Troubleshoot Thursday: Colt Series 80 Government Model

John Travis

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The year was 2002...or maybe it was 2003. Memory is a funny thing sometimes.

A young friend of a friend found his way to my humble abode with a nice, new Colt. Nothin' fancy. Just a solid, blue Government Model that came with a Checkmate 7-round magazine with the "Hybrid" feed lips. It was his first ever 1911.

If it won't run with that magazine, there's somethin' wrong with the gun. Said that many times.

There was just one little problem.

The first four rounds fed and fired...pulled and shucked. Green grease through a loose goose. The last three would nose dive into the feed ramp and stop. Bam.

Every time.

Owner wasn't happy.

Did a quick check to see if anything stood out, and...nada. My educated eye told me that the frame and barrel ramps were fine. Extractor deflection was good. Hand-cycling proved that the slide moved smoothly without any hitches in the gitalong. There didn't appear to be anything that would cause this fine-lookin' pistol to repeat the same bad behavior over and over again. Yet, there it was.

And then I found it...and I was like...lolwut?

Little things. Simple things. The mantra that I've come to live by. Say it with me. No, seriously. Put the Dremel back in the damn box and say it!

The fix took all of two minutes. Didn't need a file or a scrape or even a dial caliper.

Noodle it and I'll be back later.
 
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I have no idea but I sure do enjoy and appreciate these threads.
 
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Yeah, Billy, the mag spring musta been in backwards or upside down.

When I turned my attention to the magazine, I pushed the follower down to check for smooth...and it tipped forward.

Mr. Browning's magazine ain't supposed to do that and there are only two things that will make it do that. Either the follower angle is wrong...matching the magazine angle itself...or the spring is in backward or upside down.

This was a new magazine included with a new pistol.

I imagined some poor guy on the assembly line at Checkmate...bleary-eyed from lack of sleep or hung over...stickin' that spring in backward.

Or maybe he was a disgruntled magazine assembler. Or maybe somebody at the distribution point thought it would be a good joke.

Anyway...the spring was in backward. I turned it around and the gun ran like it was designed to run.

You guys are gettin' better.
 
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First, rule out the magazine. Second, rule out ammo problems. Then, diagnose the problem with the gun. I do that with all my Glock trouble, works very well! :D
 
First, rule out the magazine. Second, rule out ammo problems. Then, diagnose the problem with the gun. I do that with all my Glock trouble, works very well! :D
You own Glocks? :eek:

That’s it! :mad:
 
First, rule out the magazine. Second, rule out ammo problems. Then, diagnose the problem with the gun. I do that with all my Glock trouble, works very well! :D
'all you Glock trouble'

hmmm sounds like perfection to me :D
 
This was a new magazine included with a new pistol.
My favorite New Gun story...Opened a box containing a Brand New Colt Govt Model from Davidson. Unwrapped the gun, took it out of the plastic bag it was in, removed the mag, ran the slide, and Behold a piece of WW 230 Ball fell out. Surprise!!!!
 
My favorite New Gun story...Opened a box containing a Brand New Colt Govt Model from Davidson. Unwrapped the gun, took it out of the plastic bag it was in, removed the mag, ran the slide, and Behold a piece of WW 230 Ball fell out. Surprise!!!!

Very suspicious. I've heard of anti-gun types slipping live rounds in guns at gun shows and laying them back on the table...apparently hoping for an "accident" so they can demand that the shows be stopped.
 
I have another magazine assembly story. but it is not with a 1911. I bought a new M92 Miroku Winchester in 357 Magnum for some Cowboy shooting. I shot it a few times before I used it in a match but did not load it all the way full. At the first stage of the match I had problems getting ten rounds into the magazine so I got another bag of reloads that were a bit shorter. They fit into the magazine but would not feed worth a hoot and actually produced a jam that required me to take the magazine cap off to empty the rounds from the magazine. The spring came out followed by two magazine followers. Some person in Japan evidently got distracted and put an extra follower into the magazine while assembling the rifle. It shoots great now with the right size ammo and only one magazine follower.
 
FWIW you can cut those M94/M92 followers a little bit with a pipe cutoff tool and give yourself an extra round at least in .44 special ;)
 
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