To check for chamber problems, do the "drop test". Remove the 1911 barrel and hold it chamber side up. Then drop a brand new factory cartridge into the chamber; it should go all the way down and even with the barrel hood lip. If it doesn't then you have a chamber problem. If it does then the next suspect is the extractor. If the extractor has too much tension then it will interfere with loading the cartridge; too little tension can cause problems with extracting the spent case. The 1911 forums have stickys on do-it-yourself extractor tensioning. If you don't have confidence in diong this a good gunsmith should be able to fix the problem in just a few minutes while you wait.
Charlie
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