Help me diagnose problem with my first 1911

[Classic]

I sued to get that same failure to chamber in my old Col Mark IV Series 70. I had the the extractor claw rounded and polished where the case rim contacts it on the way up. End of problem.

 

[Drail]

Yep, That's all it takes most of the time. The 1911 is a controlled round feed design so the case must get pushed up into the waiting extractor before the feed cycle really gets going. Smooth feed surfaces are a good thing. You might take some rounds and blacken the rim and head of the case and chamber it once (from a magazine) and look for marks where the marker was scraped off. Hey,Classic, I love your avatar photo. What a machine that is.