The owner of the ruined gun in the previous thread has taken two photos of the feed ramp sans barrel, so that we can have a look at the rest of the story. I'll merge the two threads a little later and open both for comments.
Meanwhile... feast your eyes on this Killed Kimber.
Gonna take machine work and a ramp insert... Alloy frame. Guess the "smith" didn't know about anodizing and what happens to feed ramps when it's removed...
I really like the high polish and radius at the top...
The guy that did this calls himself a gunsmith... ???????
Tuner Thanks for posting the thread. a tiny thousands of an inch an equal miles in your business especially when it comes to throat jobs. People just don't know how a little bit can go a super long way.
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The guy that did this calls himself a gunsmith... ???????
Exactly... and that's why I cringe whenever a member with a feed/return to battery issue comes up... and usually the first advice is to start polishing on the ramp and throat... and I go into conniptions when it's accompanied by the word "Dremel."
The problem really got going in the early 80s, when the gun rags were publishing an article about every other month on "How to make YOUR 1911 more reliable!" Of course, the articles always contained "instructions" on ramp and throat polishing... AND... of course without anything mentioned about angles and corners and what NOT to do... and the trashed pistols began showing up every week. I got to the point that I could just about predict what type of repair work that we'd soon see simply by browsing the magazine racks at the local newsstand
This was in the days when only one or two shops offered steel ramp inserts, and the inserts literally had to be hand-made... and it was very expensive, easily equaling the cost of a new gun. It's still expensive.
While some few steel-framed guns could be salvaged with careful manipulation, it didn't work in all cases... and if an alloy-framed Colt Commander had been treated to the "Reliability" work... you could generally just hand it back to the owner and tell him to use it for a wall-hanger.
Alloy you say? Got your Wilson/Nowlin ramp cutter handy? I would put a ramped barrel in it a lot sooner than I would have it cut for an insert...
Would it be cheaper to have a frame insert dont or to have the frame milled to take a fully ramped barrel?
I rarely see this type of thing, but when I do, the gun is not a "wall hanger" or trash and telling a customer that is baloney.
in the worst case a ramped barrel can be installed, in some cases correcting the angles will work and in others a bit of careful welding and recontouring can put all back right.
I'm a businessman... I never insult a customer no matter how badly he may deserve it.
In fact, I have a soft spot for folks that work on their own guns.... it does after all put food on my table.
I just bought a Commander. The on-line seller respopnded to my questions regarding the lugs and slots and the feed ramp. All were 'in excellent condition'. (His words)
Upon receipt, what should look like a dull black annodized finish is all nice and shiny.
It depends, Salty. If only the finish was removed, it may not have gone through the anodizing... but the chances of that are pretty slim, since the hard anodizing is pretty thin. Doesn't take a lot of whizzin' on it with a dremel to cut through it if an abrasive was used. How does the top corner of the ramp look? Still clean, or rounded off any?
I dunno.
I looked at it yesterday at the local FFL guy's shop.
It was a brief meeting... me and the Cmdr... saw the shiny ramp and asked the guy to hold it till I spoke with the sender.
Salty... if the price is right, and you can bring up the point of the anodizing being compromised... see if you can get a hundred bucks off the asking price to cover the cost of an insert. EGW's cost is 150 bucks. Freight and insurance will add to the total.
If anyone has the time, how about some explanation regarding the insert.
I 'spect it'd be welded into the frame. That'd be welding dis-similar metals.
Would the insert be preferable to a replacement barrel with a one piece feed ramp?
I guess I'll call EGW tomorrow and talk with George. At this point though, I don't know enough about inserts vs. one piece feed ramps to ask reasonably intelligent questions.
The frame is milled out for the insert, which is held in place with JB weld (sometimes) and a set screw. For reasons I don't understand it is preferable to a ramped barrel, especially in 45 acp.
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthre...me+ramp+insert