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Discussion in 'Browning 1911 - 380 Handgun' started by Mike in the North, Jun 28, 2021.

  1. After reviewing previous posts on this subject I had a look at the 2 magazines that came with my .380. The sides of the magazine were straight right up to the top. There was really nothing to stop the billets from flipping up when the slide went back. And they did. Regularly. Magazines for all of my other guns are curved inwards at the top.
    I bent the tops inward ever so slightly, and today fired 50 rounds without any problems.
    I can't help but ask: Is this just really bad production control, or is there something about this pistol design that makes it unlike my other guns?
  2. Drewz21

    Drewz21 .22LR

    Hey Mike, I have 8 of the 1911-380 factory mags that I use in my 2 different FS 1911-380's. I've not seen that issue with any of mine from a physical inspection of the magazine or shooting with them. Hate to hear you have/had an issue though.
    I've not yet seen where anyone is making third-party magazines so it sounds like some bad ones may have gone out from Browning.
    Sportsman's Warehouse always seems to have some of the magazines in stock at a decent price.
  3. Thanks for the feedback. I did email Browning, but I never received a reply.
    Much as I like the pistol, I doubt I would ever buy another Browning.
    Have you replaced any of the plastic parts, and if you have, do you have a source?
  4. Drewz21

    Drewz21 .22LR

    I've found both of mine to be rock solid reliable. I posted some pics in another thread of getting them both Cerakoted and I like how they turned out. The only part I replaced on one of mine, and that is in another thread as well, is a stainless steel full length guide rod. I have a link to it in that thread.

    Hope you get things sorted out and get to enjoy this fine gun!
  5. I'll see if I can get the guide rod shipped to Canada. I DO enjoy shooting it, now that it actually works....
  6. I just received 2 new clips. They are turned inwards at the rear of the clip, but the front sides are straight, as were my original ones. I'll see how they shoot in a couple of weeks....
  7. Drewz21

    Drewz21 .22LR

    Hope things go well!
  8. Thanks. Well, either the front sides need to be turned in - or they don't. Since I know I can do it myself, I'm not worried either way. I confess it seems odd to have the rounds held into the clip by such a small portion of the magazine. My gut tells me that it is either poor quality control or a bad design. I THINK that the friction of the bolt moving back puts enough energy into the next round's rim to raise the nose. I'll report on what I find.
  9. I went to the range today with the 4 clips: 2 "corrected", and 2 brand new.
    I started with the new clips. Five rounds each. Most of the empty shells were ejected up and back. One missfeed.
    Moved on the the corrected clips. 4 x 5 rounds each. Proper ejection and no missfeeds.
    CONCLUSIONS: 1) Any new clip will have to be modified; 2) Browning is shipping out clips that are incomplete in that the magazine lips are not formed.
    I assume they know about it and don't give a damn. As such I would not recommend this pistol to anyone, and am not disposed to buy any more of their products -for this reason and for their "quality customer service"...
  10. i was hoping that I would hear that new magazines are being produced that work well. :-(
  11. Not until someone else makes them... :(
  12. I am having a gunsmith "adjust" my pistol, so I hope it will become a dependable EDC? Until then I have purchased a Sig365 and will start to carry it in another couple of hundred rounds. The Sig doesn't feel as good in my hand but it is a nice pistol + 12 rounds + a bit smaller.
    I remain hopeful.
    Scott
  13. Alpha1

    Alpha1 .410

    The "front" part of the magazine, has the sides straight up. The rear of the mag, the bullet primmer side, are curved in. Some people adjust that gap to .310. However, I have been doing a lot of work regarding FTF, my recommendation is for the first step is to load each of your mags with 3 or 4 or more rounds. Pull the slide back and lock. Insert each mag looking carefully to see the position on the round. The nose should just be entering the ramp. If the round is pointing down it will not feed. Try the easiest step first. Disassemble the msg, clean and then spray the spring and follower with Clenzoil. Use clean patches and wipe spring and follower. Go back and try the same thing by loading the mag and inserting mag with receiver locked back. The nose of the cartridge must be pointing up. I have 4 mags three of which passed the test and one did not. I cleaned and used the oil I mentioned and now it works fine. I think the follower design is not as optimum in term of drag. The other thing I discovered is the ejector is too. long and extends past the ejector groove on the round forcing the nose of the round to point down. That was the case in my 380. Using my gunsmith files I carefully removed about .020. I also installed a full length recoil rod. I go the range each time I make a change to validate. I fired over 50 rounds today using 3 different suppliers. The 380 worked perfectly. Now I am sure to get some static on my next comment. Years ago, when I started shooting I never released the receiver lock to feed a round. With the receiver locked I insert a loaded mag, the pull the receiver all the way back to battery and let the round find its home. I just prefer doing it that way because you get the full advantage of the recoil spring. The receiver in the locked position does not fully compress the spring. Even sending my gun back to the factory did not fix the issues.
  14. Alpha1

