Remington 1911 R1 45ACP Handgun

[Four Fingers of Death]

I want to compete in SASS Wild Bunch shoots and ordered a Colt 1991 in 9mm (for cheap practice) and a 1991 in 45ACP (to compete with). My thoughts were that as the pistols were identical in everything except calibre, they would be good to compete with and also to practice with.

When I opened the package, there was a 1991 Colt in 9mm and a National Match Gold Cup! The shop wern't interested in swapping the guns and now I have a great handgun that I can't compete with. (I picked up a handgun that was about $650+ dearer than the one I paid for, but not suitable for the match I wanted).

Here is what I received;



The 1991 9mm had a catastrophic failure on about round no. 600 (factory ammo, not reloads) and warranty in Australia is non existant, so I will repair it and sell it and go back to shooting my always reliable Norinco 9mm.








I am thinking of buying a Remington R1.

Has anyone had any experience with them.

Apart from my Norinco 1911 in 9mm, all of my 1911s have been Colts which have served me well until recently.

[osteodoc08]

Wow. I'd just replace the ejector and keep going with it. That's definitely an odd failure.

[Blackwater]

Same here. Looks like the ejector didn't get the right heat treat maybe? A new extractor and it ought to percolate just fine again. And the gouges on the slide's inside probably can be polished out with no real problem, I'd think?

[Four Fingers of Death]

I'm glad I wasn't in harm's way when the Colt failed, the slide jammed open and had t be driven forward with a padded hammer (no way could we move it otherwise). I then managed to strip it. The ejector 'legs' seem to be jammed in tight, they must have been bent badly I suppose and the ejector won't budge (so far, I will have another go at it later, I was pretty disgusted with it and left it in the safe).

Apart from that, I still need a GI style 45 to compete with. The adjustable sights and trigger of the Gold Cup mae it suitable for the standard match although it could be used in the open class, but all of the go fast gamers compete in that with fluro sights, etc and that does not interest me greatly (more fun than staying at home, haha, but not my thing).

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I've got a 1991-A1 and can report no problems. I've never seen exactly what you've got there (failure) and am wondering, was the pistol new when you bought it? Was there any problem with the ammo? I think I'm also in the fix it and try it again group. As for the Remington R-1, great pistol.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Pistol was in fact brand new, I stripped it and treated it with FrogLube and noticed that there was no brass deposits anywhere.

The ammo was from a slab of 1000 Geco factory loads that I bought. The modern pistols at the range handle them easily but they seems a bit hot for the 1911s, another Colt owner had a lot of hiccups, as did a Kimber owner (they were cheap and lots of fellow members stocked up on them). The other 1911s didn't fail completely like mine, just jammed open and went back into battery after a whack on the back of the slide.

I have since got rid of the rest of the ammo to other members using a Glock and a Baikal, they gobbled them up without a problem.

[dragon813gt]

I have a R1. It would not chamber cast bullet rounds until I throated the barrel. Since then it's run flawlessly. It's on the "loose" side of tolerances. Which is one of the reasons I bought it. But don't expect a bullseye pistol.

[Dan Cash]

I s Ruger available to you? I am not a big Ruger fan but recently shot one of their Commander size 1911 style pistols and am very impressed. Gun does not have the extra junk floating around that Colt invented for a firing pin block, had a fine trigger pull out of the box and was very accurate. We put 300 rounds through this fellows gun, both factory and hand loads and not one failure.

[OptimusPanda]

The couple R1's I've handled have all been great shooters. Little rattlely maybe, but they worked well.

[OS OK]

You know, My colt is a stainless commander so the finish is a little different on the interior but...looking at the no.2 pic., It looks like the fit and finish is entirely too rough, I don't see any of the mating wear marks normally seen on these pistols.
With that said...I also saw a documentary on 'clone .45ACP's' that are made somewhere down in S/E Asia, the doc. said that some of these clones were difficult to eyeball from the exterior, that these fellas could make the outside finish pretty well, but the inside was a different matter. The interior of the clones resembled the rough finish I see there.
Just a wild comment off the top of my noggin but like I said it looks peculiar.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The gun is an economy Colt so that would explain the ordinary finish I suppose.

