GI Springfield...Finally!

[1911Tuner]

Well, the lad finally brought the Springer GI Mil-Spec to me, and he was
so enamored with the first one, he bought another one and brought the new one to me, since I said that I wanted to start from scratch with a
virgin pistol. Nice that he's so accommodating, eh what?

Haven't done anything yet except visual and a few gunshop checks, but
first impression is good.

The trigger is pretty clean at about 6 pounds. The slide to frame fit is
tighter than the NRM Colt that I bought in October of aught 1. The
bushing could be a little tighter in the slide, but the barrel to bushing fit
looks good. Measurements will be forthcoming.

The thumb safety locks in and out with a positive "snick", and there is
no sear movement when it's engaged. Grip safety is nicely done and
well blended with the back of the frame when depressed. No sharp edges
to cut my tender little mitts. No trigger movement detected. Good.

The hammer is just slightly off-center in the slide...eyeball estimate would
put it at maybe .010 inch. Only a feeler gauge will tell the truth.

The slide appears to be well-centered with the dust cover, and vertical
barrel lockup is very good. Initial timing check shows ample clearance
between barrel and slide at approximately a quarter-inch of slide travel.


Hand-cycling produces a tight spot at about half-travel...Likely the parkerizing that was applied on top of close frame/slide clearances.
Nothin' that a little Super Goop Slurry won't take care of in 10 minutes.

Metalform magazine with a heavier spring than I'm used to seeing with a
no-frills factory pistol. Not quite up to the 11-pound Wolff, but would seem to be perfectly adequate for the task. Time will tell...Magazine fits well
flush with the bottom of the grip frame, and locks in with a solid "click".
The magazine squirts out of the well like it was on greased rails.

Stocks are checkered plastic. He didn't luck up and get one with the
wood, double diamond checkered grips. Ah well...

I plan to break it down to get the inside story...take care of the tight spot in the slide and frame...and wring it out. Detail-strip, clean and inspect
everything at 1 thousand-round intervals for a total of 5 thousand rounds through the gun. Will update as I go.

Cheers all! Gotta get busy.

Tuner

 

[R.H. Lee]

The hammer is just slightly off-center in the slide...eyeball estimate would
put it at maybe .010 inch. Only a feeler gauge will tell the truth.

Yeah, my SS Milspec's hammer is slightly off center too, but it does not rub on the slide.

Keep us posted, Mr Tuner!

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

Howdy Riley,

No hammer to slide contact here either.
A little deeper into this thing...extractor tension is right on and hand-cycling
dummy rounds is smooth without any indication of stem bind. Will the tension hold up under use? We'll see...Hope Springfield got that extractor issue resolved. The extractor is not MIM, nor can I find any parting lines
that would indicate a casting. Looks like steel.

The tight spot was resolved with a little slurry and about 150 cycles.
Still nearly zero side play, and just a little in the vertical plane...maybe
.003 inch or so. Not a hand-fit, but not too bad for a 1911 that went out the door for 406 bucks and change.

I plan to break it down soon, and expect to find mucho MIM and castings
inside. I also plan to try to arrange a little magnaflux of the parts with
an old pal who runs a high-performance auto machine shop. Depends on
how busy he is.

I'll probably swap the MSH for a flat one, along with swapping the trigger for a long one for the range wring-out. To keep the grip safety from blistering my hand, I'll use one of the King's Drop-In beavertails that I keep on hand for heavy range sessions. Ugly as a mud fence, but it beats bleedin' all over the pistol and my shirt sleeve.

Stand by...More comin' tomorrow.

Tuner

 

[Tamara]

He didn't luck up and get one with the
wood, double diamond checkered grips.

All of those I've seen have been "Mil-Specs", as opposed to "WWII Mil-Specs".

I'll probably swap the MSH for a flat one, along with swapping the trigger for a long one for the range wring-out. To keep the grip safety from blistering my hand, I'll use one of the King's Drop-In beavertails

Gosh, Tuner, don't tell some of the purists around here that, or they'll think you're a heretic like me!

"Who cares if it ain't traditional? The gun still runs fine and it helps me shoot better."

 

[1911Tuner]

re: Grips

Tamara said:

All of those I've seen have been "Mil-Specs", as opposed to "WWII Mil-Specs".

Howdy Tamara,

To date, I've seen 3 GI Mil-Specs with the wood "US" grips, and 2 with
nice double diamond checkered walnut. Maybe they ran short on the
plastic grips in the middle of a run and used what they had on hand...

So far, the slidestop is a casting...Looks to be on par with a Brown Hardcore...The proof'll be in the puddin' though. We'll see how it holds
up on a 500-round session next week...may be able to make a range run
this Friday.

Later on!

Tuner

 

[Stinkyshoe]

Tuner,
I was going to say that if you need a drop in beaver tail and haven't yet ordered one, I have I wilson dib that I would be willing to donate. I look foward to your experiment. Sounds really cool...it seems like a nice gun for $400.
Ss

 

[1911Tuner]

Drop-In Stuff

Howdy StinkyShoe,

Thanks for the offer, mah fren, but I've got three on standby for just such occasions. On my hard-use beaters, I usually shoot with one for the sole
purpose of keepin' the pain level to a minimum when the session goes past 400 rounds...which it usually does

Looks like Friday is gonna be the day, God willin' and the creek don't rise.

