The Colt Report #6

Since our last entry on 7/1, I’ve put an additional 838 rounds through #440 as well as making some parts changes and repairs. I fired 425 rounds of Freedom Munitions .45 ACP, 241 rounds of Wilson Combat 200 grain HAP match ammo, and then changed the spring. I’d been running a 15 lb recoil spring, which gave me a good balance of function and muzzle flip, but since the next two matches are all minor PF matches, it was time to go back to the 11 lb spring for ProAm and Steel Challenge.

extractor clean

The spring changed happened during a detail strip and cleaning of the gun. I had noticed when reviewing some video footage that 440 was ejecting erratically. Prior to this ejection had been consistent to the point of being boring. During the detail strip and cleaning, I was able to flake chunks of glop off the extractor claw; a quick check of the tension showed it was fine, so the Wilson Bulletproof extractor went back in the gun. I also changed the firing pin spring, because 5,000 rounds is a good time to do that.

After that, the gun hit the range for a function test and test fire. The 10-8 Performance function test passed with flying colors, and then a general function check of the gun went similarly well. I noticed one magazine was sticking on ejection, so I downchecked that one for further review to see if I could figure out the problem. Here are the current stats for #440:

440 Stats

2 Comments

  1. My 1911 will usually run a couple thousand rounds with fmj without being a cleaning. Recently though I have been loading lead bullets and the extra wax lubricant makes it impossible to go over 300 rounds without cleaning. Mainly the extractor (external) needs to be popped out and thoroughly cleaned. It gets so caked with crap that the gun basically stops ejecting rounds. I do like that all I have to do is replace a spring to adjust extractor tension. Instead of messing with the internal style. I know others disagree with this.

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