How long do extractors last?

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  • jimbobborg

    Oddball caliber fan
    Aug 2, 2010
    17,112
    Northern Virginia
    I decided to engage in some lead therapy today. The extractor broke on my double-stack 1911. I've put about 4000 rounds through this myself, and I believe I had the extractor changed about 3500 rounds ago. So is this normal or what?
     

    BradMacc82

    Ultimate Member
    Industry Partner
    Aug 17, 2011
    26,177
    Seems a bit premature, but 1911's aren't my base of knowledge - so I may be wrong.

    My M&P .45 is closing in on 13k rounds, factory extractor. But on my 4th recoil spring, and a 2nd ejector...
     

    Dave Greenberg

    Active Member
    Oct 24, 2015
    369
    Millersville
    I decided to engage in some lead therapy today. The extractor broke on my double-stack 1911. I've put about 4000 rounds through this myself, and I believe I had the extractor changed about 3500 rounds ago. So is this normal or what?

    That is pretty early. They usually last at least 5k in my experience. All 1911's are a bit different. I have seen older ones with 10s of thousands of rounds through them with nothing more than a recoil spring being changed. What do you have? Why did you replace it at 500 rounds? Someone had it before you? With certain 1911's, the extractors just go quickly at no fault of the owner. Are you firing hot loads through it? Is the tension on the springs loose?
     

    Boom Boom

    Hold my beer. Watch this.
    Jul 16, 2010
    16,834
    Carroll
    Around 5K min up to 20K or so max. It's always possible the extractor was defective or overstressed during installation.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,734
    Socialist State of Maryland
    If a 1911 extractor is tempered right and fitted correctly, it will easily last 5000 rounds. If it is fitted poorly or made of inferior metal, it will break. Dropping a slide on a chambered round also shortens their life. You should always feed a 1911 from the mag so it captures the case rather than having it expand to close over the case.

    Regards,

    John
     

    Magnumite

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 17, 2007
    6,564
    Harford County, Maryland
    I concur, shoukd see 5,000 rounds minimum. But some extractors of lesser quality will fatigue sooner. Failing extractors are a good way to wreck mags, too.

    Readjusting tension is a short term solution to what is a long term problem. If you can scrounge up an earlier GI extractor that would be great since they are actually spring steel. EGW HD and Wilson Combat are two really good ones. Other major names make crdoble extractors as well.
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    That's an urban myth. And how do you drop a slide on a chambered round by the way? How did the round get from the ammo box into the chamber with the slide locked back so you could drop it on a chambered round? Unless you put the round in chamber thru the port by hand at slide lock or your extractor is already malfunctioned so it would not extract a round from the chamber are the only 2 I ways I know and very uncommon.
    I have never broke an extractor in anything I shoot. I have worn a couple out (rimfire) and sometimes I have replaced them as a PM measure but I kind of laugh at a 5k round limit. 5k rounds is hardly even 10 matches plus practice. I would be replacing them at least 2 times a year or more. If they don't last at least 20K then they are inferior parts and you need to look somewhere else for better quality. I have had my custom STI since 2010 and its still got all the original parts except the recoil springs which I have changed for different loadings on occasion. Most likely thing to go wrong would be to break the extractor spring not the extractor itself. However anything is possible if cheap parts are used.
     

    jimbobborg

    Oddball caliber fan
    Aug 2, 2010
    17,112
    Northern Virginia
    This was an internal extractor. I bought this ParaOrdnance P16-40 Limited used. When I had it worked on, the smith mentioned that the original extractor was worn and needed replacing, so I figured since it was there, may as well get it done. All loads were my reloads, loaded to minimum to make Major. I shot about 400 rounds of WWB through it, too. When I looked at the broken end (found it on the bench!) it looked like an MIM piece. Either way, the gun is out of commission until I get a job.
     

    Jmorrismetal

    Active Member
    Sep 27, 2014
    468
    Depends, I have some extractors with more than 250,000 rounds on them and some that don't work right out of the box.

    The worst 1911 style extractors life span I have seen are with the different versions of external extractors.

    Aftec's are pretty bullet proof. I have seen them fail too but not as common as others by a good margin and they are not "tuned" like other internal extractors.

    On a P16-40, I would make sure the Aftec clears the barrel and remove one of the coil springs and go. Only other thing is to make sure the firing pin stop fits well enough so it is not rotating. If it allows the extractor to rotate you won't get any of them to live a long life.
     

    Major Major

    Member
    Feb 19, 2013
    64
    Frederick Co
    I had bad luck with mim parts on my Bersa Thunder 380 I sold it after replacing a few such mim parts. It wasn't worth seeking steel parts to upgrade it imho . I'd look differently on a 1911 --or my Bersa firestorm 22 it holds up well even with a few mim parts
     

    Magnumite

    Ultimate Member
    Dec 17, 2007
    6,564
    Harford County, Maryland
    One company I know of tried MIM extractors for a short time and found it didn't work so stopped. I've seen a couple recently, off shore stuff. Don't last long.

    Ned Christianson made an apparatus to cycle an extractor for 12,000 cycles at a rate of 750 rpm. Each cycle flexed the extractor more than it would move to snap over the rim of a chambered cartridge. Tension was not lost during the testing.

    From what I have gathered most extractor breakage occurs because of the forward sharp corner in the bottom of the extractor groove creating a stress riser there.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    Bottom line is, 1911 extractors last until they break. :)

    Life span can be wildly different based on a number of factors.

    That said, my comp gun has at least 15,000 rounds through it, with the original extractor.
     

    jimbobborg

    Oddball caliber fan
    Aug 2, 2010
    17,112
    Northern Virginia
    So, I got it back from the smith today. Remington gave them a free replacement as this is a known problem and is covered under warranty. I may send Remington the bill for my smith's service.
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,881
    Yep, dropping slide on a hand chambered round is the usual way such occurs. I wouldn't say that is "rare" . Not so much in recent years, but for a cpl decades it was semi-common to hand chamber a highly effective , but poor feeding jhp (think flying ashtray) , and have other 100% feeding ammo in the mag. The other phenomena is dropping one in the chamber, and then inserting full mag to get 7 +1 or 8+1 as case may be , instead of feeding from mag, then removing mag to top up.

    I had a1911 extractor break on me once. It was aprox 60 yr old, unknown round count before I bought it, but showed signs of substantial use.
     

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