1911 Reliability
BY Herschel Smith
3 years, 1 month ago
I keep hearing folks complain about 1911 reliability, and frankly I’m nonplussed every time I hear it. Out of thousands and thousands of round through two 1911s, I’ve never had a single FTF/FTE. No malfunctions of any kind, and that’s without extensive cleaning (although I do lubricate them before range trips). Then again, these are high quality 1911s.
But I do enjoy listening to Ken Hackathorn and Bill Wilson discuss the history and engineering behind Browning’s design. It was a gun built around the cartridge. This is fine with me – I like the cartridge. I always have, and I shoot it better than any other.
On October 31, 2021 at 10:04 pm, blake said:
I’ve had two failures with my 1911 carry gun. Bad primer in one, dropped the mag, cleared the dud, popped in a new mag, kept going. (I was shooting an IDPA match at the time)
the other was a factory reload, that, somehow, I didn’t catch the minor issue of the side being torn completely off the cartridge during the reloading process. Last time I used factory reloads.
Note, neither failure was the fault of the gun. Those are it. And this is 10K plus rounds through my 1911’s.
On October 31, 2021 at 10:04 pm, blake said:
Addendum, Kimber Custom II and a Sig 1911.
On November 1, 2021 at 5:55 am, RCW said:
Just my opinion but criticizing JMB (who genuinely did God’s work), and his designs, immediately places one on shaky ground. Further, were my life on the line and given the choice, I’d strongly prefer to be gripping a Browning barker.
On November 1, 2021 at 9:45 am, George 1 said:
I have two not so very high end 1911s. A colt commander and a cheapie Kimber. They are both as reliable as any handguns I own. Their only drawback to me is that in the event of parts replacement fitting is required. I am not qualified to fit parts for a 1911 and I like to be able to fully repair all my guns, as nearly as possible. I wish I could attend a good armorers class for the type.
Every time I hear one of the “high speed low drag” types knock 1911s, I always think, man you are some kind of commie.
On November 1, 2021 at 1:03 pm, Peter said:
Maybe you guys can tell me how to fix mine. I have a Rock Island 1911 that I bought brand new. It has a failure to feed at least every other magazine or sometimes every magazine.
I look inside the chamber, and I notice on other 1911’s, there is a “feed ramp” or something like that machined into where the barrel ends. It looks like a section from a half pipe or something. Mine just has the end of the barrel, nothing machined in. Rounds are hanging up on that.
Did I get one that slipped by QC perhaps?
On November 1, 2021 at 1:57 pm, Ned said:
Peter: First try different ammo – then try different mags. Wilson Combat or Chip McCormick.
On November 1, 2021 at 2:02 pm, Ned said:
Peter – here’s an explanation of your unramped barrel vs ramped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2bds_6CRFw
On November 1, 2021 at 2:18 pm, Fred said:
The .40 and 9 mil solved exactly zero problems with the.45 because there weren’t any to solve.
On November 1, 2021 at 4:17 pm, Peter said:
Ned, thank you very much, I’ll watch and give your suggestions a try. I’ve had other 1911’s over the years, never a malfunction. Has to be something with this particular one.
Now that I’m retired, I actually have the time to dig in and learn!