New American Tactical 1191 45 problems

[Doradohunter]

Indeed. 1911Junky has offered and if I can make it to Crestview I will certainly take it to him.

 

[CCHGN]

Excellent,,,,now we may see what the real problem is. I understand that the 'smith', you took it to, wanting to put a stronger recoil spring on it, to force it to go into battery( and hopefully work out any burrs), but the problem with that is that if it isn't just burrs, if it isn't fitted right, that won't help it and may do bad damage. Also, that changes the timing, now the slide is cycling faster than the barrel is. If you try to force anything, you risk shearing the lugs on the barrel and/or the grooves in the slide.

Another test you( any 1911 owner- or any semi auto for that matter) can do is to take the gun apart and take out the recoil spring, then put it back together. Now, you should be able to tilt the gun back and it should simply slide out of battery( maybe with a little bump). When you tilt it back forward, it should slide right into battery, completely. If it doesn't, you have a fitting problem. The slide to the frame, the barrel to the slide and the barrel to the bushing. If it's fitted and polished up right, it should do this easily.

 

[wildrider666]

A whole lot of great info here. I think that once parts were changed from factory original you lost the option of sending it back to the factory modified for warranty work and the same goes for the Smith's work unless he was a Authorized Service Provider.

One thing would help you and all of us trying to help is to number your 1911 problems/failures so we can all stay on the same page. We all know some will overlap issues and corrections overlap.

You said at one point the ammo you were using (BALL) was the prob, but then came back with more problems. Ball ammo should be the easiest to feed! Have you tried this ammo again since you had all the work done?

If you respond using "reply with quote" from the other Members recommendation we will also know the action and result.

ATI have been known to have a tight slide/frame fit. It did not have a firing pin safety when originally produced.

 

[1911Junky]

Yes, Caspian frame as well.....nice ,,,,,you went getto gansta pimp with the chrome, eh? ,,,lol

Yea I did. Its actually just a high polish. It was built just strictly as an attention getter, where as I built it to auction off and donate all proceeds to Fitco Cares foundation to help our wounded veterans.

 

[Doradohunter]

Ball ammo IS the problem. The only problem. It will shoot Hornady Critical Defense all day long with no hiccups.

 

[ilintner]

Could this be an issue with the way the chamber was cut in the barrel? The critical defense ammo has that very steep angle to the bullet and might fit in a shallow chamber where the ball might not... Might not be making any sense here, but it sounds plausible in my head.

 

[CCHGN]

Yea I did. Its actually just a high polish. It was built just strictly as an attention getter, where as I built it to auction off and donate all proceeds to Fitco Cares foundation to help our wounded veterans.

That is awesome.......kudos to you.

 

[CCHGN]

Could this be an issue with the way the chamber was cut in the barrel? The critical defense ammo has that very steep angle to the bullet and might fit in a shallow chamber where the ball might not... Might not be making any sense here, but it sounds plausible in my head.

Yeah, that's what "go-no go" gauges will reveal....also, if he's having that issue, then it's a headspace issue as well. Just a bad barrel. I'd send it back and make them put a new barrel in it.

 

[wildrider666]

Ball ammo IS the problem. The only problem. It will shoot Hornady Critical Defense all day long with no hiccups.

45 Auto 185 gr FTX® Critical Defense®

BallisticsDownloadsVideosScrapbook

Test Barrel (5") Velocity (fps) / Energy (ft-lbs)
MUZZLE 50 100
1000/411 936/360 883/321

3" Barrel Velocity (fps) / Energy (ft-lbs)
MUZZLE 50 100
900/333 853/299 810/270


Your ATI works fine with High Vel Stuff. Other then "Ball" we don't know what that orig ammo was and can't check the vel of it. What is it? Will gun chamber one of the ball ammo fired cases if the slide is slowly allowed to go into battery? How about with a Hornady case?

So If I recall correctly we have these potential problems.

1. Ball ammo out of spec. size or velocity too low to cycle new recoil spring.

2. Barrel chamber spec/headspace incorrect.

 

[Doradohunter]

It won't chamber the ball ammo any which way I try it, the only way it will chamber the ball ammo is if I knock the back of the slide into full lock up. If I fire that round it won't fully chamber the second round and so forth.

 

[wildrider666]

You can get the SAMI specs on the 45 APC round and then measure the ball stuff and see if it is out of spec. Did you do the Sharpie black marker test (cover the bullet and mouth and then try to load it. Eject onto rag. look for areas that the black have been scrapped. If nothing shows then do it over and tap the slide into battery. eject and inspect. What do you see?

 

[Stagman]

Just plink with critical defense ammo because thats not expensive haha. I hope you get that gun fixed. Emory the gunsmith at Campbell's Hardware in Robertsdale is a 1911 specialist you might want to give him a try

 

[Doradohunter]

Right now I can't afford another smith, the last one took all my "gun money" the soon to be wife is already livid that it isn't working.

 

[1911Junky]

Right now I can't afford another smith, the last one took all my "gun money" the soon to be wife is already livid that it isn't working.

Where are you located?

 

[Doradohunter]

Orange Beach, Al

 

[1911Junky]

Orange Beach, Al

I was gonna say, if you were not too far I would come your way to get this figured out for you pro bono. It still sounds to me like it may be your chamber.

Have you tried different brands of ball ammo or just the same box?

 

[Doradohunter]

I have tried federal, Winchester, and UMC.

 

[1911Junky]

Just like wild rider666 said get a sharpie and color the bullet...just the bullet in it try and chamber the round, push the slide all the way forward until it is in battery, then eject the round onto a rag and look at the bullet to see if any of the sharpie was removed, should have some removed from riding up the ramp. If you do this and get some areas of the sharpie removed take a picture of it and post the pic.

 

[Doradohunter]

I sharpied the whole round. It did have one ding on the casing that I couldnt get a clear pic of that i think was signifigant.

 

[1911Junky]

Right around the case mouth where you can see no black, just brass was that colored as well? Do you have any calipers?