1911 frame problem?

[Joe Portale]

Hi,

My buddy picked up a used Colt 1911A1 last week. He brought it to me to look at because he said it pulls to the left, even from a benchrest position. He is new to the shooting game and knows less that I do and that is scary. I took it to a range to see what it is doing. The gun does hit left even after the sites were adjusted. I also found that every once in a while (I put 150 rounds through it) there was some hammer follow. About once every fifty rounds. Looking along the left side of the slide, where the frame and slide meet I can see rub marks. I can't see if or where the channel is rubbing. But the slide definitly is closer to the left side of the frame than the other.

I suggested that he take it to a gunsmith and see if the slide can be fitted better. The gun is not too tight or loose but the slide does lean.

Was I wrong in my guess? Any other ideas now that my curiousity is up.

Thanks.

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Joe Portale
Sonoran Sidewinder
Tucson, Arizona territory

 

[George Stringer]

Joe, I think first he needs to have the hammer follow problem addressed by a gunsmith. As to the slide, it seems to me that if that were going to affect the impact of the round and the slide was bearing more on the left side that it would push the round to the right. I did a little experiment for a customer a couple of weeks ago. His pistol was shooting high. To illustrate what I was telling him about the differences a properly fitted bushing will have on the point of impact I used four different bushing in his pistol and had four distinct groups in different areas of the target. There was his original bushing that grouped 6" high at one o'clock and with the other three there were groups 6" high at 11, 1/2" low at 9 and 3" low at 7. The bushing is what I would look at. I installed a fitted bushing for him and when we got the front sight height right he was getting 1" groups dead center. George