Anal about Reliability(Long)

[Dave Sample]

I like Randy's post. Reminds me of Patrick Sweeny somehow. Contrary to popular belief here, I have stated many times that any 1911 out of any factory can use a reliablity tune up by a competent smith. In my opinion, that is all they need because they are what they are. I did a lot more in my tune up that was stated , but since I am out of that business, there is no point in getting into that. I let the owner test fire them and if there is a problem, they carry my Lifetime No BS Warranty. I do not feel the need to waste my time with test fires when I know they will work. If you like cheap stuff, my fliers are full of 1911's from $225.00 on up. I assume they work just fine, but I do not work on them so I can't speak from a point of personal experience. I did re work a Charles Daly for a pal of mine and he loves it. I had to re barrel it, install a new trigger, and tune it extensively, and it appears to be a good bargain. I am not much on taking a cheap metric platform and trying to make it a silk purse. I leave that for people who have more time on their hands than I do. Any 1911 that makes you happy is the best one in the world for you. The books say it's a difficult gun to master, and I believe that. Some people don't. The old "September Song" has a lot more meaning to me now than it did 20 years ago.

 

[PaleRyder]

How many of us field-strip the gun
that we bet our life on weekly, blow the lint out of it, and put a drop of oil in each frame rail?

Well, I shoot once or twice every week, and field-strip and clean after every single range trip. I never let a weapon go to another range trip without thorough cleaning.

How many of us...after storing the pistol in a nightstand drawer overnight in Condition Two...lock the slide and peek into the barrel to check for an obstruction before we load it and head out for adventure?

I do.

How many...during a routine field-strip and cleaning...examine the parts for signs of iminent failure? How about the ammunition?

I do.

But, I don't regularly do most of the other things mentioned, I'm afraid.

 

[1911Tuner]

He Does It!

Howdy PaleRyder,

Sounds like you give a lot more than a passing thought to reliability. Kudos, lad!
And welcome aboard.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

uh-UH!! Seen a lotta guys get into "Double Trouble" by goin' at the ramp and throat of their "Pride and Joy" with flitz and a Dremel.

Feeding is just one small part of the whole reliability picture.

Who said anything about a dremel? HAND FLITZ

 

[grendelbane]

What is the consensus of opinion about the reliability of different calibers. Some say the .45 is the most reliable, and others nominate the 9 x 23. (I will soon get to investigate that one first hand).

I can see where the 9 and .40 would be a trifle less reliable, because of their length. Having said that, I have fired many of both through guns with ejectors sized for their longer brothers. Not enough of a sample to prove anything, of course.

I have a problem .38 Super, which is extremely picky about what it likes to feed. I attribute this to the two diameter barrel, but my 9mm barrel is of the same configuration, and has given little problems. Of course, the 9 is usually used with FMJ round nose bullets, with which the Super is reliable.

My Lightweight Super, on the other hand, is quite reliable with JHP's, even though it was manufactured decades before these became popular.

I have even heard people say that ramped barrels in the small calibers are reliable, but not in .45. My experience with ramped barrels is very limited.

Some people think that bottle necked pistol cartridges are more reliable. This has not been my experience. Any thoughts, comments?

 

[Dave Sample]

