[number6]

I've decided to take one of my 1911's and run it every weekend without so much as a lube or clean until she quits running. I have 1400 rounds of FMJ that I will be feeding her. I'm interested in seeing when she'll conk out. I'm guessing somewhere around 1200 rounds. I'll buy more if more is needed. :D

The pistol I'm doing this unscientific test on will be my Springfield Loaded, 5" Service Model OD Green. So far I have fed 207 through her without a burb.

I'll keep you posted.

[number6]

lol..... maybe no one is interested in this test huh? Oh well, I'll still report back and let those of you who care to know how things went.

[guy sajer]

Looks similar to a torture test taking place at another "location" :)
We'll await your reports .

mitch

[Tamara]

My main CCW 1911, a Springfield Pro, is a pain in the buttocks to tear down, given its super-tight bushing. I tend to tear it down only once every few firings, as it's an extreme pain to disassemble (it requires a steel bushing wrench, as it'll just chew up a plastic one.)

I admit, it'd been a while since I tore it apart, which is bad, since I fire at least two mags of carry ammo per week through the gun (most of my practice is with other 1911's that are set up identically.)

Before I get farther into the story, let me first say: mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

Last week, I ran a mag through the gun, and on the second-to-last round in the mag, I had to do a tap-rack-bang. "Odd," thought I, "this gun hasn't had a stoppage in I-don't-remember-how-long." :uhoh: I took it upstairs to clean it and, er, actually had to knock the slide forward off the frame with a rubber mallet. See, it occured to me that I hadn't had the gun apart for a real cleaning since at least this thread (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13149&perpage=25&highlight=professional&pagenumber=3). Maybe I should have field-stripped it and hosed the mud out better sometime between March and August? :o

[number6]

Tamara, I understand your frustration. Mine however isn't as expensive a piece as yours, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to see just how long this particular 1911 of mine would function without any cleaning, lube or grease until it fails.

Anyone want to throw some numbers out?

[444]

Just as was said in that "other location", I still think you ought to oil it.

[guy sajer]

938 :D

Mitch

[Darrin]

Anyone want to throw some numbers out? 8675309 :neener:

If my old Astra can go 500 rds, I hope your 1911 can at least double that.

[number6]

Darrin... Easily! Guy .... I'm hoping for 1200.

[guy sajer]

Thanks a lot Darrin . Now I have to hear that stupid song in my head all night . Jenny , Jenny who can I ... NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Just for that , You need some Colorado Rocky Mountain Hiiigh , I've seen it rain ...

1200 it is . Keep us posted .

Mitch

Who is number 1 ?

[444]

587

[cool45auto]

765

[sm]

;) Just wanna see, or an excuse to not clean ;)

I really get a Kick out of Tamara' pics , mud, dirt, soap and water...I can imagine the clean freaks screaming, throwing fits and tufts of hair next to thier keyboards.

Me, lets see I have done a similar mud test as per Tamara...similar except I took a header to keep muzzle safe and "splat". Made sure bore clear, slung the mud and kept running. For grins and snickers I only "sloshed "around in bucket of water, racked the slide and oiled the rails, bbl bushing, hood...I ran another 1K rds in the next two weeks before I cleaned it. I wanted to carry this one with nice Kahkis, sport coat...I cleaned it.

I have run one for over a year and never cleaned, just a drop of oil where need...I think over 5K...I really don't keep up with rd counts, just the bucket empty and thats about what it holds...

Try the "Vickers Sand Test" if your gutsy...take a 1911 that's been shot and "warm" pour that fine sand like in "butt" cans"....pour all of it now...there you go...yep they'll run ( so will friends...eeww!)

Throw your CCW 1911 in the snow and mud for a bit...about 4 hours will do,don't forget loaded mags now...cocked and locked, snick off safety...bang

I have used the car wash to hose 1911's , Keltecs, 870's, ...don't use the wax feature...hard to hold on to. :p You can do this in a small town during hunting season...city folks might freak, so just clean them and the truck before heading home :) Had to I kinda buried a 4x4 up to windows...oops left-not right turn row...2 tractors later...one to get me out ( climbed out window)...then we got that tractor stuck...ducks were flying so by the time we finished...wee bit late getting home...

