1911 fail to return to battery

[noguns]

Thanks to this forum, i decided to give 1911s a shot. I shoot and carry a p30 and p30sk LEM.

My colt Wiley gov is perfect.

My SA 1911 loaded not so much. I shot it today and it failed to return to battery. The pistol fired and ejected the spent casing but would not return to battery. I had to smack the back of the slide with a non marring hammer to get it to return to battery. It worked normally afterward.

Should I even bother trying to see what's wrong? I've realized I do not have the time to be truly dedicated to the platform. I've successfully adjusted extractor tension but I'm not really interested in filing down parts or fitting anything. I just enjoy shooting the things. Detail stripping my glocks are no problem. I don't want to mess up a 1911.

Would you send it to Springfield armory. Would you just continue to shoot it and maybe it was just a fluke? Has anyone experienced this before? I only use federal AE 230 grain and Wilson ETM. No mods to the pistol but I'm not the original owner so I imagine S.A. would charge me.

Thanks

[JAH 3rd]

I would clean and lubricate the pistol. Replace the recoil spring, some like 16 pound, some 18 pound springs...lots of opinions based on type of ammo shot. Lots of info online about extractor adjustment. If it is too tight, that might affect functioning. That is what I would do if it were my pistol. If that doesn't work, call SA.

[L-2]

From what I've read in the first post, here are my thoughts:

-There may have merely been an imperfection in the next round of ammunition causing the temporary failure to return to battery (FTRTB). This is just a guess as not being there; not being able to see the gun and ammo; and not having the gun in-hand means anything on the internet is just a guess.

-Keeping a round count on a 1911 will aid in when to replace a recoil spring for preventive maintenance. In addition, having a new spare recoil spring on-hand can be used to compare the length of a new recoil spring to the length of an old spring already in the gun.

-Being one's own armorer is a great thing to be. Some of this comes with experience which this recent FTRTB is one more situation experienced.

-Not wanting to be one's own armorer with a 1911 can mean a lot of frustration and the 1911, because of this, a 1911 is not for everyone. Some folks have a fellow employee or employer-contracted/retained armorer to bring a 1911 in for maintenance, evaluation, or repair. Again, whether there's anything actually wrong with this 1911 can then be determined.

-There's always sending a 1911 back to the manufacturer, but shipping can get expensive if the manufacturer doesn't pay; along with varying turnaround times, sometimes taking months, not just days. There's also the matter of any repair costs if not a warranty-issue.

-Any semiauto could have had a FTRTB issue. If I was a customer service rep on the phone and only was told what I read in the first post, all I could recommend would be to shoot the 1911 some more and suggest a new recoil spring.

[JTQ]

... i decided to give 1911s a shot.

My SA 1911 loaded not so much. I shot it today and it failed to return to battery. The pistol fired and ejected the spent casing but would not return to battery. I had to smack the back of the slide with a non marring hammer to get it to return to battery. It worked normally afterward.

I've successfully adjusted extractor tension but I'm not really interested in filing down parts or fitting anything. I just enjoy shooting the things. Detail stripping my glocks are no problem.

Would you send it to Springfield armory. Would you just continue to shoot it and maybe it was just a fluke? Has anyone experienced this before? I only use federal AE 230 grain and Wilson ETM.

I've seen comments from the WilsonCombatRep on other forums that 50% of their returns for service are corrected by properly lubing the gun. I suspect the typical Glock user significantly under-lubes other guns.

Wilson 1911 lubing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4D2mRlDo48

Another potential issue, if these are new Wilson ETM's, have you let them sit, loaded for a while before using them. Wilson puts this in their directions to help insure trouble free use.

Paragraph 1 in the directions https://s3.amazonaws.com/wilsoncomba...s/47Series.pdf

My final potential issue is perhaps your "I've successfully adjusted extractor tension" was not as successful as you thought.

[M2CattleCo]

A good practice when you have a failure to return to battery is get the slide fully to rear and see what was wrong.

If taking a hammer and beating INTO battery sounds like a good idea you're not going to be real successful with any handgun.

[RichardAlan]

Did the rim make it under the extractor? How far out of battery was it?

Was the slide locked up and unable to be pulled back?



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[Robinson]

More info is needed. How many rounds has the pistol fired? Was it properly lubricated before this event?

It's possible that one cartridge was out of spec. It's also possible there is something wrong with the gun. If you shoot it a bunch more and don't have any more failures you might be okay. If the same thing keeps happening you have a few choices: send it to Springfield Armory to have it checked out, take it to a gunsmith with specific 1911 experience, or do the work to diagnose the problem yourself.

A well built, properly lubricated 1911 using quality ammo and quality magazines should run without issue -- especially a 45. If this was not just a one-time thing do not accept that it is failing because "1911s are just unreliable". The gun should run.

[noguns]

The pistol had been running fine beforehand.
I've logged exactly 450 before the last trip. No malfunctions except for failing the 1911 test before messing with the extractor.

Etms had been used before and were loaded for at least three months before I used again. The pistol was lubed with oil but I will check out the WC link on lubrication suggestions.

I adjusted the extractor tension too tight the last time. I'd say it was a little on the loose side now but passes the "1911 extraction test" with no magazine loaded.

I know it was not the best to hammer it forward, but I could not get it to pull backward and neither could the other range masters. The inner hack was getting desperate.

Although it fired a couple mags without fail afterward I've decided to send it to SA. Hopefully they can at least match my factory Wiley clapp trigger that feels like a glass rod 4 lb break as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions. When not shooting my HKs I'll just shoot the Colt when I have a 1911 itch to scratch. I've just never had any of my pistols lock up like this and I'm anal about pistol maintenance.

[M2CattleCo]

You can hit the end of the slide on something and knock it open assuming you don't have a goofy full length guide rod.

It was probably a mangled up bullet or case mouth.

This one gave me a FTRB in my Wilson last week. It fed it fine, but it wasn't going all the way in on it's own.

[Robinson]

The pistol had been running fine beforehand.
I've logged exactly 450 before the last trip. No malfunctions except for failing the 1911 test before messing with the extractor.

Etms had been used before and were loaded for at least three months before I used again. The pistol was lubed with oil but I will check out the WC link on lubrication suggestions.

I adjusted the extractor tension too tight the last time. I'd say it was a little on the loose side now but passes the "1911 extraction test" with no magazine loaded.

I know it was not the best to hammer it forward, but I could not get it to pull backward and neither could the other range masters. The inner hack was getting desperate.

Although it fired a couple mags without fail afterward I've decided to send it to SA. Hopefully they can at least match my factory Wiley clapp trigger that feels like a glass rod 4 lb break as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions. When not shooting my HKs I'll just shoot the Colt when I have a 1911 itch to scratch. I've just never had any of my pistols lock up like this and I'm anal about pistol maintenance.

Good luck with your pistol, I hope it works out for you.

And yeah the Wiley Clapp Colts are pretty nice guns. In fact I've been impressed with the recent production Colt's I've purchased and examined lately. They are really turning out some nicely built pistols. Now if they can just become more consistent with that level of quality.