Friend of mine bought a Tisas 1911. One mag that comes with the gun started failing to feed the first round (both slide release and slingshot method).
The other mag started to have failures to feed in the middle of the magazine.
I’m going to give the gun a really good cleaning, but I also read online it’s common for cheap 1911s to come in with too tight of extractors. Any thoughts?
I think my first steps will be good cleaning and trying some different mags.
I found this video on adjusting the extractor though.
Interesting,
I wonder how long the tension would last once adjusted? It seems like something simple to do and you do not have to be an expert to do it yourself.
@Scoutbob , I bought a cheap Springfield EMP 1911 a couple years ago that had a similar problem. I returned it to Springfield under warranty. They recut and polished the feed ramp (turning a fully supported chamber into an unsupported one), returned it and said it was good, it was not!
I watched many videos including the one you embedded and initially adjusted the extractor looser. The problem got worse. I then gradually tighened and tested it until it never misfed. I don’t keep up with round counts like apparently many do, but I will say it has 1,000s of rounds with no misfeeds nor additional extractor adjustment.
The misfeed the Springfield was experiencing was a nose dive straight into the feed ramp. It occured with multiple brands and designs of hollow-points. It never had a hic-up with FMJ except when I loosened the tension.
BTW, with a retail price near $1,200, I did not consider it a cheap 1911, but did expect more satisfaction from the manufacturer.
Edit: I should have noted the 1,000s of rounds include at least 3, maybe 4 different hollow point designs, Barnes TAC-XPD, Sig V-Crown, Hornady Critical Defense for sure, but I think Critical Duty as well.
I would start with good maintenance and polishing feed ramp.
If you have access to other magazines, check how do they work.
Extractor would be last on my list in finding the cause of that issue.
Cheap 1911 doesn’t mean not good by default.
However cheap magazine might be a problem.
One of the magazines was a METGAR mag and those are usually decent from what I understand. I didn’t have a Wilson combat on hand though. I agree. I’ll give it a good cleaning and look into polishing the feed ramp and try a few different mags before I bend things. It might be worth contacting Tisas if the cleaning doesn’t fix it because it is unacceptable to have a new gun not function.
I figure it could have not been cleaned as well as it needed too being fresh out of the box with all of that storage lube.
With 1911 mags you never know… it’s usually a lottery.
I have STI/Staccato 1911 mags - they are known from not great functionality, but mine work great.
My RIA magazines required feed lips adjustment after first few rounds.
Check spring tension and follower if they run smooth in magazine’s tube.
Be sure the pistol doesn’t run on factory lube/grease. This one is mostly for rust protection.
They say, feed ramp doesn’t need to be super clean… but to be honest I do mirror like surface on every feed ramp in my firearms and that procedure mostly fixes feeding problems.
Sometimes it might be both - mag and feed ramp.
With weak spring tension or bad follower or bad mag design, the bullet might run on feed ramp under wrong angle and stuck there. So it may happen that slicked ramp after polishing or good magazine with proper feeding angle will help.
Start with the part which is easier to be corrected.
With a brand new gun, a bit of gunk or a tiny burr might be almost anywhere to slow or misalign things until ground away. Especially if all the obvious polish surfaces are in good shape. I don’t see enough new guns to be a highly qualified advisor, but I would shoot a bunch, mess with the easy stuff, and apply liberal patience before chasing after the obscure causes.
I have also perceived feed issues (fail to chamber) that I associate with some current defensive bullet shapes — way big open hollow points which seem to shorten the COAL too much, and bullet profiles that are more conical than curved seem to bounce off the ramp or hood a funny way. I wouldn’t expect to see that with FMJ or across a variety of conventional JHP shapes
I cleaned the gun, and played with some dummy rounds on the extractor. The extractor was very tight. I had to push really hard to get the dummy round to lock in. So I did loosen the extractor like the Wilson combat video I originally posted. It is now cycling the snap caps.
I think it should be fixed, though I wouldn’t trust my life with the gun, but we’ll see if it cycles consistently on the next range trip.
Loosening the extracor a bit fixed the 1911. I only ran 25 rounds (my friend can do the rest of the testing ). My friend Hasn’t shot a lot of handguns so the jamming of the gun was scary to him. Hopefully with the looser extractor he’ll be good to go! Gotta save the rest of my 45 for my own gats.
Mine (9mm) came with two meggar mags. Both worked great with 115 grain FMJ, but would FTF with 124 Grain SigSauer Elite Defense JHP.
So I tried adjusting the extractor which was way too tight. So tight that it could not be removed as it would catch on the edge of the extractor hole (had to compress the extractor finger back and push it down the hole with a punch).
I just returned from the range running 100+ 115 grain FMJ without a problem. Tried the 124 grain JHP and a full 9 round meggar mag. Same issue, the JHP would end up kind of nose down and would not feed.
I did not try with a lesser number of rounds, but in prior testing 5 or less JHP worked. But at 6 or more the same situation occurs whith the JHP kind or nose down and jamed.
Now on to the meggar mags, they like other mags I have looked at have a small metallic bump (rivet head?) where it appears the top of the spring is connected to the metal ramp that the cartridge lays on. I filed that filing that flatter and it helps slightly, but FTF will still occurs with JHP. In playing with these meggar mags I can see as the mag gets full the position of the top round gets pushed a bit forward and nose down. This dot/bump is closer to the back end of the mag than seen in photos of Wilson Combat or Chip McCormic mags.
**So can anyone post a list of mags that they have used with JHP and what JPH they are using? ** For target practice I feel that I can truse the meggar mags. But not for personal defense.
I must say that I really do like the Tisas 9mm 1911 though. Got the laser lined up and at least in good light the standard sights are accurate (have fired at 15 and 30 yards) with the 115 grain FMJ (variouis brands including reloads).
My 2 cents worth is the extractor was originally too loose. I went thru the same exercise with my 9mm 1911. I had read the “experts” advise all over the internet that the extractor was too tight, so I loosened it up and had the same results you did. I bent it and made it tighter than it ever was before, and it has been working perfect for many years now. It is so tight now I have to push it over with a punch to get it out. Give it a try - it’s not working correctly now
Edit: Just realized I typed the same thing on this same thread 9 months ago:
Actually loosing up the extractor has not caused the hun to stop working. It is easier to get the extractor out now if I want to tighten it, but don’t see a need.
Rans around 150 115 grain fmj without an issue after loosing the extractor. But the change did not alter the FTF for the jhp rounds.
Pretty sure the issue is the mag design, which causes the jhp to go in a bit nose down and cause the failue.
The rivit that connects the metal ramp to the spring us set towards the back of the mag, cauing some to nose duve. This seems tp happen with more than five rounds in the mag, so sping pressure is also involved.
@Donald142 , 1911 mags, especially from low end manufacturers get tendency to keep the round’s nose flat what in some situations (like HP projectiles) ends with failure-to-feed.
You can try to play with follower, if it’s metal one, or use mags which are already verified to fix that problem, like Ed Browns 1911 Performance Magazines.
). My friend Hasn’t shot a lot of handguns so the jamming of the gun was scary to him. Hopefully with the looser extractor he’ll be good to go! Gotta save the rest of my 45 for my own gats.