1911’s in general, 9mm versions specifically

[huntsman22]

S&W knows how to do external extractors right......

 

[fwafwow]

I got the TT Gunleather for the CS. I also got the RMR HD but haven't installed it yet.

 

[Sponge]

Man, I guess I'm gonna be the Debbie Downer on SW1911's.

I posted about mine a while back and extraction/ejection issues it has. Since then I've been using Cherry Blamz per @RockAndSage recommendation, replaced springs with 23# main and 18.5# recoil, swapped the full length guide rod for GI length.

Still having issues with 230 gr gunshow reloads and Fed American Eagle 230 gr, doing no magazine ejection test, it will puke 6/8 out the bottom of the mag well. All of the above stuff improved the function - but improved it from crushing cases to them dropping out the magwell instead (with no mag inserted). The Federal stuff functions no better than 20 year old gun show ammo, both 800-830 fps.

Interestingly, 200 gr reloads doing 700 fps functioned much better, correctly ejecting 6 or 7 out of 8 with no mag inserted. no idea what that's about.

I'm going to hose off the extractor with carb cleaner, try some +P 230gr stuff, then I think this guy is going to SW to look over.

 

[RockAndSage]

Man, I guess I'm gonna be the Debbie Downer on SW1911's.

I posted about mine a while back and extraction/ejection issues it has. Since then I've been using Cherry Blamz per @RockAndSage recommendation, replaced springs with 23# main and 18.5# recoil, swapped the full length guide rod for GI length.

Still having issues with 230 gr gunshow reloads and Fed American Eagle 230 gr, doing no magazine ejection test, it will puke 6/8 out the bottom of the mag well. All of the above stuff improved the function - but improved it from crushing cases to them dropping out the magwell instead (with no mag inserted). The Federal stuff functions no better than 20 year old gun show ammo, both 800-830 fps.

Interestingly, 200 gr reloads doing 700 fps functioned much better, correctly ejecting 6 or 7 out of 8 with no mag inserted. no idea what that's about.

I'm going to hose off the extractor with carb cleaner, try some +P 230gr stuff, then I think this guy is going to SW to look over.

These are the kinds of situations I like, because of how much you get to learn though going through the diagnostic steps. Very glad to see that the earlier suggestions generally improved overall performance, too.

With this, it's really weird that it seems to want to eject casings in a downward direction. Especially if it's well lubed in all the right places sufficiently - that should have the slide going back fast enough to eject casings very well. Complete conjecture here, but two things come to mind, both of which relate to how the ejector and extractor are interfacing with case rim.

First thing I'd do is pull the extractor, clean its channel, and also inspect the face of the extractor's hook, the part that's actually pulling against the brass. If that somehow got chipped, warped, or worn in a way that isn't a 90-degree vertical flat face perpendicular to the bore axis, it could want to fling things in odd directions.

The second thing would be to examine the face of the ejector, for something similar - if you see an abnormal angle not perpendicular to the bore axis, it could also want to fling a casing in the odd direction. Also, look closely while it's still in the gun, to see if the face is perpendicular as-installed...if it has been bent upwards by a mag being over-inserted, that might alter the geometries enough to cause odd ejection patterns.

The only other thing that comes to mind, would be dropping the recoil spring weight down to the next available weight - that would have the slide's backward velocity increasing a bit, and would help with the diagnostics a bit too.

A lot of this bears similarities to working on cars - diagnostics are far more important and harder to acquire than the ability to swap out parts. That's a major difference between a gunsmith and an armorer, too.

 

[Dobermann]

The new Kimber Next Generation 1911s have external extractors too, and those might be interesting to try.

Lots to think about in your post, and possibly ask questions about on another day.

But in the meantime, I haven't heard anything about these - have only seen the flurry about the 2k11 and Warrior - is there a good source for an overview of these / what have you heard about them?

I narrowly missed out on an S&W Pro 1911 and was curious about the external extractor ... hadn't looked into it yet beyond Sweeney's dismissal ...