19July04

Another reason not to shun 1911 recoil buffers:

At a Basic Defensive Pistol Course last weekend in NM, a student used a plane-vanilla, Colt, Series 70 1911. It consistently failed to live eject. That is, it would eject empty cases but not live rounds. This made unloading nearly impossible, as the recalcitrant round would always hang up in the ejection port. I had to pound on it the my Dejammer in order to dislodge it.

The problem was, of course, a rubber recoil buffer, installed on the recoil spring guide rod. The pistol's owner said he had no idea how the buffer got there (yes, they always seem to grow spontaneously!), but, as soon at is was removed and unceremoniously discarded, the pistol starting working normally.

Lesson: Once again, rubber recoil buffers should never be installed on any serious pistol. It is a life-threatening mistake!

/John

19July04

I meant to say:

"Another reason to shun 1911 recoil buffers:"

/John