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1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 10:07 am
by Boriqua
I recently bought a Rock Island 1911 in 10mm. I like the Rocky's but this is the first one I had a problem with. It would jam every round and I was finding a ton of brass shavings in the area inside the ejection port and at the rear of the frame. I knew it wasnt the ejector scraping along the brass because I collect my brass and they had wide scrap marks.

Rock island took it right in and added a secondary bevel at the top of the ramp that was not there when I sent it in. The area marked was a sharp edge.
http://www.boriqualeather.com/stuff/Barrel%20marked.jpg

You can see in the large pic below that when adding the second bevel they left pretty gnarly tool marks.
http://www.boriqualeather.com/stuff/barrel%20large.JPG

Would I hurt anything if I touched it with a buffing wheel and some rouge to just smooth it up some? how about those striations on the ramp?

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 11:58 am
by smithers599
That is some pretty nasty quality control. They sent that out to a customer, huh? Go figure....

Buffing wheel and rouge won't hurt anything, but will just make the high points shiny. SOP for marks like that is a Cratex tip on a Dremel. https://www.esslinger.com/cratex-style- ... tart%20ads

Probably find it at Home Depot.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 12:22 pm
by Boriqua
smithers599 wrote: February 28th, 2019, 11:58 am That is some pretty nasty quality control. They sent that out to a customer, huh? Go figure....

Buffing wheel and rouge won't hurt anything, but will just make the high points shiny. SOP for marks like that is a Cratex tip on a Dremel. https://www.esslinger.com/cratex-style- ... tart%20ads

Probably find it at Home Depot.
I wish it were a symptom of just a particular manufacturer but .. I have had guns costing $1300 and ones costing $350 and obviously cost has nothing to do with it because I have found problem children across the board. Its so bad that I actually assume my first range trip will be a bust and am excited when I get one that functions fine the whole time I own it.

I know its assembly line but what other industry can send out $600 + items and they arent finished.

Ok .. enough b****'in .. my last three rocky's were great from day one so I will cut them some slack.

Anyway .. I am a little afraid of using anything to abrasive so was just hoping some rouge on a wheel would at least make the high spots .. Rounded instead of sharp and grabby but if its a waste of time I guess I can just shoot it out? :(

I wonder what grit their fine grit is?

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 12:55 pm
by AZ Husker
:shock: Looks like they used a grinding wheel.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 1:54 pm
by Boriqua
AZ Husker wrote: February 28th, 2019, 12:55 pm :shock: Looks like they used a grinding wheel.
That secondary bevel they just added isnt even ground even!? :roll:
Being a tinker I am desperate to get at it but am trying to resist.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 7:44 pm
by pvreb
I assume you have tried it since the repair...

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: February 28th, 2019, 7:58 pm
by Boriqua
pvreb wrote: February 28th, 2019, 7:44 pm I assume you have tried it since the repair...
I have and it's night and day from what I sent in but not yet "trust it with my life" ready. I went out yesterday with 156 rounds and by the third box I was able to do a mag dump with the factory mag but still having issues with the Wilson combat. Figure I will try again on my next outing and if the factory works full time I will just sell the Wilson and buy another factory.
But ... in the first two boxes I had about 5 rounds where I needed to tap the slide to get them to feed with both mags.
I gave it a good clean today and I went ahead and hit it with the rouge.
Guess I won't know if it did anything until my next outing.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: March 1st, 2019, 11:20 am
by Ranger1
Send it back. If you are not happy with it they should make it right.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: September 8th, 2019, 3:18 pm
by Kingjoey
Bring it down here with some good bourbon and I'll go through and get it fitted and polished for ya. The RI guns are pretty tightly made, but the final fitment and machining leave a lot to be desired.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: October 5th, 2019, 11:26 am
by xerts1191
Ye olde Dremmel tool and polish it up, looks as rough as the Philippino wonder pistol I bought for a truck gun.

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: October 5th, 2019, 2:12 pm
by Boriqua
They got it close enough and I took just some green rouge on a soft dremel buffing wheel and basically made it shiny. Took it to the range several times after that and fired about 300 rds and it was 100% with the three mags I had on hand. I eventually sold it off because I prefered my 4.5 xdm 10mm to the 1911 for what i wanted it for but not sure it was a great idea. I should have kept both!
The rocky came right back into your hand and was a nice shooter even with underwood warm ammo and I really like commander size 1911's and it was naturally accurate for me. A fast fun 10mm. After the initial issues it ran great but there will be another 10mm 1911 in my future but I wouldn't hesitate getting another rocky

Re: 1911 barrel buff?

Posted: October 5th, 2019, 3:51 pm
by YNOTAZ
Kingjoey wrote: September 8th, 2019, 3:18 pm Bring it down here with some good bourbon and I'll go through and get it fitted and polished for ya. The RI guns are pretty tightly made, but the final fitment and machining leave a lot to be desired.
Go for the bourbon fix. you will be happy with the work and the results.