We do have a Keltec that has never been cleaned-never. We "might have, but can't remember" whom last put oil on the rails...going on two years now...we're guessing until we stopped using for teaching we had 12K rds...we're trying to tear this one up...it won't quit...dang P-11's

I was disapointed in a beater model 10 I had...darn thing wouldn't fire after the Vicker's test...until I sloshed in around in mud puddle of water...then bang...

22/45, one easily went 2500 rds, I shot a standard model for years without ever cleaning it...box tops maybe indicated 10k rds, fun gun just oil when rained on and wiped off exterior.

These things are tools, mine are anyway, I see what works for my "needs" choose accordingly, test carry ammo a min of 500 rds-usually a 1k , then do my inspect and maint. Don't worry about it after that...Abuse not intentional, just the reality is these things worked in various "enviroments" throughtout history, without whiz-bang chemicals, gun magazines, or internet. Another reality is no where is it written "my next encounter" will be dry, 65* and partly cloudy...

Your supposed to clean them...I thought cleaning rods were to get dust bunnies from out from under the fridge...:D

[1911Tuner]

Howdy all,

When the Army tested the pistol that Browning submitted, it was
a real test. Something over 6,000 rounds were fired in the shortest
possible time. There was a "bucket brigade" loading magazines
while each man took his turn firing the pistol. There were no stoppages
or parts failures...and when the pistol got too hot to hold, it was
dunked in a bucket of water to cool it.

Things have changed for the 1911, however. The manufacturers know that
they're building a toy, and since profit is the driving force, there are
many small parts made of sub-standard materials...but the basic design
is still present, and if the gun is spec-ed out with Ordnance Tolerances
rather than Match Tolerances...as most customs and semi-customs are...
it should do fine. If the slide/frame fit has just a bit of "rattle", oiling
probably won't be necessary unless you use very dirty ammo. Wolf
immediately comes to mind.

HOWEVER...in the interest of not abusing it too badly, I suggest that
the pistol be allowed to cool every 150 rounds or so, and a drop of light
oil be applied to the slide ways, and the pistol pointed down to allow
the oil to gravity feed while it cools. Following this advice, you may find that
your pistol will surpass the 2,000 round mark. If it doesn't, repeat the
test after cleaning it, and it probably will.

Keep us posted.

Tuner

[twoblink]

I vote for a water dunking whenever the pistol overheats ;)

If this was the army, you'd pee on your gun to cool it :D Or if you are in the Russian army, you'd pee on your gun to unfreeze it.. But then you'll end up with rust problems..

That said, keep us posted, I'm fairly interested in abuse based tests..

[Hal]

:what:

A Pro in the mud???

"Get out of the way, please, oh my, this is terrible, oh my, get out of the way, please...Oh, the humanity "

(Insert pic of Springfield in flames)

On a serious note -
I'm as much for elimination of variables as anyone. Torture tests are a whole different matter though in my mind. The basic design of the 1911 has proved itself beyond a shadow of a doubt, so I pretty much view a torture test as just so much accelerated (needless) wear and tear.

(note to self,,if Tam ever buys a Purdy and posts pics of it,,,don't look.)
:D
(I've got this mental image of Tamara walking into the room where the guns are,,,eyeing them to decide whcih one to take out for the day,,,and all of them doing an imitation of the little guy at the end of the orignal The Fly movie- - - help me! help me! - go away! go away!):D

[Darrin]

Thanks a lot Darrin


:D

[1911Tuner]

hell...Ever'body knows you ain't a real 1911 shooter 'til you've shot
one to destruction. I'm up to a half dozen or so. Go for it, I say!:D

Cheers!
Tuner

[El Tejon]

Have shot a Les Baer over 3000 rounds without cleaning and without failure. I did lube it every 500 rounds or so.

Was not done in one day.

[mattk]

PFFFFT 1400 rounds is all you got? I am betting it'll make the whole thing.
IPSC shooters spend less time cleaning than shooting for the most part.
I believe it was Brian Enos that said "Shooting guns is alot more fun than cleaning them." That said I went a couple of months, shooting about 400 rounds and week, without cleaning my limited 10 gun, a customized SA mil spec.
When I did clean it, it was not a pretty sight.

