Avatar
Search
Forum Scope




Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
Lost password?
sp_Feed sp_PrintTopic sp_TopicIcon
Winchester 1911
Avatar
Rick Enos
Guest
Guests
1
April 22, 2025 - 1:40 pm
sp_Permalink sp_Print

I just purchase a real nice Winchester 1911. Problem. The barrel won’t move. I took the stock off and took the barrel off. It’s not loaded. It just frozen. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

Avatar
Jeremy P
The Great State
Member
WACA Member
Forum Posts: 912
Member Since:
April 30, 2023
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
2
April 22, 2025 - 3:47 pm
sp_Permalink sp_Print

Hello! I’m assuming this is a 1911 shotgun.

If the barrel removable, I’m assuming it’s not frozen to the receiver or something. The spring pressure on those is stronger than almost anything you’ve ever handled before. Are you putting enough force into it to chamber/cock it? 

This is how it became known as the “widowmaker”, the spring is so strong, people had to place the butt on the ground and grab the textured part of the barrel and force it down to cock it.

Avatar
Zebulon
Texas
Member
WACA Member
Forum Posts: 1186
Member Since:
January 20, 2023
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
3
April 22, 2025 - 5:16 pm
sp_Permalink sp_Print sp_EditHistory

Often with both thumbs over the bore.  

I’m not intimately familiar with the 1911 clockwork: 

IS THERE ANY MECHANICAL CONDITION OF THE LOCKWORK THAT MIGHT, IF A PART FAILS TO RELEASE OR MOVE, MIGHT INDIRECTLY PRECLUDE THE BREECHBLOCK FROM MOVING WITH THE BARREL TO THE REAR. For example, an interrupter or a lifter.

Before doing much else, I would get a small can of the gunsmith’s friend, KROIL penetrating oil and apply a little around the circumference of the barrel where it’s extension enters the receiver.  I would also, if feasible, remove the forearm and inspect the ring that traverses the magazine tube, to look for any corrosion. 

Let the Kroil work for 24 hours. Then stabilize the butt and try again. 

- Bill 

 

WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist

"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Avatar
Jeremy P
The Great State
Member
WACA Member
Forum Posts: 912
Member Since:
April 30, 2023
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
4
April 22, 2025 - 6:18 pm
sp_Permalink sp_Print

Guts-wise it’s very similar to a Browning Auto-5, I’m thinking he’s not overcoming the spring pressure…I’d have to dig in it again to see if there’s a piece that can hang up, but simple solutions first!

Avatar
Zebulon
Texas
Member
WACA Member
Forum Posts: 1186
Member Since:
January 20, 2023
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
5
April 22, 2025 - 11:19 pm
sp_Permalink sp_Print

10-4.  Hard to tell much without seeing it but I’ve not had the experience of handling one and trying to cock it. If the magazine is empty, does the bolt lock open when you push the barrel in far enough to reset the trigger?

 

My 1955 Auto-5 set up for field loads still takes a firm grip and determination to push barrel into the receiver far enough to get the cap screwed back on. Pushing the barrel assembly far enough down to latch the breechbolt open requires resting the butt on the rug and putting my weight onto the vertical barrel.

As you say, he may not realize the amount of force necessary to compress the recoil spring all the way to the rear.

Just thinking about leaning over a 1911 with its butt on the ground to cock it and chamber a round, then losing my grip on a slick, oily barrel and causing a slamfire while my face is inline- with the bore — gives me cold chills. I’ve had occasions in decades past to examine 8×10 color evidence photos showing what an ounce or so of lead shot did to a human head fired from near contact distance. All you can say good about it is it was quick and likely painless. 

- Bill 

 

WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist

"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Forum Timezone: UTC 0
Most Users Ever Online: 4623
Currently Online: steve004, pine_worker, TXGunNut, Bill Hanzel, Ben
Guest(s) 952
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
clarence: 7119
TXGunNut: 6436
Chuck: 5852
steve004: 5201
1873man: 4701
deerhunter: 2709
Big Larry: 2553
twobit: 2502
mrcvs: 2209
Maverick: 2041
Newest Members:
WebleyScott
Task1
1886
Jerome Stevens
Arkansas mike
Freeweb1991
Birchie
Ed Tichota
JDawg123
Mlarkman
Forum Stats:
Groups: 1
Forums: 18
Topics: 14795
Posts: 132378

 

Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 2057
Members: 10039
Moderators: 3
Admins: 4
Administrators: Mike Hager, Bert H., JWA, SethJ
Moderators: Rob Kassab, Brad Dunbar, Heather
Navigation