Sunday Night Rock Island Project

[Berncly]

You did some really nice work.

Based on the photos I would continue to sand smooth and polish all parts of the barrel and slide that make contact with each other during operation.
And the contact points where the barrel connects to the frame.

It still looks a bit rough in some places, and you may be getting some friction binding on the rough surfaces.
After sanding and polishing be sure to apply some lube to the friction points when testing.

I also agree with Cdi to replace the recoil spring.
If any 1911 guys have more input please chime in.

[Hodgie]

thanks!

I have a Chip McCormick mag and Wolff spring set in the mail. As soon as i get it running enough to make a decent range gun im going to get back to sanding and cleaning and since the additional parts cut into my budget im going to have to refinish it own my own. I have Brownells OXPHO-BLUE here that i was going to experiment with but im hooked on the sanding and plan to bring this entire pistol to a high polish. well see....

It’s to bad we aren’t closer, a round through my blast cabinet and then into a black oxide bath would be fun to do. I’ve done a lot of small parts for people but never a whole gun.

[cdi]

Be careful not to round off the edges of the locking lugs on the barrel. They should be sharp, rounding them reduces the contact on lock up.
Link down/ timing is usually atrocious on these guns- have a look at a fired cartridge from this gun. Is the firing pin strike centered on the primer?
Any evidence of the firing pin dragging across the primer and case when the gun links down?

[bravo30]

Be careful not to round off the edges of the locking lugs on the barrel. They should be sharp, rounding them reduces the contact on lock up.
Link down/ timing is usually atrocious on these guns- have a look at a fired cartridge from this gun. Is the firing pin strike centered on the primer?
Any evidence of the firing pin dragging across the primer and case when the gun links down?

i stayed away from them with the sandpaper but looking at them now i noticed theyre worn. definitley not sharp. the lugs on the reciver are sharp. heres 3 casing with popped primers. 2 look centered for the most part while ones a bit off center.

[Noah_Zark]

ok, the polishing did the trick with the feed issues but now i have another problem. im getting failure to return to battery 90% of the time. i checked the ejector and its fine from what i can tell, i even removed it and still got FTRB. from what i can tell its an issue with the lugs on the barrel. when i get the failure i apply slight pressure to the tip of the barrel and everything snaps into place so im thinking it has something to do with the lugs on the barrel not lining up with the lugs on the roof of the slide. i was able to recreate the failure without a round in the gun as well leading me to believe its definitely those lugs that are causing the issue.

Those barrel lugs are disturbingly rounded, but I don't know if you're cycling or firing the gun unlubricated. Try applying thin grease to the lugs and to the front 1" or so of the OD of the barrel where it contacts the ID of the slide when the barrel is in battery. Use Weaponshield, RIG, or some other grease formulated for firearms, and try it with the existing recoil spring.

If it still fails to go to battery without trying to chamber a round, then try the 18.5 lb spring suggested by cdi in his post above. If that fails, have him look at the link-down timing since he offered to examine the gun in assistance. Worst case, you may need a new barrel, but it may require fitting and/or timing (different length barrel links, slight polishing to the barrel lugs, "breaking" the sharp corners of the barrel lugs, polishing the OD of the barrel to mate with the ID of the slide, fitting the barrel lug contour to the slide stop shaft, whatnot). He's a topshelf 1911 guy and will absolutely know what to do.

He can also adjust the extractor tension properly to reduce/eliminate it as a cause of the rounds not feeding properly. That's not your failure to go into battery problem because you have the problem cycling the gun empty.

Regarding the firing pin indents in the primers, all three are off just slightly by about the same amount, and I've seen far worse. I don't think they are "dragging" the way I believe cdi means, and I don't think it's that much of a timing problem. I think it's insufficient lubrication, a weak spring, or rounded lugs that are causing binding (but that often manifests with other signs of off timing).

But first things first, lightly grease the lugs and the front 1" of the barrel, and try cycling it as I suggested above.

Noah

[bravo30]

Those barrel lugs are disturbingly rounded, but I don't know if you're cycling or firing the gun unlubricated. Try applying thin grease to the lugs and to the front 1" or so of the OD of the barrel where it contacts the ID of the slide when the barrel is in battery. Use Weaponshield, RIG, or some other grease formulated for firearms, and try it with the existing recoil spring.

If it still fails to go to battery without trying to chamber a round, then try the 18.5 lb spring suggested by cdi in his post above. If that fails, have him look at the link-down timing since he offered to examine the gun in assistance. Worst case, you may need a new barrel, but it may require fitting and/or timing (different length barrel links, slight polishing to the barrel lugs, "breaking" the sharp corners of the barrel lugs, polishing the OD of the barrel to mate with the ID of the slide, fitting the barrel lug contour to the slide stop shaft, whatnot). He's a topshelf 1911 guy and will absolutely know what to do.

He can also adjust the extractor tension properly to reduce/eliminate it as a cause of the rounds not feeding properly. That's not your failure to go into battery problem because you have the problem cycling the gun empty.

Regarding the firing pin indents in the primers, all three are off just slightly by about the same amount, and I've seen far worse. I don't think they are "dragging" the way I believe cdi means, and I don't think it's that much of a timing problem. I think it's insufficient lubrication, a weak spring, or rounded lugs that are causing binding (but that often manifests with other signs of off timing).

But first things first, lightly grease the lugs and the front 1" of the barrel, and try cycling it as I suggested above.

Noah

thats a good feeling... up until now i was using Break Free and Hoppes but i dug out some Mobil 28 and it worked! i cycled 64 rounds and got 3 FTRB and 2-3 light ejections. before the grease it was 90% FTRB. the FTRB im getting now are similar to the ones i was getting with bad magazines where the round enters the chamber at a bad angle and pinches halfway so hopefully the Chip McCormick magazine i have in the mail takes care of that issue. Now that its somewhat running im going to head up to CDI so he can have a look at those barrel lugs and extractor to make sure everything is safe before i shoot any live ammo.

[bravo30]

so going forward here i should probably grease key areas then oil everything else? the only other time i ever use grease is with my FN-FAL.

[bravo30]

[Hodgie]

How do those Magpul grips feel?

[bravo30]

How do those Magpul grips feel?

I have large hands and theres just enough there to get a decent grip. They don’t feel super cheap or anything and the texture is comfortable. At the end of the day I’d say they’re solid grips for a gun your not going to be shooting very often. If this was my daily carry I would upgrade.