diagnose a 1911 problem

draco88 said:
I know, right?!?!
I had a Springfield Range Officer once upon a time...and another is on the list.
Click to expand...
Priorities! Even Jeppo bought two BEFORE delving into ā€œthird worldā€ guns. :D
 
Dale Flinchum said:
. The metal 1911 magazines can carry stress and cause all kinds of boo-boos.
Click to expand...

Where do these ideas come from? Somebody must've gotten their hands on some cheap gun show knock-offs that were made from recycled beer cans.

One more time, that hasn't been my experience. I have magazines that predate WW1 that still work fine. Several from WW2 contracts and the same applies. To be honest, I did replace the springs about 30 years ago, but that aside...no issues. None.

Of course, if one happens to get stepped on or dropped from the top of a 10-story building it can permanently deform, I suppose...but barring that, they seem to hold up as long as they're not too badly abused.
 
BlackGun said:
I would do nothing until I shot something other than that dog crap Winchester ammo.
Click to expand...
Given the type of failure I donā€™t expect the type of ammo matters much.

John Travis said:
Somebody must've gotten their hands on some cheap gun show knock-offs that were made from recycled beer cans.
Click to expand...
Obviously you recall the large numbers of new-in-wrapper fake contract 1911 magazines that were (and still may be) sold for a few bucks each, the things still show up being resold on gun forums including this one. They were not heat treated and of course fail with modest use. This likely explains the wide differences in magazine performance experienced by folks over the years.
 
I am currently running a small scale "spearment". Since all is ball here I am going to use Nothing but WWII and before issue mags. These are of course the old straightline hard ball mags. I'll let ya'll know what turns up. So far it is a boring job. What goes in comes out. Since ball is all, I could have bought my last "Modern" magazine.
 
MacEntyre said:
Remember the original Glock 17 magazine? It deformed easily, and had to be redesigned.

Metal and plastic both can carry stress. Pass the popcorn, please, Draco!
Click to expand...

The early Glock magazines were designed to expand for retention. They were redesigned to drop free to appease American shooters for the most part. It wasn't a defect.

John Travis said:
No, they don't and a small engagement is all that's needed as long as the follower is angled correctly and the elevator is of the proper dimension and made of the right stuff. The specs of the slidestop lug also factor into that equation.

As far as most modern magazines...what I often refer to as "Gamer" magazines...you couldn't throw one and hit me with it. I won't allow'em in the yard.

What a lot of people don't know is that the original followers were hardened to the point that they couldn't be cut with a file. The magazine tubes were treated and drawn to a spring temper to keep them from being bent under normal use. WW2 and the need for expediency changed that, but WW2 magazines weren't intended to last for the life of the gun, though they did hold up for a long time. I have several WW2 contract magazines that were well worn when I got them in the 60s and 70s and they're still chuggin' along. In fairness, I did change the springs about 30 years ago, so there's that.

And again, that hasn't been my experience, and I've been wrenchin'on Johnny's toy since 1965.
Click to expand...
I think you are proving his point. If they are angled properly, if they are heat treated properly if the slide stop is exact, if the mag bodies are not too wide, if they have the hybrid feed lips, if they have a dimpled follower, if the stars are aligned, etc. In "modern" magazines, Glock specifically, you can be +/- 1mm or more and they still work. You can often use a 40 mag in a 9mm and vice versa. You are never going to jump a slide stop or have a round activate it in a Glock magazine.

As I stated in another thread, it doesn't matter what the original spec was if nobody is selling stuff made to that spec. WWII guns and magazines are not representative of the last 50 years of 1911s.

JedPool said:
True, but the original spec magazines still bend, have a less than ideal follower design, and rely on a very small engagement with the slide lock to function. While they tend to create less trouble, they are not trouble free and not as trouble free as numerous modern magazine designs in other pistols.

So even if we have magazines hand crafted by JMB himself, the magazine is still a weak point in the design. It doesn't take much deviation from spec either through use or manufacture to create a malfunction.
Click to expand...

You can't talk facts with people who are talking religion.
 
SC380 said:
As I stated in another thread, it doesn't matter what the original spec was if nobody is selling stuff made to that spec.
Click to expand...

But they are made and sold. Even the USGI design is available, and with better springs than were available then. It's just that everybody has decided that the "Gamer" magazines are the way to go. They sacrifice what was actually designed to work reliably with the pistol for one extra round. One.

And then they come onto these gun forums and talk about how the pistol needs constant attention and frequent tuning and tweakin' to function. They state with authority that the extractor has to be retensioned every couple thousand rounds and that a heavy duty spring is necessary to keep the frame from self destructing. They speak of the "weak points" without really understanding the pistol and its functions.

And none of it fact.

Jim started a thread to ask for help trouble shooting a minor hitch in the gitalong. A very simple problem with a simple cure...and the few of us actually trying to help guide him in the right direction were drowned out by the noise to signal ratio before the bottom of the first page.


SC380 said:
I think you are proving his point. If they are angled properly, if they are heat treated properly if the slide stop is exact, if the mag bodies are not too wide, if they have the hybrid feed lips, if they have a dimpled follower,
Click to expand...

Yes. The correct specs are important. They're important in a Glock or a Sig or a Thompson Center Contender and when they're not adhered to will cause a problem in a Glock or a Sig or a Thompson Center Contender. Ignoring the engineer's specs will cause a problem with your lawn mower.

The magazine in ANY gun isn't an accessory. It's an integral, critical part of the machine just like the fuel delivery and lubrication systems in your car.

Now for my default statement.

The 1911 pistol was designed to function. If it's correctly built to spec and fed decent ammunition from a PROPER magazine, it will function. It's a machine. It doesn't have a choice.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: S4f
...kinda predictable, ain't it?

I wonder how similar this discussion will be when, 70 years from now, when there are 50 different manufacturers of "The 17" and "The 26", and folks prefer the new Bionic design that's only 25 years old and only made by Raytheon, because "The 17" and "The 26" are fun on the range, but high maintenance and unreliable for SD... ?

Plastic and metal will be so quaint... Organic, with sights integrated inta yer own eyeball, which never misses, and chooses Lethal or Stun based on yer thoughts, that will be what everyone wants. Variable Spectrum... "Do I blind 'em, or cook their brain? Which one o' dese?"
 
@MacEntyre
Got into the Peppermint Schnapps again last night? :confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom