Racking with a full mag

[1911SHOOTER]

One thing I would suggest when racking with a full mag is to do it "briskly". If you go too slow, the breech block will hang on the rim of the case like this. Then trying to force it back just causes the nose of the round to rise up because the case can not move back any farther in the mag. So you need to have enough momentum to get it to jump over the rim.



And if you let the slide go at that point where the block is hung on the rim, you will get this type of jam.



You can also polish the rear of the breech block "ramp" so that it more easily slides over the case rim

Tex,
     I do not have that problem.  my problem was,  unable to pull the slide back with a full mag.  I corrected it by locking the slide open,  then inserting the full mag, and letting it
"Slam' forward. (Slingshot)  Since then, I have had no problems with any type of ammo. 
Your solutions are spot on, for racking with a closed slide though.  Me, I am too impatient to break in the pistol that way.  Great photos by the way!
Blackie

[lklawson]

I've always broken in recalcitrant magazines with a couple of wooden dowels or a couple of wooden paint stirs.  I hold the mag in my left hand, in a firm hammer-grip, place the end of the dowels/stirs on top of the follower, and depress the follower fully down 100 times.

It's fast.  It's easy.  It works.  And I don't have to break in the mags by shooting one full load 100 times.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[1911SHOOTER]

I've always broken in recalcitrant magazines with a couple of wooden dowels or a couple of wooden paint stirs.  I hold the mag in my left hand, in a firm hammer-grip, place the end of the dowels/stirs on top of the follower, and depress the follower fully down 100 times.

It's fast.  It's easy.  It works.  And I don't have to break in the mags by shooting one full load 100 times.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirki,
     Sounds like a winner, but it would be more fun to keep shooting 100 times.
Blackie

[lklawson]

I've always broken in recalcitrant magazines with a couple of wooden dowels or a couple of wooden paint stirs.  I hold the mag in my left hand, in a firm hammer-grip, place the end of the dowels/stirs on top of the follower, and depress the follower fully down 100 times.

It's fast.  It's easy.  It works.  And I don't have to break in the mags by shooting one full load 100 times.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirki,
     Sounds like a winner, but it would be more fun to keep shooting 100 times.
Blackie

I completely agree.  Definitely more fun.  Better practice too.  OTOH, a couple of wooden dowel rods are a lot less expensive than 700 rounds of ammo. 

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[1911SHOOTER]

I've always broken in recalcitrant magazines with a couple of wooden dowels or a couple of wooden paint stirs.  I hold the mag in my left hand, in a firm hammer-grip, place the end of the dowels/stirs on top of the follower, and depress the follower fully down 100 times.

It's fast.  It's easy.  It works.  And I don't have to break in the mags by shooting one full load 100 times.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirki,
     Sounds like a winner, but it would be more fun to keep shooting 100 times.
Blackie

I completely agree.  Definitely more fun.  Better practice too.  OTOH, a couple of wooden dowel rods are a lot less expensive than 700 rounds of ammo. 

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirk,
     That is what my wife keeps telling me, but when I go to the range, she comes too, and shoots The R51 more than I do.  Go figure!
Blackie
   

[lklawson]

I've always broken in recalcitrant magazines with a couple of wooden dowels or a couple of wooden paint stirs.  I hold the mag in my left hand, in a firm hammer-grip, place the end of the dowels/stirs on top of the follower, and depress the follower fully down 100 times.

It's fast.  It's easy.  It works.  And I don't have to break in the mags by shooting one full load 100 times.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirki,
     Sounds like a winner, but it would be more fun to keep shooting 100 times.
Blackie

I completely agree.  Definitely more fun.  Better practice too.  OTOH, a couple of wooden dowel rods are a lot less expensive than 700 rounds of ammo. 

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

Kirk,
     That is what my wife keeps telling me, but when I go to the range, she comes too, and shoots The R51 more than I do.  Go figure!
Blackie
   

Groovy! 

