Why Is The Ruger So Hard To Rack?

Took my Ruger 1911 to the range today and it is so hard to rack. I have a number of 1911's but none this difficult. When I got home I tried a Colt recoil spring, but not much difference even though the Colt was quite a bit shorter than the Ruger. Is this a Hammer spring issue?

What have other done?

Which 1911?
Full size 45?
If so, mine is BRUTAL too.
Even with 1000 round through it. No change.
Try the Lightweight Commander in 9mm.
Much gooder.

are you "push....pulling" straight out, or "opposing, across the chest, one hand opposite of the other"... are you cocking back the hammer first?,.. so as to not have to work all the parts against each other.......can't see you or just how you are doing it, or maybe you are getting older like many of the rest of us and harder to do these things....our SR1911 is not any harder to cock than any of the other 1911s I have had and used, and shot over the years , maybe my older 1967 NM Colt is the easiest, it has a 16 pound recoil spring and shoots wadcutters, I retire it after all those years ( since 1967) and now use the SR1911 ,one of the first ones that even came with rust spots under the grip panels,( stainless no less) but as I said it is just fine.........practice, practice, practice


and yes, we have found over the years the stainless steel guns may be a harder to operate as "like alloys of stainless can grate, gall" one reason many years ago Randall made the grip frame one type of alloy and the slide another alloy" quite costly they found out...use to lube them with vegetable oil...put that one out on the internet...tooo long ago and too detailed for me to even remember and I never was a "metallurgist"........." and so it goes, Wil Terry" RIP

I just know that mine is now and always has been the single hardest to rack 1911 I've ever owned.
I've only had a few though, a Colt and a couple RIA's.

Back when stainless guns came out, the recommended lubes were Tri-Flo and Break-Free, both Teflon-based in a dispersant carrier.

oscar said:

Took my Ruger 1911 to the range today and it is so hard to rack. I have a number of 1911's but none this difficult. When I got home I tried a Colt recoil spring, but not much difference even though the Colt was quite a bit shorter than the Ruger. Is this a Hammer spring issue?

What have other done?

Click to expand...

It is "hard" so liberals won't buy them.

does your 1911 have a full length guide rod? I removed mine
and uses a standard 1911 guide rod & spring.? fwiw

All my 1911's, including Rugers, rack about the same, and that includes 3" Officer's size. I always cock the hammer first. Why work against that resistance when it's going to get cocked anyway?

Did any of you think about the fact that the "tight" machining tolerances of the Ruger can be a big part of the problem? At the price they sell them for they can't polish up the frame rails and slide to be slicker. I'll bet the accuracy is pretty good. An old armorer told me once to take some fine grit polishing compound and leaving out the springs work the slide back and forth while watching a few hours of TV. Be sure the polishing compound is all the way up the grooves of the slide.

I thought about putting a lighter recoil spring in mine but 1) I'm not a big fan of modifications and 2) Didn't want to risk light primer strikes. Fact is, the gun DOES function as designed regardless of how hard I find it is to rack.

Recoil spring doesn't effect primer strike , the mainspring aka hammer spring does .

Trying to get a handle on this , how is ( firing) cycling ? Ejection pattern ?

Functions like a champ.
Cycling it manually is hard but obviously I've lived with it a number of years so doesn't concern me enough to make any changes.

The mainspring strength and the radius on the bottom of the firing pin stop are main contributors to initial slide racking force. In 1911 JMB's design had a .078" radius. Around 1918 the Army changed it to .219" to make racking the slide easier. However, the easier it is to rack the slide the sooner the weapon comes out of battery. Smaller radius stays in battery longer. Personally, I like the recoil "feel" when it stays in battery longer. The 1911 forums have quite a few posts on "square" firing pin stops.

I was holding back from bringing up firing pin stop radius , until exploring the overall functioning of the gun .

Because the mainapring weight/ firing pin stop relationship are primary factor in unlocking , while simultaneously the mainspring weight alone is significant factor in reliable ignition , they're not to be taken lightly , or randomly .

When in doubt , the usual guidelines are to follow as closely either JMB circa 1911 , or US Mil circa 1927 specs , unless you are delibertly setting up for a caliber other than .45acp .

Yup Racking the slide on a ruger 1911 is a chore! I hardly even think about now guess I
got use to it. Now I pick it up and rack the damn thing no problem.
Think you need an attitude to do it lol. ps

This is just another reason why I love the 1911 pistol chambered for 9 mm cartridge. Very easy to rack the slide.

ptypegreen said:

Smaller radius stays in battery longer.

Click to expand...

Sorry - simply not true. Observe:



The slide remains in battery until the bullet leaves the barrel and allows the chamber pressure to drop. This is the case regardless of the size of the radius. But you are correct that the radius affects how hard it is to manually cycle the slide.

IME, friction is the single biggest factor in how much force is required to cycle a slide. Polish, polish, polish!

H Richard said:

Did any of you think about the fact that the "tight" machining tolerances of the Ruger can be a big part of the problem? At the price they sell them for they can't polish up the frame rails and slide to be slicker. I'll bet the accuracy is pretty good. An old armorer told me once to take some fine grit polishing compound and leaving out the springs work the slide back and forth while watching a few hours of TV. Be sure the polishing compound is all the way up the grooves of the slide.

Click to expand...

Hi,

I don't have a 1911 of any flavor, but had a buddy who owned many of them. When he got a new one, he'd do almost exactly as Richard's armorer suggested and do the "pull the springs and see if things are binding" thing then devoted many hours to binging old TV shows while constantly racking the spring free rest of the gun. He used RIG grease with no compound. I can only say his guns were slick. Dunno if they "softened up" much short of plain ol' live fire.

Rick C

I haven't worked with my SR1911 or Colt 1991 for over a year. Due to 4 surgeries in 3 years, I have turned into that proverbial "old man". Lost muscle mass has caused me to lose the strength to rack the slide from almost any position. Even with the hammer back. Going to have to bring my grandson with me just to cycle the action--
Of the two the SR1911 to by far the stiffest.

I like my old Remington Rand with the single recoil spring set up. All my 1911's are single recoil spring. fwiw