ATI FX Fatboy Thread

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by Conn38B

Rounds eject and nail me squarely in the forehead. ...I believe this will become my project gun

Yep. I had an empty case draw blood. It left a nice ) cut [also known as a "smiley"] right on my forehead. No wonder the range master was looking at me funny when I left.

I've been fiddly-farting around with this pistol and am still trying to get it to run without a jam. Stay tuned.

[Conn38B]

@Hicompression I could let myself get real spun up about this situation but I am looking at it as more of a challenge...I am going to get this thing to work right! But if it was my only gun I might be rather upset.

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by Conn38B

I could let myself get real spun up about this situation but I am looking at it as more of a challenge...I am going to get this thing to work right! But if it was my only gun I might be rather upset.

The good thing is that the ATI "Titan" shares almost all the same internals as the Fatboy. You can learn quite a bit reading about the issues with the Titans on this forum too.

[Conn38B]

Just got the Fatboy back today. Looking it over it is covered in grease! looks to me like it has been fired a few times. The plunger tube has been replaced.
I will give a full report tomorrow when I get back from the range.

[Boarhunter]

As I mentioned earlier, I have been very satisfied with my Fatboy, and it is both accurate and reliable. But what I forgot to mention was that a gunsmith buddy had to spend about 10 minutes on it with a file evening out some of the "innerds" before it became reliable....

My only "problem" with the gun now is that I took a file to the rear sight because point of impact was too high. But I got a bit carried away, and now the point of impact is too low.... At some point I need to either find after-market replacements sights that fit, or see if I can order another rear sight from the factory and start over.

I like the heck out of the gun. It just takes some massaging to get it right.

Boarhunter

Ps: My 12-round factory mags hold 11 rounds....

[Conn38B]

Well I'm back from the range. I was able to get about 40 rounds through it before the plunger tube came off again! I have emailed the company and I'm waiting for a response.
I am determined to get this thing to work properly!!

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by Conn38B

I am determined to get this thing to work properly!!

I have the same mentality about mine! I will get it working. It's such a good looking pistol. I'm going to test a bunch of tuning I did to it this coming monday. If the gun still jams with the Colt Defender recoil assembly and 19 Lb Kimber large recoil spring, I'm going to switch 100% to the Kimber assembly and hand fit their reverse bushing to my slide.

[Conn38B]

I have the Colt recoil assembly on order. Let us know how the Kimber parts work out for you!

[karl1968]

Originally Posted by Conn38B

I am determined to get this thing to work properly!!

Originally Posted by Hicompression

I have the same mentality about mine! I will get it working.

...this is the correct mentality interesting 3D

[temtone]

what different types of holsters does everyone have for their fatboy?

[Conn38B]

Good question, I am very curious what holster others are using!
I have a Galco IWB for a 3" 1911 but the Fatboy didn't work well so I settled on a belly-waist band

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o03_s00_i00

very comfortable

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by temtone

what different types of holsters does everyone have for their fatboy?

As it stands right now, my Fatboy is not reliable enough to carry. I haven't even considered a holster.

[Conn38B]

Right! I agree! My Kimber is my carry, my ATI is my project.

[Hicompression]

OK...so I took the Fatboy back out to the range today. I had performed the following work to it since the last visit:

1.) Re-tensioned the extractor (too tight)
2.) Installed a Kimber Ultra Carry 18 Lb large recoil spring on the Colt Defender recoil spring assembly.

I put 150 rounds through it today. The pistol ran great with the stock 12 round ATI magazine until the last round. The last round would always stove pipe. After two mags of experiencing this problem...I switched over to the 14 round MecGar magazine. The pistol functioned flawlessly! The slide would lock back on the last round and I had zero FTF's or FTE's through the rest of the 150 rounds.

I would consider the pistol fixed! I loaded the 14 round MecGar magazine to capacity.

So in summary, the following contributed to the success of fixing my Fatboy:

1.) New Colt Defender recoil assembly
2.) New Kimber Ultra Carry 18 Lb large recoil spring
3.) Re-tuning the extractor tension (too tight)
4.) Polishing and filing the extractor face/tip to factory specifications
5.) New Mec-Gar 14 round magazine

I hope the ATI reverse recoil spring plug holds up. I know this is a weak point on the pistol. I'll just replace it with a hand-fitted Kimber reverse recoil spring plug if it fails.

I took three pistols to the range today: Customized Norinco, Taurus PT1911 SS and my ATI Fatboy. I must say...I had the most fun shooting the Fatboy!

[Hicompression]

After shooting my Fatboy Monday and finding that it seemed to function flawlessly (yay!) I tore it down to clean it today. I noticed the reverse spring plug was cracked in the corners (boo!). So, I now have the infamous cracked reverse spring plug that plagues the ATI Titans also. I've attached some pics. It appears as if a custom fitted Kimber Ultra Carry spring plug is in my future...




