Springfield 1911 GI

[TI-tick]

I bought my Springfield 1911 in the early 1990's. Original, no mods at all. I put less than 1K of various manufacturer's rounds through it up to say 1996, with no issues, then it sat; clean, unloaded, including mags.

A few years ago (maybe 5) I took it out and noticed it was stovepiping with the case being parallel to the slide; front lips of the casing mashed in, and less frequently, vertical stovepipes.
I got some new Chip Mc Cormick mags, gave it a good cleaning and lube. Nobody's had hands on it but me. Seemed to do a little better.

Forward to now, that SOB is a jamomattic. Running the same Winchester white box ammo from years ago and never had an issue with this in other 45 platforms.
About 70-80% or so of the rounds fire fine but:
Some casings go straight over my head
Some fly up and hit my forehead
And increasing number of stovepipes either horizontal or vertical
A new issue of not extracting the case from the breach; case drops free with mag out, slide back vertical

I'm not sure WTF is going on. I'm not seeing any pattern to anything; other than it's jamming worse than ever.
I'm thinking the main spring may need to be stronger but IDK as it's original.

So I'm asking the MDS 1911 guru's for advice on fixing.

TIA

 

[Huckleberry]

Did you clean and lube the extractor?

 

[Bertfish]

Old lube gumming something up?

 

[TheOriginalMexicanBob]

It does sound like an extractor issue.

 

[inkd]

Sounds like the extractor needs to be tuned or replaced. Check for accumulated crud under the extractor hook. If you are comfortable dissasembling the slide, take the extractor out and give it a good scrubbing, along with the extractor channel in the slide.

 

[brianns]

Recoil springs are to be changed after 2000 rnds. Saw that somewhere. Good news could be some preventative maintenance might fix’er right up. Go over the whole thing with the usual replacements.

 

[Huckleberry]

Recoil springs are to be changed after 2000 rnds. Saw that somewhere. Good news could be some preventative maintenance might fix’er right up. Go over the whole thing with the usual replacements.

The fine folks at Wolff Springs may beg to differ with you.

3000-5000 rounds of constant shooting with heavy, major power factor loads.

 

[brianns]

The fine folks at Wolff Springs may beg to differ with you.

3000-5000 rounds of constant shooting with heavy, major power factor loads.

I think a good once over might be useful. 2k to 6k might be a wide range but the springs just sitting for long periods might be good to replace aside from round count.

 

[Huckleberry]

I think a good once over might be useful. 2k to 6k might be a wide range but the springs just sitting for long periods might be good to replace aside from round count.

Totally agree, Brian. Especially when we had our old War Horses in the ARNG. Just chuck full of Battle Rattle. You had to give them a tune up or risk making Bolo instead of Expert.

I’ll check the springs coil compression and sometimes weight test a suspected one especially an OEM or GI Issue

But Wolff’s are worth the money.

 

[brianns]

Totally agree, Brian. Especially when we had our old War Horses in the ARNG. Just chuck full of Battle Rattle. You had to give them a tune up or risk making Bolo instead of Expert.

I’ll check the springs coil compression and sometimes weight test a suspected one especially an OEM or GI Issue

But Wolff’s are worth the money.

I think I got some Wilsons for my Kimber but can’t recall where I read the #of rounds. I’d like to think it was the manual. Not sure what their OEM was or if I had any issues that prompted me. I think I saw the number and thought I’m definitely beyond that and bought some springs. Mines not as old or as used as TI’s I suspect though.

I’d like to get another .45 too. You know, just because.

 

[somd_mustangs]

"Old lube gumming something up?"
That would be my first thought. Tear it completely down, clean it thoroughly and lube it properly.

"Running the same Winchester white box ammo from years ago"
second thought and probably a dumb question, but did you try some good quality fresh ammo?

 

[JasonD67]

Are you using new Winchester white box? My Springfield Garrison 1911 will shoot everything EXCEPT Winchester white box. It's probably the worse ammo out there. After I had a case split in two on my G20 (10mm) I have sworn I will never by this crap ammo again.

 

[TI-tick]

"Old lube gumming something up?"
That would be my first thought. Tear it completely down, clean it thoroughly and lube it properly.

"Running the same Winchester white box ammo from years ago"
second thought and probably a dumb question, but did you try some good quality fresh ammo?

Will break it down and clean again.

I've got K's of Winchester white box, on both coasts, 45 and 9. It's not that old ammo. And every other platform I have eats that chit up no problem.

 

[somd_mustangs]

gotcha. I thought it was 30-year old boxes of that stuff. Which in theory would be ok but... like said above, it's cheap for a reason LOL.

 

[Melnic]

I only have 3 1911 pistols (WWII Remington Rand, ATI 1911 and Kimber). Every one needs the extractor cleaned regularly. I think it has a lot to do with the dirty powder I use (Bullseye). I learned my lesson with the Kimber, I was doing the bowling pin shoot and was getting perfect 5 for 5 and last group, jammed on the 5th round.

The US GI 1911 only shot well with Winchester White box using original mags.
I got Wilson Combat mag for the ATI to get it feeding better.

Good luck.

 

[TI-tick]

I got a new extractor from Mideay along with mags. All were advertised as Springfield. But the new mags don't have the SA stamp ( but in a SA package), and the extractor bag had made in S Korea on it.

Anyhow, the new extractor works great, 200 rounds w/o issue, mags work fine also.

Of note, I miced the original extractor claw at .09 and the replacement at .11; IIRC.

I have some C&R 32's that have been acting up, so extractor replacement is on order for those.

Lesson learned; extractors wear out.

 

[somd_mustangs]

... I have some C&R 32's that have been acting up, so extractor replacement is on order for those.

Lesson learned; extractors wear out.

A lot of times on the old .32's (esp Colt Model M...), it's not the extractor itself, but crap jammed in the slot or spring recess, or the spring itself being weak (or even the wrong spring). The Colt Model M (Pocket Hammerless) also had 3 different extractors IIRC, depending on where it was in the production run so you have to be vigilant Moral of the story is try the simple stuff first and try to avoid replacement, as most replacement parts are either repros (may or may not be great for function, but bad for value), or used parts of questionable function. And some models, lots of parts are simply unobtainium.

 

[Magnumite]

Agree with inkd. Classic extractor issue. Need to tune and adjust tension. I would just get an EGW Practical extractor, tune it and adjust the tension.

Load the pistol, chamber a round and then remove the mag. Shoot it, noting case behavior. Do this for a few shots. If the case falls through the magwell or dribbles off to the side, definitely an extractor issue.

Also, get an extra power magazine spring. There may be inertial and uncontolled feeding taking place. The round then may be getting ahead of the extractor. The excessive flex of the extractor popping over the rim can fatigue the extractor.

 

[RFBfromDE]

That Korean stuff is some good chit, mang!