Guess what....I have a question

[Target1911]

I got a Springfield Champion for the SO. Went to the range today and shot it for the first time. She didnt have any problems till she got to some of my lighter reloads.....230LRN....3.5gr Titegroup ( yes I was wanting a light load). Those were a little to light for my 5" kimber so I bumped them back up to 3.9gr and never finished the others.
Shooting the light loads she had several failure to eject. I thought that maybe she was limp wristing some so I shot a few and still had the same problems. Could this be due to just a weak load or maybe to heavy of recoil spring? I would like to shave off a couple of pounds on the recoil spring anyway but wanted to know what was causing the problem before I did anything.

[frankie_the_yankee]

Sounds like the load was too light. Of course, if you install a lighter spring it will compensate for that somewhat. With a little trial and error you can probably find a spring that will work with your load.

But you will have to make sure to switch back to a "normal" spring if you want to shoot normal full power loads through it. Otherwise, you'll be battering the slide and frame and wear out the gun real quick.

If you intend to use the gun as a carry piece or for home defense, my advise would be to load it with a "name" hollowpoint round using a 185 gr bullet. The recoil will be a lot less than it is with a 230 gr round.

FWIW, you should also use 185 gr bullets for your reloads too.

I like the Ranier Leadsafe total copper jacket bullets. You can get them from Dillon for $110 for a box of 1000. (Note: No affiliation. Just a customer.) They seem to feed well in my guns (a Colt Commander Gold Cup, a Kimber Classic Royale 5" 1911, and a Para 6.45 LDA) and the gun stays a lot cleaner than it does with lead bullets. And they are not really "copper jacketed" in the normal sense. The copper coating is plated on, and is not nearly as hard or as thick as a copper jacket. FWIW, this means that even indoor ranges with marginal backstops (like a small club might have) that prohibit jacketed rounds will allow these.

[Rugrash]

Is that the short commander size??? I have a SA GI Champion cmdr size 1911 that was giving me feed problems as well. At first I thought it might the ammo. I tried different brands and loads and still had issues...particularly towards the last couple of rounds in the magazine. I was using Wilsons and Chip McCormick mags. I used the same mags and ammo in my full size 1911's without any trouble whatsoever (SA TRP Operator, Kimber Eclipse Custom II and SA Mil-Spec SS). Then someone mentioned the limp wristing to me. Of course I denied it :-) but then realized that I was counting rounds and as I got towards the end of the mag (where the FTF's happend). The slight loosening towards the end of the mag seemed to be the culprit. This coupled with the difference in size and weight between the gov't and cmdr models was enough to cause my FTF's. I even used this pistol for my CHL class and had these issues during the range portion. I was still able to shoot 50/50 though. To this day I do not have any more problems. I have no idea how I started that bad habit of counting rounds...

Hope this helps!

-Rug

[Target1911]

I used it thur night at my IDPA match. It ran great with Wilson, Mec-Gar, and Novac mags. Oh yeah, and I was shooting my normal reloads. Not 1 hiccup. I am thinking,as before, that the problems were my very light reloads.

and Yes, it is the commander length. Due to the fact that I was paying VERY close attention to my grip and had very little muzzle flip, I know that limp- wristing was not the prob. It was my ammo.