45 ACP 1911's are easy to make run in a five inch gun. 38 Supers are harder to tune but mine have always turned out great. On the red dot scope types, there is another problem of getting the empty cases out without hitting the scope mounts. 9mm 1911's are not my thing although I did a couple of "Major 9"s" for IPSC years ago. I like 9mm in smaller sizes available for very little money.
Back about 14-15 years ago, C. Petty wrote an article in Shooting Times about a Wildcat he and two other guys dreamed up called a 10mm Centaur. Redding Dies and Centaur Systems jumped in with him and I started building them. Richard Beebe and Ray Herriot were the other two guys smoking the funny stuff and a Star was born. It was an easy conversion requiring a 10mm Centaur barrel and comp from Ray that would drop into a standard 1911 Five inch gun. I used a reverse plug instead of Rays recoil system so I could use standard Wolff recoil springs. The recoil system has shown up in small Colt autos and so has the barrel configuration which he called a Quadra-Loc. It locked up in four places instead of three. It used a slide stop with a roller bearing and shimms to get a lock up that I am still amazed at. It was truly a "Drop In Match Barrel System" and I used them in 45 ACP and 40 S&W also. I built a few of them from the ground up and had to have one for myself, too. I had a hard time making it work and to make a long story short, I had to adjust the breechface to get it to 100%. It became my favorite IPSC shooter and I always got my brass back! I loved the bottle neck 45/40 and had more fun with that 1911 than amy other I have ever built and owned.
Later. Peter Pi came oput with the 400 Cor-Bon and I converted the 10mm Centaur to that caliber with the help of Chuck Rogers who installed a coned sleeve on a 5" 400 Cor-Bon Barrel and still retained the accuracy of the 10mmC. I purchased some double carbide dies for the 400 and was off to see the Wizard agaiin! What a caliber! That gun is long gone from here but EAGLE THREE is on the bench with a Fred Kart 400 Cor-Bon barrel fitted and re chambered (Thanks again to Chuck) and all it lacks is some cosmetic work and a trigger group which I have here waiting to install. I prefer it to the 10mm type 1911's for a lot of reasons that I have already gone over in earlier posts. I prefer the neck size of the 10mmC and think that the neck of the 400 Cor-Bon is a liitle too short to suit me, but I can re load them and I start with an empty 45 ACP case and after four strokes of the 550 B I have a loaded 400 Cor-Bon. I think they are a fun conversion for the old slabsize 45.

 

[HD]

pictures ? please ...

45 ACP 1911's-I think they are a fun conversion for the old slabsize 45.

want to see it when its finished ...

 

[Jammer Six]

Richard Beebe and Ray Herriot were the other two guys smoking the funny stuff and a Star was born.

I wondered how you got a kink into a recoil spring, Dave.

 

[grendelbane]

My first experience with bottle necked cases in a 1911 was the .41 Avenger.

It worked fairly well, but was quite a bit of a problem to make reliable. (Years of experience later, I don't think that I would have had as much problems.)

This was where I learned the heartbreak of trimming, sizing, and reaming .308 brass, only to fire it and watch the case disappear into the weeds. :banghead:

Since then I have toyed with a 357 SIG barrel in a Delta Elite. Seat the bullet out to fill the 10mm magazine, and you have quite a handful.

Always kept an eye on the .400 Cor-Bon, but never took the plunge. Same way with .45 Super. Now working with a 9 x 23.

I like the 9 x 23! It seems to feed a bit slicker than .38 Super, and some of my magazines will accept and feed 10 rounds. I haven't done a lot with it yet, but I am thinking of using it for my hot rod rounds, and only loading modest .38 Supers from now on. One blown case head can have that kind of effect on you!

One advantage of the 9 x 23 is that the slide velocities are similar to the .45 slide velocities. This is not true of many of the other calibers mentioned. The less one strays from the original design, the less trouble one usually has.

 

[Jim K]

A gun that doesn't work can be used as a nutcracker but it is an expensive one.

One of my favorites is the guy who says he has fired two or three boxes of cheap ammo through his gun and only had a couple of malfunctions, so it is OK. Then he says that he would never use that cheap ammo for carry, but he never fires his carry ammo since it costs too much.

BTW, on that 200 rounds, I think I might have come up with that number, but I was a bit more specific. I said, "A MINIMUM OF 200 CONSECUTIVE ROUNDS WITH THE CARRY AMMUNITION AND WITH EACH CARRY MAGAZINE, WITHOUT ANY KIND OF FAILURE." If there is a malfunction, no matter what the cause, the count starts over.

Jim

 

[sm]

Mr. Keenan,
I agree - I just don't understand why folks spend monies on firearm and skimp on the ammo.

I also took the 200 rds to include the mags as well. I forgot whom said it - I always figured whomever did was a right smart fella.

 

[Dave Sample]

Only Jim would know how it broke my heart to shoot up 150 rounds of my 1954 GI 230 Grain Ball carry ammo through the LW Commander to make sure it was running right. I still have about 1/2 of a box and I wish there were another way to check these things, but I have never found one. I am always amazed at folk who practice with 38 special wimp loads and then carry the gun with the 125 grain .357 magnums. SURPRISE! Those rounds are Big Boomers!