1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
Colt Manual Directive
Maybe Colt is just buildin' tougher pistols than it was 12 or 15 years ago...
In the interest of keepin' the discussion goin' in a purely technical direction...
I might suggest another experiment that anybody can do without goin' to the extremes that I have.
Since we can assume that the barrel lug is made of the same stuff and with the same heat-treatment as the rest of the barrel...we can also assume that
it will suffer the same stresses if the slide is stopped on a different area than at the lug feet/slidestop pin.
Take an old slidestop and grind the inner lug off so that it will be flat. (You need to keep apples to apples with identical hardness of the stop mechanism.) Lock the slide back and insert the flattened arm into the ejection port. Trip the slide. When it comes forward, the slide will be stopped by the top of the breechface and rear of the barrel hood. The impact will be slightly less
due to the fact that the slide won't travel quite as far....but it won't be enough to make a practical difference.
Do this repeatedly without stopping to assess the effect...about 200 times should do. Strip the gun and look closely. Be sure to look at the front faces of the locking lugs too...and report back.
Standin' by...
Maybe Colt is just buildin' tougher pistols than it was 12 or 15 years ago...
In the interest of keepin' the discussion goin' in a purely technical direction...
I might suggest another experiment that anybody can do without goin' to the extremes that I have.
Since we can assume that the barrel lug is made of the same stuff and with the same heat-treatment as the rest of the barrel...we can also assume that
it will suffer the same stresses if the slide is stopped on a different area than at the lug feet/slidestop pin.
Take an old slidestop and grind the inner lug off so that it will be flat. (You need to keep apples to apples with identical hardness of the stop mechanism.) Lock the slide back and insert the flattened arm into the ejection port. Trip the slide. When it comes forward, the slide will be stopped by the top of the breechface and rear of the barrel hood. The impact will be slightly less
due to the fact that the slide won't travel quite as far....but it won't be enough to make a practical difference.
Do this repeatedly without stopping to assess the effect...about 200 times should do. Strip the gun and look closely. Be sure to look at the front faces of the locking lugs too...and report back.
Standin' by...