Oh No! My new Remington R1 is having problems...

M

mellow_c

New member
So I'm just going to guess that this is a magazine issue, but I don't know for sure, so I thought I'd ask for help...

As some of you know, I just bought 2 Remington R1 1911's, on is the standard black, the other is Stainless.

The first time out I shot about 50 rounds through each, using all 4 factory mags and 2 Cobra mags... no problems.

Today I took the black one out and it did fine initially. Then about halfway through I had what would be called a double feed I guess. I had one live round loose on top of the still loaded magazine and less than half way into the chamber with another live round under it and the slide trying to feed the bottom round, but the bottom round got jammed into the feed ramp. That's about as well as I can describe it.

I had the same problem at least 2 more times with that magazine, and again with the other magazine (I just brought the 2 factory mags that came with the gun) Then I had another malfunction where the slide locked back with the last live round about to feed into the chamber, but it was loose, and the slide was being held open by the magazine.

I shot a total of about 140 rounds.

Another guy shot it, but that was before I had any problems with it, and it had a problem for him, but I didn't get to see what the problem was before he cleared it.

So what does this sound like? Should I be calling Remington to ask for some replacement magazines? Or could it be something else.

I will be doing my own testing... These two questionable magazines in the stainless gun, the stainless guns two magazines in the black gun, Cobra mags in both guns, so on and so forth to see if I can trace the problems to a magazine, but It might be another 500 rounds and lots of magazines before I could be sure. That's why I thought I'd just ask here and see if anyone could say with confidence what they think the problem might be.

Thanks in advance everyone. :)

P.S. I was shooting Aguila 230gr FMJ and Federal 230gr FMJ... 50 rounds of Aguila, 90 of the federal. I'd say 3 of the malfunctions occurred with the Aguila and 2 of them with the Federal. I wouldn't bet on it being an ammo issue
 
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One more thing if anyone cares to know.

I adjusted the rear sight on the black one, it's dead center now and holding fine... However it shoots about 3-4 inches low at 25 yards, but I can live with that. Just one of those pistols where you cover the target with the front post rather than put the target on top of the post.

Also, on a happier note, I got to shoot a Desert Eagle .357 Mag and an HK VP9 while at the range today, nice guns. I can see why everyone is so excited about the VP9! The Desert Eagle was a breeze to shoot, the recoil was almost too soft, I think I could see it becoming boring maybe:confused:, that gun was certainly made for the 50 AE!:D
 
I am inclined to think ammo, not magazines. What ammo were you using for the first session when you had no problems?

Do you have any other 1911 type pistols that you know are reliable to compare against?

Last, could you be "limp wristing? That can cause some of the problems you describe.

Jim
 
The first session was the same Federal ammo. I'm almost sure 1 or 2 of the failures was with the federal ammo, and another 3 with the Agulia ammo.

I attempted to limp wrist the gun after the other fellow shot it and had a malfunction (he seemed a bit inexperienced) and I had no problems... I tried holding it loosely with one and two hands for about 5 shots with no issues.

Otherwise I had a good solid grip on the gun during my malfunctions, I was actually pretty happy with my ability to keep some fine groups while maintaining minimal muzzle rise. (just good grip and geometry, no anticipation or compensation)

Out of all my 1911's my Sig has been the most reliable, working with all magazines and all ammo so far. I wish I could say that about my Dan Wesson Valor, my Dan Wesson will occasionally send rounds straight into the feed ramp where they jam up in a parallel position to the slide with certain magazines.

I hate to say this, but I'm kind of getting used to running into problems with 1911's. I hope to have all mine working reliably with the ability to share magazines at some point... even if I have to buy a bunch more mags for all of them to share and then leave the rest for the Sig:)
 
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ok,those MecGar magazines are not very good to begin with.You will notice that step in the follower,once the round is past that drop down it is unsupported and
anything goes after that.What that means is that those magazines either work in your pistol or they cause stoppages.
Next,take a close look at your extractor first check the tension and fix that if it's
not right,then look in the plunger recess for signs of damage,there's a step in it
that locks the plunger in place,if you see any chipping there get a new one.
Your pistol's fine.
 
I'm kind of getting used to running into problems with 1911's.
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do you have any 1911's that just work, without issues?

Don't mix and match until you know that everything is working properly.

What is common with all of the 1911's with issues?

I have 4 1911's and they all work great. Each one has its own set of mags that stay with that pistol. I only have 2 constants with all of them. I make the cartridges the same for all pistols (1st constant). I use and clean all four of them (2nd constant).
 
More years ago than I like to remember, I decided that the only really reliable magazines for the 1911 were WWII GI magazines, made to rigid specs and with Army inspectors sitting on the makers' fannies 24/7. I started buying them up. Even ones that were used, blue worn off, or even a bit rusty, never failed with GI Spec ammo or even with bullets that had the same approximate shape.

I tried other kinds, even some highly praised, and costly, brands. Most were OK but none gave the reliability those old GI mags did. Of course, they hold only 7 rounds. And anyone trying to buy WWII GI mags can still find them at reasonable prices IF he knows what he is looking at; there are fakes out there that claim to be "GI surplus" or the like that are Army reject junk. (WWII mags have no CAGE code or stock number on the floorplate.)

Jim
 
Personally, my key strokes or phone call would be to Remington prior to communications to any other source. :confused:

I have owned my R1 since Dec. 2011 with nary a complaint.
 
I hate to say this, but I'm kind of getting used to running into problems with 1911's.
Click to expand...

I've never had a single failure with my Colt Government XSE after several thousand rounds of a wide variety of ammo.

I run Colt 8-rounders and Chip McCormick Power Mags.
 
