive Stem Bind might be a better term. The reason that there's always some stem bind working is because of the controlled feed design of the gun. The round is captive almost from the time the slide hits it, and begins to strip it from the magazine. First it strikes the feed ramp, and ttension between breechface and feed ramp exists. The round starts to climb the ramp at an angle, and the rim starts to cam the extractor open at nearly the same instant. The round then contacts the throat, and the barrel moves forward and up, and the round is captive at 3 points...at the breechface, under the extractor, and the tension at the throat.
As if that weren't enough, as the round enters the chamber, the bullet nose makes contact with the underside of the chamber, and you have 4 points of resistance. It's pretty easy to see that if the angle of entry can be reduced by just a degree or two, it can make a huge difference in how smoothly the round will feed.
The feed ramp is another point that is the subject of much polishing and prep...Much ado about nothing IMO. If the magazine follower angle and feed lip configuration is correct, contact with the feed ramp is minimal...just a little at the top...and mainly to deflect the bullet away from the leading edge of the throat and to force it to make higher contact there.
I've almost come to believe that the large feed ramp area present in most pistols is mainly there to compensate for an out-of-spec magazine....to redirect the round if it happens to nose-dive. There are a couple of things that contribute to nose-dive. One is the angle of the magazine follower. If the angle is too shallow...front of the follower too low...the upward tension on the front of the round isn't sufficient to keep the round moving
in a straight line. A weak magazine spring can accomplish the same thing, even with a good follower. Deformed feed lips is another area to consider.
A follower with a short leg...such as the leaf-type followers found in 8-round magazines or 7-round magazines designed for the Defender/Officer's Model class. The leg isn't as stable as the magazine gets down to the last two rounds, and is prone to rocking forward. When the follower rocks, the rounds will, too...and they head for the lower area of the ramp.
Other, lesser things can be: A dirty magazine. When you detail-strip the gun, detail strip the magazines too. Wipe them out with solvent and dry them thoroughly. Pay extra attention to the curvature under the feed lips. Don't oil the inside of the magazine.. A LIGHT film of oil on the outside of the spring coils is okay...but keep it very light....about what you can wipe on with a dampened fingertip is all.
Never stretch a spring in hopes of making it stronger. This is a temporary fix that will work for about as long as it takes to empty the magazine...IF you empty it soon after. Stretching the spring beyond its elastic limit will result in a collapsed coil at the point of stretching. There is a field expedient method for increasing the spring's tension that will be covered later..but it should be used in an emergency, when there isn't access to'a new spring.
Ever onward...
Tuner
Note that "Good Ammo" doesn't necesarily mean the high-priced, top of the line stuff. It means ammunition that is in-spec dimensionally. There are some bargain basement lines of ammunition around that are perfectly adequate for the task. PMC and Sellier & Bellot hardball are two such. Winchester Q45 (White Box) is another. If your pistol won't function with these, something's wrong somewhere.
It's been said that all feed malfunctions can usually be traced to the magazine, and that's true in about 75% of the issues that I've seen...but other things can have an effect too. Extractor tension is one that rears its head often enough, but one often overlooked area is the leading edge of the barrel throat itself, and the point of contact that the bullet has on the throat as it enters. The higher on the throat the bullet ogive makes contact, the smoother the feed, generally. This is because of the way that the barrel moves up into lockup. When the round contacts the throat, it pushes the barrel forward a little. Due to the design, when the barrel moves forward, it also moves upward. The higher in the throat this contact occurs, the deeper the round is in the chamber when the barrel rises, and the smaller the angle of entry as the round finally breaks over to horizontal and goes into battery.
Much has been made of the condition called "Stem Bind", but unless the round heads straight for the chamber from the magazine, there is always a little stem bind present. The trick is to keep it from stopping the slide. Excessive Stem Bind might be a better term. The reason that there's always some stem bind working is because of the controlled feed design of the gun. The round is captive almost from the time the slide hits it, and begins to strip it from the magazine. First it strikes the feed ramp, and ttension between breechface and feed ramp exists. The round starts to climb the ramp at an angle, and the rim starts to cam the extractor open at nearly the same instant. The round then contacts the throat, and the barrel moves forward and up, and the round is captive at 3 points...at the breechface, under the extractor, and the tension at the throat.
As if that weren't enough, as the round enters the chamber, the bullet nose makes contact with the underside of the chamber, and you have 4 points of resistance. It's pretty easy to see that if the angle of entry can be reduced by just a degree or two, it can make a huge difference in how smoothly the round will feed.
The feed ramp is another point that is the subject of much polishing and prep...Much ado about nothing IMO. If the magazine follower angle and feed lip configuration is correct, contact with the feed ramp is minimal...just a little at the top...and mainly to deflect the bullet away from the leading edge of the throat and to force it to make higher contact there.
I've almost come to believe that the large feed ramp area present in most pistols is mainly there to compensate for an out-of-spec magazine....to redirect the round if it happens to nose-dive. There are a couple of things that contribute to nose-dive. One is the angle of the magazine follower. If the angle is too shallow...front of the follower too low...the upward tension on the front of the round isn't sufficient to keep the round moving
in a straight line. A weak magazine spring can accomplish the same thing, even with a good follower. Deformed feed lips is another area to consider.
A follower with a short leg...such as the leaf-type followers found in 8-round magazines or 7-round magazines designed for the Defender/Officer's Model class. The leg isn't as stable as the magazine gets down to the last two rounds, and is prone to rocking forward. When the follower rocks, the rounds will, too...and they head for the lower area of the ramp.
Other, lesser things can be: A dirty magazine. When you detail-strip the gun, detail strip the magazines too. Wipe them out with solvent and dry them thoroughly. Pay extra attention to the curvature under the feed lips. Don't oil the inside of the magazine.. A LIGHT film of oil on the outside of the spring coils is okay...but keep it very light....about what you can wipe on with a dampened fingertip is all.
Never stretch a spring in hopes of making it stronger. This is a temporary fix that will work for about as long as it takes to empty the magazine...IF you empty it soon after. Stretching the spring beyond its elastic limit will result in a collapsed coil at the point of stretching. There is a field expedient method for increasing the spring's tension that will be covered later..but it should be used in an emergency, when there isn't access to'a new spring.
Ever onward...
Tuner
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