spiroxlii
Member
*EDIT* Everything about my first post is still true; however, I realized after doing some research on SA's website that my "Mil-Spec" is actually a GI.45 model. They are very similar, but not identical.
Ok... for all of you rabid 1911 fans who seem to drip hate at those of us who say anything bad about your beloved 1911s, I just want to say that I do not have any bias against the platform.
I was really excited when I went to the gun shop today to buy my very first 1911. I wanted something as close to USGI/Milspec as possible. At first, I was drawn to a no-frills RIA model, but the guy at the shop redirected me to a new Springfield Milspec that was about $500, which was within my budget.
I was very excited to have a brand new SA Milspec. I thought it would surely be a nice gun right out of the box, plus it has a curved mainspring housing, which is more "authentic" for an M1911A1. I bought the gun, which came with one SA magazine, and I also bought one Kimber magazine to go with it. Then I bought a box of Remington 230gr JHP ammo for it. That's when things went bad.
Sequence of events:
1. Load magazine
2. Insert magazine into pistol
3. Pull slide to rear and release slide
4. Notice that slide barely travels forward at all... no round is chambered.
I looked into the ejection port, expecting perhaps to see a round jammed at an angle. Instead, I see that the top round in the magazine is jammed against the feed ramp almost horizontally. It's like the round is jammed straight forward, and as soon as the nose of the bullet hits the feed ramp, everything freezes. Instead of climbing up the ramp and sliding into the chamber, the round just sticks there, freezing the slide's forward progress.
If I gently move the slide back and forth, I can coax the bullet to climb the feed ramp and slide into the chamber, but I can't be playing with the slide after every shot to get JHP ammo to work. The same kind of jam happens if I lock the slide back and release it after I insert the magazine, so I know I'm not just racking the slide wrong somehow.
This is proof positive that not all 1911 pistols can function reliably with JHP ammo. Your "new in box" SA or Colt might. Your gritty, uncleaned WWI era 1911 might. My brand new SA Milspec does not. I haven't tried it will ball ammo yet, since I didn't discover that the thing won't feed hollowpoints until after the shops were closed. I will try it with ball ammo, and if it feeds those reliably, I will probably stick with those for now and try polishing the feed ramp before testing JHPs again.
Ok... for all of you rabid 1911 fans who seem to drip hate at those of us who say anything bad about your beloved 1911s, I just want to say that I do not have any bias against the platform.
I was really excited when I went to the gun shop today to buy my very first 1911. I wanted something as close to USGI/Milspec as possible. At first, I was drawn to a no-frills RIA model, but the guy at the shop redirected me to a new Springfield Milspec that was about $500, which was within my budget.
I was very excited to have a brand new SA Milspec. I thought it would surely be a nice gun right out of the box, plus it has a curved mainspring housing, which is more "authentic" for an M1911A1. I bought the gun, which came with one SA magazine, and I also bought one Kimber magazine to go with it. Then I bought a box of Remington 230gr JHP ammo for it. That's when things went bad.
Sequence of events:
1. Load magazine
2. Insert magazine into pistol
3. Pull slide to rear and release slide
4. Notice that slide barely travels forward at all... no round is chambered.
I looked into the ejection port, expecting perhaps to see a round jammed at an angle. Instead, I see that the top round in the magazine is jammed against the feed ramp almost horizontally. It's like the round is jammed straight forward, and as soon as the nose of the bullet hits the feed ramp, everything freezes. Instead of climbing up the ramp and sliding into the chamber, the round just sticks there, freezing the slide's forward progress.
If I gently move the slide back and forth, I can coax the bullet to climb the feed ramp and slide into the chamber, but I can't be playing with the slide after every shot to get JHP ammo to work. The same kind of jam happens if I lock the slide back and release it after I insert the magazine, so I know I'm not just racking the slide wrong somehow.
This is proof positive that not all 1911 pistols can function reliably with JHP ammo. Your "new in box" SA or Colt might. Your gritty, uncleaned WWI era 1911 might. My brand new SA Milspec does not. I haven't tried it will ball ammo yet, since I didn't discover that the thing won't feed hollowpoints until after the shops were closed. I will try it with ball ammo, and if it feeds those reliably, I will probably stick with those for now and try polishing the feed ramp before testing JHPs again.
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