New 1911 (Remington r1) owner here, tested out a couple different rounds at the range today and am looking for some opinions. Had the predictable issues with some standard hollow points I use in my other .45.
I carry Winchester Ranger T-Series 230grn +P Hollowpoints for mine.
When plinking and practice, 230grn Lead reloads
I used to carry Hornady Critical Defense rounds (Normal, and zombie flavor) but switched to the Rangers because the CD rounds don't seem to hold up very well with rechambering after cleaning or cycling ammo out to practice. The petals deform pretty easy.
Never had a problem with 230 gr fmj or 200Gr lead SWC in any of my 1911s. For my handloads I'm using 3.8gr of Clays under a Vance 200gr lead SWC with an OAL of 1.255. Soft load that feeds without issue. For SD/HD I use the Speer Gold dot or the Federal HST. No feed problems with either.
230 gr Federal Hydro Shocks is the current carry load, have some similar gold dots that thinking of going to after doing some shooting with the gold dots.
Some 1911s report feeding problem with certain hollow-point ammo, so please be sure to test your ammo. It has to do with the ramp, I believe. If the ramp is one-piece, extending from the barrel, then there shouldn't be feeding problems. If the ramp is in two-pieces, then there might be a problem.
Hornady has a defensive round that fills in the hollow part of the bullet with some sort of rubbery substance, so as to give it the shape that the 1911 was designed for.
You might want to polish the ramp just to make sure.
Ball ammo for practice. Most cheap brands will do. I don't recommend the Russian steel casings, because they are a little harder on the extractor.
Hollow points like Gold Dots, Golden Sabers and HST have a more rounded ogive that is closer to what round nose bullets are and tend to feed better in guns that have feed issues.
I would be kind of upset with a modern manufactured 1911 (or other pistol) that didn't reliably feed modern hollow points.
I have the same 1911. Only thing I stay away from is Winchester White Box. About 1 in 4 won't feed correctly. Everything else works great - PMC, Federal, Remington HPs, Hornady HPs, etc.
That's interesting because gold dot was the only one that gave me problems consistently. Had two initial loads jam ad the the 3rd round jammed on loading. 3 jams in 5 clips turned me off.