I have the original version of the 911, got it the first year they came out back in 2018, six years ago right about now.
Mine had an initial break-in period of about 300 rounds. My biggest problem was failure to completely go into battery after not that many rounds. Sometimes it would “almost” go into battery, just enough so that the trigger was allowed to trip the hammer, but because it wasn’t fully in battery, I would then get a light primer strike.
I was at my local indoor range and described my issues to one of the guys who ran the range. He asked me what I was cleaning it with; I replied solvent for the bore and CLP for everything else. He said that was my mistake. He advised me to use Birchwood Casey “Gun Scrubber” on the slide instead of CLP, because he said that those oil-based cleaners gum up the works in a pistol like the 911 with its very tight mechanical tolerances.
So, I took his advice. The only place I now use CLP on the slide is on the grooves that interface with the rails on the frame, and a very light coat on the center rear part of the slide along which the top of the hammer drags while cycling. Otherwise I just clean up the slide with Gun Scrubber, using a plastic gun cleaning brush, Q-tips, and patches.
Using Gun Scrubber on the slide in place of CLP solved my problems. After that, I have put somewhere around 2000 rounds on that pistol, and I virtually never have a malfunction of any kind that is not due to bad ammo (e.g., a dud primer). I clean it every 100 rounds as it’s tight construction requires that, but as long as I maintain that maintenance protocol, it is extremely reliable. Just last week I put 100 rounds through it at the range, once again with no issues. Over the years I’ve fed it Winchester White Box FNFMJs, Browning FNFMJs, Federal FMJs, Norma FMJs, Winchester JHPs, Federal JHPs, and Precision One JHPs…all without any problems.
It’s a shame the 911 was discontinued, as I consider it among the very best .380 carry guns ever made. I’m glad I got mine new when it was available as such.
I think it was discontinued not because it was a bad product, but for two other reasons.
First, the all metal “shrunken 1911”-style .380 is hardly produced by anyone anymore. Colt discontinued the Pocketlite, and if I’m not mistaken, I think Sig discontinued the P238 as well. It’s a great concept but with the more modern micro nines and .380s out there, people just don’t seem to be interested in this type of pistol anymore. Perhaps it just seems archaic to a lot of people, such that it doesn’t make business sense to keep it in production just from the point of view of current market trends.
Second, there were a number of YouTube videos highlighting the reliability issues with the 911, and I’m sure that didn’t help with sales. Along with this, I think the core problem here, that likely explained what these YouTubers were experiencing, was that, like me at first, they didn’t know how to clean their 911s properly. It’s a terrific little pistol if you know how to take care of it, but if you don’t…
The one the OP has might be a lemon, and it might need some work. I would hope and expect that Springfield Armory customer support can make it right. I really like mine, and I say it’s worth a try.