Suppertime!

Out

 

[sigma 40ve]

Hello Tuner,

I have a SA gov mod. I am wanting to put in a "drop in" beavertail. What kind do you recomend? On the Brownells site I seen a Kings and I believe a Smith & Alexander (I think). Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[1911Tuner]

Drop-In

Howdy Sigma,

I use King's. Not a lotta cash outlay...they really do drop in and work
9 times outta ten, and they stop the bloodletting. Ugly they be, but they work if ya want a painless pistol without altering the frame.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[Prodigalshooter]

Tuner, my WWII has the same sort of "hesitation" you describe about halfway thru the cycle of the slide. I have not tried to do anything tho, i was going to just shoot it for a few months and see how it smooths out. The gun functions well, so no worries there.
Mine had the wooden grips, w/o the "U.S.", was in the shop just after I picked up mine and they had a new batch, these had the wooden w/U.S.
So I guess it's the luck o the draw?
At any rate, I'm happy with mine, except for the sights, I'm think of sending it to King's for the standard 3-dot installation, as I don't have proper tools for the staked front sight.

 

[1911Tuner]

Springfield Hesitation

Howdy Prodigalshooter,

That hesitation seems to be pretty common in the GI Springers. It could
cause some short-cycle and/or return to battery issues until it gets broken in...which can be a pain. As noted earlier, I think it's due to the parkerizing being applied on top of the fairly tight clearances in the slide and frame rails.

If you wanna save yourself a few headaches, here's how:

Get some original formula, non-embedding J&B Bore Cleaner and a small
bottle of CLP Breakfree. If you've got a bottle of Mil-Spec LSA weapons oil
on hand, that'll work too.

Pour a tablespoon full of the oil into a small cup, and add a little bore cleaner to it and mix well. Keep adding bore cleaner, a little at a time
until it makes a paste that will just start to sag off the end of a screwdriver,
but not drip. Let it stand open overnight to let the carrier evaporate.

Put a liberal amount in and on the slide rails, and work the slide back and
forth 50 times. Add more and keep working it until it starts to smooth out.
With the recoil spring plug out of the frame, you'll hit a sticky spot at the
far rearward travel. Try to avoid letting it get that far. When it starts to get slick, replace the barrel and recoil system. Put a little on the barrel
lugs, lower lug, link and into the slidestop pinhole. Hand cycle it 50 more times, and use carburetor cleaner to flush it all out.

Oil it with a good light gun oil, (The CLP is good, but it's a little thin for my tastes at this point)...and feel the difference in the cycle. Now the pistol is
ready to shoot.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[Prodigalshooter]

Thanks for the formula! I'll give it a try.

 

[Silent Bob]

Tuner, are you going to replace the titanium firing pin? I replaced mine with an Ed Brown tool steel firing pin. I don't care for titanium firing pins, personally.

 

[andrew17]

Marshall Tunerdillion,
Great thread! I cant wait to see the results of your test.

Extractor Not mim? Huh,,maybe Springfield is getting too many returns on the mim and is trying to cut repair costs by 'stepping up' to barstock?.
And here I was gonna take bets at what round count the extractor would let go.

Are you gonna change anything besides the msh/ beavertail and trigger?
How about sights?

staying 'tuned' in,
'Festusandrew'

 

[sturmruger]

Thanks for the great reports on this 1911 it is on my list to buy and I like to know what to look out for when buying a new gun. Keep us posted.

 

[1911Tuner]

Springer

I intend to tear the pistol down this afternoon, take some measurements
and do an overall visual inspection. I'll try to update on it tomorrow afternoon because I'll shoot it tomorrow in the early A.M.

I won't post dimensions unless I find something badly enough out of spec
to cause a function or reliability problem.

The test run will be done with a flat mainspring housing and a King's
butt-ugly drop-in beavertail grip safety. I'll leave the stock trigger in the gun for the first 1,000 rounds. At the 1,000-round mark, I'll tear the gun back down and have another look-see. At that time, I'll probably do a
Poor man's Trigger Job, just to clean up the trigger a little, and fit a long
trigger to the gun.

Gonna try to do 500 rounds tomorrow...and continue the tests in 500
round lots. Cleaning will be limited to wiping and bore maintenance
until the 1,000-round teardown. At that point, the gun will be detail cleaned. All malfunctions will be noted, along with the circumstances
that they occur, and all testing will be done with the factory magazine,
loaded to capacity, but not loaded as 7+1.

Since the forum will be down for upgrades and service this weekend,
I'm gonna do my level best to get something posted before H-Hour tomorrow. If not, look for it Monday. FWIW, I have confidence in the
pistol based on what I've seen thus far.

Chitty-Chitty, Bang-Bang!

Marshall TunerDillon

 

[Trigger]

Is the ejector pinned or glued? Just curious.....

 

[cleve land]

Pinned