Advantage Arms Conversion failure to load

I have an Advantage Arms conversion for my 1911 up until the last match it has been working flawlessly then all the sudden I started to get some problems with the gun getting the next round into the chamber it wound shave the lead or bend the round at the lead or dent the brass.  It is their target model I shoot SV rounds, I have the reduced recoil spring in place for SV loads.  I have tried it with 5 different magazines factory polymer and GSG mags they all are doing the same thing.  I even went as far as trying a different 45 frame still getting the same issues.  It worked all of last season with just an occasional FTE but now it is terrible I cannot use it in a match it barely finished the last one.  Because it came about suddenly and is getting worse it seems like something got tweeked a little but I cant figure it out.  Advantage Arms is too busy to take calls but I do have an email into them as well.  I really want to like this thing..

Thanks in advance
Mike

I would make sure the chamber is clean. Other than that, I'm not sure. My AA conversion has had reliability issues with their magazines, but seems to be 100% with Nelson mags.

Are you using the same ammunition as before? My first suggestion would be to try different ammo, but I know the problem that presents these days.
JKR

Yes the same ammo, I was into the timed fire string when it started to act up. I was able to finish so when I got home a did a complete cleaning and went to the range and it was failure to feed with every magazine and some even failed to chamber the first round - there is a piece on the slide that sits above the magazine it looks like it is supposed to help guide the round from the magazine? Perhaps it is out of alignment?

Hard to diagnose without seeing it. I’ve never owned an AA but assume it works the same as the others. I once had a similar problem with a Marvel. Discovered a broken firing pin was causing the rim to hang up and not go into alignment with the chamber. This didn’t happen on every round and the pistol would still fire a chambered round. Something to check. 
JKR

Mike,

There are many component interactions on the AA conversion that can cause a jam.  I have been learning new things about it all the time, though the mechanics seem fairly straight forward.  The AA basically the same mechanics as Marvel and Nelson.  Differences are in materials, fit and tolerances as far as I can see.  Having looked at all 3 I can confidently say that AA example I have is much tighter tolerances than the Marvel and Nelson, which is good and bad.  We all want to have tight guns, but there is really no reason to be tight on these conversions.  I understand your problem and it's same issue I have been having intermittently, though I think I have solved it.  It may be one thing or a combination of things, so I will write up what I know.

1) Barrel fit to the gun - vertical fit of the barrel will play a role of how the round is chambered from the magazine.  If you already had it running well then you are good here. Horizontal fit of the lug will play a role whether the barrel will be slightly tilted when you tighten the guide rod to the slide stop pin.  Too much tilt and your ramp is off and you are feeding incorrectly.  If you already had it running well then you are good here.
2) Slide fit to the gun - if too tight then your timing is off and your slide is slowing down more than it should.  If I learned it correctly these conversions like it when the round is slammed into barrel with some speed, otherwise the round gets pushed up into the upper rim of the barrel. If you already had it running well then you are good here.
3) Magazine fit - magazine to barrel feeding proximity, follower angle to the barrel, feed lip - all play a role how the bullet angles into the barrel.  Ideally you want it to go in straight into the barrel but I have found this does not happen.  Bullets always tend to angle upwards and that slamming power in #2 is needed to get them into the barrel quickly before they have the time to rise up.  GSG worked best for me in all the aforementioned regards.  If you already had it running well then you are good here.
4) Recoil spring - regulates timing of the ejection and new round feed.  Too stiff and you get stovepipes on ejection as the slide closes on round before it had a chance to exit.  No feed as the slide is closing too fast on the round before it gets a chance to angle itself properly into the barrel.  Too soft and you are not feeding new round fast enough into the barrel, it has a chance to angle itself too far upward, sticking nose into the barrel top and get smashed by the slide on the side. 
5) Mainspring - in conjunction with recoil spring if can slow down the rearward motion of slide too fast, causing same issues described above when spring is too stiff. 
6) Bumper / buffer pad - an overlooked part it is essential in the grand scheme of things. I found original AA part to be too soft, it broke down on me fast.  It did, however, pad the recoil nicely, slows down the slide rearward motion as it should.  Nelson will fit into AA, costs less, tends to be stiffer.  Because it is stiffer few things happen - a) slide is not going far back enough until you break in the part a bit.  b) because it is stiffer it causes shock (vs more gradual slow-down) and spring-back, making the slide feel like it has stiffer spring than it does. This causes stovepipes as there is a lack of space and time to extract, and misfeed where round does not have enough time to align into the barrel properly.  Nelson does have longevity though and over time works well, even better in warm temperatures as the material softens.  

Learning the combination of all of the above takes time and patience, plus every gun is different.  
You said you changed spring - that may have caused the issue.  My conversion does not like HV or SV springs, it likes HV springs clipped off several coils.  It is learning to like SV spring ))  Look at the buffer pad to determine if you need to change it out for a new one.  These seem to be the only 2 variables that are prone to common wear on the AA.  In my experience and peer comments looks like timing and angles account for 99% of troubles with these conversions.  If you had no issues before that means your angles are good (unless mechanical flaws appeared, more on that below).  I would look at the timing of components - spring and buffer. 

I am sure you can visually inspect everything else to see if all is good.  Things to look for are bolt face, barrel and feed ramp.  Make sure you did not peen the barrel dry firing or something - there would be visible indent at the 12 oclock, which can dent the barrel enough to block the opening, check chamber by placing a bullet in it to make sure it goes in smooth. 

I super highly doubt your mainspring wore off, last thing to check. 

Good luck,
Yev

Tripscape has a very good analysis of the interaction of the various pieces of the conversion kits. In my personal experience, the only time my Nelson has consistently failed to chamber the next round was when the guide rod, which locks the barrel in place, was loose allowing the barrel to tip and ride high. Perhaps something has gotten between the frame and barrel changing this dimension.

Thank you for all the suggestions, gives me some areas to look at.  

Yev -0 Thank you for the detailed information, I am hoping I get it figured  out I sure want to like this thing

Mike

Any chance that something changed in the height of your magazine, and somehow they are too high?  

With Nelson, there are different magazine catches/releases that I think allow you to get to the proper height.  If yours has a problem, then all your mags would fail.

Never tried this, but can you take the spring out, and try to load a round (maybe dummy round) manually, to see where it is going?



I had a similar problem, but with a High Standard.  The lips on the magazine control the height of the bullet as it heads to the chamber.  For me, I need to bend the "lips" to get this to happen at the right height.

Have you tried a Nelson plastic magazine, or won't it work in your gun?


You might find some useful information here:
https://www.bullseyeforum.net/t12718p50-nelson-conversion-kit

From a different forum:  I think I had that little plastic buffer in backwards the entire time. Once I flipped it around I have only had one FTFeed. 

First things first: Try a new recoil spring. Then take it from there.

Don't change more than 1 thing at a time or you'll never isolate the problem.