[Ky Larry]

Hasn't this already been done several thousand times on Guadalcanal, Tarawa. Iwo Jima , Alaska, Okinawa,and in Korea, the Phillipines, Mexico, Viet Nam, Holland, Belgium, and a couple of times in France?

[1911Tuner]

KyLarry wqrote:

Hasn't this already been done several thousand times on Guadalcanal, Tarawa. Iwo Jima , Alaska, Okinawa,and in Korea, the Phillipines, Mexico, Viet Nam, Holland, Belgium, and a couple of times in France?

...and Belleau Wood...and The Argonne Forest...and the Ardennes...

[Correia]

If you are shooting jacket ammo you will probably run through the whole 1200 with out a problem.

I've gone around 800+ with cheap lead reloads before my Springfield started to have problems with the slide not going fully back into battery due to lead build up.

My Kimber that I use for competition gets cleaned probably every 2 or 3 matches. So figure between 200-500 rounds between cleanings. Never had a problem yet. Once again this is using cheap lead reloads. Factory jacket ammo would probably be a lot cleaner.

[Mute]

Tamara, if you can't treat that wonderful gun better you should send it to a good home where it can be well cared for......like mine's! :D :neener:

[number6]

Update

Went to the range at lunch today. Emptied two boxes through her. So far she's runnin like a well oiled machine. I'll shoot again on Friday.

Total = 307.

[Navy joe]

1400 is a weekend at the range. I've had one rattletrap so dirty on lead reloads that you could watch the slide come back, stop and then go forward to strip a round. Still ran great. I am convinced that people who can't keep a 1911 running right should be trusted with nothing higher than a manual pencil sharpener.

[VG]

Why not a real test - rapid fire.

The SIG P220 was cleaned and accuracy tested every 1,000 rounds - accuracy steadily degraded after the first 1,000.

http://www.galleryofguns.com/shootingtimes/Articles/DisplayArticles.asp?ID=1230

[UnSafe]

Years ago, while practicing "Actions on the Beach Landing Site (BLS)" (Army) we had to crawl/ drag through the muck over the last several hundred meters to the actual shoreline (Low tide) then engage Sentry targets with M16 and 1911 ball ammo. The drill was to work in as close as possible ~20-50m, (Three teams of three, with one more three man team floating behind as fire support [All of us feeling like Coconuts floating in the water]) then while two guys pulled security, one would pull the mag, cycle the action several times under water to knock off the muck (Letting the round in the chamber fall away), then re-insert the mag, cycle the slide to chamber a round with the muzzle down, place on safe. After all three had completed the drill, we slithered in the last bit (Got everything mucky again..) and shot the targets, practicing with both the rifle and pistol as primary weapons. We had no FTF's or FTE's with the 30+ year old 1911's but the M16's had several failures related to sand stuck on over oiled actions and one hydraulic KB from a barrel full of water.
Now my Kimber Classic I is a lot tighter than the old issue 1911's we had, but it's still fed 700+ 200gr lead SWC's over 5.5gr of WW231 without cleaning. I suspect that if your recoil and mag springs are in good order and you started with a light greasing of the rails, it'll run fine over 1K rounds easy.
PS- If you ever need someone to shoot MORE ammo through a 1911, PM me. I'll be glad to do the "Dirty" work :D

[BigG]

AMS - Another Meaningless statistic: At $10 a box, 6000 rounds of hardball comes to a cool $1,200.00 - more than the value of the pistol. What we sacrifice in the interest of science!

What? What do you mean you're shooting cheap RELOADS?? :what: :neener:

[number6]

UPDATE

Got off work at noon today and took my "friend" to the range. It's sort of like taking your dog to the lake and watching how happy he/she is because he/she gets to play. Well, that's the same way my 1911 feels! :)

Anyway, today I ran 250 rounds through her without a hitch. I kinda of expected something to go awry when I opened my last box of 50 because she's starting to show some use. But, I finished the box and am happy to report everything is going well.

I am starting to feel a little guilty though. I'm wondering if I should at least put a few drops of oil in her. So far the only thing I've done is wipe her down after very session. I'll probably go out again Sunday.

Totals = 557