American Classic II frame rail damage.

original: forum.m1911.org
Retrieved: 11/11/11
Last Post: 05/01/11

Demetrious
1st May 2011

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. While stripping and cleaning my new gun today, I noticed some rather distressing damage to the front of the right frame rail:

I made a careful inspection of the fore-part of the slide, and the only indication of battering I can find is on the LEFT side of the bushing plug housing, whilst the damaged frame is on the RIGHT. These "indications" are subtle enough that my cell-phone camera cannot do them justice, so it might be nothing.

Salient information about this firearm: It only has a few hundred rounds through it so far, and it's had an 18.5lbs recoil spring in it for most of that.

Obviously a visit to my gunsmith is in order (and a call to the warranty department) but I'd love to know what I'm looking at here. Casting defect? Damage I caused, somehow? And most importantly, is it going to get worse, or can I expect years of service out of this frame yet?


John
1st May 2011

That's not normal. i do not think it is a casting defect, this is probably due to the slide rails not machined properly.

And I can see a lot of other strange things on that frame too.

For example, the area where the guide rod rests, appears to be more shiny on the left side of the pistol (right side as you look at the pictures) than on the right.

Also, the left edge of the area where the barrel feet go into, is much more "damaged" than the right one. There should be no damage there.

Also the frame bed, the area where the barrel comes down on the frame, appears to have scratches, unless that is dirt and the scratches are in the dirt.

Finally, and this may be due to the picture's angle, is the ejector curved upwards a little? It looks kind in the one-before-the-last picture.

Do clean the gun well and post some more pictures please.


kenhwind
1st May 2011

It certainly appears that the recoil spring guide is hitting the frame un- evenly as John has noticed. Makes me wonder if the frame abutement area isn't sguare, could be a defective guide.


niemi24s
1st May 2011

Looks like there's also contact between the barrel feet and VIS, all the way down to the bottom.


niemi24s
1st May 2011

And as an afterthought, I'd do everything humanly possible to get a refund on this "gun" and cross the brand name off my list. Methinks you bought a can of worms.


Demetrious
1st May 2011

Indeed. Thank my lucky stars, however, MetroArms seems to have good customer service and the gun is still under one-year warranty. I'll put up some more pictures as soon as possible.


egumpher
1st May 2011

That looks like casting porosity to me. I doubt that inhibits function or performance. The spot in question has a gold color instead of a silver color that is seen on the contact areas of the frame.

I would touch it up with gun blue and keep shooting.


Demetrious
1st May 2011

Thank you, sir. Is the extractor indeed wonky? It's certainly not like the extractor given in my shop manual (then again, neither is the lowered and flared ejection port, etc.)


egumpher
1st May 2011

I have seen no pictures of your extractor.. I was so impressed with my MetroArms American Classic's extractor that I bought extras for about $20 each.

Please elaborate.


egumpher
1st May 2011

This is what I see in the pictures:


Demetrious
1st May 2011

Some fellows earlier in the thread mentioned the extractor looked as if it was curved upwards (as it indeed is.) I didn't know whether this was by accident or design.

Quote:
This is what I see in the pictures:

An accurate assessment, it would seem. I just broke down the pistol and slid the recoil assembly down the housing, and it's impacting at that exact spot. The wear pattern on the recoil spring guide is very even, so my feeling is that this shouldn't be a problem for the gun.


egumpher
1st May 2011

OK, now I understand... that is the ejector not the extractor... the extractor looks like this...


egumpher
1st May 2011

The ejector only whacks the back of the case rim and throws the spend case in a specific direction.

Your looks like it is working fine.


Cap
1st May 2011

I don't see anything to be concerned about with that ejector


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