Quoheleth
Member
Last Thursday I took my NIB Springfield GI out for our first date to the range. I had broken it down and cleaned it a couple weeks ago (and did so without an idiot mark) and at the range I put a couple drips of RemOil into the slide rails, the base of the hammer, and a drop on the feedramp. I also loaded my mag (7 rounds) and put three drops of oil on the top bullet - one at the front of the cartridge and one each on the side, letting it drip down into the insides of the mag.
My first mag went well (3 yards...the 10 yard PVC holders had disappeared, and no way was I going to shoot at 25 first-time-out) with my first 3 rounds cutting out the center of the bull. Then the FTFs would start. The gun would fire and eject the empty, but then as the slide went forward, the round would not strip cleanly out of the mag. It would hang up - sometimes just barely touching the feed ramp or sometimes beginning up the feed ramp. Trying to retract the slide by hand to clear the jam was difficult (once I thought the gun was locked up) and I could not drop the mag while it was jammed. Several sharp pulls would finally free the slide and the round would fall freely in the chamber (or fall out of the gun completely if I had jerked the gun).
It got to the point where every round was doing this. A couple old Army vets were there shooting. They came over and offered their advice. One guy claimed to be an armorer, and his diagnosis (through the open action; i.e., he didn't field strip it) was a rough feed ramp. He recommended a buff job w/ a Dremel on the ramp. So, I gave up and packed up the 1911 for the day.
Got home that afternoon to break it down and see what I could see. I read the warnings here & on the m1911 forums about using Dremel tools. Wary of screwing up my new gun, I figured I would see what I could see. A wipe-down with Hoppe's showed the feed ramp to be pretty smooth - not mirror quality for sure, but it sure wasn't as rough as he made it sound. As I was reassembling the gun, I noticed my slide release. The inside of the slide release (where the empty mag follower would bump it to lock the slide back) has the glimmer of brass on it - as though rounds are striking it while passing by.
Knowing anything is possible, what is the probability that this little tab of metal may be impacting the live rounds, thus preventing their upward and onward journey into the chamber?
By the way, the gun is 100% original; ammo was 230 FMJ WWB and Blazer Brass. I read some of the other threads @ springs, new mags, new mag springs, etc. I'll do that if I have to, but hope I don't need to go that far.
Q
My first mag went well (3 yards...the 10 yard PVC holders had disappeared, and no way was I going to shoot at 25 first-time-out) with my first 3 rounds cutting out the center of the bull. Then the FTFs would start. The gun would fire and eject the empty, but then as the slide went forward, the round would not strip cleanly out of the mag. It would hang up - sometimes just barely touching the feed ramp or sometimes beginning up the feed ramp. Trying to retract the slide by hand to clear the jam was difficult (once I thought the gun was locked up) and I could not drop the mag while it was jammed. Several sharp pulls would finally free the slide and the round would fall freely in the chamber (or fall out of the gun completely if I had jerked the gun).
It got to the point where every round was doing this. A couple old Army vets were there shooting. They came over and offered their advice. One guy claimed to be an armorer, and his diagnosis (through the open action; i.e., he didn't field strip it) was a rough feed ramp. He recommended a buff job w/ a Dremel on the ramp. So, I gave up and packed up the 1911 for the day.
Got home that afternoon to break it down and see what I could see. I read the warnings here & on the m1911 forums about using Dremel tools. Wary of screwing up my new gun, I figured I would see what I could see. A wipe-down with Hoppe's showed the feed ramp to be pretty smooth - not mirror quality for sure, but it sure wasn't as rough as he made it sound. As I was reassembling the gun, I noticed my slide release. The inside of the slide release (where the empty mag follower would bump it to lock the slide back) has the glimmer of brass on it - as though rounds are striking it while passing by.
Knowing anything is possible, what is the probability that this little tab of metal may be impacting the live rounds, thus preventing their upward and onward journey into the chamber?
By the way, the gun is 100% original; ammo was 230 FMJ WWB and Blazer Brass. I read some of the other threads @ springs, new mags, new mag springs, etc. I'll do that if I have to, but hope I don't need to go that far.
Q
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