Trying to dial in a new Range Officer

As the title says, I'm trying to dial in a new Range Officer 1911 .45 for BE.  The gun has a Marvel Rib and Match Dot II mounted on it.  Also have a set of Herrets National grips.  Have never used a red dot on a 1911, but they eyes are going, so I am going to give this a try.  The gun was purchased new.  Has had a tirgger job and the action has been cleaned up a bit.

Issue #1.  My proper grip position does not allow me to engage the grip safety.  I used the same grip on my Model 52, but of course don't have to contend with a grip safety.  The safety seems to be oversized from the factory.  Thoughts on correcting without cutting up the grips?

Issue #2.  The gun is not wanting to go completely into battery.  This happens when loading using either the slide release or using the slingshot method.  I'm shooting a 200 grn Lee semiwadcutter behind 4.3 grs of WST.  Also have failure to feed (gun doesn't go completely into battery while firing) about 40-50% of the time.  I started with a 9 lb Wolf spring, and am now trying a 10 lb Wolf spring.  Same problem, maybe a touch less with the 10 lb spring. I was thinking initially it might be my ammo, but it functions flawlessly in two other 1911s set up for Wild Bunch.  Both of those guns were throated.  This one has not been.  Again. thoughts?  

Thanks for you insight.

"Plunk Test" your ammo in the barrel of the gun you want to shoot it in. Whether or not it feeds in an different gun is not material. Seen several shooters here changing bunches of parts when they failed to check the easiest to correct--properly sized ammo.

A stock RO barrel should feed any ammo you load in it, I doubt it has a short chamber where the round will stick out past the hood and prevent the gun going into full battery. A 9 or 10 pound recoil spring is too light if you have a Marvel rib and Match Dot II - I'd try a 12lbs spring. Also, the gun's not broken in yet. Also, you might have to do some tweaking to get it to feed semi wadcutters reliably. I had to throat my barrel and put in a higher magazine catch to combat that issue - the round goes into the chamber partially, mostly, but doesn't go into full battery. Once those changes were made, it happened maybe once every 200 rounds or so.

I just checked the chamber with loaded rounds.  Fit fine.  Will try the 12 lb spring and have the throat done.  

Thoughts on the safety issue?  Can the safety be disconnected?

I had a similar problem with some Rink grips (XL).  I glued a piece of leather on the grip safety and it works fine.  I need to make something more classy, this is like duck tape but it works.  I'm thinking either a piece of metal properly blued or a piece of very dark hardwood.  Wood is easier.  Black Locktite will probably work fine.  

I'm no expert on spring rates but I use a 10 pound spring with a slide mount MD II.  

Dave

"action cleaned up a bit" What does that entail?

Did you shoot it before you worked on it?

willnewton wrote:"action cleaned up a bit" What does that entail?

Did you shoot it before you worked on it?

Yes, it shot fine with factory WW ball loads before any work was done on it.  Put 50 rounds of ball through it.  The action was rough, almost felt like sand paper in the action.  Had a local gunsmith do a trigger job and clean up the roughness in the actio, and install the rib.

I use an 11# recoil spring in my Les Baer with slide mounted Ultradot. 185gr LSWC over 4.1gr Bullseye 1.250 OAL.

I don't believe you'll be able to use light recoil springs in the range Officer. It comes out of battery too fast and 50 yard accuracy will suffer. If you're still using the stock abrrel, Keep a 28 or 30 pound hammer spring in the gun as it comes from the factory. This will help slow the slide down for coming back so quickly. As for recoil spring you'll probably be able to stick with a 14-16# spring. You should get it rebarreled in the long run. Will shoot softer, and allow you to run lighter springs.

hp246 wrote:I just checked the chamber with loaded rounds.  Fit fine.  Will try the 12 lb spring and have the throat done.  

Thoughts on the safety issue?  Can the safety be disconnected?

I wonder what your grip looks like - Herrett's Nationals are pretty thin grips. I wonder if you're gripping incorrectly. I know of no other way to disable the grip safety than to stake it down, or add a bumper at the bottom to extend it to so that your palm can depress it.

How much are you crimping your loads? Sometimes increasing your crimp might help.

Crimp should be .463

troystaten wrote:How much are you crimping your loads? Sometimes increasing your crimp might help.

I did try increasing crimp.  It did not help.  I'm going to have the barrel throated and try a 12 lb spring.  Also will try the leather pad on the grip safety.

daflorc wrote:

hp246 wrote:I just checked the chamber with loaded rounds.  Fit fine.  Will try the 12 lb spring and have the throat done.  

Thoughts on the safety issue?  Can the safety be disconnected?

I wonder what your grip looks like - Herrett's Nationals are pretty thin grips. I wonder if you're gripping incorrectly. I know of no other way to disable the grip safety than to stake it down, or add a bumper at the bottom to extend it to so that your palm can depress it.

Grips are the same as my other Nationals.  I can change my grip and make it work, but when I do, the gun is canted awkwardly in my hand and does not point naturally.

I really do not see how you can hold that gun pointing downrange and not engage the grip safety? Its got a speed bump and personally I hate them but everyone makes speed bumps. Its hard to find good a beaver these days. LOL 

I shoot NM Grips on my 22lrs never had a problem. 

Your feeding issue could be a grip issue, weak wrist. Try lowering the palm shelf. 

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/10/27/zins-on-bullseye-proper-pistol-grip/

rich.tullo wrote:I really do not see how you can hold that gun pointing downrange and not engage the grip safety? Its got a speed bump and personally I hate them but everyone makes speed bumps. Its hard to find good a beaver these days. LOL 

I shoot NM Grips on my 22lrs never had a problem. 

Your feeding issue could be a grip issue, weak wrist. Try lowering the palm shelf. 

https://www.ssusa.org/articles/2015/10/27/zins-on-bullseye-proper-pistol-grip/

The feeding issue is most prominent when loading the first round.  It is not a wrist issue.

when it jams has the rim started to slide under the extractor?  If so check your extractor tension.. too tight will do this..

you can also try another brand of magazine

bet you grip safety issue goes away if you go back to slab grips

Grip safety can not be disabled if you want to remain legal for NRA or EIC competition.

davekp wrote:Grip safety can not be disabled if you want to remain legal for NRA or EIC competition.

Thanks.  Was not aware of this.

Want to shout out a thank you for the feedback.  Had the barrel throated and assed a 12 lb spring today.  50 rounds down range without a problem.  Still have to work on the grip issue, but one fix at a time.  Thanks again.

hp246 wrote:Want to shout out a thank you for the feedback.  Had the barrel throated and assed a 12 lb spring today.  50 rounds down range without a problem.  Still have to work on the grip issue, but one fix at a time.  Thanks again.

No problem. Post a pic of you holding the gun in your proper grip position. We're all curious to see how ass backwards you're holding that thing, that doesn't engage the grip safety 

daflorc wrote:

hp246 wrote:Want to shout out a thank you for the feedback.  Had the barrel throated and assed a 12 lb spring today.  50 rounds down range without a problem.  Still have to work on the grip issue, but one fix at a time.  Thanks again.

No problem. Post a pic of you holding the gun in your proper grip position. We're all curious to see how ass backwards you're holding that thing, that doesn't engage the grip safety 

Using the same grip I used on a Gold Cup, a NM and a M52.  For some reason with the cut of the grip safety, it just doesn't make enough contact with the pad of my hand behind the thumb.  Now that the malfunctions are worked out, gonna work on this with some mole skin pads first.  The grip safety is just cut differently from the other 1911s I have (had).