The reason I ordered the 1991 in 45ACP and why I am now interested in the R1 is tgat I need a 1911A1 GI style 1911 to compete in Traditional class in Wild Bunch.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Well, considering the additional information you supplied about the ammo it sounds like maybe a combination of very hot ammo and an improperly heat treated ejector. You're stating that some of your friend's pistols jammed open and needed to be smacked forward to return to battery. I've got about 55 years invested in 1911 .45 ACP shooting, and I can't recall ever having had the slide remain open to the rear unless the slide stop got knocked upward or the magazine was empty. When the slide recoils rearward and is extracting the fired case from the chamber the only thing that the case directly contacts is the ejector, which is bent on yours, so I must have gotten an pretty good whack. Perhaps in addition to being soft it might be a little long, and either way a defective part. I think if you replace the ejector with a spec. part you should be back in business. Yes, I would certainly get rid of the ammo. I don't immediately have anything come to mind concerning the marks on the inside bottom of the slide unless that somehow occurred when you drove the side forward. It almost looks like something might have been present inside the gun between the slide and frame but......??

[Mk42gunner]

1911 ejectors are either a PITA to replace or so easy a five year old could do it, in my experience. You did remove the retaining pin first didn't you?

About twenty five years ago when I was carrying a .45 daily, I had the same idea of using a 9mm for cheap practice (mainly because 9mm ball was a lot cheaper than .45 ammo. A co worker had a 9mm slide that he had miss drilled while installing a Bomar sight so he gave it to me. I bought a 9mm barrel and some magazines, then scrounged the rest of the parts.

A steel framed 1911 in 9mm seems very docile in the recoil department.

Robert

[Four Fingers of Death]

The marks under the slide are from where the slide jammed open and forced down on the hammer as far as I can see. We have had 5 guys that I know of buy a slab of 1000 rounds of this ammo and the Glocks, a Baikal, a Walther and a S&W (Shield M&P I think) just gobble the ammo up, it is just the 1911s having trouble. Anyway, I have 2000 Winchester factory ammo salted away which will be used when I get one of the 9mms back on the road.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Oh, yes, I did remove the pin, haha.

[pietro]

.

I bought a new Remington 1911R1 the year after they were 1st introduced, and immediately swapped out the hammer for a Commander-type rowel hammer.

I had it for 5 years & 3500 rounds before I gifted it to my oldest Grandson on his 21st birthday (5 years ago).

My Grandson tells me that he's put an additional 2K rounds through it, and it still hasn't had a bobble.


.

[Four Fingers of Death]

My preferred style of 1911 is the 1911A1 style (although the standard grip safety chops the tripe out of my big paws), serrations on the rear of the slide straight up and down, arched mainspringg housing and a Commander style hammer. I was exceedingly happy with my Colt Commander, but the Government here confiscated it. Makes no sense, I swapped it out for a 38Super Government, a 9mm 1911 Norinco, a Colt 1991 9mm and the Cold Gold Cup. If they'd had the good sense to leave me alone, I would still be just shooting my Commander.

They confiscated it because the barrel was too short.

[hp246]

I'm using an R-1 for my primary WB gun. I had it throated and the trigger cleaned up a bit. It broke down on me once, but really unusual cirmcumstances and I don't think it was the guns fault. Since then flawless.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks.

[Mk42gunner]

After looking at the pictures and thinking on it some more, it may be the long leg is binding due to the nose and body of the ejector being bent.

I would try putting the frame in a vise with a mag well filler (don't want to crush the frame) and gently tapping the extractor to straighten it. It just might free up and come out.

As a method of last resort, I would cut the ejector between the legs, (very carefully so you don't damage the frame). This should allow it to be removed if anything will.

I would make sure I had the replacement part in hand before doing anything drastic though.

Robert