Welcome to the wonderful world of 1911's!! I've owned 5. Kimbers, colts, and a springer. Compared to the modern design polymer guns the 1911's are just troublesome when trying to feed hollow points. Not saying they won't do it. Just a lot of times you have to tweek this and that to get hollow points to feed reliably. I think starting with a $3500 Wilson or some such would improve your chances.
S&W was going to produce slides and frames for Wilson Combat. The deal went sour and so S&W decided to take the slides & frames they had already made and market their own. For an out of the box 1911 from a major gunmaker, they're about as good as you can get. They also have very good customer service.
Sending it back to Springfield is likely to take you all of 3 months. Their CS is not known for speed. I know it's not fun to spend more $$$ on a new gun, but if it were mine I'd send it to olyeller or Barry Greyson (sp?). They know what it takes to make one purr and you'd have a more reliable gun after they're done than you would if you sent it back to the factory. The difference between a 1911 that doesn't malfunction vs. one that functions correctly must be felt to be appreciated. It's the difference between riding around in a 3/4 ton truck vs. a Lexus. They'll both get you there, but one is going to spill less of your coffee.
To check extractor tension, field strip the gun. Take the slide and slip a round under the extractor just like it would sit if the barrel were in the gun. Turn the slide upright and use your finger to try and push the round down and out from underneath the extractor (push on the round near the web of the case). It should take around 4 pounds of pressure to make the round come out from underneath the extractor.
I've literally seen Springers that had in excess of 20# of extractor tension right out of the box. They wouldn't feed ball ammo because the rim wouldn't slide under the extractor. A loose extractor will cause poor ejection, or even leave the empty case in the chamber if it's bad enough.
Interesting. I've read numerous accounts about S&W customer service being superb.
I previously thought that for a 1911 in my price range, I would have to go with Colt or SA. But it seems that S&W should be considered.
How do you feel about Para Ordnance?
Well I have no personal experience with them (except for shooting Todd Jarrett's personal competition tuned LDA back in 2001, with a flat out scary 1.5# trigger). They seem nicely made, but I've hear they have some quirks. They appear to have fallen out of favor in competition (well, except for Todd
. STI pretty much owns Limited, with a sprinkling of SVI's thrown in. I'm not sure who has the highest representation in Single Stack, but I'd bet on a LOT of custom built Caspians.If I ever get another 1911 besides a U.S. marked 1911 GI, I'll probably build a Caspian and stuff it with whatever parts Kevin Toothman tells me to.
After taking a closer look at the problem I think it might be the Springfield Factory magazines that came with the gun. The Magazine will allow the bullet to cant downward when the slide is attempting to push it from behind into battery causing it to hang up on the bottom of the feed ramp due to the downward angle. The magazines will feed ball ammo fine it is only the hollowpoint that has the problem, with the downward angle the magazine causes on the bullet the hollow portion catches I will try a Wilson 47D and see if that solves the problem...I'll post a range report tomarow after I shoot the gun with ball ammo.
Colt is still the best in terms of staying true to specs and using less MIM, IMHO. You get a better overall gun from Colt but S&W DOES have a better customer service dept.
Para has had a good number of proprietary issues so personally I stay away.
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