[Black Rifle]

Hi all,

My name is Mark and I'm a Glockaholic.

But...I took my new Springfield "loaded" 1911-A1 to the range today for it's initial shakedown. 100 rounds of Sellier & Bellot 230 FMJ went downrange with the following results:

Four (4) failures of the slide to go completely into battery when feeding the last round from the magazine. I used the two mags that came with the gun, they appear to be Metalforms. This failure occured with both mags, but only four times out of approximately 14 mags worth of shooting. I just bumped the slide into battery each time and went on about my shooting.

One (1) failure to extract. I thought a round had failed to ignite, so I cocked the hammer and had another go at it. No boom on the second try, so I racked the slide and out came an empty case.

I was very happy with the accuracy, considering my marksmanship skills. I was able to keep all rounds in the IDPA center ring at 20 yards offhand in semi-rapid fire. Not match speed, but definitely not normal "slow fire" either. Head shots at 15 yards were no problem.

Overall I'm quite pleased with my first 1911. The rangemaster gave me an 18# Wolff recoil spring to try and cure the failures to go into battery. Then again it might just be that the gun still needs to "break in" a bit.

Any comments from you reasonably knowledgable individuals greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Mark


[This message has been edited by Black Rifle (edited 12-21-2000).]

 

[JiminCA]

The factory mags stink. Don't change anything until you've tried it with a Wilson mag. I've also had good luck with McCormick shooting stars. Still, the Wilson is the cadillac version and will isolate if your problem is mag relate.

Last round probs are often mag related.

Also, my SS loaded had a really rough breech face and the area where the brass rim contacts the slide opposite the extractor was really rough. Looked like they didn't mask the area when they sandblasted the top of the slide. Didn't cause reliability probs with feeding but extraction was really inconsistent (ie the brass was landing all over the place from round to round). I very LIGHTLY stoned these areas with an extra fine ceramic hone to clean things up. Don't remove any material, just polish off the high spots.

Now the brass doesn't have to scrape across "sandpaper" on its way out.

Clean it up and try again. My guess is that with a top quality mag your probs will go away. After that look for any rough finish that may prevent the cartridge from moving into position.

[This message has been edited by JiminCA (edited 12-20-2000).]

 

[col132]

Buy some Wilson mags and put about another 200-300 rounds of ball through it. It should be fine.

 

[Gogiants]

Black R,

Overall I'm quite pleased with my first 1911.

and

My name is Mark and I'm a Glockaholic.

You had 5 malfunctions in 100 rounds and you are pleased? That tells us something about the reliability of Glocks!

[This message has been edited by Gogiants (edited 12-20-2000).]

 

[Black Rifle]

Originally posted by Gogiants:
You had 5 malfunctions in 100 rounds and you are pleased? That tells us something about the reliability of Glocks!

No it doesn't. I said I was pleased with the 1911, I made no comparison with my Glocks. I was comparing my 1911 against the horrors I've observed in IDPA competition with other 1911's. I believe my few problems are due to the need for a bit of "break-in" with a factory 1911. Glocks are born ready!

But, since you brought it up, I've got over 4000 rounds through my Glocks (3000+ in the 17, 1000 in the 26) without a single malfunction. Nada, zip, zero!

It's not fair to compare ancient but proven 1911 technology developed by St. John with modern, state-of-the-art weaponry developed by Sir Gaston of Polymer.

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated.




[This message has been edited by Black Rifle (edited 12-21-2000).]

 

[Gogiants]

BR,

I was joking about the Glocks. I only own Glocks, no 1911's here. I hang out here for the education. I was surprised that a certified Glockaholic would tolerate so much stoppage.

Gog

 

[Black Rifle]

Originally posted by Gogiants:
BR,

I was joking about the Glocks.

Yea, I was only kidding you back

I only own Glocks, no 1911's here. I hang out here for the education. I was surprised that a certified Glockaholic would tolerate so much stoppage.

Well, I felt I had to honor The Colonel and at least give them a fair shake.

I did get a parkerized finish to more closely match my Glocks. It'll probably have to be sent to Mac for a Gunkote treatment before it really becomes a member of the family.

Like Henry Ford's Model T, my guns can be found in any color you like. As long as it's BLACK!

 

[Black Rifle]

The Springfield was put to the test last night in our Friday night league IDPA-style match. It performed flawlessly! We even had a couple of mandatory slide-lock reloads and there was no hint of the previous failure to go into battery on the last round.

