Feeding problem in Colt Officers model

[Boogieman]

My Colt O.M. won't feed the first round out of the mag. using Lyman #452374HP. It will feed when worked by hand. It feeds the RN 452374 and H&G # 68 style SWC. Does this with Colt and Wilson Combat mags Does any have Lyman's loading data and OAL for this boolit? could this be a oal problem?

[Winger Ed.]

I'd check the OAL first, the the case mouth edges.
My Gold Cup is real particular about all the flare needing to be completely removed or it gets finicky.
Whatever the correct OAL was, and a taper crimp fixed my problems like that.

[Boogieman]

I'm using 1.235" and a hard taper crimp. My Lyman loading book doesn't show the HP version of the 452374

[35remington]

The first round out of the magazine dives deepest and feeds into the chamber more steeply. Sometimes a fix is to try a tapered lip magazine if you have not done so as it reduces feeding angularity.

If the bullet is seated when the die is adjusted for the 452374 the ogive relationship should be similar. What is the OAL when this is done? Lyman suggests around 1.272” for the 452374.

[35remington]

How does the jam present itself?

[Boogieman]

Boolit stuck at bottom of the feed ramp. I sat my seating die with a solid 452374 1.265" had to shorten the oal of the HP to fit the mag It feeds fine when hand cycled both using the slide release and sling shoting. OAL with HP is 1.235"

[35remington]

Alter OAL to see if that changes anything. What type Colt magazine? They differ.

I do not have your exact bullet but when ball is duplicated with HP’s that have identical ogives my OAL is shorter than yours.

I presume the barrel has the requisite gap twixt frame ramp and barrel ramp when fully aftward. I also presume you mean the bullet is stuck near the very bottom of the frame ramp rather than nearer to the top.

Also mentioning frame ramp vice barrel ramp to differentiate the two so I do not misunderstand. Feed ramp to some ears could be one or the other or both.

[Boogieman]

The Colt mags. are the old style 6 rounder with the dimple on the follower. The frame gap is there and the round is stuck at very bottom of the frame ramp. It feeds RN and long nosed SWC boolits 100% of the time.

[35remington]

Different timing of the frame ramp strike is causing it in conjunction with the wider meplat edge. The longer OAL length rounds on RN and SWC have a higher and earlier frame ramp strike due to longer OAL and a narrower contact point than a wide mouth hollowpoint. Does the gun function with wider hollowpoints such as Winchester 230 White Box or HST or Gold Dot?

[Boogieman]

I can't say I haven't seen box of any pistole amo for months. I'll try another mag. next ran out of daylight today. These short 1911s are touchy about mag and recoil springs. I had feeding problems a while back but that was with all boolits. A new set of springs fixed it I'd forgot about that.

[Bazoo]

Use an empty 40 cal to measure on the ogive of the 452374 to duplicate the same seating depth with the hp version. Be where I'd start.

[Greg S]

As mentioned, the OM has the shortest operating windowand is very tempermental to springs and ammo. I've had the same problem and was found to be a worn recoil spring. I started changing at 500 round intervals and the problem disappeared. I later changed out to an EGW flat wire set up. Mag springs could also be weak but that generally shows in last two rounds in the mag. Sounds as if an OAL issue which you are working.

[Boogieman]

You nailed it, put in a new 22lb flat wire spring problem solved. Had this happen years ago, thanks for jogging my memory

[Boogieman]

Thanks for the idea, tried it ,OAL turned out to be 1.235" just what I was using

[35remington]

Apparently when the mag is at full stack the added resistance to stripping the cartridge does not allow the non existent slide run up of an OM to develop enough momentum to strip a cartridge and get it to glance off the feed ramp and into the chamber....when the spring gets slightly weak.

Very plausible. And not good. Shorty 1911s have so many limitations that a feeding problem is harder to to nail down than a full size model. Been there.

Shrinking the gun makes it on the verge of failing more frequently and some of the redundancy of the full size model that makes it less sensitive to such things are lost.

Another reason I don’t like them and don’t rely on such for serious use. Then right when you think a little more recoil spring strength or a newer spring is in order the slide starts outrunning the magazine due to faster acceleration and no run up and bolt over base misfeeds start happening.

Aaaargh! Been there too. At that point I start contemplating putting them under the tires of my stick shift pickup to keep it from rolling downhill when parked on a slope.

[Boogieman]

A new flat wire spring fixed it, for now. I'm looking for a flat bottom firing pin stop to slow the slide opening. Can't find one for a series 80 in SS, may have to use a series 70 and cut the clearance .

[Greg S]

I'm running Wilson mags with extra mag springs on hand and change standard Wolfe recoil springs at 500 round intervals as I've had reliability problems shortly thereafter. The Colt dual spring set up is alittle more durable but wouldn't push it past 800 for social use. Short slides require frequent spring changes as the slide speed is hard on them.

[35remington]

A small radius firing pin stop may or may not help. There are downsides either way. You never know what you get until you try but shorties have me pessimistic from the get go.

To obtain the benefit of the small radius the stop must be slanted so the hammer has full contact along its face. The gun slams the hammer into motion when fired and if there is a gap between bottom of hammer and bottom face of the stop the benefit of a small radius stop is lost. Cocking by hand does not replicate the motion the gun receives when fired.....one is a steady pull, the other a jackhammering impact.

Slanting the stop to give full contact is a fair amount of work and doing it correctly involves more than putting a small radius on the bottom of the firing pin stop. It better not be flat bottomed or the stop will chew the hammer.