Weak Magazine Spring?

[Gray Fox]

It would seem to me that using the other molds you have to cast and load the boolits the 1911 was designed to shoot is a quicker and cheaper solution to your problem. GF

[Kirk Miller]

xrider472, The SR1911 was my first and up to last month, my only 1911. The Rugers do have short throats and mine would not chamber a HG 68 at more than 1.24. Doug Guy throated the barrel, polished the feed ramp and crowned it all for $60 with shipping @ insurance included. Now It feeds anything I put in it at the correct OAL. My new Dan Wesson is going to get the same treatment.
Good luck with your loading.
Kirk

[wv109323]

One thing you mentioned in your OP was about the recoil spring. A test for that is to load one round in a magazine. Fire the pistol several times like this, if the slide locks back then the recoil spring is allowing the slide to travel the entire length
With your load ,it was well above the area I would question this with a standard 16 lb.. spring.

[Divil]

For the Lee 200gr. RNFP, I used to load commercial cast variants of the bullet at 1.175-1.185 COAL. You may want to try that specific length range. I now use a home cast 185 gr. RNFP/TL (Accurate Custom Mold 45-185-O to be precise)of that bullet loaded to a nominal 1.180 and my Kimber eats it 100%.

[BD]

IMO Xrider's COAL is too short. The shortest I've had luck with a 200 gr RNFP is 1.185, (and that was AnthonyB's cowboy style mold).
That's a familiar looking boolit from arsenal molds fenderman. Should work well.

[fenderman57]

BD, that arsenal mold one sized at .452 with an OAL of 1.2".feeds 100% in a 4"1911& a 3.3"xds. With my alloy, it weighs 235grs.And shoots to point of aim at 25yds. I like it real well.

[BD]

.
It looks familiar as I think it is just a slight refinement of the BDacp from years ago. This was one of the early 6 gang group buy molds from Lee

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm in the camp of "change the bullet, not the barrel".

My 1911 experience spans several decades with a big gap in the middle. In the beginning of that experience I leaned heavily towards the 230 grain bullet weights with a few of the old Speer 200 grain "flying ashtray" bullets in the rotation.
When I came back to the 1911, I was casting bullets. I landed on the 200 grain H&G #68 style bullet and that has been an outstanding bullet.

I agree that the RNFP is a bullet far better suited for revolvers than pistols.


While there's nothing wrong with having the barrel throated, I would start with finding a better bullet.

There's nothing wrong with that factory magazine.

[xrider472]

xrider472, The SR1911 was my first and up to last month, my only 1911. The Rugers do have short throats and mine would not chamber a HG 68 at more than 1.24. Doug Guy throated the barrel, polished the feed ramp and crowned it all for $60 with shipping @ insurance included. Now It feeds anything I put in it at the correct OAL. My new Dan Wesson is going to get the same treatment.
Good luck with your loading.
Kirk

Thanks Kirk. I just sent two barrels to Doug less than a week ago. They are in transit back to me as I type this. Looking forward to getting them back.

[xrider472]

One thing you mentioned in your OP was about the recoil spring. A test for that is to load one round in a magazine. Fire the pistol several times like this, if the slide locks back then the recoil spring is allowing the slide to travel the entire length
With your load ,it was well above the area I would question this with a standard 16 lb.. spring.

I believe it's probably an 18lb just comparing how thick & stiff it looks versus a known 16lb. A little harder to hand cycle the slide also.

[35remington]

Still plenty of load for an 18. The spring is not the issue as mentioned.

[Lloyd Smale]

get a Wilson or chip McCormick mag and see if it does it with them. If it does its a gun problem. If it doesn't its a mag problem. never saw a good 1911 that didn't run well with Wilson mags.

[xrider472]

Well, I got my two 1911 barrels back from Doug about a week or so ago. So far so good. I put fifty rounds through each one of them with the Lee 230g TC on top of 5.5g of HP-38. OAL=1.210"
Zero malfunctions!!

[6bg6ga]

Brownells sells a nice magazine that feeds anything into a 1911. I had a 1911 that wouldn't accept anything except 230RN bullets and upon switching to this magazine I could run everything I cast thru it without a problem. I sincerely doubt its any kind of spring problem. I would consider an operator problem before a spring problem. I've seen people limp wrist a 1911 and stove pipe every round they tried to run thru it.

[35remington]

Let me caution that it is quite possible to load ammo that will jam a 1911 no matter what magazine you are using. Magazines that feed one type of ammo often feed another type less well.

Do not fall into the trap of believing “if I only had XX brand magazine I can shoot whatever ammo or bullet my hands can craft.”

Not true.

As mentioned, the 1911 has preferences in ammo OAL and bullet ogive shape. The further one strays from that the more likely the gun is to choke.

It is also true that if a gun is feeding, it may not be feeding correctly in so doing, and the interval between one jam to the next is dramatically shortened. Reliability testing occurs over many rounds fired, not just a few. A gun that jams anything other that very very infrequently is a paperweight rather than a gun if serious use is contemplated.

[Greg S]

Get a couple a rounds of factory ball and see if it will pass the plunck test. If not, throat barrel before you start changing spring ect. Try the230 noe at 1.250 1.265. You might need to size to .451 to accomplish this.