Fisch Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 I know this has been brought up several times, but few have actually posted follow-ups after trying to remedy the situation. With 10 rounds in the magazine, the first round does not feed reliably. I sometimes get rounds that fail to fully chamber. Sometimes, the bullet even gets compressed into the brass (shortening the overall length to that of a .380). I am using Federal Premium 115gr FMJ. This problem is driving me nuts and costing me gobs of time at USPSA matches. How have you fixed it?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul-the new guy Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Round nosed bullets and a high mag catch. Ate the 115's flat nosed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Ive only had 100% good luck with those mags and a rnfp profile like a 147BBI and 147 Montana CMJ.. All others would give a nose dive. I picked up a couple Metalform 10rd mags and they run anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steel1212 Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 I know this has been brought up several times, but few have actually posted follow-ups after trying to remedy the situation. With 10 rounds in the magazine, the first round does not feed reliably. I sometimes get rounds that fail to fully chamber. Sometimes, the bullet even gets compressed into the brass (shortening the overall length to that of a .380). I am using Federal Premium 115gr FMJ. This problem is driving me nuts and costing me gobs of time at USPSA matches. How have you fixed it?? First off I've found that federal brass sucks. When it goes through my press I can push the bullet in by hand where other brass you can't hammer it in. I'm wondering if the round isn't getting compressed and nose diving that way? Secondly is the 38 super mags with no spacer or the mags with a spacer? Thirdly, try different ammo if you don't reload, like WWB for example just to see if its the ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodownzero Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Tripp sent me some new followers that really helped. I also only use 135 grain round nose bullets now, and my gun has run 100% for the last few thousand rounds. I was skeptical at first but I love this gun so much now. A 9mm is not competitive in single stack but it is so much fun to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EkuJustice Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 How is the round jamming? Into the feed ramp? the hood? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Like most of the Filipino 1911s, Spartans are good guns but they really need a good throating job for the best reliability. You would think STI would take care of this issue, but they don't. After being properly throated, my personal 9mm Spartan will feed anything. Before--not so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hkguy Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Like most of the Filipino 1911s, Spartans are good guns but they really need a good throating job for the best reliability. You would think STI would take care of this issue, but they don't. After being properly throated, my personal 9mm Spartan will feed anything. Before--not so much. truer words cannot be spoken. I had a lot of problems with my spartan out of the box and boy did i struggle through a tough 500 rounds before i called STI to get it fixed. I gave them a call and got an RMA and they took care of shipping both ways. I told them i was having problems feeding with 10 round metalforms and wilson emt's. i could only get 3-4 rounds to feed in a row with reloads, factory fmj's and jhp's. They ended up throating the chamber, built up and re-cut the feed ramp and tuned and put in a new extractor. they ran 50 rounds of various 115, 124, 147 fmj's and jhp's through the gun and then sent it back and it has run 100% since. Currently im using Dawson 10 rounds mags for competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisch Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 These are round nose. I also put about 200 rounds of PMC through it at the last two matches, but I'm very careful before each stage to ensure the rounds are fully seated and nose-up in the magazine... I know the Federal quality control sucks, but this is the only issue I've run into with thousands of rounds of it in various guns. How is the round jamming? Into the feed ramp? the hood? Sometimes the nose of the bullet gets into the chamber, but doesn't go all the way in (more common when I carefully ensure the rounds are perfectly in the magazine). It's almost like a stovepipe, but with the bullet partially chambered. Other times, the bullet may nose dive into either the feed ramp/frame or within the magazine (more common with the second round in a magazine after the first jam). Like most of the Filipino 1911s, Spartans are good guns but they really need a good throating job for the best reliability. You would think STI would take care of this issue, but they don't. After being properly throated, my personal 9mm Spartan will feed anything. Before--not so much. truer words cannot be spoken. I had a lot of problems with my spartan out of the box and boy did i struggle through a tough 500 rounds before i called STI to get it fixed. I gave them a call and got an RMA and they took care of shipping both ways. I told them i was having problems feeding with 10 round metalforms and wilson emt's. i could only get 3-4 rounds to feed in a row with reloads, factory fmj's and jhp's. They ended up throating the chamber, built up and re-cut the feed ramp and tuned and put in a new extractor. they ran 50 rounds of various 115, 124, 147 fmj's and jhp's through the gun and then sent it back and it has run 100% since. Currently im using Dawson 10 rounds mags for competition. That's awesome! I emailed both STI and Tripp Research last night, so hopefully they will address the issue. If not, we're fortunate to have a great 1911 gunsmith in town. I will definitely be swinging by his place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
