Asking for help on fixing a 1911 jam

[instr8]

After a period of some years of on and off tinkering, I finally completed a Paraord build. I love this little gun and I have a great sense of pride that i did it myself. She shoots beautifully tight little groups and didn't cost much to build since I took my time with her and found some really great parts deals.

The last remaining hurdle to overcome is that with some ammo she will fail to feed properly. For instance, Sierra 185 flatnose will FTFeed just about every time. 200gr SWC's will FTFeed about half the time. However, Speer 230 golddot seated to a very long C.O.L will feed with ease and shoot like a champ. The mag I use makes no difference and I have polished the breechface of the slide and chamber to a mirror bright. Maybe I need a stronger recoil spring, but i'm really not sure what to do to fix it and I am asking for advise. It is always the same jam, and I think it is the common jam type. I will attempt to post a few pics below showing the jam. Thanks for any enlightenment that you can provide.

PS, it's not the extractor, rim isn't even making it to the extractor.

[BearNAM]

Open the throat up on the barrell. You can actually go more than it looks like you can but go slow, remember you can always take more off but you can't put more on. Also you may want to but a small polished campher on the firing pin hole, sometimes a round can hang there. I know this isn't what's causing the problem but you may want to radius the bottom of the extractor a little just to help the round feed.

[Deltaten]

instr8:

Have you radius'd the bottom of the hook on the extractor?

With the type of bullet you want to use, there's *not quite* the ogive to the bullet at the point of contact w/the bbl/chamber top; allowing the cart to be in too much of an angle for the rim to go up under the extractor.

Looks like your's is doing the same thing...catching on the bottom of the extractor. A little file work and some stoning to smooth goes a long way! I usta shoot those little, pointy 152 SWCs in my comp gun. Had to angle the ext w-a-a-a-ay back toget thenm to feed.

AT best, this will do it. At worst, yer out the cost of a new extractor; what..$9.00?? While mine's cut radically, it *still* works w/ball and other bulletsand loads, and still has very positive extraction.

If ya want a sketch for clarification, lemme know

**edit note**
bear beat me to the post!
I see now that you say it NOT the extractor! Then it's gotta be the chamber mouth. STill rad the ext, too
See, great minds think alike! By all means...polish the breech face, slightly radius and polish the bottom of the chamber throat, and a slight dab of polish on the TOP of the chamber at point of contact; over and above normal chamber smoothng!


Best,
Paul

[VAFisher]

I would agree with opening up on the throat. Just take you time until you get this working like it should. A stronger spring may help some also.

[instr8]

I was in agreement with you guys and did most of the things mentioned above. I am happy to report that she is functioning flawlessly now. She swallowed those short Sierra 185gr loads just fine.

Beforehand, I reseated some of those sierra's to 1.255". Previously, they were a very short 1.170" just to test to see if this might be a problem, but it made very little difference. Now she will cycle the 1.170". I really don't care about the length, but those 185gr bullets are very short to start with.

The big question on my mind now is unsupported case area. Keep in mind that the only thing I did to the barrel today besides polish a little more, is to bevel at the top of the ramp and I think that fixed the problem. I would, however, apprecieate it if you guys would look at the picture and give me your opinion on if I have too much unsupported case area.

[whirlibird]

Well you are somewhere in between my Glock with it's long unsuported ramp and my custom Detonics barrel with it's steep ramp (adjusted to feed reliably and no more).

I'd take a .45 case and cut it in half longways and compare the head areas to your chamber and ramp area. If you get too far into the case where the head thins into case walls you've gone way too far.

WHen in doubt, take it out and fire it. I'd recommend Pachmayr grips for initial testfire. (steel grip panel inserts)

Measure the case before firing and after. If head expansion is unusual over the ramp.... well you get the picture.

Good luck.

[Deltaten]

From what I can see in the pic; ya didn't go too far. Looks good! Works better? Great, good news.

Regards,
Paul