Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock185
Buckshot, Lots of good ones available, but one I've used in .45s, 9s, and .38 Supers is the Ed Brown. The EBs I used required no fitting/tweaking/adjusting at all, and have never failed. Whatever extractor you decide on, try it out first before you let some "gunsmith" go "fitting" it...
ETA, At a training I attended put on by a nationally known instructor and gunsmith, he insisted the extractor in my Government Model Colt was too loose and "adjusted" it. I'd been carrying this Colt on duty for years, with never a failure. Upon return to the firing like, I didn't get through the first magazine without feedway malfunctions due to the extractor being adjusted too tight. Replaced the extractor with a spare, "too loose" one I had. Function returned to 100%, and has been 100% since.
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Many of the alleged experts don’t understand how a 1911 works in terms of the interplay between type of magazine lip, the bullet length and point shape, the feed ramp, and the extractor.
If you are shooting ball rounds with a GI tapered lip magazine, the magazine feed lips allow the base of the bullet to slowly rise in conjunction with the bullet sliding up the feed ramp. The end result is a very smooth feed cycle that is singer sewing machine smooth, and a low angle of the rim that will slip into a snug fitting extractor.
With the more common Colt commercial/Hybrid feed lip magazines, the base of the case is held down a bit longer to allow a shorter flat point or hollow point bullet to reach and start to rise up the feed ramp. That prevents the round from nose diving into the feed ramp. At the same time it still allows a longer round nosed round to enter the chamber at a low enough feed angle to not jam itself into the top of the chamber or the gap between barrel and slide. But the steeper case angle requires a little more space between the extractor and slide face. If it’s too tight the rim will jam between the extractor and slide face and cause the slide to stop about 1/8” out of battery.
With a parallel lip “wad cutter” magazine designed to feed short, lightweight semi wad cutters, the base of the case is held down longer and then pops up in front of the slide face. That lets the short round start to come up the feed ramp and again prevent a nose dive into the feed ramp. Long round nose bullets will however often have too steep an angle and jam into the top of the chamber or worse into the space between the barrel and slide. It’s a jam that requires dropping the mag and cycling the action. With this magazine type the extractor needs to either be a bit looser to allow for the steeper cartridge and rim angle, or it needs to be relieved enough to snap over the rim as it rises up out of the magazine.
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Unfortunately many of the self appointed experts immediately go straight to messing with the extractor without considering the magazine and bullet types being used.