Officer’s 9mm 1911

1911gobang

1911gobang

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I have a recently acquired officer’s size 9mm 1911 that is not feeding well, even with 4 different magazines and several different types of ammo. It has a fairly new (probably I fired) match grade bull barrel. I’m guessing it needs to go to a 1911 guru for tuning.

Suggestions? Prefer to find one near Fayetteville, Wilmington, or Raleigh. I really like this pistol, so further travel is not out of the question.


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I would order a complete spring kit from Wolf and toss it in and take it from there. easy enough to install and you'll likely end up with new springs even if it is something else..

jmho, ymmv.

I'm in Atkinson if you should happen to need a hand or a place to test/shoot.
 
Make and model of the misbehaving beast?
 
9mm 1911s, shorter than a Commander, need a LOT of attention. Their operating margins for extractor fit and tension, link and lug fitment, slide travel, and slide timing are very narrow. It’s a short, fast-cycling controlled-feed operation trying to feed tapered rounds out of a straight-walled magazine. They eat recoil springs and usually do their best with fresh-ish mag springs as well. They’re worth the hassle once they are dialed in.

Don’t polish anything and get a pro involved. Hopefully someone can chime in with a recommendation out your way. If you were on the other side of the state or were willing to ship, I would recommend Ryan Flynn in Eden (acgwllc.com).

Once it is running 100% with good quality mags, you’ll be rewarded with one of the best-shooting, concealable, and ergonomic carry guns available.

A cheap experiment worth doing would be trying rear-spacer-type and ramp-type mags of different makes, and even trying +10% mag springs. If you are using ramp-type mags, your slide might simply be outrunning the mag spring.
 
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JRV said:
9mm 1911s, shorter than a Commander, need a LOT of attention. Their operating margins for extractor fit and tension, link and lug fitment, slide travel, and slide timing are very narrow. It’s a short, fast-cycling controlled-feed operation trying to feed tapered rounds out of a straight-walled magazine. They eat recoil springs and usually do their best with fresh-ish mag springs as well. They’re worth the hassle once they are dialed in.

Don’t polish anything and get a pro involved. Hopefully someone can chime in with a recommendation out your way. If you were on the other side of the state or were willing to ship, I would recommend Ryan Flynn in Eden (acgwllc.com).

Once it is running 100% with good quality mags, you’ll be rewarded with one of the best-shooting, concealable, and ergonomic carry guns available.

A cheap experiment worth doing would be trying rear-spacer-type and ramp-type mags of different makes, and even trying +10% mag springs. If you are using ramp-type mags, your slide might simply be outrunning the mag spring.
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@1911gobang
Allen, I’ve not had much luck finding 1911 smiths on our end of the state, and having owned five 1911’s in 9mm the past two years (and sold every one after a fair amount of drama with each) I can say that while shooting 9mm in an all-steel frame is ethereal, they can be damn finicky about ammo, mags, springs, what hair gel you wore that day...

Maybe this smith above can help you, and thanks for posting @JRV
 
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1911gobang said:
I have a recently acquired officer’s size 9mm 1911 that is not feeding well, even with 4 different magazines and several different types of ammo. It has a fairly new (probably I fired) match grade bull barrel. I’m guessing it needs to go to a 1911 guru for tuning.

Suggestions? Prefer to find one near Fayetteville, Wilmington, or Raleigh. I really like this pistol, so further travel is not out of the question.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

What mags are you running? I found with shorter officer sized 1911s Tripp Research mags were the best. Their all metal follower and spacer design is the best IMHO. The 9mm 1911 is a tough nut to crack and being an officer length makes it even tougher. Good luck
 
I appreciate all the responses, y’all. I’ve had 1911’s for at least 30 years that I can remember, and I’m a pretty good amateur armorer for them. I know the officer size pistols are a bit finicky to say the least.

The mags were a mix of Tripp and Springfield, followers were all nice and shiny, springs were all good. Extractor and ejector are both fine. The issue is the slope differential between the followers in the mags and the ramp into battery.

The gun has not been bubba’d and I have never, nor will I ever “polish the feed ramp” of a 1911!! [emoji38]

Previous owner put the bull barrel in it, and I believe it just needs to be fit and finished. John at Shooter’s Supply in Fayetteville is a pretty good smith and I talked to him on the phone about it yesterday. I took it to him this morning. I’ll follow up on it ASAP.

Ash @fieldgrade it’s a crying shame there’s not a top-notch 1911 guru in our neck of the woods. If I needed another hobby, that would be it!![emoji41][emoji1303]

All my other JMB blasters run like sewing machines...even the full size 9mm’s. There’s got to be a way to perfect the officer’s 9mm 1911.....


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