1911 Reliability, Accuracy, Tuning

[Skylerbone]

Likely Colt will toss out the spring on arrival but you could order a Wolff 14 lb. (or 15 if you prefer) to replace yours with. It wears out like any other spring by being compressed and decompressed. 16 lbs. is the "standard" but a lighter one (for me) is preferable.

 

[9mmepiphany]

I'm not sure I understand your reluctance to send the gun to Colt

 

[larryh1108]

If you take a car in for new brakes but it needs tires too, they'll fix only the brakes if that's all you want done. They'll only fix what you wish to pay them to fix. It's cold but it's business. If you ask them to quote you a price to make it run like it should I'm sure they'll be more than happy to give you a quote.

 

[mdThanatos]

Like Skyler said, springs wear out just like any other part. The more a firearm is shot the faster (time wise) a spring will wear. It loses tension and becomes weaker with use.

 

[mikemyers]

9mm, my reluctance is that I have two upcoming trips, one overseas, and I'd rather send it in when I'm going to be around for the next month or two.


Springs - one of the things I dislike about the Colt is how hard it is to rack the gun. Apparently there is a choice of springs? Are there any disadvantages to using a lighter spring? I watch people do this on Youtube, and it seems so easy to do. For me, it feels like the spring is more suitable for the suspension of a motorcycle or small car!

 

[9mmepiphany]

Changing spring rates will alter the timing of the action which will affect feeding reliability. Going to a spring which is too light will usually put more strain on parts and will lead to parts battering and breakage...there has to be a balance between all four springs

 

[mikemyers]

Update

Not a lot has happened since I discussed this with you guys. I had to leave for a while to cover a R/C car race, and then got tied up in doing the photos and story.

I finally had some free time to try to see a gunsmith today, but it didn't work out as planned. The story, if anyone is interested, can be found on page #3 of the thread on my forum: http://www.sgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?301-Maintenance-of-a-1911-pistol


There was no gunsmith, but the group at my local gun shop didn't think I should change anything. When I get time, I'll probably follow the advice here, and send the gun off to Colt.


I'm curious what you guys think of the following; does it make sense, or is there something going on that I'm now aware of:

If I remember correctly, with a "match barrel" the total clearance at the end of the barrel between barrel/bushing/slide is .003"
My gun has .025" total.

Suppose my barrel was 4" long, one end is held tight against the slide, but the other end can wiggle around within a .025 range.
40 inches away from my barrel, a bullet being fired would be somewhere within a .25 inch diameter circle.
400 inches away from my barrel, a bullet being fired would be somewhere within a 2.5 inch diameter circle

Just thinking.... 400 inches is roughly 30 feet, or 10 yards. So, if everything else, myself included, was perfect, my "groups" at 10 yards would be limited to around 2.5 inches.

With the proper clearance of .003", that 2.5 inch grouping would be only .25 inches. I suspect a perfect '45 in a bench rest might approach this accuracy....​

Theoretically, is this correct, or am I just not aware of something else that might be going on? It sounds reasonable to me.

 

[mikemyers]

Final update; I did get to see a gunsmith today, who is experienced with the 1911. He told me that the gun is quite loose, from 30 years of use, but nothing is damaged, or in need of attention.

His advice if I wanted to tighten up the groups, was to get a new bushing, and possibly later on, a new barrel. He suggested I buy only from Colt, as that way the gun is "all Colt", and that if I really did want to spend the money to get it to shoot more like a modern gun, to send if off to Colt - but he didn't think this was a good idea.


I called Colt earlier this week, and ordered a new bushing. I also had a nice chat with the tech person. I asked him how much clearance Colt recommends between barrel and bushing, and between bushing and sleeve, and he told me that Colt doesn't publish information like that.


Thank you to everyone who responded here. Thanks to your posts, and my trying to figure out what you meant, I feel a lot more comfortable now about the 1911. I still don't know what *all* the parts do, but I'm way ahead of where I was when I first came here.