I decided to take the RIA M1911A1 out for a 50 round cowboy shoot since I was headed out to the range to test fire the CETME .308. First, I started slow with 6 rounds at a time, concentrating on center mass. After a couple magazines, I had to get a little trigger happy. All shots remained on paper. I am running a blued compensator on the .45, and whether or not it functions well remains to be decided. After I left a few holes, I decided to group 12 rounds as best I can into the head. Midway through I had a malfunction. Now, I loaded all these rounds myself. They are 200 gr. cowboys with once fired Win brass, and they are perfectly sized. I even reformed and polished my feed ramp. The problem today was...something mysterious with the trigger assembly. After I disassembled it, I tried to work the trigger, but it kept locking up. I applied a liberal amount of Hoppe's gun oil and it mysteriously remained locked up. While I had it in my hand collecting brass, I began to squeeze the trigger and it worked. The trigger assy started working like a charm again. I still have no idea. I fired the rest of my rounds with no problems whatsoever. The gun fired a little high and to the left, to the left for me. Haha, it was irresistible. Anyway, the pictures I am attaching are the target and the bullet tray, which is taken after I was done shooting, tyvm,
SWEET, nice pictures. On the trigger assembly: any chance a small curl of brass from a resize could have wedged itself in there? Other than that looking good! Oh and did you cast those lead bullets yourself?
Yeah, it must have been some debris...it's funny because the day before, I took it out and did this same test and it performed perfectly. I cleaned it thoroughly, and just jammed up. Quite frustrating. Anyway, no I don't cast my own lead yet. I get these for a great deal locally, priced at about $35 - $40 per box of 500. Brass is free pretty much, or close to it. Primers don't cost much at all. It's just a bit of powder left to factor in. Good range loads. I picked up a few hundred 9mm luger brass and a bit of .223 while at range, too.
Lucky you. All of our local ranges "own" any brass that hits the ground. Brass catcher is the order of the day. There is a company that is now out of business that sold lead alloy bullets, and some of their product is still floating about. I may grab a few boxes unless I can find another source, or start casting my own.
Widener's has some very good lead bullets , Brinell is around 11-14 on the ones I tested for the .45. Widener's Reloading and Shooting Supply INC
Thanks for the range report. The RIA I had performed flawlessly. Not sure why the assembly locked up, unless as previously said there was something jammed in it. Great pics.
That would suck. I have never broken down a trigger assembly on a 1911 before. I see the mechanics of it going through the mag well to the trigger, and that kind of bothers me because the night prior I had re-polished the feed ramp. Perhaps I had left some residue where it shouldn't have been. If it's the sear spring, that bothers me.
The flat spring can get tweaked, but it operates about three different functions. Usually gets off-kilter on reassembly if not being careful. I'd think trash in the boiler room. A shooting buddy has an RIA .45 M1911A1, and loves it. He went through two Llamas and a SA, which all either failed or could not shoot a group - the RIA is far superior - it WORKS and is accurate. Sometimes, 'cheaper' is better!
