Polishing feedramp

[molar]

Okay, so one of my 1911's had a feedramp that was horribly rough, several tool marks, burr present, etc. I decided to polish the feedramp. I used a dremel on low speed with a rubber wheel, followed by a felt wheel with tripoli, then rouge. The result was a very smooth feedramp with a mirrolike finish. Today, I read on another forum that you should never polish a feedramp because you will inadvertently remove metal in the process, possibly loosing some case support in the 6'oclock position, thereby increasing the chance of a Kaboom. Seems hard to believe that polishing the feedramp in the above manner would result in the removal of that much metal/change the angle, etc. I guess I am just a little paranoid now. Even if you did lose some case support around the web area, the 45 ACP is such a low pressure round, it seems it would be hard to induce a KB. What say the great minds of the GT 1911 forum?

[Razrbk444]

I would think if you just polished the ramp, it should be fine. Any metal removed during polishing should be a very minute amount, and not effect anything other than smoother feeding. IMHO.

[chuckman]

Polishing with a dremmel can be problematic. Sandpaper wrapped around your finger, followed by Flitz can often do the trick. This was suggested to me by a gunsmith.

[Jim Watson]

Reducing case support to the KaBoom level is about third on the list of dangers of "polishing" the feed ramp on a 1911. I have a major old line big name brand accurized gun with a deeper ramp than most would like to see these days and it does fine.

Second worst is changing the angle of the ramp and getting it to where it does not feed reliably no matter how shiny it is. It doesn't take much.

The worst that can happen in a freehand polishing job is to round over the top edge of the frame ramp below the barrel ramp. That can really cripple the gun.

(A little radius at the top of the barrel ramp into the chamber mouth is desirable, though.)

[molar]

Reducing case support to the KaBoom level is about third on the list of dangers of "polishing" the feed ramp on a 1911. I have a major old line big name brand accurized gun with a deeper ramp than most would like to see these days and it does fine.

Second worst is changing the angle of the ramp and getting it to where it does not feed reliably no matter how shiny it is. It doesn't take much.

The worst that can happen in a freehand polishing job is to round over the top edge of the frame ramp below the barrel ramp. That can really cripple the gun.

(A little radius at the top of the barrel ramp into the chamber mouth is desirable, though.)


Are your saying that I should round the edge between the throat and chamber?

[Razrbk444]

Are your saying that I should round the edge between the throat and chamber?

I would stop while I was ahead .But that's just me. YMMV. Try what you've already done to see if it feeds properly. If everything works smoothly, you're done.

[Drjones]

Okay, so one of my 1911's had a feedramp that was horribly rough, several tool marks, burr present, etc. I decided to polish the feedramp. I used a dremel on low speed with a rubber wheel, followed by a felt wheel with tripoli, then rouge. The result was a very smooth feedramp with a mirrolike finish. Today, I read on another forum that you should never polish a feedramp because you will inadvertently remove metal in the process, possibly loosing some case support in the 6'oclock position, thereby increasing the chance of a Kaboom. Seems hard to believe that polishing the feedramp in the above manner would result in the removal of that much metal/change the angle, etc. I guess I am just a little paranoid now. Even if you did lose some case support around the web area, the 45 ACP is such a low pressure round, it seems it would be hard to induce a KB. What say the great minds of the GT 1911 forum?


You really shouldn't work on a 1911 unless you really know what you are doing.

I'm sure you probably did not do any damage, but I'd have it checked out by a 'smith just in case.

If you really want to work on your 1911 yourself, you must visit 1911forum and get yourself the Kuhnhausen manuals.

[Jim Watson]

Are your saying that I should round the edge between the throat and chamber?

Depends on whether you can tell the difference between "a little radius" and wallowed out. The corner should be JUST broken and rounded, not heavily contoured.

Caution: I nearly ruined a barrel "polishing" on the ramps once. it is not hard to mess up.

[sniper350]

Please heed Mr. Watsons advice ............ it doesn't take much to ruin the 1911.

You see.........here is what doesn't make sense to me. You say

one of my 1911's had a feedramp that was horribly rough, several tool marks, burr present, etc.

How can you just "POLISH" that metal and remove the condition you are describing ..........without removing a considerable amount of metal. This of course depends on how deep the tool marks are, but if they are that shallow that they are able to be removed by simple polishing ......... than I submit they were not deep enough to cause your weapon any problems in the first place.

Round off the corners on the barrels feed ramp ........... to the point where the bullet doesn't TILT over it's edge ......and you are done --ruined the barrel. Many people think the barrel's feed ramp is a funnel -- guiding the bullet into the chamber -- this is WRONG.

The barrel's feed ramp is a CLEARANCE ........... that forces the bullet to TILT over it's edge and move into the chamber by the breach face. This is why it doesn't matter how shiny the barrel's feed ramp is polished - the bullet [ in the best case scenario ] should only TOUCH the upper most top edge of the ramp as it tilts horizontally. If you see evidence that your bullets are striking the barrel's feed ramp's lower half -- you have PROBLEMS. The bullets will push the barrel backwards during the feeding process and cause the infamous 3- point JAM.

Hope this helps

JF.