New Springfield Loaded

[Philmo11]

Ok, so this is the 4th Springfield Loaded I bought this year.

The 1st was a CA compliant model which is at auction now. It needed a sight replacement (which Springfield did) but shot beautifully.

The 2nd is currently in my collection. Needed the engraving sanded down where the disconnector rides on the bottom of the slide. It ran great after that. Up to this point, shot the tightest 10 yard groups.

The 3rd I bought used, it never left the FFL and is currently being auctioned off. The seller intentionally took pictures that avoided showing slide damage. I could have fixed it but wasn’t up for it.

So here we are with #4. I got this thing home, racked the slide a few times to check for function. It was pretty tight fit. (Tighter than #2 above, and that one was pretty tight.) Then I sprayed some oil on the rails and was going to sit here and manually work the slide a bit before I completely tore it down for a cleaning. Nope! I racked it about 3 times then it locked up hard. Had to beat the damn slide off with the plastic end of a 1/2" ratchet. Went to rack it again, same deal. Nothing was bound. I disassembled everything I could while it was stuck, bushing, guide rod, recoil spring, barrel was free. Safety was moving what little it could. grip safety appeared to be engaging. Only thing left is that the slide rails froze up. I beat it off again. Feeling a little glad I ordered the lapping compound when I did.

Only thing I could think of is that the slide fitment is just that tight. You can see inside the rail grooves where it scraped in on both sides.

I did lap the rails with 220, 320 then 600 grit lapping compound. Ran 1 mag and they ran fine but the slide didn’t lock back.

Loaded that same mag again and it locked back the second time. Seems to be ok at the moment. Still feels like it couldn’t hurt to do another pass but at this point, I’m going to see how she runs.

Setup just like my other one.

 

[Recusant]

Should you really have to do all that with a new gun? Do you think it would cycle better after several hundred rounds?

 

[Philmo11]

Should you really have to do all that with a new gun? Do you think it would cycle better after several hundred rounds?

Wasn't that long ago I saw a video of a guy who had the same issue with a Dan Wesson. Seemed fine, put some oil on it, fired the first shot and seized the slide up. He took it to a local gunsmith and had them free the slide, repeated the process with the same result. I'd just like to avoid that if possible. If it seizes by hand, chances are, it'll seize much worse with powder behind it. I had to work it back and forth several times with 220 grit compound before it would go a full cycle without binding. I believe its at the point where normal breakin could take place. This is the first time I have personally had a slide seize like that.

 

[Recusant]

Be careful and don't void your warrenty. Perhaps you should call Springfield and see if they have any ideas. If nothing else they should take it back for repair. Makes me wonder how it did when it was test fired before leaving the factory.

 

[Annihilator]

You do know all 1911’s need broken in, none are 100%, what your referring to will likely disappear after 300-500 rounds, plus now since you did what you have done, you just might have voided your warranty. I have over 30+ years with all brands of 1911’s and have never seen all those issues you seem to be having, go out shoot them.

 

[Philmo11]

You do know all 1911’s need broken in, none are 100%, what your referring to will likely disappear after 300-500 rounds, plus now since you did what you have done, you just might have voided your warranty. I have over 30+ years with all brands of 1911’s and have never seen all those issues you seem to be having, go out shoot them.

Getting to 300 rounds with a seized up slide would be a bit difficult. As for the issues I’ve had, I’ve been pretty transparent, pictures, videos and pretty detailed descriptions… I’ve never had this much of a problem either, but it exists regardless of whether you have trouble accepting it or not. If you can point me to something that was handled or assessed incorrectly, speak up.

 

[Annihilator]

Well, not going to get into any disagreement here, the one thing I will mention was when you said the bottom of the slide where the disconnector rides needed sanded, no it didn’t, there was no way that those numbers could ever cause enough drag to slow down the cycle rate, I have several 1911’s with the same numbers in that place and nothing happened, like I said, shoot the guns and let it break in, also do you ever look over or check the gun before you buy it, just asking, there is no disrespect towards you, it just seems strange every 1911 you get something is wrong with it.

