Tom Militano

I'm having problems with ejection on a national match .45. It stovepipes almost every round with .45 match ammunition. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

DTHughes

What's the recoil spring strenght? A lot of bullseye match ammo is low velocity/low pressure and will not cycle the pistol effectively if it is set up for 230 graing ball.

dfariswheel

Here's some common causes of stove-piping:

Wrong recoil spring.
Target 1911's for light loads have lighter recoil springs. Possibly, someone was shooting standard loads and installed a standard spring.
WARNING: just sticking in a lighter spring before making SURE the spring is the problem can cause battering and cracked frames.
Eliminate other problems first.

Extractor problems.
An extractor that's badly fouled, chipped, worn, or mis-adjusted can cause stove piping.
Disassemble the slide and remove the extractor. Clean it and it's tunnel in the slide thoroughly.
With the assembled slide off the gun and the extractor and firing pin etc. in place, slip a LOADED (Careful) round up under the extractor and turn the slide right side up. The loaded round should not slip out of the extractor. If it does, the extractor needs to be re-tensioned.
Without the proper amount of extractor tension, the fired case can slip out of the extractor and can stove pipe.

Bad ejector.
The ejector is seldom a problem, but check it for a worn, altered, or damaged face.
Check to insure it's firmly in place and one of the pins that fit into the frame hasn't broken off. This is tested by checking the ejector for looseness or if it can be turned on the frame.

Fouled chamber.
Check the chamber for excessive fouling, pitting, rust, rings or bulges.
Use a bronze chamber cleaning brush from Brownell's to scrub the chamber.
Stick it into the chamber and twist a few times.
Inspect the cleaned chamber.

Try different ammo.
Some guns just don't "like" some ammo. Make sure the ammo is compatible with the recoil spring. Again, shooting standard load ammo in a gun with a lighter target recoil spring, can damage the gun, shooting light loads with a standard weight spring causes jams.

Limp wristing.
It's possible to cause stove pipes and other problesm if you "limp wrist" the gun. This means you're not holding the gun firmly enough and with a locked wrist.

Recoil springs:
There's really no good way to tell what you have in the gun since they all look pretty much alike.
The standard 1911 spring is a 16 pound.
The Gold Cup and most National Match guns use a 14 pound spring for use with light Mid-Range loads.
Recoil springs are available from 10 pounds to 24 pounds.
Best way to eliminate a spring problem is to decide what ammo you want to shoot then buy a new recoil spring for that load from Brownell's.
The other weight springs are to fine tune a gun for use with specific hand loaded ammo.

Tom Militano

Thanks everybody. It just started doing this. I built the gun after I graduated from the Rock Island National Match Course many year ago and was working fine for a long time. It has been in my gun safe for about ten years before I started to shoot it again and it's been stove piping ever since.

dfariswheel

A 10 year safe queen.......

Is the ammo also old?

Did you detail strip and clean it?
Oils dry out fairly fast and after 10 years the inside is probably dry of oil and covered with "varnish".

Tom Militano

Yup, It was detailed stripped and cleaned. The ammo isn't the problem, it shoots fine in two other national match pistols. I'm leaning towards the spring.

dfariswheel

I'd suggest a trip to Brownell's site to buy a new recoil spring equal to the specific ammo you're shooting.

If you have two other 1911's you might try the spring out of one of them.

Tom Militano

I ordered some new springs from Brownell's. Thanks for all the replies