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

[ZeroPoint]

I had this same issue with my new R51, it was almost impossible to rack on a full mag. and if I did get it back it would jam on the first round because it had been pressed into a nose down position in the mag. just by pulling the slide back, the round gets stuck there and causes a jam. I shot about 500 rds. and nothing got better so I took a mag. apart and examined it, I compared it to a few other mags from different guns I have, I decided the spring was too heavy so I cut 2 coils off 1 mag. spring and put it back together, now it loads better and the gun can now be racked on a full mag. and will chamber the first round. I have shot a few hundred rds. like this and no problems so far. So does anyone make weaker springs for the R51?

[Texas-Mark]

I decided the spring was too heavy so I cut 2 coils off 1 mag. spring and put it back together, now it loads better and the gun can now be racked on a full mag. and will chamber the first round. I have shot a few hundred rds. like this and no problems so far.

Cutting the spring has been mentioned before, but IMO it is sacrificing long term reliability for a quick fix. People can do whatever they want, but the spring will break in on it's own. I'm pretty sure the engineers used that spring for a reason. No coils cut and mine now racks fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNSocr4ivWA

[sirbrian]

I mentioned this before. A loaded magazine in my gun cannot be racked even with the spring removed. The bullets fill up the magazine too much. I  removed 0.2" from the follower and that solved the jamming issue. I also removed 2 coils of the spring because it because the coils looked way too long for the magazine.

I did this to one of the mags and tried it for several months and about 400 rounds. Still works with no issues and easy to rack. Just did the second mag and it works well.

[luteai]

two full coils? I guess I'll try one and if it doesn't rack take another. Pretty poor quality control from Remington. Glad my 783 works well!

[1911SHOOTER]

I mentioned this before. A loaded magazine in my gun cannot be racked even with the spring removed. The bullets fill up the magazine too much. I  removed 0.2" from the follower and that solved the jamming issue. I also removed 2 coils of the spring because it because the coils looked way too long for the magazine.

I did this to one of the mags and tried it for several months and about 400 rounds. Still works with no issues and easy to rack. Just did the second mag and it works well.

sirbrian,
     I just bought a new mag and took the follower out and took 3/16ths off the legs.  Left the spring alone.  Now my R51 will rack from a closed slide.
I will shoot it Monday, and see how it runs.  It seems that the follower legs are too long and jam up the ammo against the breech block.  When I press down
on an unmodified mag, the ammo will not depress with a full load.  The modified mag lets the ammo depress the amount I took off the legs on the follower.
Mag release button is easier to activate also.
Blackie 

[Texas-Mark]

I had pulled my mag apart and took the spring put like sirbrian mentioned and then put 7 rounds in it. The breech block never touched the round. So based on that and what 1911SHOOTER posted, it looks like there may be some tolerance differences. I see no problems with shaving down the follower a bit, but I still personally would not cut coils off of the spring. I have a few thousand rounds though mine now, and it's now easy to rack with a full mag. 

[1911SHOOTER]

I had pulled my mag apart and took the spring put like sirbrian mentioned and then put 7 rounds in it. The breech block never touched the round. So based on that and what 1911SHOOTER posted, it looks like there may be some tolerance differences. I see no problems with shaving down the follower a bit, but I still personally would not cut coils off of the spring. I have a few thousand rounds though mine now, and it's now easy to rack with a full mag.

Tex,
     Follow up on my last post.  I can now rack the closed slide with 7 in the mag.  I feel that there is still some lapse in the quality control in the
weapon.  Or rather in the breech block.  Although My mags work now, when I insert a fully loaded mag in the firearm, with the slide closed, and then remove it,
the top round is pushed forward.  The other day, when I removed the mag, the top round popped out.  Go Figure!
Blackie 

[Texas-Mark]

As I noted earlier or in another thread, the R51 mags have relatively short feed lips compared to some of my other guns. I don't find it unusual for the top round to move a little forward when the mag is removed on any gun. While I have not had any rounds pop out on the R51, I have had it happen with my Browning 1911-380  which also has very short feed lips.

[1911SHOOTER]

As I noted earlier or in another thread, the R51 mags have relatively short feed lips compared to some of my other guns. I don't find it unusual for the top round to move a little forward when the mag is removed on any gun. While I have not had any rounds pop out on the R51, I have had it happen with my Browning 1911-380  which also has very short feed lips.

Tex,
     How is that Browning .380 working for you.  I have the RIA Baby Rock, 1911 .380 and it is a keeper!  Not a problem at all yet. 
Blackie