FYI.....you really shouldn't show your guns serial number in pics you post

 

[Philmo11]

Well, not going to get into any disagreement here, the one thing I will mention was when you said the bottom of the slide where the disconnector rides needed sanded, no it didn’t, there was no way that those numbers could ever cause enough drag to slow down the cycle rate, I have several 1911’s with the same numbers in that place and nothing happened, like I said, shoot the guns and let it break in, also do you ever look over or check the gun before you buy it, just asking, there is no disrespect towards you, it just seems strange every 1911 you get something is wrong with it.

Well, 3 out of 7 failures to chamber and 1 failure to eject reduced to zero failures sanding that spot smooth. The 9mm went from 100% failure to chamber in the first two mags to 1 per mag sanding that one spot. You may disagree but the evidence shows otherwise. Now I have a couple of Springfield 1911s that didn’t need that done. That one did.

With respect to looking guns over before buying, that’s difficult to do when purchasing a gun from online.

 

[Keystone19250]

Well, not going to get into any disagreement here, the one thing I will mention was when you said the bottom of the slide where the disconnector rides needed sanded, no it didn’t, there was no way that those numbers could ever cause enough drag to slow down the cycle rate, I have several 1911’s with the same numbers in that place and nothing happened, like I said, shoot the guns and let it break in, also do you ever look over or check the gun before you buy it, just asking, there is no disrespect towards you, it just seems strange every 1911 you get something is wrong with it.

FYI.....you really shouldn't show your guns serial number in pics you post

As a teenager just starting to drive I was always doing something to my cars to make them look better, one day a neighbor stopped by and we got to talking while I was cleaning the air filter housing to paint it. He asked me if I thought what I was doing would make the car run better? I said probably not but it would look better. His comment was save your money and time and drive your car.

In this situation I have no dog in the fight as I have NEVER had the multitude of issue reported here with so many guns, in fact all my handguns have run flawlessly right out of box. Including the 1911’s I purchased.
Something comes to mind someone said awhile back on the forum.

Stop looking for issues and run your gun.

 

[Annihilator]

Well, 3 out of 7 failures to chamber and 1 failure to eject reduced to zero failures sanding that spot smooth. The 9mm went from 100% failure to chamber in the first two mags to 1 per mag sanding that one spot. You may disagree but the evidence shows otherwise. Now I have a couple of Springfield 1911s that didn’t need that done. That one did.

With respect to looking guns over before buying, that’s difficult to do when purchasing a gun from online.

Ok, I never buy guns online, if I can't see it handle it I don't buy, plus my dealer is 1 of 11 shops and can get anything that you can get online, and they match the prices. Ok, I am leaving this discussion and I won't reply or bother any of your threads.

 

[Philmo11]

As a teenager just starting to drive I was always doing something to my cars to make them look better, one day a neighbor stopped by and we got to talking while I was cleaning the air filter housing to paint it. He asked me if I thought what I was doing would make the car run better? I said probably not but it would look better. His comment was save your money and time and drive your car.

In this situation I have no dog in the fight as I have NEVER had the multitude of issue reported here with so many guns, in fact all my handguns have run flawlessly right out of box. Including the 1911’s I purchased.
Something comes to mind someone said awhile back on the forum.

Stop looking for issues and run your gun.

Let me level set here. Jan 2019 I started keeping track of new gun purchases in a spreadsheet for my insurance company. I have 73 guns in my inventory sheet, those are in the vault. About 10 that aren't in there yet (recent purchases in the last couple weeks). 23 currently at auction and at over 40 that have already been sold. That's how many guns I have purchase in the last 3.5 years. Can you guess how many of those (apart from the recent 1911 issues) I have had to send back to the manufacturer? 2. There was 1 that I kept in my possession and had a new guide rod sent to me because it came mangled from the factory. So out of nearly 150 guns I have bought in the last 3.5 years, 2 needed to be returned for service. The rest ran fine, including several 1911s that I sold last year.

If a gun is running like crap, you take 1 action on it and it solves the problem, would you consider that the solution? I generally don't do much of anything to my guns unless there is something glaringly obvious, but if it is obvious and I can easily fix it, why is that a problem?

I give zero cares if what I have posted about these issues hurts anyone's feelings. I have plenty enough experience with guns to tell if something is wrong with it. I don't need anyone's blessing to tell me if what I did fixed a problem if it actually fixed the problem. The entire concept of that as asinine. If a course of action solved the problem then obviously, there was a problem.

