jdg Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 I received this question from a friend of my fathers. Any help, info, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is a first time for me with a .45 ACP - a serious malfunction. I was at the range today instructing my youngest on a .40 Glock. When done, I pulled out my .45 Colt Defender, loaded with factory 230 grain ball, fired one round (head shot) and noticed immediately it malfunctioned. I knew it was broke. I heard it and felt it. It ejected but it didn't cycle a new round. Green toothpick points to the spring just sticking out of the assembly. You can see where it is jammed. Red toothpick points to the crack on the recoil spring cap. Yellow toothpick points to the fractured piece of the recoil spring cap. I got it apart finally and it took some force and two people to get the slide stop removed. I was firing a factory load, normal 230 grain ball. It wasn't a hot custom load. From what I'm about to describe, you'd think it was a hot load, or, there was some metal fatigue and it was ready to go no matter what load was fired. I had about 150 rounds through it when it malfunctioned. None were hot loads. The Recoil Spring Cap is cracked just right of the recoil spring guide rod from the 5 o'clock to 1 o'clock position and one of the "toes" (don't know a better word for it) is completely cracked off. The whole assembly appears fused by a spring that's jammed into the recoil spring cap and into the recoil spring bushing. I'm going to get this fixed, obviously. This thing is still under warranty by Colt. However, do you know of an alternative to Colt factory parts for this mechanism? If necessary I'll customize it to prevent similar malfunction. This is a first time for me with a .45 ACP - a serious malfunction. I was at the range today instructing my youngest on a .40 Glock. When done, I pulled out my .45 Colt Defender, loaded with factory 230 grain ball, fired one round (head shot) and noticed immediately it malfunctioned. If I needed a second shot on target I'd be dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve J Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 Anything shorter than a Combat Commander will always be problematic when it comes to reliable functioning. As for the breakage, well Colt's quality hasn't been up to par since the late 1970's Box it up and get a shipping label to return it to Colt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srt205 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I had the same problem with a Kimber Ultra carry and a SA Micro-compact. Called both Companies and they sent a replacement assy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElSid Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but this one has been bothering me since it came up as the first image in a Google search... Seems to me this breakage/problem was induced by improper assembly. The larger front spring was installed backwards - the closed end should go to the back of the guide rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 (edited) Anything shorter than a Combat Commander will always be problematic when it comes to reliable functioning.A wise man once told me, the reliability of a 1911 is inversely proportional to it's barrel length. Edited June 5, 2014 by bountyhunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxdc Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Consult wilson combat or ed brown.... They will have tougher parts! To replace it with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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