Colt eating brass

1520 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by agabriel, Feb 17, 2002

agabriel

Discussion Starter · Nov 13, 2001

Hello all,
I have a series '70 Colt Gov't model. It could be such a nice gun, if I could get it to stop eating brass. The gun cycles fine but has a timing problem where is will bend the front of the case and ding it all up. I have a 16 pound spring in it, that is new. I have also tried a new extractor. The brass also seems to be hitting the slide a few inches forward of the rear sight, right behind the ejection hole. This is really getting frusterating, as I reload. Also before you critize my reloads this gun also does this with factory loads fresh from the box. I have had three other people shoot the gun, I'm not limp wristing, they were all able to duplicate the problem, The gun also does it worse if you put a heavier or lighter spring. Heavier can even include a shock-buff.
I would really like to keep this gun looking orginal. I don't want to extend anything or cut it and flare it. I want the gun to stay stock or at least look as if it is.

Anyway I like my friday afternoon Colt, just want to get it running right. I'm not afraid to put a few bucks into it - it just needs to run right.

Any ideas?
Anthony

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Jack Weigand

· #2 · Nov 13, 2001

Anthony,
This sounds like an ejection port height problem. Measure your port height, from the bottom of the slide to the bottom of the port. I lower ports on 45 ACP pistols down to .400". I believe this would stop the brass from getting bent.
God Bless
Jack Weigand

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jrf

· #3 · Nov 13, 2001

I know this is counter intuitive to what you want. But I remember "reading" somewhere that the original design really wasn't meant to "care" about spent brass. I believe it was in one of Chuck Taylors books. Bascially the bottom line was a 1911 doesn't need a lower/flared ejection port to work correctly. But it sure does help if you are a reloader and need the brass to come out un-dinged.

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agabriel

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 13, 2001

That seems counter intuitive to me.

I have several standard 1911's (gov't spec) that haven't destroyed brass. Assuming this gun is made to a standard, something needs to be out of spec. This pistol sends the brass straight up in the air, thats just what it should be doing by the looks of it. I can't figure out why anything should be lowered at that point?

If the gun was made to a standard, it should run without destroying brass. Something needs to be replaced, but what.

Any gunsmiths think they can fix it?

Thanks,
Anthony

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TangoRomeo

· #5 · Nov 14, 2001

Hello Anthony,

Well, I'm sorry to confess that I'm not a pistolsmith. Heck, I didn't even sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

I was wondering though, has the pistol always done this, or is it a recent phenomenon? Also, would it be possible for you to post a pic so we can see if the case dinging you are experiencing is the same as we have seen on several other 1911s?-TR

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BBBBill

· #6 · Nov 14, 2001

...Also before you critize my reloads this gun also does this with factory loads fresh from the box...

It don't matter. It's still your reloads!

Just kiddin'. You might be able to solve it with a new ejector, though I doubt it. It's probably the mouth of the case hitting the slide as it spins out of the port. That's why most folks lower the port as well as flute the back edge on older guns. A longer ejector might kick it out a little earlier somewhat altering the path of the spent brass. It can also be tuned to change the angle of ejection slightly which might help. It won' hurt to try and will not require grinding on your gun. There will be no external evidence that you have done that.

[This message has been edited by BBBBill (edited 11-13-2001).]

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Newton

· #7 · Nov 14, 2001

hmmmmm...If it digests brass it's good, but if it eats it, it's bad.....hmmm...All these expressions!!!

I feel the same as BBBBill. If your ejector was a little longer in the front, it would expell the brass a little earlier in the slide cycle, and therefore have extra time to clear before the slide was coming back. That's just my opinion though.

------------------
Really interesting....Don't ya think??

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George Smith

· #8 · Nov 14, 2001

Originally posted by agabriel:
That seems counter intuitive to me.

Any gunsmiths think they can fix it?

Thanks,
Anthony

Forgive me but there is some humor here, the Prez of the American Pistolsmith Guild replys and they guys asks if any gunsmiths think they can fix it?

Im with Jack here, Im with the other guys also. If you do not want to alter the gun your stuck with changing the length, face and angle of the ejector. Or the tension or length from the bolt face to the extracor hook. You can also use a firing pin stop that is wider so the extractor does not rotate.

geo ><>

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feedramp

· #9 · Nov 14, 2001

This has been discussed a few times on the forum. A search will get you several threads that discuss this. Among them is:

http://www.1911forum.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001876.html

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agabriel

Discussion Starter · #10 · Nov 14, 2001

The president of that org replied. Oh, I didn't know that. I will try to get pics and I will measure a few things out. I will also check that link.

I will then resume this thread.

Stuff to do,
Anthony

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agabriel

Discussion Starter · #11 · Feb 17, 2002

Figured out

Well I figured out what the problem was today. I finally had a few minutes and two guns to start the process. I have a Remington-Rand that has similar measurements and I began to swap colt parts into it. I did it a one at a time and narrowed it down to the barrel quickly. Turns out when the barrel was fitted at the factory it had to much material taken off of it, where it should touch the breech. This is causing a timing problem. So my rem rand and colt both eat brass with this barrel. I'm thrilled I didn't have to cut the gun, its usually something silly.

Thanks,
Anthony

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