 

[Philmo11]

Ok, I never buy guns online, if I can't see it handle it I don't buy, plus my dealer is 1 of 11 shops and can get anything that you can get online, and they match the prices. Ok, I am leaving this discussion and I won't reply or bother any of your threads.

Don't be dramatic. I'm not angry with you. I would buy them locally, some I do. Unfortunately, most big box stores have trigger locks on that you can't really do much inspection with it there. I have put in orders on some that my small shops don't carry, unfortunately, I end up on a list indefinitely. If I want it, I have to order it or buy it at auction if supply is rare.

 

[Philmo11]

For anyone who is actually interested in how the gun is performing now, it has exactly 100 rounds put through it without any failures to feed or eject. The slide also has not seized up since I lapped the slide rails. I will accuracy test it another day. At this point, its working perfectly.

 

[Keystone19250]

Let me level set here. Jan 2019 I started keeping track of new gun purchases in a spreadsheet for my insurance company. I have 73 guns in my inventory sheet, those are in the vault. About 10 that aren't in there yet (recent purchases in the last couple weeks). 23 currently at auction and at over 40 that have already been sold. That's how many guns I have purchase in the last 3.5 years. Can you guess how many of those (apart from the recent 1911 issues) I have had to send back to the manufacturer? 2. There was 1 that I kept in my possession and had a new guide rod sent to me because it came mangled from the factory. So out of nearly 150 guns I have bought in the last 3.5 years, 2 needed to be returned for service. The rest ran fine, including several 1911s that I sold last year.

If a gun is running like crap, you take 1 action on it and it solves the problem, would you consider that the solution? I generally don't do much of anything to my guns unless there is something glaringly obvious, but if it is obvious and I can easily fix it, why is that a problem?

I give zero cares if what I have posted about these issues hurts anyone's feelings. I have plenty enough experience with guns to tell if something is wrong with it. I don't need anyone's blessing to tell me if what I did fixed a problem if it actually fixed the problem. The entire concept of that as asinine. If a course of action solved the problem then obviously, there was a problem.

You didn’t hurt my feelings one bit.

 

[Philmo11]

You didn’t hurt my feelings one bit.

I actually enjoy the conversation. Look, what I am seeing is QC across the board. Its a lot of manufacturers, not just one. Guns are being manufactured and shoved out the door on a level that we have never seen before. I have no quarrel with Springfield. They don't ever argue and it always comes back running great. After calling and emailing them 4 times, I had to threaten TriStar before they would even answer me back about the rusty slide on the new 9mm. There is a stark difference in how companies handle those QC issues.

BTW, I had 3 that went back to the manufacturer, 1 savage rifle, 1 SCCY CPX2 and one Springfield 911 (this is the one I forgot and the only one of the 3 that came back running right).

 

[Annihilator]

The SCCY’s yea, never cared for them, to cheaply made, and there was lots of issues with the SA911, plus no feelings were hurt here, takes a hell of a lot more then what we posted to do that, I just don’t like confrontations with other members, it’s not good for the forum

 

[Philmo11]

The SCCY’s yea, never cared for them, to cheaply made, and there was lots of issues with the SA911, plus no feelings were hurt here, takes a hell of a lot more then what we posted to do that, I just don’t like confrontations with other members, it’s not good for the forum

Good to hear my friend. I appreciate that you are skeptical. At least you aren't a sheep. Customer service explained they had a lot of problems with the 911. My mind set on the issue is, if I or anyone else for that matter, sends one in and it comes back running great, why don't they adjust the manufacturing process to handle the problem when its made rather than doing away with it?

The SCCY, that was my wife's fault. had to have the purple gun. Against my better judgement, I bought it for her. Bad deal. Wouldn't chamber a number of ammo. Called customer service who said we know what the problem is, we already have a fix. It came back and maybe 50rds later, one of the two frame pins that hold the metal frame in the polymer frame walked about half way out. Happened while filming an update to the initial video. I called them, they said the exact same thing, "We know about the problem, we have a fix already." If you know that there is a big enough problem with your frame pins walking out that you already have a known fix, why has a recall never been issued? I was done with SCCY after that. I sent it back to them. We I got it back I sold it to an army soldier. I explained the whole ordeal, he wanted it anyway.

 

[Bassbob]

I don't know man, from what I've seen of Phil's posts I don't think the dude needs much advice when it comes to detail work on 1911s. I'd let him work on mine.