Got my 1911 back from Springfield yesterday
 

I bought a Springfield Amory 1911 G.I. two months ago. It has been a real problem trying to get this gun to feed reliably. Ive been to a gunsmith twice, and I fiddled around with different mags, recoil springs, and ammo. Finally I decided to send it to Springfield to have them fix it.

Yesterday I got it back. They replaced the slide stop, extractor, put a 16lb recoil spring in it, and reamed the barrel.

Today I went to the range with 100rds of ball ammo. It ate them all without any problems. Now I'm hoping it eats HP ammo as well as it does the ball.

My hats off to Springfield Armory, for doing such good warranty work.

that's great that you got it fixed and are happy with the results. Good luck getting it to feed the HP ammo.

I mean not that you'll need Luck because it's a 1911, one of the most awesome guns in history. It should feed the HP stuff just fine

My milspec has problems feeding HPs unless they are the full 230gr variety. Anything 230 gr it eats and spits out with no problemo.

GoodOlBoy

I hope you guys are right.

I figure if it doesnt shoot HP's. I can just get the ramp polished. Or try Corbon Power'rball ammo.

Now all I need is a decent holster, and a belt. Then save, and wait for a good holster.

gregarat,
Did you ever measure the OAL of the rounds that would not feed? Just curious if the length has something to do with your problem. I would reload ALL the ammo that I used for competition shooting and that included my Trophy Match. OAL was very critical to get proper feeding. Just a thought, that's all.

Did Springy ever tell you what they did to your piece to make it work?

They replaced the slide stop, extractor, put a 16lb recoil spring in it, and reamed the barrel.

Im guessing that the #16 recoil spring instead of my original #14, the new extractor, and the reamed barrel is whats helping it to feed. The problem was the cartridge not seating into the battery. Im guessing the replaced slide stop, will help the mag to drop. Wich was the other problem.

Springfields are great guns btw. . . . Just had to throw that in.

You can bet there was more to it than that, but the important thing is that it is fixed. Kinda like when I repair a computer.

Customer: "What did you do it works!"

Me: "Just ran some updates, and defragged the harddrive." Which means I cleaned up viruses, and spyware, Installed updates. Fixed dirver issues. Moved a ton of garbage from the desktop to My Documents and created shortcuts instead. Removed Webshots, every toolbar known to man, and Gator home shopping software, THEN Defragged. But they don't need to really know ALL of that. It would just make their eyes glaze over.

Anyway let us know how she feeds on the HPs

GoodOlBoy

Tree Doc has a good point- OAL can be critical with 1911's.
Federal makes (or used to) a FMJ expanding load- I know that sounds odd....
200 grain truncated cone bullet, feeds like a dream in my pistol. The FMJ expanding load also expanded in everything I tested it in. Might be worth a look.

Do you mean this ammo: FEDERAL EXPANDING AMMO LINK

I saw this earlier, when I was checking Power'rball ammo. It looks good.

Gregarat, yes, it appears to be the same stuff I'm referring to. Although, the ammo I have is a 200 grain load- they show the 45ACP as a 185 grain.
The fired bullets I have recovered from dirt banks, gallon jugs of water, and wet newspaper look exactly like those pretty expanded ones in that link, BTW.

recoil spring weight with +P
 

Jack,
At the bottom of the page is a link for ammo that they sell. They do have 200gr rounds, but they are rated +P.
Would I need to use a heavier recoil spring for the Corbon 165gr +P, or the Federal 200gr +P? If so ?what weight? My Springfield uses #16 recoil spring.

I use an 18.5 pound spring in mine. Seems to work fine.
I have one of those little plastic Shock Buffs in my gun, and they Shock Buff seems to last a long time, so I don't think the gun is being battered with the 18.5 pound spring and +P ammo.
I must say, though, I can't really tell ya that a 16 pound spring is inadequate- might work just fine, too.

18.5 is a little stiff in mine, 16 is too light. I plan on taking a pair of snips with me the next shot I get at the range. Gonna take a quarter curl of spring off at a time until she is just right.

My 2 cents.

GoodOlBoy

With the 18.5 pound spring in mine, it won't reliable feed real light wadcutter loads- like a 185 at about 700 FPS. If I use a 200 grain, and stay at around 750 FPS, it works fine.
I find it easier to load to the 750 FPS area (or 800 FPS with 185's) than to switch springs, and maybe forget what spring I have in the gun.

Agreed Jack I dont switch springs in mine at all. Thats why I am going to trim the spring until I get a reliable feed with ALL the ammo I use.

GoodOlBoy