I have owned a stainless R1 for 3 years and have never had a single malfunction. Its magazines are shaped slightly different than Colt magazines--holding the bullet slightly longer (a few thousands of an inch) before it "jumps" in the chamber. That said, I have 2 Colt magazines reserved for the R1 that work perfect in it also.

It is difficult to determine the cause of your problem with all the variables. I suggest you go to the range next time and shoot only one brand of factory FMJ ammo and use only one of the factory mags that came with the gun. Shoot that combination 100-200 rounds. Keep a written record on how many rounds you get through it and at what round(s) stoppages occur, assuming they do occur. If you have stoppages, then contact Remington and talk with a service rep. He will likely ask for the gun, magazine and your records.

Gene Pool
 
polyphemus mentioned this but it's important to repeat that the 7-round magazines that come with the 1911R1 are rebadged Mec-Gars. Normally Mec-Gar magazines are excellent and many pistols come with rebadged Mec-Gars that work great.

But some Mec-Gars for the 1911 have problems - which can carry over to the R1 factory mags. It's hard to harshly fault Remington, they didn't go with a cheap supplier but too bad they didn't go with CheckMate that really knows the 1911 and makes an inexpensive reliable magazine that Colt and Springfield rebadge as their own.

I'd quit using the factory mags for now and test your new R1s with high quality aftermarket mags. I don't think the guns are at fault. I've been using CheckMates in my new R1 with excellent results. I have one Mec-Gar that gave me trouble in my Colt so was sorry to see the two Mec-Gars that came with the R1.
 
Pics would help but. Does your malfunction look like this?

BOB.jpg


Most of the time over 90% IMHO failure to feed problems are mag related. If it looks like the picture you have a bolt over base misfeed.

This often caused by a weak mag spring. It most often happens on the last round of a mag because the spring it at its weakest point there.

My understanding is that the slide outruns the magazine, and catches the case in the extractor groove instead of at the rear of the rim.

Get new mags or get new heavier mag springs like the 11lbs from Wolff.
 
WV,99% is a heavy burden for those poor devices to bear,let them share some
with the extractor.I agree for sure but a replacement spring may not even fit,
this is why: the follower configuration does not allow a full size coil,MecGar gets around this by having a dual OD spring.
Which brings us to the apparent fact that MecGar has a one design fits all magazines,the only difference is the outside dimensions.Now what works well
for other calibers and capacities does not necessarily work for .45auto in 1911's
this magazines' springs and followers don't even resemble what a 1911 mag.'s
should look like,the guide lips release too early,and the last round flies in the
air on its way to the ramp.That it works in many pistols is a wonder then again
the manufacturer is taking into account a great many combinations of cartridge and bullet configs.OP has good advice above about replacement mags and Remington will ship you an extractor pretty quick I offered to send them mine
so they could see it but it seemed that they already knew so they politely declined.
 
I think what you are experiencing is called a "inertia feed" (see attachment)

This is where the force of the slide in recoil will cause the next round to jump out of the magazine and then when the slide closes it will try and chamber the top round in the magazine with the loose round sitting on top of it.

This is usually caused by hot ammo/heavy recoil, too weak recoil spring or too weak magazine spring.

I would say if the gun is new and the recoil spring is good I would try new magazines or magazine springs.

Kurt
 

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mellow c said:
So what does this sound like? Should I be calling Remington to ask for some replacement magazines? Or could it be something else.
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It sounds like a magazine problem to me.

But you don't get to call the manufacturer and dictate to them what you want. What you want is for your new firearm to function reliably. You describe the problem(s) to the manufacturer, and they will decide if they want to send you a replacement magazine or if they want you to send the gun in so they can check it over.
 
I think what is happening is exactly what expendable described, it's the only thing I can imagine would be happening. Maybe the MecGar magazines are part of the problem if they are not holding the rounds securely enough.

I've included a picture I took of the actual malfunction in this post. A live round out of the magazine with the slide trying to feed the next round in the magazine up into the chamber but then jamming on the round above it.

polyphemus... yeah, that was a typo, I meant 230gr.

Aguila Blanca... yes you are correct. Please forgive my overzealous statement... I already know that to be the case, as I have had to send many firearms back to the manufacture for repair.

It's going to be a little bit before I can shoot it again. Next time I'll take both R1's, the 4 magazines that came with them, more of my Cobra mags and some other various 1911 magazines, with a bunch of ammo of course... maybe even some gloves since I ended up experiencing some hammer bite this last time out.

Hopefully after that I'll be able to trace the problem to the factory magazines, then I'll call Remington to see what they think and if they would like to take some action. I'll also inspect the gun before hand to make sure everything else looks good. If I end up with problems using more than just the factory mags I'll note it and again be in contact with Remington.

I'm going to bet it's a magazine issue, but as some of you have said, it could be something else, even a week recoil spring (despite being brand new) resulting in a more violent recoil which could be shocking the next round out of the magazine prematurely. I was using standard pressure 230gr fmj factory brass cased ammo.

Also just so everyone knows... Remington says +P ammo should not be used in the R1.
 

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Hate to say it because I don't believe a pistol should need breaking in nor do I see how it helps.....BUT

The first 1911 I bought 6 or 7 yrs ago was a Sig, it initially had some feeding issues, came and asked questions just like you are doing, and just like you I got enough answers to become confusing.

Kept shooting it, around 400 rounds the feed issue disappeared and now for the past 1500 rounds it has been completely problem free, something, I have no clue what worked itself out....

Now the gun shoots stock mags and Wilson mags 100%... Any hard ball ammo I've tried and the 3 different defense loads Ive tried have all been 100%...

Best of luck, hope you figure it out or it sorts itself out
 
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