See_Archie_Shoot Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 How easy is it to push the first round out by hand. It might help to smooth up the feed lips on your mags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisch Posted March 25, 2012 Author Share Posted March 25, 2012 How easy is it to push the first round out by hand. It might help to smooth up the feed lips on your mags. It varies, and I haven't quite figured out why. Sometimes, the 9th and 10th rounds are easy to load into the mag, and they strip out just as easily. Other times, even the 9th takes a little effort to load, at which point I strip out a few rounds and load the mag again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodownzero Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 Like most of the Filipino 1911s, Spartans are good guns but they really need a good throating job for the best reliability. You would think STI would take care of this issue, but they don't. After being properly throated, my personal 9mm Spartan will feed anything. Before--not so much. I would be interested to know what dimensions you changed, if you'd be so kind. It would be great if my Spartan could reliably feed my beloved 147 grain truncated cones with any amount of reliability, or even if it'd feed shorter ammo so my M&P could share a load with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Hunter Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 (edited) 14# recoil spring cleared all feeding issues - RN, SWC makes no difference all feed - Wilson, Tripp or Metal-Form. Reliability trumps all else. Edited March 25, 2012 by Doc Hunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmoney Posted March 25, 2012 Share Posted March 25, 2012 14# recoil spring cleared all feeding issues - RN, SWC makes no difference all feed - Wilson, Tripp or Metal-Form. Reliability trumps all else. I guess that's one approach--use a heavy recoil spring that really rams 'em in there! Of course, that is really only masking the problem. If everything else is set up correctly, the gun should run perfectly with a 9- or 10-pound recoil spring, and be noticeably flatter and more comfortable to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisch Posted March 26, 2012 Author Share Posted March 26, 2012 Like most of the Filipino 1911s, Spartans are good guns but they really need a good throating job for the best reliability. You would think STI would take care of this issue, but they don't. After being properly throated, my personal 9mm Spartan will feed anything. Before--not so much. I would be interested to know what dimensions you changed, if you'd be so kind. It would be great if my Spartan could reliably feed my beloved 147 grain truncated cones with any amount of reliability, or even if it'd feed shorter ammo so my M&P could share a load with it. I tried some 147gr truncated cone rounds loaded by a friend today. They would not feed at all. The rounds just nose dived into the feed ramp/frame Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisch Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Update: STI is going to have me ship the gun back and they're going to figure out what's wrong. Tripp Research offered (for $84) to do their reliability work to the gun Federal is going to send me another box of ammo (see attached for the problem I was getting with their ammo) It's nice to have a good customer service experience across the board. I'll send the gun to STI after the next two USPSA matches. In the mean time, since PMC ammo is nonexistant, I tried some WWB today, and it seems to feed just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodownzero Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Like most of the Filipino 1911s, Spartans are good guns but they really need a good throating job for the best reliability. You would think STI would take care of this issue, but they don't. After being properly throated, my personal 9mm Spartan will feed anything. Before--not so much. I would be interested to know what dimensions you changed, if you'd be so kind. It would be great if my Spartan could reliably feed my beloved 147 grain truncated cones with any amount of reliability, or even if it'd feed shorter ammo so my M&P could share a load with it. I tried some 147gr truncated cone rounds loaded by a friend today. They would not feed at all. The rounds just nose dived into the feed ramp/frame That's my experience as well. I would sell the gun, but it really does run 100% with round nose ammo, even with a well-worn 10 lb spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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