Browning 1911-380 Handgun troubleshooting

Sight fell off?

I got the Pro model to avoid the plastic sights which fall off. I had to get the night sights which don't work for me but they don't fall off. I do feel your pain.

Calamity, With my old eyeballs acquiring a clear front sight picture is always a challenge. With no front sight...no problem

You have a point. I'm new to guns. I haven't learned how to shoot without sights yet.

I was pretty disappointed after my first trip to the range with my 1911-380 pro compact. A lot of failures to feed with both of the magazines. I found this thread, and tightened up the lips on both magazines. Ran 200 rounds through the pistol today, and only 2 failures to feed. Much better. I'm using Fiocchi FMJ. I'll give the pistol a good cleaning and lube and try another 200. This thing is pretty darn accurate, best shooter that I own so far. Is any company making after market parts for the pistol yet? I'd like to eliminate the RH safety lever, and also have the grip safety tweaked. I've had a few instances where if I don't have a correct grip on the gun, the grip safety is not disengaging.

I pretty much had the same experience. I don't know about any after market parts except for some Rassco grips. There is a video on the internet explaining how to take 1/1000 inch off your grip safety so it is not so finicky about your grip. I had a gunsmith file off a little and now the grip safety is 100 % at the range and 99% when dry firing. The gun is back at Browning being fixed for a minor problem. I miss it. What kind of sights do you have?

I have the steel white dot sights. Thanks for the tip on the internet video, I'll see if I can find it.

How to Modify the Grip Safety on a 1911 Pistol is the title.

Finally got 300 rounds or so of round nosed Federal ammo through mine and the stove pipe issue seems to have disappeared. My first ammo through the gun was some flat faced bullets and also hollow points that seemed to hang up. My clips measure .317 to .319 at the lip posted about in other posts here.

I'm glad your gun is breaking in. I'm surprised your magazine lips are more narrow than mine. I used some flat nosed ammo also. The stove pipes cleared up. Mine is in the shop. I've bought 4 other guns since I sent it in. The gun, however, which I want to learn with is my Black Label. I don't even remember what it feels like. It could take 11 more weeks before I get it back. The problem was a stripped grip screw hole. (Don't know the proper name.) I really can't wait to see it again.

Was your stripped screw by any chance on the right hand (looking down on gun, or the ejection port side) side top screw? Thought I had one, actually on both 1911's that I own when swapping out stocks between the two. Ended up swapping what appeared to be all the same length screws around and pressing real hard to get the screw to start. When I looked into the thread cavity it looked like the threads didn't start until further down into the screw bore, both guns.

It was the upper right side, ejection side. I thought of tapping the hole a little bigger and using a larger screw, then I thought that I should
try to keep the gun in good condition incase I sell it. Thought of gluing it but also wanted to be able to change grips at will so didn't want to permanently secure it. I never really looked at it but gave it to the gunsmith to decide what to do with it. He sent it back. The bottom screw on the other grip kept coming loose but the thteads were fine. When I get the gun back I will use some Loctite to keep it from coming out. I guess I was too picky. Next time - Duck tape. When the gun comes back I'll see how deep the threads start. The gunsmith should have noted if that were the case. Thanks for the information, incase I encounter it again. Jane

Browning service call

Called Browning service regarding consistant 7th round stovepiping with both my new Browning magazines. I ended up sending my 1911-380 along with the magazines to Arnold, MO on Browning’s two day UPS paid label on Oct 5th. Timeline is thus:

Acknowledged receipt: 11 Oct

Assigned gunsmith: 18 Oct

Repaired: 27 Oct

Ready for shipment: 31 Oct

Packaged and ready for shipment: 1 Nov

Received by me: 4 Nov

Shipping statement indicates a new “barrel assembly” and 4 “magazine kits” were issued for this repair. The two magazines returned to me (not 4, dang it) appear to be unused/new. The barrel appears to be almost new/unused as there are no rub marks at the chamber or behind the muzzle like my ~500 round used bbl had. Also, the chamber mouth was relieved as if for semi-wadcutters and the underside edge of the barrel hood has a proper chamfer which the previous bbl did not exhibit at all. There is some evidence of hand polishing the chamber mouth; I don’t know if this is normal production or not. If I had known the barrel would have been considered for replacement I’d have taken a few “before”pictures.

The gun came back to me pretty clean and properly greased/oiled; better than I do after a trip to the range but still some smoke around the breech that showed they actually fired at least a couple of rounds in testing.

The two magazine lips measure .325” and .327” as best I can measure with my digital calipers, about the same as the magazines I sent back to Browning with the gun. Upon magazine disassembly though, the returned springs are 6.12” over all in the relaxed state and .035” wire dia. Compared to 5.68” relaxed length and .034/.033” wire dia. (The wire diameter measurement is not very repeatable with the caliper and micrometer I have at home, so the wires, new and old may both be the same diameter.)

Two trips to the gun club and about 120 rounds down range:

No 7th round bobble or any other failures other than a failure to chamber a round completely late in the 2nd session. This was on the 4th round from the magazine and 60-70 rounds into the session. Is this due to a mis-shapen round, dirty chamber or weak recoil spring?

When the trigger was pulled, the hammer fell and finished chambering the round but it received a light strike, off center of the primer and failed to fire.

If the slide is more than about 1/16” out of battery, the disconnector won’t allow the sear to release so the hammer can’t fall and the firing pin stop interferes with the hammer hitting the firing pin anyway. If out of battery less than 1/16th” the barrel lugs are still engaged so I think this is normal with the JMB design.

Subsequent rounds fed without incident. The magazine springs however have taken a set and now measure only 6.00” length in the disassembled, relaxed state; the mag lips remain at .325-327” width. Some of my practice 380 brass is less than pristine; I probably shouldn’t be using these to prove function of the gun.

In any case, much improved reliability. I’ll continue to monitor the magazine spring length and if no other problems occur in the next 100-200 rounds or so I’ll consider the gun adequately reliable.

Thanks, Doug. I'm going to get mine of the back of the safe and give it another go...and send it back it there's trouble. Appreciate the update on yours.

When I called, the Browning service rep asked me when I had bought the gun (April 2016) before he offered to send me a prepaid label so keep that in mind as time "may" be of essence.
I wish I knew why the "barrel assembly" was replaced since I'm of the opinion the magazine springs are the culprit. Of course, they know more via customer feedback than I do.

Incidentally, cute dog in your avatar, RB. This isn't our dog but our neighbor's that we babysit for sometimes. He's looking kind of crocodilian in this picture but he's just basking in the dripping of our swamp cooler this summer.[/IMG] [/IMG] I think he's actually asleep in this picture.

She thanks you. That's her baby picture, she's almost two, now.

Glad your gun is back safe. I've had problems with other brand magazines not "releasing" the last cartridge. Mine has been in the shop a while. I'm glad to know they do return from what could be a black hole. Jane

Welcome to the Browning Owners Forum Macon George !!

Enjoy our community...

My gun was in "final inspection" a week ago so I should see it soon. Browning replaced the frame. I have a hex driver that fits the grip screws. I hope to get the grips screwed and glued and live happily ever after. It took purchasing 6 guns to replace my Browning while it was in the shop. I hope it is as good as I remember it being.