I think I'm going to like this gun!

Mark

 

[walzy]

im new to 1911 shooting and i just bought a new sa govt with novac sights. i was wondering what can i expect at the range?
i work in a gun store so i got it for $400

i also got a ww1 1911 frame with a ww2 slide for $400 did i get a good deal?

thanks

 

[77Bronc]

Black Rifle,

I have posted in this SA forum about my new SA S/S Champion. I had problems with the slide locking open after the last round. It went back to SA on 12/2 and was returned to me on 12/18 with a description of what was done. I am planning to go to the range tomorrow and wring it out.

This was my first 1911 style pistol in 8 years. Sold everything I had in 1992 and bought all Glocks (total of 6). I have over 15000 rounds combined in the Glocks using all kinds of ammo and not one problem. to me this is excellent. But since I am a tinkerer, I wanted another 1911 and I feel the SA Chanpion best fits my needs. It is a fine gun and I will say this, before I sent it off for repair it was way more accurate than my G23 or G30 and this is saying a lot. The gun shoots great, very little recoil and the best balance of any 1911 I have ever owned. I really like it, in fact I am planning to purchase a 5" Loaded in the next month.

77 Bronc

 

[gyp_c]

77b, how about sharin' the info about your problem and the resolution with SA! I see that you had probs with your Champion. Can you tell us what it was and how the process went with your communications with Springfield and how you felt that they handled it? Any gotchas'? Names of peeps' you had Comm. with, etc.

Thanks in advance,

BTW, Santa brought me one for Christmas! see "Santa Did Good" in the SA Forum...

Congrats!

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>>>>>>>>>>g2<<<<<<<<<<
oops! Found your cross-post in other thread...Still you didn't mention what SA said re: the problem! What was it? ...and what did SA do to remedy it? Did they do anything extra? Did it cost you anything?

[This message has been edited by gyp_c (edited 12-30-2000).]

 

[gyp_c]

Originally posted by JiminCA:
The factory mags stink. Don't change anything until you've tried it with a Wilson mag. I've also had good luck with McCormick shooting stars. Still, the Wilson is the cadillac version and will isolate if your problem is mag relate.

Last round probs are often mag related.

Also, my SS loaded had a really rough breech face and the area where the brass rim contacts the slide opposite the extractor was really rough. Looked like they didn't mask the area when they sandblasted the top of the slide. Didn't cause reliability probs with feeding but extraction was really inconsistent (ie the brass was landing all over the place from round to round). I very LIGHTLY stoned these areas with an extra fine ceramic hone to clean things up. Don't remove any material, just polish off the high spots.

Now the brass doesn't have to scrape across "sandpaper" on its way out.

Clean it up and try again. My guess is that with a top quality mag your probs will go away. After that look for any rough finish that may prevent the cartridge from moving into position.

[This message has been edited by JiminCA (edited 12-20-2000).]

Hi JiminCA! Do you also have a Champion 45?
How have your experiences been so far? Have you already posted re: same? If so when and I'll head for the archives!



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>>>>>>>>>>g2<<<<<<<<<<

 

[77Bronc]

Originally posted by gyp_c:
77b, how about sharin' the info about your problem and the resolution with SA! I see that you had probs with your Champion. Can you tell us what it was and how the process went with your communications with Springfield and how you felt that they handled it? Any gotchas'? Names of peeps' you had Comm. with, etc.

Thanks in advance,

BTW, Santa brought me one for Christmas! see "Santa Did Good" in the SA Forum...

Congrats!

Sorry for leaving off the details, The problem with the SA Champion was the notch in the slide where the slide release pops up after the last round. They recut the notch and installed a new slide release. There was no cost and they picked up the tab for shipping, $28 bucks. The reapir appears to work better whan I manually rack the slide back, will find out tomorrow when I go to the range. The communications was excellent. I read on the Forum that Debbie in the custom shop was a good person to start with and that is what I did. I will suggest that anyone needing help at SA do the same.

 

[gyp_c]

Cool! Glad it worked out so well...I love happy endings!
Have you read "Help Springfield"further down in this forum?
Most of the returns I've read about sound like yours...Unfortunately this poor guy has the other side of the coin goin'...check it out...

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>>>>>>>>>>g2<<<<<<<<<<