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Colt Defender brass to the face.

8K views 22 replies 21 participants last post by  tex_n_cal 
#1 ·
Wife bought a Defender three weeks ago. She decided it was not what she wanted so she turned it over to me.

She bought it new and it came with rosewood grips, no emblem. The gun is extremely similar to my Colt Wiley Clapp CCO. I thought that if it was reliable and accurate it would make a better carry gun than the CCO. I proved reliable right off the bat. After a couple of hundred rounds it is accurate.

The problem is it is spitting brass in my face. From one seven round mag today I had three bloody wounds to the head. These were all WWB 230 round nose.

I will be trying some lighter weight bullets to see if that changes things. The little tit on the top of the ejector port is very shiny, I suspect this might be causing the cases to eject back, rather than out. The problem seems to be worse when I relax my grip a little while trying to be accurate. When I have a firmer grip for fast follow up shots it doesn't seem to be a problem. I just can't shoot tight groups with a real firm grip, that's with all guns.

I wonder if the lighter bullets don't do the trick if a heavier recoil spring might help. I picked up a couple of pieces of brass on the left side of where I was shooting from.

My wife never complained of brass hitting her in the face. I know her firmest grip is lighter than my light grip. The gun has about 400 rounds through it, so I doubt the recoil spring is shot, but I don't rule it out. I have seen springs wear out prematurely.

Any suggestions.
 
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#2 ·
First check extractor tension. Is this a new Defender, or just new to you? The fact it goes away with a firmer grip is a clue, sounds like extractor/ejector. You can do a search here under "brass in the face" and read about others experience - and solutions.
If it is new, and you or a local smith cannot sort it out, contact Colt. CC
 
#3 ·
Grrrrrrr.....

I know this is an aggravation situation.

Your wife went after a wanted gun.....and it didn't work out. You adopt the little pup and he's misbehaving for you, too.

I've had ejection patterns change in small....small....amounts with grip pressure changes, too. It was more noticeable on a Commander I had.

The shorter grip frame and shorter slide length of the Defender may exacerbate this effect for me as well.

One thing is for sure.....I'm also going to be house training a pup from the same breed in the months ahead. :) I've ordered a .45acp Colt Defender that I have designs on making a trusted carry gun.

One buddy, thinks I've acted prematurely by already ordering a Milt Sparks Criterion for it.....before I'll even see if this dog will even hunt.

I take confidence, though, in the absolute fact of my collective experience with the 4 Colt 1911's I've owned at one point or another. They are the only brand of the design that have fed-and-fired flawlessly for me....regardless of magazine brand used. 100% of the time.

One of them never even had the benefit of pre-use wipe down and lube....I picked the gun up....drove to the range.....and just racked the slide and slipped a bore snake down the tube to ensure it was clear at least......and then a box of American Eagle .45acp downrange. Not the way I do things now, of course.

Truth is that over the years I've had revolvers that offered me more trouble and ANY of my Colts. I know the comparison that I'm about to make will be cause for cringing from some and cause me complete scorn from others......but in my very limited shooting experience over the last 20+ years......my Colt performance is only exceeded in that of one other manufacturer that I've much more range time with.....and that is with Glocks. I've owned more of them and fired way more rounds through them. These two brands share the 100% reliability in feed-and-fire for me. I've admitted here before that I'm a fan of these black guns...so hopefully the floggings will be minimal with this admission. :) Besides...in the sweaty heat and humidity, rainy morning walks, woods carry and other times when it may get banged up.....why not abuse a Glock? :rofl:


I take further confidence in your reliability experience with that little Defender. I hope that mine will follow suit. The brass-to-the-face will not be fun.....but sounds like something that has been sorted out by others and hopefully can be resolved without much difficulty.

A Defender really would be a great carry solution as long as it's well mannered and functions in the Colt way. Looking forward to joining your efforts to train one, too.

Good luck. Please keep this thread updated with your experiences and results.
 
#5 ·
I vote extractor tension and you might look at the ejector, but less likely. Both my Defenders are nice little guns but I had that problem with a little RIA once and it was the extractor tension. Pictures.



As for Glocks, if you have never had problems with Glocks, and want a Glock that may give you some, do I have a Glock for you. Again a small little one.

 
#14 ·
As for Glocks, if you have never had problems with Glocks, and want a Glock that may give you some, do I have a Glock for you. Again a small little one.

Dang, dakota, I had just gotten over the nightmares of my POS G36, and now you brought them back. NOOOOOOOOO! :barf:

Glocks may be reliable in general, but that little .45 single stack has a ton of issues. Mine never did stop having FTFs and FTEs, and making 2-3 mm cuts down one side of the brass when it did eject.
 
