Sunday, November 25, 2012

Jamming

I think I have been loading 8 rounds in my 1911 mags again and am getting jams.  One range trip, both 1911s had the same jam on Federal Hi-Shok 230 grain hollow points.  (the cheap shooty stuff, not the expensive hydra-shok defense rounds.)

Now this gives me consternation, as I don't want to see problems with hollow points.

But, like I said, I've been load 8 rounds recently kinda often in my Chip McCormack mags, and ONE of the jams was in a brand new magazine that has had less than 2 dozen rounds through it.

I'm glad it was both guns with similar stoppages.  It may have been on the last round both times, but it was definitely the same presentation.  The nose of the bullet is canted up at a severe angle and stuck between mag, feed ramp, and chamber.  Minor scratches to the case, and it fires fine, after.  Clearing is an issue.  Tap-rack-bang is useless.  You have to dump the magazine and rack the slide to clear it.  So it's a pretty serious hang up that I need to get to bottom of.

I did relearn the old lesson.  Just because they SAY they are 8+1, you don't necessarily believe that.

Further testing, is, of course, called for.

9 comments:

Old NFO said...

NJT, is that 1911 the one with a standard feed ramp or a polished one? And it might be that the follower is forcing the round up crooked too...

Daddy Hawk said...

I had the same problem with a Chip McCormick "10" round power mag. First use out of the bag, and it would not feed the tenth round. It will feed 9 rounds all day long. Through 10 in, and all bets are off. I seem to recall advice from somewhere recommending to download all mags by one round to avoid such problems.

Ritchie said...

This is a little confusing-if the malf is on the last round, it shouldn't matter how many rounds used to be above it. Sounds like a weak spring at the end of its range. You might try loading 2 and shooting.

Stretch said...

After market mags for my .38 Super handle hollow points just fine.
Original Colt mags w/flat followers will reliably feed ONLY FMJ rounds.
Range time was the only way to find this out.
Of course until then I was carrying a single shot 1911. Wheee!

Gunnutmegger said...

My Glocks never have this issue...

Just saying. LOL

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Glocks don't meet my requirements.

Geodkyt said...

And this is why I take any "8-round" 1911 mag I get and put a "7-round" follower in it. Been doing it that way for 20 years or so. (I've also been restricting my 1911 mag bodies to stainless, mostly because of an article Ayoob wrote where he said it's just easier to police up your mags in low light if they don't blend into the ground as well.)

Nary a magazine feed issue since then that didn't involve a visibly upgefucht mag.

I don't care WHO made the super-secret extra springy finger 8-round follower; out it goes, to be replaced by a traditional 7-round follwer. Doesn't matter if the follower is an old, somewhat knarfed USGI milsurp I "acquired" when we transitioned to Berettas, the old fashioned followers in a decent magazine body work like a champ.

So what if I have an empty round count hole in my Colt mags that were built as 8-rounders?

Geodkyt said...

Disclaimer -- I haven't ponied up for the Wilson family of mags, so I cannot comment on them. I'd probably buy the 7-round variant anyway. . .

Anonymous said...

Have you cleaned your magazines? Instead of paying for new Wilson Combat magazines you should be able to buy a spring and follower kit for your magazines. This won't help if there is bulging with 8 rounds on the feed lips, but it is worth a try.