Zoomed in:

[XinTX]

You're lucky. Mine showed no evidence of cracking. At the range, on about the 20th round the entire front end of the reverse plug went downrange, never to be seen again. ATI really needs to fix this. Look at the thickness of the web where that corner is. It's so thin there's no wonder it cracks so easily. I wonder if that's why they use such a wussy little recoil spring. Just to lighten the load on that weak plug.

[Hicompression]

Rather than purchasing the whole Kimber recoil spring assembly with plug for $47, I went ahead and ordered the Colt Defender recoil spring plug for $17. I decided to purchase the Colt plug since I am already running the Defender recoil spring assembly. I will be custom fitting it to the pistol.

[Hicompression]

Background: The ATI compact Fatboys and Titans have a problem with the reverse recoil spring plug cracking (inferior design). Many of us owners have converted to using the Colt Defender recoil assembly as the backer plate on the ATI recoil assembly gets peened to death, cracks and in addition, uses a crappy phillips head screw to retain the backer plate to the guide rod.

My ATI Fatboy spring plug cracked while running the Defender recoil spring assembly so I just fit the Colt Defender reverse plug to my slide (which took a large amount of filing). The plug is about 1/8" longer and sits further forward. This means the large recoil spring is not under the same amount of compression at battery and there is a gap between the flat end of the front of the guide rod and the front of the bushing. I'm worried that under rapid fire conditions this could allow the end of the spring to pop out of the edge of the bushing.

Any comments on if this is it okay to shoot?


Reverse recoil plugs (ATI on the right, Defender on the left).



Defender assembly in ATI Fatboy slide.



Close up shot of bushing fitment.



Close up shot of slide in battery with gap between flat end of guide rod and bushing exposing spring.

[Hicompression]

Well, I haven't shot the pistol with the Defender plug yet (good thing).

I took apart the Colt Defender recoil assembly to clean the inner spring and telescoping guide rod and found that the tubular spring retainer was cracked where the large outer spring rides on the shoulder! I just can't catch a break with this thing!

Now...I'll admit that I ran a 21 Lb Wolff "Kimber" outer spring for about 50 rounds and I'm wondering if that is what killed the Defender recoil assembly.

So...Now I have placed an order for the Kimber recoil assembly hoping that the overall length of the bushing is shorter so there is no gap. I know the gap between the front of the bushing and the flat front of the telescoping guide rod shouldn't scare me...but it does.

Stay tuned....

[Hicompression]

So I borrowed these pics from a post by Grizz44. Good info.

[Conn38B]

great pictures! Thanks for posting!
I just got an alert from UPS that my FatBoy is on it's way back. I had to send it back a to ATI to have the plunger tube reattached, this is the second time I've had to do this!
I have a Colt recoil assembly ready and waiting when the gun arrives tomorrow. My recoil plug is a little beat up but isn't cracked so I will use that and order a Colt bushing.
Is there a lip on the inside of the Colt bushing? Since the end of your guide rod is slightly recessed (with the Cold bushing) is there a lip that might catch the end of the guide rod? that would be the only thing I would be worried about.
Let's keep each other updated!

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by Conn38B

Is there a lip on the inside of the Colt bushing? Since the end of your guide rod is slightly recessed (with the Cold bushing) is there a lip that might catch the end of the guide rod? that would be the only thing I would be worried about.
Let's keep each other updated!

Yes there is a lip on the front inside. It's the front inside "shoulder" of the bushing that the large recoil spring rides on. That's what worries me too. I'm worried about the following:

1. The spring popping out the gap under extreme rapid fire conditions.
2. The flat of the front telescoping guide rod catching on the inside "lip" of the bushing.

I've got the Kimber assembly coming in. Maybe it will fit without a gap...

[crashoverrideplik]

Just a thought but have you tried to use the stock recoil plug with a GI guide rod like they have been talking in the Kimber forum:

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=359564

I did this on a my Springfield Champion and it works great. I assume it would also work in your gun. Might be worth a look.

[Hicompression]

Originally Posted by crashoverrideplik

Just a thought but have you tried to use the stock recoil plug with a GI guide rod like they have been talking in the Kimber forum:
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=359564

I appreciate the info, but the problem is, is that the Commander is a 4" gun while the ATI Fatboy andTitans are 3" guns (which is the same length as the Colt Defender and Kimber Ultra Carry). Due to these being "micro" 1911's I've been told this won't work. Unless...someone can prove/show me differently!

[Hicompression]

I borrowed the following pics from member jtsteiert. The Kimber plug has the same issue as the Colt Defender. It has the gap at the front.