#6 ·
I know it sounds like a bit of a pain, but I think you should send it back to Colt to be looked at. I've had the same issue and Brent makes the process so easy. In the end, it is worth the time the gun will spend being looked at by Colt. Consider sending Brent a PM and you, like many of us here, will be very pleased with the level of customer service you'll receive. Plus, your ejector and extractor will receive a level of attention that is not otherwise possible in a production line firearm.
 
#7 ·
It's in the wrist

First I never use +P ammo if you did. I only use Hornidy American gunner JHP. But that said Mine is the same Series Defender. With the short stroke slide this will occur if in that Mil second the slide goes forward without the cartridge clearing. I have found locking my wrist so the gun stays levels stop my occasional ejection from coming straight back. Works for me. I use the weaver stance and grip. Worth a try.
 
#9 ·
Out of the box, mine would randomly pop me in the head. I sent it off to Alchemy for some other work, and when it came back, I did not notice getting hit with brass. It still throws it, but it did not hit me. Rob may have adjusted the extractor tension when he had it in the shop or changed tension on its own after so many rounds downrange.
 
#10 ·
Had the same issue with my new Series 70 repro last month. I contacted Brent and sent it back to Colt. Came back in about two weeks. I have been too busy to get out to the range but I'm confident the problem has been addressed. I couldn't ask for better customer service. Thanks Brent.
 
#11 ·
Part of the recoil character is a bit of twisting force as the round is spun by the rifling. When you loosen your grip I wonder if you're allowing some rotation.
 
#12 ·
The Defender was known for smacking shooters in the face with brass. Back when the gun was introduced my wife and I went to a local range were Colt's was having a range day to let people shoot the new Defender.

The ejected brass hit her in the head several times... she decided she didn't need one... Colt's rep claimed they knew the problem and production guns would be fixed.

A a year or two later a friend bought one... it did the same thing to him, cutting his face a couple of times... he sent it to Colt's at least twice and they were never able to solve the problem... we nicknamed his gun "The BIG BOPPER." :rolleyes: Sort of half humorously:scratch:

My advice... sell the thing post haste and get something more reliable.

FWIW

Chuck
 
#13 ·
My Defender did the same thing, and I shaped the extractor exactly to shape and the tension right on. Still nailed me in the forehead. Put in an "Ed Brown" extractor, which had a wider end to grip the case rim better, and solved the problem with it ejecting to the right. I have my triple layer "flame suit" on, so the "Flamers" won't bother me.
 
#17 ·
brass to face

Ditto on brass to face with with the Colt Defacer. Drew blood last weekend have checked tension its fine. Will try the Ed Brown extracter but will wear a hat while testing it huge disappointment with the pistol. Will not waste my time sending back to colt.
 
#19 ·
Money problems at Colt have started to hit it sounds. If you reload. File through the side of a case with a needle file. Resize the case set a slug in case and set it at your normal length in the barrel. Eject by hand if you have a snag on the land it will show by the scratch and position on the case plus the degree its off on the slug.I do this to find the exact slug set length on my own loads. Good luck.
 
#20 · (Edited)
My Defender did the same thing. I reversed the angle on the face of the ejector to a upward facing angle and put a slight bevel to the right. After that the cases went high and right, never got hit again. Basically what I did was match it to the ejector in my Series 70 Government model which never threw brass at me. From brass marks on the ejection port it appeared the downward facing angle on the stock ejector was kicking the case down and to the right and they were bouncing off the edge of the ejection port and back up into my head.
 
#21 ·
Buttanic is right on the money. Provided you have correct recoil spring tension to lock the slide back after the last round and the spent case extracts from the chamber normally prior to extraction, the configuration of the nose of the ejector determines the the trajectory of the spent casing as it exits the ejection port. Changing the vertical angle of the face of the ejector determines how high or low the case is ejected. Sloping the face horizontally will change the front to back angle of its ejection within the limits of the shape of the ejection port. The defender uses an ejector that has an extended nose. This is different from the ejectors on most of the full size 1911's. It begins the ejection earlier in the rearward action of the slide as it recoils. The slide is moving back faster at this point and the spent casing is probably ejected with more force, all other factors being equal. This forum has a wealth of information previously posted on this topic.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Before you spend money!

In your post you said it all. Don't happen all the time had a loose grip. Try the weaver method of handling the weapon to shoot. Astablush a firm grip with trigger hand wrap nongun hand with finger over fingers thumb next to thumb push forward with trigger hand pull back with non trigger hand elbow lower then gun and slight bend. Double tap a few mags to get the feel. Oh might as well finish. If your right handed. Left foot points towards target right foot 90 angle weight on right foot. Shoot at target. Classic Weaver method. Good shooting be safe. Defenders are great guns.
 
#23 ·
It is annoying to have the case hit you hard in the forehead, mouth first, like a cookie cutter.

But it is amusing to the see the look on his face, when you walk into the rangemaster's office, with a round bleeding hole in your forehead.

Shorten the ejector. It only takes a few thousandth's of an inch. You can do it at the range, file a little, reassemble & test again.
 
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