alpinehawk
Member
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2007
- Messages
- 7
Hey everyone. I bought an Ed Brown Executive Carry with a slide-to-frame fit that felt too loose to me. I'm not a 1911 expert but I owned two 1911s before buying the Brown that had no play in the slide. At this point, I'm hoping to get some expert advice from other Ed Brown owners and 1911 enthusiasts about the fit.
The finish of the gun was excellent and it was quite accurate when I took it to the range. The only issue I had was the play in the slide when the hammer was cocked and the tactical safety was disengaged. I haven't handled an old Colt 1911, so I haven't experienced "colt rattle" - however, this gun did make a slight rattling sound. The slide-to-frame fit didn't affect the gun's performance but I found the loose slide distracting when I was trying to shoot. Bringing the gun on target from a low ready (or holster) was enough to make the slide move.
Interestingly enough, when I broke the gun down and removed the slide, the fit got tight just before the slide came off the frame (see the picture below). The fact that it was loose on one end and tight on the other led me to measure the frame groove spacing with a digital caliper. It turns out the spacing between the groves in the front of the frame and the back differed by 0.09mm. While that doesn't seem like much, the same measurement of my Wilson CQB had a difference of only 0.02mm.
When I called Ed Brown about this, they basically explained: "this is a feature, not a bug". Yet, on their website they state: "Any tighter than zero movement is useless, and can only reduce reliability and detract from handling. It doesn't have to be tight, it just has to be right."
I was expecting zero movement, but maybe these expectations were not realistic for a “combat” handgun. So, my questions to other Brown owners and 1911 enthusiasts are:
The finish of the gun was excellent and it was quite accurate when I took it to the range. The only issue I had was the play in the slide when the hammer was cocked and the tactical safety was disengaged. I haven't handled an old Colt 1911, so I haven't experienced "colt rattle" - however, this gun did make a slight rattling sound. The slide-to-frame fit didn't affect the gun's performance but I found the loose slide distracting when I was trying to shoot. Bringing the gun on target from a low ready (or holster) was enough to make the slide move.
Interestingly enough, when I broke the gun down and removed the slide, the fit got tight just before the slide came off the frame (see the picture below). The fact that it was loose on one end and tight on the other led me to measure the frame groove spacing with a digital caliper. It turns out the spacing between the groves in the front of the frame and the back differed by 0.09mm. While that doesn't seem like much, the same measurement of my Wilson CQB had a difference of only 0.02mm.
When I called Ed Brown about this, they basically explained: "this is a feature, not a bug". Yet, on their website they state: "Any tighter than zero movement is useless, and can only reduce reliability and detract from handling. It doesn't have to be tight, it just has to be right."
I was expecting zero movement, but maybe these expectations were not realistic for a “combat” handgun. So, my questions to other Brown owners and 1911 enthusiasts are:
Does your Brown 1911 have a bit of play in the slide?
Was it distracting to you? If so, were you able to learn to ignore the distraction?
Does a loose slide insure reliability?
Was it distracting to you? If so, were you able to learn to ignore the distraction?
Does a loose slide insure reliability?
. Ask for another one...