1911 ejection question

[palerider0485]

so my father recently bought a colt 70 series 1911. it has a short ejector which i dont plan on changing. but what i have seen happen is the last round will extract out of the chamber but but not eject away from the slide. it is the last round and the slide stays back. when you look into the ejection port what u see is a spent case with the slide locked in the rear position. my question is dos the rounds in you mag help fling out the spent brass??? i only see this happen on the last round. ive seen this problum in other pistols before. but not as frequent and on this one. i will shoot the gun again real soon with different mags aswell. could the mag follower have anything to do with the last round ejecting from the pistol???

 

[mssmith44]

I think the problem is the extractor is loose. Check by removing slide and see if the extractor can hold a loaded round with out falling out.
The last empty coming out of the barrel is falling out of the extractor with out hitting the ejector.

 

[churchmouse]

Is the ejector beat back from use. Combo of above and a worn ejector.

 

[palerider0485]

i just went to the range and tryed to new colt 8 round mags. i had zero failures. i am still going to check and make sure ejector is tight and extractor has enough tension. but im sure they are good. i mag i was shooting was what came with the gun and was an old 7 round gi mag i beleave. it had a serial number on the bottom. and no name. could it have been the mag?? its extracting and ejection now... it only occured on the last round.

 

[AllenM]

Mags are one of the biggest factors in 1911 reliability but it sounds like you might have something else going on too. A little longer ejector may help and correct extractor tension and gap between extractor lip and slide should be looked at.
Could be a funky follower on the mag and nothing else but without seeing it I like the sounds of a longer ejector

 

[Drail]

It sounds like the extractor is letting go of the case - possibly because it does not have another round pushing the last round up into the extractor hook. A 5 in. gun should run fine with a short GI ejector. Number your magazines and see which ones are not working. Check to see that the extractor cannot rotate in the slide. An oversize firing pin stop will correct that.

 

[birdo]

There is a tool, sold by brownells, to correctly "tension" an extractor. Might be useful to have around anyway, and might help you troubleshoot this issue (at least eliminate one potential cause).

 

[Drail]

All you need to tension an extractor is a small vise and a light brass hammer and a few light taps. The major problem with many extractors today is that they are not made from quality spring steel like the original blueprint specified and many have poor tempering (or none) and will not hold a tension setting for very long. You can tension one as many times as you want and it will keep losing tension. Before you buy a new extractor ask the manufacturer what it's made from. The better ones will actually tell you. EGW and Wilson make very good extractors.

 

[rvb]

Most likely Extractor tension. It should eject even wo a mag in the gun.
-rvb

 

[churchmouse]

Most likely Extractor tension. It should eject even wo a mag in the gun.
-rvb

Yes it should. If the slide is cycling full stroke and the casing is contacting the ejector the spent casing should exit the slide.

 

[palerider0485]

i will check extractor tension. churchmouse and rvb are right, it should extract and eject without the mag in the gun. i have tensioned extractors before. i do it with the extractor sticking half out the slide. i then make slight bends to it till it can hold a case without the case falling out of its grab. but i dont make it so tight that its difficult to get the extractor around the case. the way i do it works. i dont know if thats how you guys do it though.

 

[rvb]

Fitting an extractor is a lot of work. As far as tension, I want it to hold a loaded round (not just a case), even if I jiggle it. I don't use jigs, I bend it in the slide like you say. But I'm a cheap sob. Jigs are better.

fitting an extractor starts at the back wth the FPS to make sure there is no clocking or fore/aft play. I then put a nice rounded corner on the bottom of the hook and the flat that rests on the case rim and get it to a nice polish. Then check to make sure I don't need to take any material off the "pad" that rests against the slide. You can have all the spring tension in the world, but it won't matter if the extractor is stopping on the slide here. With this method I get gobs of tension and rock solid extraction/ejection, yet very smooth feeding, even in my 38 super open gun that's fed w. 7 or 8 lb recoil springs.

-rvb