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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.
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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.
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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.
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!
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.
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