    Alpha1 .410

    I compared the mags from my Sig P238 and the mags from the 1911-380. The Sig mag is all stainless steel as is the follower. The followers on the 380, do not slide all that wet in my opinion and using Clenzoil in the one mag that I have (out of four) it performed perfectly. Cleaned and oiled and wiped oil off, especially the follower. Once I treated all four mags you could tell the difference in reduce force to depress the follower. Once I got the ejector issue solved along with the mag issues this gun never misses a beat.
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 10, 2022
  15. Alpha1

    Alpha1 .410

    Finally got out to the range today with 4 modified mags. Mods include leveling epoxy under the follower and removing the one exposed top coil that protrudes. Three mags worked perfectly but the third did not feed properly. The problem quickly became clear. The follower had considerable drag which was very obvious when depressed with your finger. The follower must work freely or there will be FTF. So I did a better job of polishiung the follower and it seems to work freely. I decide to install a new recoil spring. I found the spring wire diameter was vertually the same in both samples. However the replacement spring was about .290 longer. I do not have any way to meaure spring constant...yet. I check with Wolff, who make the best springs, and they do not have one for our 1911-380's. My receiver does not lock back after the last round, still working on that. When I fire just one round it locks back. I forgot to mention all four mags hasve the lips spaced from .310 to .312. More to come after firing with new spring and full length guide rod.
  16. Alpha1

    Alpha1 .410

    Most of yu know by now there is a seriosu design issue with the 1911-380. If the protruding spring is removed from the mag the receiver will not lock up open at the last round. That spring is what triggers the lock. No other semi has a mag that operates the lock in that manner. So when I modify the mags the gun shoot great and the FTF issues go away. To make that happen I have to remove the coil that sticks out. Maybe I can figure some way around that but it is a design flaw. However, my choice is to have this gun fire every single time but not having the receover lock after the last round or to have a gun that is clearly unreliable. My guns ahve to shoot each and every time, no exceptions. I can live with the receiver not locking up.
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 1, 2022
  17. wkrp4me

    wkrp4me Guest

    Thanks. As noted in previous posts, we have a compact and full size gun and have been fighting “failure-to-feed” issues since we bought them this summer. Wife has the compact and I have the longer barrel. We have modified the protruding feed wire on some mags, adjusted feed lips, lubricated mags, left mags loaded for days, …etc. We appreciate all the tips we have been given. We have quite a bit of data and photographs that may add to the body of knowledge but all my posts have been in the “1911 380 Problem! Please Help!” conversation over the past few weeks. The most interesting info is probably the photo comparing the machined ejector grooves for various cartridges.

    Net of all this is that yesterday, we fired 6 full 8 round magazines of Sellier & Bellot FMJ thru EACH gun yesterday with ZERO malfunctions. We each fired one full magazine of Fort Scott Cu TUI and one full magazine of Hornady Critical Defense with ZERO issues. We experimented with FMJ versions of Winchester, Freedom, Sig Sauer, and PMC and we had the full range of fail to feed, jams, double ejection, etc.
    All the mags we used yesterday are un-modified wrt protruding spring and feed lips but the mags are clean and lubed, particularly around the follower and the protruding wire. When the mag is ready to insert and cartridge is pointing nose up, but the ammo that gave trouble is presented nose down after mag insertion. It does not “appear” that the ejector is touching the brass, but something sure happens to depress the nose when the mag is inserted for some ammo and not for others.

    Given where we are now, we prefer to be limited in ammo choice, rather than have a non-functioning slide lock, as long as reliability is the same. Before yesterdays range trip, we had established that the S&B ran just fine with the modified mags but the slide lock on last round didn’t function. We do sincerely appreciate all of the assistance and shared info we have received from the forum while trying to make these guns reliable. As we have said before, “they are great guns…when they shoot”
  18. Alpha1

    Alpha1 .410

    After numerous mods to the mags I finally got my 380 working perfectly. Here is what I did: I ordered two new Browning mags. Before you do anything, remove the spring and clean out the inside of the mag. Mine were dirty eventhough they were in a sealed pack.
    Now comes the delicate part. The exposed spring on both mags was sticking out so far it was impossible to load even with a loader, unless you pressed the coil in first. Now with the spring removed adjust the exposed coil so that when you press the follower there is a very very slight resistance. The coil will still stick out of the follower, but about the thickness of the mag. When you load the mag you will not feel the resistance of the coil.. When you do all of this remember that the top coil must be parellel with the bottom coil. If the adjustment is correct the receiver lock will work every time the last round is fired. I fired 50 rounds today with 100% success. The recived locked open every time and the round feed was perfect. I always make sure the nose of the first round is pointing up. So all you need is a needle nose pliers and patience. The mags eject perfectly and when I load a fresh mag, I just press the lock lever and the round feeds in perfectly.
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2022
  19. Alpha1

    Alpha1 .410

    You will know the spring has been adjusted correctly, no resistance is felt when you depress the follower and the mag ejects without and hesitation. With the mag in and no ammo the slide should lock back each and every time. When you have the mag apart and cleaned, using a Q tip apply a very thin coat of gun on the inside where the mag spring rides on.
  20. wkrp4me

    wkrp4me Guest

    Thanks for the update. Looks like the “Browning” world is looking better for us both. (With no thanks to Browning!)

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