Topic: 1911 9mm feed jamming! Help!

[sidaemon]

I have a newer Springfield full size 1911 in 9mm. It has had 500+ rounds through it with never an issue. I switched to reloads and started having issues with it feed jamming from slide lock. The slide comes forward, begins to strip the round from the mag and then jams hard against the feed ramp. There is enough pressure and movement that the magazine cannot then be ejected from the pistol as the round is stuck in the magazine and held tight against the feed ramp that does not allow the magazine to drop down. If you wiggle the slide back and forth sometimes the round will feed, but needless to say that's dangerous.


The only way to clear the jam is to push it into slide lock, reach into the breach and while depressing the magazine release button push the mag out. I had this happen six times during the course of today's IDPA shoot. Thinking that the rounds were just a bit off I switched back to factory which has served me without fail and the problem continued. After it happened the third time I noticed that it started to do the exact same thing but this time in the middle of the mag, so there is definately a feed issue. I tried 5 different mags manufactured by two differnet companies and every one had the same problem, so I don't think it's that either.

One other thing of importance to note is that the slide seems to want to hang up while this is happening, so that while it's jammed it does not want to move foward nor back, so I'm wondering if the guide rod isn't misaligning and forcing the barell up, and causing the problem. When I disassembled the pistol I found nothing in the slide rails but I did notice one curious thing. The barell after shooting has picked up carbonization and while the majority of round scoring is fairly high up the feed ramp there is a slight area that has nothing and then an area about .005" down that you can see is where the rounds are catching. This is what leads me to wonder if there is an issue with the barell misaligning.

Any ideas here? The pistol is almost factory new, so I'm sure Springfield won't give me any problems if I need to send it into them, but I really don't want to lose it for six months while it gets addressed. Thanks zac.

[HD-DVD]

So this started when letting the slide slam forward on a full mag but now it's happening even during semiauto fire and with factory ammo? And does it happen with factory FMJ? How about when gently working the slide with no mag, do you feel any binding then? It is a new gun but after 500 rounds troublefree you'd think it's broke in.

Sorry, not much help there but just thinking out loud.

[Kid Sopris]

Let's presume, since you didn't mention it; That you properly lubricated the rails on the Slide and Frame!?!

[sidaemon]

It was drier than I normally let it become, and being a stainless model thats bad... When I took it apart, cleaned it, lubed everything, and put some break free on the slide rails things got a little clearer. Working the slide you can feel something internal catching. The reason everything is catch up is that the guide rod is not properly fitted, its a bit too tight and that means its slipping around and gumming up the works. I changed out the recoil spring to an 11 pound Wolf Spring I had laying around for my Kimber, not knowing that it had a nasty burr on the inside of the spring. When I worked the action the pistol jammed up with no round in it at all!

After fighting with it, I finally got it foward and disassembled it. There is now a nasty scratch that runs the length of the whole rod, and even with the factory spring installed it feels like the pistol is full of sand. Looks like I'll need a new guide rod... Good excuse that I can give my wife at least, considering that I wanted to replace the two piece rod that came with the pistol anyway.

Stupid dumb luck... Thanks zac.

[Joey]

I'd say take it to Chase @ Impact.

He'll take a look and give you free advice/estimate, before he does anything.
If anything else just to Diagnose the problem, then you can work on it - or whoever you choose?


Yes I'm kinda biased (Still an Impact Employee PT), BUT he is a good Smith - Just My Opinion.

[AR10ER]

Have you checked to see if the frame or the slide has a crack in it? All it takes is a hair line crack.

[HD-DVD]

Good point, AR10ER! I never gave that a thought. You'd expect Springfield makes a tough 1911 frame and slide but it never hurts to check for something like that. Hopefully it's not the case but you'd sure want to know Right Now!

[zona5101]

I have a difficult time believing your guide rod in a new gun is the cause of your problems. The grittiness is not what you want and maybe you should give it another degreasing and oiling. Don't overdo it either as too much oil/lube just attracts gunk and makes the gun run sticky. A scratch in a guide rod shouldn't make jack difference. If the thing is bent that might be a different story. Take it out roll it across a flat surface and see if it is bent. IF not that's probably neither the cause of the grittiness or the mis-feeds.
So on to misfeeds. Does it happen with all magazines equally? Can you get a hold of a good (wilson) 9mm mag? Most of the time I hear about 9mm 1911 not feeding it is the magazines. The spacers and feed lips are persnickety critters.
Good luck getting it up and running again. Post what you ultimately discover.

[sidaemon]

Bingo! Started looking into things, and I think that I've found the problem. Seems like what I'm feeling is the disconnector is riding both a little high, and the face is not quite perpendicular to the breech face as the pistol is cycling. There is enough force while the pistol is firing to force its way past, but while cycling through from slide lock the breech is striking the disconnector obliquely and that is sucking some of the momentum out of the slide which translates into not enough force to chamber the round. The round hits the feed ramp but doesn't move up and it jams.

I think the reason that I didn't have a problem with it before was because the stock spring was brand new, but after five hundred rounds its lost just enough emph that it can't muscle past the problem. I think I'll try pulling the disconnector and file it down just a bit and straighten it...

I'll keep everyone posted, thanks zac.

[sidaemon]

So I feel a little stupid for having to admit this but it serves as a cautionary tale to other who follow.

Turns out the problem was with the ejector. It was so wide that the ejector was putting downward pressure on the top round seated in the mag. When the slide came forward and pushed the round out the pressure was enough that it was cutting a little notch in the brass. As the round went forward and cleared the end of the ejector it snapped up just as the magazine mouth opened and then fed into the feed ramp at about the opposite angle that it should, thus resulting in a jam.

Once I fitted the ejector to the correct size everything worked fine other than the fact that the constant jams ruined my nice new Wilson Combat mags .

The moral of the story becomes look at all the function carefully before you set your mind on the problem's solution. I was only looking at things from the top of the breech face and it wasn't until I switched things around and looked through the breech and watched things feed that I noticed the problem with the ejector.

That Wolfe spring had a sharp burr on the end, and did put a pretty nasty stratch in my recoil guide rod, but I ran it on my drill press under some sandpaper and most of it went away.

The barrell to bushing fit is pretty tight enough that there is some drag but I don't think its harming anything as of right now...

Thanks for the help zac.

[zona5101]

thanks for sharing your findings.

[dutch1911]

Just a quick suggestion on your guide rod.
You stated your weapon is stainless.
Invest a couple of bucks on some wet/dry sand paper of the 800+ grit variety, I normally start at 800 on up to 1200 or higher.
While you're sitting around one evening watching the tube polish your guide rod.  It will make a significant difference in the cycling.  Quite often I find the recoil spring to have a nasty burr on the inside, I've gotten in the habit of running a paper over that end a time or two prior to installation.  Saves on headaches down the road.
Good find on the problem.

Good Luck

Dutch1911
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