Have 5 other 1911s so wasn't in any hurry to jump in. Decided it better to wait out the initial run and the problems most often seen in them. Thought I had outsmarted ol' Murphy, but I didn't.
Took it out of the box, stripped and cleaned, put it together, loaded it up, and went shooting.
It jammed, failed to eject, was double feeding, failure to return to battery, etc… It was truly one of the most miserable experiences I've had with a 1911.
After getting back home and sitting down with it and looking it over, here are my initial observations of it.
#1 - sloppy trigger, and I mean sloppy. Vertical and horizontal play and take up slop was more than 1/16"
#2 - when the trigger was fully forward there was a noticeable gap between the rear of the trigger shoe and frame.
#3 - the grip safety was happily flapping in the rear with very little tension.
#4 - purely cosmetic, but the grip panels were two very different shades.
#5 - the worst of the worst -hand cycling live rounds was an absolute pain in the arse. It would jam the round with the nose of the bullet on the forward edge of the ejection port every 2 or three cycles - and it occurred with five different brands and 3 different profiles of ammo in four different magazines.
In all my years of owning and shooting 1911s, this is the very first time I have ever had this problem.
Here are MY fixes:
#1 & #2 - I was getting the same take up slop and same rear gap with 3 different triggers. So it seems the channel is made a little too long, or at least longer than Colt, Springfield, Kimber.
Pulled out a new C&S solid long trigger and fitted the height of the shoe & put it in. Vertical and Horizontal play was removed, but there was still a gap between the rear of the shoe and frame. took my Dremel and cut out a couple of wings at the curve of the bow (right behind the shoe).
Now, no more vertical play, no more take up slop, and no more gap.
#3 - I'm sure this was the result of a combination of the sloppy trigger and not enough tension from the sear spring. Those are now fixed and the grip safety doesn't clink and clank anymore.
#4 - can't stand two different colors of grip panels. I mean it absolutely bothers me. I have an older set of VZs that will replace them in the next day or so.
#5 - I don't care who you are or what you think you know, If you can't hand cycle live rounds out of your chamber and eject them as easily as fired brass, then you have a definite problem.
This happened with JHP and FMJ ammo from Winchester, Remington, American Eagle, Golden Sabre, and Magtech.And happened with the two factory mags, two factory Springfield mags, and 3 factory Colt mags.
To fix it, I took a look at one of my Colts, and one of my Springfields. These two are pretty much as reliable as I have ever owned or shot as far as 1911s go.
The very first thing that popped out as different was the OAL of the Ejectors.
My Colt had absolutely no arm on it - my Springfield had around 1/32" of a nub...
the Ruger had an arm that looked like 50yds compared to the others - It was looooonnnnggggggg !!!!!!
Then, I decided to look at and test the extractor. Sure enough it was loose, too.
I decided to work on the loose extractor first. Kept going till it felt as good and as firm as my Colt when holding and both inserting/removing a round under it.
Put it back in and tried it out... NO GLORY. Still had the same jamming.
The only other thing left to try was that looooonnnnnngggggg ejector. I figured if it was good enough for Colt, it's good enough for the Ruger, so I took the Dremel and cut the arm off to the same profile as the Colt's.
And with that, all was right with the World.
I was a hand cycling fool... 7 full mags of 5 different ammo, and three separate mags with the different ammo all staggered in them.
Then I took a drive to the woods for another quick little shoot out. 7 full mags later… not one failure of any kind. Zero, Zilch, Nada.
Overall though, NOT PLEASED.
It's not like this is some new creation or new platform, It's been around over 100years and millions upon millions have been and are still being manufactured by a lot of different companies. Problems like I had shouldn't be happening in this day and age, and this gun shouldn't have even made it out the door.
But, for something I picked up for less than a tank of gas it might stay with me a little while longer - or at least until the next time it doesn't work.
Took it out of the box, stripped and cleaned, put it together, loaded it up, and went shooting.
It jammed, failed to eject, was double feeding, failure to return to battery, etc… It was truly one of the most miserable experiences I've had with a 1911.
After getting back home and sitting down with it and looking it over, here are my initial observations of it.
#1 - sloppy trigger, and I mean sloppy. Vertical and horizontal play and take up slop was more than 1/16"
#2 - when the trigger was fully forward there was a noticeable gap between the rear of the trigger shoe and frame.
#3 - the grip safety was happily flapping in the rear with very little tension.
#4 - purely cosmetic, but the grip panels were two very different shades.
#5 - the worst of the worst -hand cycling live rounds was an absolute pain in the arse. It would jam the round with the nose of the bullet on the forward edge of the ejection port every 2 or three cycles - and it occurred with five different brands and 3 different profiles of ammo in four different magazines.
In all my years of owning and shooting 1911s, this is the very first time I have ever had this problem.
Here are MY fixes:
#1 & #2 - I was getting the same take up slop and same rear gap with 3 different triggers. So it seems the channel is made a little too long, or at least longer than Colt, Springfield, Kimber.
Pulled out a new C&S solid long trigger and fitted the height of the shoe & put it in. Vertical and Horizontal play was removed, but there was still a gap between the rear of the shoe and frame. took my Dremel and cut out a couple of wings at the curve of the bow (right behind the shoe).
Now, no more vertical play, no more take up slop, and no more gap.
#3 - I'm sure this was the result of a combination of the sloppy trigger and not enough tension from the sear spring. Those are now fixed and the grip safety doesn't clink and clank anymore.
#4 - can't stand two different colors of grip panels. I mean it absolutely bothers me. I have an older set of VZs that will replace them in the next day or so.
#5 - I don't care who you are or what you think you know, If you can't hand cycle live rounds out of your chamber and eject them as easily as fired brass, then you have a definite problem.
This happened with JHP and FMJ ammo from Winchester, Remington, American Eagle, Golden Sabre, and Magtech.And happened with the two factory mags, two factory Springfield mags, and 3 factory Colt mags.
To fix it, I took a look at one of my Colts, and one of my Springfields. These two are pretty much as reliable as I have ever owned or shot as far as 1911s go.
The very first thing that popped out as different was the OAL of the Ejectors.
My Colt had absolutely no arm on it - my Springfield had around 1/32" of a nub...
the Ruger had an arm that looked like 50yds compared to the others - It was looooonnnnggggggg !!!!!!
Then, I decided to look at and test the extractor. Sure enough it was loose, too.
I decided to work on the loose extractor first. Kept going till it felt as good and as firm as my Colt when holding and both inserting/removing a round under it.
Put it back in and tried it out... NO GLORY. Still had the same jamming.
The only other thing left to try was that looooonnnnnngggggg ejector. I figured if it was good enough for Colt, it's good enough for the Ruger, so I took the Dremel and cut the arm off to the same profile as the Colt's.
And with that, all was right with the World.
I was a hand cycling fool... 7 full mags of 5 different ammo, and three separate mags with the different ammo all staggered in them.
Then I took a drive to the woods for another quick little shoot out. 7 full mags later… not one failure of any kind. Zero, Zilch, Nada.
Overall though, NOT PLEASED.
It's not like this is some new creation or new platform, It's been around over 100years and millions upon millions have been and are still being manufactured by a lot of different companies. Problems like I had shouldn't be happening in this day and age, and this gun shouldn't have even made it out the door.
But, for something I picked up for less than a tank of gas it might stay with me a little while longer - or at least until the next time it doesn't work.
