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Slide stop not engaging on last round.

COMMANDER1911

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
129
Location
Flintstone, GA
I just got a Taurus PT1911 and I am very pleased with it. it hits where I aim and shoots very well. I use Wilson magazines with plastic followers, and with two out of three of them the gun doesn't go to slide lock after the last round. Using deductive reasoning I came to the conclusion that if I replace the followers in the two wilsons the problem will be fixed. Just want to get all of your opinions as well before I spend any money.
 

Superlite27

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Jul 12, 2007
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God's Country, Missouri

COMMANDER1911

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
129
Location
Flintstone, GA
Thanks for the info. I just stumbled across Tripp upgrade kits for 8.95 USD a pop, and I must say their hybrid followers look very very nice
 

bom1911

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2009
Messages
114
Location
Chesterfield County , USA
I can't tell you why you won't slide lock, but I recently started having the same problem with some of my Colt hybrid magazines. I replaced the springs in the magazines with Wolff springs, and I was locking up after the last round again.

FYI, here is a good source of info on 1911 magazines.

http://how-i-did-it.org/magazines/
 

COMMANDER1911

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2010
Messages
129
Location
Flintstone, GA
I actually bought Tripp mag upgrade kits, and it they still didnt work....Bought a new wilson slide stop, and problem fixed. the slide stop was worn just a little where the follower engages.
 

bb72488

New member
Joined
Oct 16, 2011
Messages
1
Location
USA
Same Slide Lock Issue

I recently purchased a factory new Colt 1911 01970RG. I live in an area where there are very few places I can go to shoot. Without the ability to do that, I have been getting a feel for how the gun operates, and I notice that the problem that the OP is having is very similar to my own. When I eject the last round (via racking the slide manually) from the firearm, neither of the factory mags appear to have enough strength to engage the slide lock. Finding this thread, I chose to post and inquire as to if this has to do with the mag or slide lock, or if it's because the weapon isn't being fired, that I'm just racking the slide. My other weapon, a Bersa Thunder 380, Doesn't behave this way. When I eject the last round from the chamber of the weapon, the slide lock works without error. Any advice?
 

1245A Defender

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Joined
Jul 7, 2009
Messages
4,365
Location
north mason county, Washington, USA
well,,,

I recently purchased a factory new Colt 1911 01970RG. I live in an area where there are very few places I can go to shoot. Without the ability to do that, I have been getting a feel for how the gun operates, and I notice that the problem that the OP is having is very similar to my own. When I eject the last round (via racking the slide manually) from the firearm, neither of the factory mags appear to have enough strength to engage the slide lock. Finding this thread, I chose to post and inquire as to if this has to do with the mag or slide lock, or if it's because the weapon isn't being fired, that I'm just racking the slide. My other weapon, a Bersa Thunder 380, Doesn't behave this way. When I eject the last round from the chamber of the weapon, the slide lock works without error. Any advice?

when an empty mag is latched in, you should be able to see the hold open latch push up against the bottom of the slide.
when you pull open the slide you should be able to see the follower pushing up on the hold open tab inside the action.
 

Citizen

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Joined
Nov 15, 2006
Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
when an empty mag is latched in, you should be able to see the hold open latch push up against the bottom of the slide.
when you pull open the slide you should be able to see the follower pushing up on the hold open tab inside the action.


This is what I was thinking. Is the follower engaging the little slide-stop tab on the inside of the frame?

Taurus uses lotsa MIM parts, and I can imagine an MIM slide-stop lever not quite being engaged by the follower.

This is not to say the other possible culprits mentioned are invalid. Dirty mags, out-of-spec follower, etc. can do it, too. Heck, just put that little mag release notch a little out of place when making a magazine, and I can imagine that, combined with a few other parts being on the borderline, the mag might sit just a little too low for the follower to fully engage the slide stop's inside tab and push it up.

But, I would examine that little tab on the inside of the slide-stop to see if there was anything suspicious about it. Before I spent money on other magazines. If there is something wrong with the slide-stop, a new magazine may not solve the problem.
 
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oak1971

Regular Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2008
Messages
1,937
Location
Wisconsin, USA
Thanks for the info. I just stumbled across Tripp upgrade kits for 8.95 USD a pop, and I must say their hybrid followers look very very nice

I use them in all my mags. Bad (worn or out of spec) followers are the most common cause the problem you describe.
 

RetiredOC

Campaign Veteran
Joined
Dec 21, 2009
Messages
1,561
I just got a Taurus PT1911 and I am very pleased with it. it hits where I aim and shoots very well. I use Wilson magazines with plastic followers, and with two out of three of them the gun doesn't go to slide lock after the last round. Using deductive reasoning I came to the conclusion that if I replace the followers in the two wilsons the problem will be fixed. Just want to get all of your opinions as well before I spend any money.

I had the same exact problem with a brand new PT1911

Nothing is wrong with your gun or magazines. Ready for the fix? Oil it up. Oil it up so much at the range that it is squirting oil onto your shooting glasses when you shoot. You have a metal slide on a metal frame that's nice, tight, and new. Don't go buy a whole bunch of magzines and new springs or anything to fix this problem, just oil it up ike crazy as you break it in.

source: (I've owned 3 PT1911s.)

EDIT: just now realizing how old this thread is.
FWIW my last PT1911 was a complete piece of junk. i may trade it in.
 
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ixtow

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
5,038
Location
Suwannee County, FL
I had this problem with my PT1911AR with the stock mags and the wilson combat. This was after 500rds of working just fine.

Take the mag apart. Stretch the spring. Put it back together. Problem solved. They all work flawlessly now...
 
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