1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
Had one of our members bring me a spankin' new GI Micro to go over before he leaves for the badlands of Gulfport on a mission...and I've run into a few problems.
The gun feeds well enough as long as the extractor tension is kept fairly light...not enough to provide reliable extraction and consistent ejection. Just a little more tension and failures to go to battery from slidelock show up. The factory magazine worse than one of mine...but still a little sluggish. No problem during live-fire, even with the mag topped off...but still a concern.
The extractor and slide have a slight spec issue, which required modification to the nose of the extractor to get it off the forward angle of the extractor groove, but I've run into this with a few Springers. A Colt extractor was better, but still had to be modified. Finally went with a new Brown hardcore
with lightly tweaked pads and hook. Extractor tension is now good, and feeding is better...but not quite what I like to see. The fully ramped barrel
prevents much adjustment beyond smoothing the top corner to relieve some of the stem bind.
The other part of the problem is that...unless I get a grip on the gun that nearly crushes the grip frame, the gun short-cycles, causing either erratic,
weak ejection, or failure to eject, with the empty case hung up horizontally in the port. Casual, two-hand grip...it's Choke City. Grab it like I'm tryin' to hold a bull 'gator's jaws shut, and the gun functions, though ejection is still a bit weak/erratic.
The recoil system seems to be a cross between the old Detonics system, and the Sprinco design. The inner spring is captive, and since I can't tell whether the guide rod flange is pressed on or threaded on, I can't take it apart to trim the spring. If anybody knows, I'd appreciate the information.
I tried installing a firing pin stop with a high hammer contact point and a large radius, which helped a little...but the slide is just too badly over-sprung to provide full travel with enough authority to kick the empties clear of the port.
The outer spring is too short for any adjustment, so I've removed the system...taken the outer spring off...and have the inner spring fully compressed in hopes that it'll take a set and reduce the strength a little. later, I'll rig up a fixture that I can use to cycle the spring a few hundred times to weaken it a little.
I don't know how much shorter these designers expect to be able to go on the 1911 design and still expect'em to work. I suppose that next, we'll see
one so short that the bullet nose stickin' out of the muzzle will double as a "Loaded Round Indicator"...
Just when I had the 3.75-inch guns figgered out, they throw me a curve...again!
:banghead:
The other thing that jumped out was that the 6-round magazine had a follower with the dimple located so close to the rear that the last round would only move forward about .050 inch or so before the rim grabs it...
and it grabs it hard, since the dimple is also about twice the normal height.
Doesn't seem to hurt anything, and feeds fine...as does one of my short mags with the dimple in the normal location...Strange. Only thing I can figure is that the recoil forces are so violent that the dimple had to be relocated and enlarged to adequately control the last round.
I'll keep tryin' and update...but this one ain't gonna be ready to go to Gulfport tomorrow...Sorry Joe.
The gun feeds well enough as long as the extractor tension is kept fairly light...not enough to provide reliable extraction and consistent ejection. Just a little more tension and failures to go to battery from slidelock show up. The factory magazine worse than one of mine...but still a little sluggish. No problem during live-fire, even with the mag topped off...but still a concern.
The extractor and slide have a slight spec issue, which required modification to the nose of the extractor to get it off the forward angle of the extractor groove, but I've run into this with a few Springers. A Colt extractor was better, but still had to be modified. Finally went with a new Brown hardcore
with lightly tweaked pads and hook. Extractor tension is now good, and feeding is better...but not quite what I like to see. The fully ramped barrel
prevents much adjustment beyond smoothing the top corner to relieve some of the stem bind.
The other part of the problem is that...unless I get a grip on the gun that nearly crushes the grip frame, the gun short-cycles, causing either erratic,
weak ejection, or failure to eject, with the empty case hung up horizontally in the port. Casual, two-hand grip...it's Choke City. Grab it like I'm tryin' to hold a bull 'gator's jaws shut, and the gun functions, though ejection is still a bit weak/erratic.
The recoil system seems to be a cross between the old Detonics system, and the Sprinco design. The inner spring is captive, and since I can't tell whether the guide rod flange is pressed on or threaded on, I can't take it apart to trim the spring. If anybody knows, I'd appreciate the information.
I tried installing a firing pin stop with a high hammer contact point and a large radius, which helped a little...but the slide is just too badly over-sprung to provide full travel with enough authority to kick the empties clear of the port.
The outer spring is too short for any adjustment, so I've removed the system...taken the outer spring off...and have the inner spring fully compressed in hopes that it'll take a set and reduce the strength a little. later, I'll rig up a fixture that I can use to cycle the spring a few hundred times to weaken it a little.
I don't know how much shorter these designers expect to be able to go on the 1911 design and still expect'em to work. I suppose that next, we'll see
one so short that the bullet nose stickin' out of the muzzle will double as a "Loaded Round Indicator"...
Just when I had the 3.75-inch guns figgered out, they throw me a curve...again!
:banghead: The other thing that jumped out was that the 6-round magazine had a follower with the dimple located so close to the rear that the last round would only move forward about .050 inch or so before the rim grabs it...
and it grabs it hard, since the dimple is also about twice the normal height.
Doesn't seem to hurt anything, and feeds fine...as does one of my short mags with the dimple in the normal location...Strange. Only thing I can figure is that the recoil forces are so violent that the dimple had to be relocated and enlarged to adequately control the last round.
I'll keep tryin' and update...but this one ain't gonna be ready to go to Gulfport tomorrow...Sorry Joe.
