1911 Metro Arms American Classic Commander

[A.J. Holst]

Bought it new on Sunday.

Performed basic cleaning.

Had a chance to shoot 8 rounds through it today.

230gr Remington UMC

First 7 rounds, no issues at all.

On the 8th round, as the slide returned to fire position (back to battery?) the hammer did not stay fully cocked, but traveled to the 1/2 cock position.

Cleared the round, hand cycled the slide with empty magazine.

About every 8 to 10 cycles, upon releasing the slide stop, the hammer does not stay in the fully cocked position, but travels to the 1/2 cock position.

I know I am still in a break-in period, but this is somewhat unexpected.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[VERO1]

Clean it. Don't panic and shoot some more. My $1000 Springfield acted like crap for the first 250 rounds and then straightened up. Shouldn't happen but it does!

[timcalhoun]

This is not a break in issue!!! This is a hammer sear realationship or the sear spring adjustment problem and will not get better with more rounds.

[Dolomite_supafly]

What he said.

They do have warranty centers you can send it in for repair. I have the number for a nice group of guys in Colorado that do repair work on the Metra Arms guns. I suspect you can buy the parts for about the same cost to ship it unless they are covering the shipping on warranty repairs, I don't know if they are.

I wasn't having any issues with my recently purchased American Classic II but I bought a STI sear and disconnect (as well as a few other parts) just to make sure everything was good. The sear is a MIM part which may last or it may not. I do not want to take a chance on having a failure because mine is going to be used as a carry gun once I get a few more hundred rounds thru it.

Where are you located?

After I get my new parts in mine, and they work, I can send you my old one to see if that fixes your problem. If you are close to Knoxville we can meet and I can install the sear for you as well as give the gun a once over. Hopefully it isn't the hammer because I don't have a spare laying around I can loan. The best thing about 1911's is that parts are plentiful so fixing it is going to be cheap, even if you decide to pay for it yourself. My match sear cost me $17.50 thru Brownells. The whole order which included the sear, a disconnect, a 4 finger spring (they normally have a 3 finger), a mainspring and a mainspring cap was only $47.13 shipped. Not terribly expensive to replace all the parts with known quality pieces. All the parts I am replacing are the MIM parts. MIM is the new way of making metal parts and there are plenty of other firearms makers, even big named ones, that are using MIM parts in their guns. I am just not that comfortable with the technology yet.

As I said before I wasn't having any problems with my American Classic II but I did it just to make sure I didn't have any failures down the road due to the MIM parts inside. Other than the MIM parts this has to be one of the best fitting 1911's I have owned. It is way better than my Colt and so far seems to be more accurate as well. It works well for what it cost and I would compare it to anything under $1000.

Let me know.

Dolomite

[A.J. Holst]

Dolomite - PM sent.

I would have no issues replacing the parts as you suggest; I too am planning to use it as a carry gun.

Thanks!

GtG

[timcalhoun]

Replacing the ignition parts would be a good idea. But here are a few things everyone should know before doing it yourself.

1. There is NO such thing as drop in parts for a 1911. Most of the time you will need to fit them in some fashion.

2. Unless you buy a drop in ignition kit, you WILL have to cut the sear and unless you have the knowledge and the tools to do so, they will not work.

3. If you buy a drop in kit, odds are you will at least have to adjust the sear spring and probably the trigger over travel. Going to a different sear manufacturer will change the geometry and that is why you will have to adjust the trigger. Also, I have seen it change those relationships to the point that your grip safety will no longer work. If that happens, hopefully the tang on the grip safety is too long and then you just take a file to it, but sometimes it will be too short and then you have a real problem. Welder anyone?? It can also mess with the thumb safety since your thumb safety prevents the sear from moving and is right against it.

4. A drop in kit will only work well with a gun that the pin holes and pins are true and square. If your gun is having this problem because either one of those are not square, it will not help.

BTW, MIM parts will last a long time unless you recut the angles. Most all MIM parts are surface hardened only and once you get past the surface, they will wear much quicker.

[Dolomite_supafly]

He came over and we took the pistol comepletely apart. I couldn't see anything obviously wrong like broken or worn parts. It is a brand new gun and we did give the internals a good cleaning while it was apart. Sometimes manufacturing debris can get into places it shouldn't be and cause problems, especially in new guns.

After cleaning it, some decent moly grease was put on the internal parts as it was reassembled. He took it out and fired it to see how things were. The problem disappeared for him. The biggest thing it needed was a decent cleaning to remove whatever debris was messing with the hammer/sear relationship. That is the first thing I do when I have chronic problems and that generally fixes most problems.

If the problem arises again it will probably need to go to a repair shop.

Dolomite

[timcalhoun]

I wonder if the sear spring is moving left and right in the channel. If so, I have seen this cause following problems. You just need to peen the sides of the bottom to remove all play to keep the sear sping in place.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Spring looked fine and fit tight. I am willing to bet there was some sort of debris causing the problem. Maybe he will chime in to see if he has had a chance to shoot it some more.

Dolomite

[A.J. Holst]

Haven't had a chance to shoot it again, but I have been hand cylcing ALOT with no issues.

Aside from a good cleaning and moly-lube, one thing DS did do was to square up the notches on hammer where the sear seats (sorry if I am using the wrong terms for parts - my first 1911)

After measuring with his micrometer, he discovered they were slightly out of square.