The Art and Science of Keeping Your 1911 Running

[Bergeron]

I had some issues viewing the last page of the thread- and this thread is very germane to my interests.

I just got a full rail Springfield Operator back from Innovative Custom Guns/Jim Milks. It got completely gutted and rebuilt with EGW parts and a Kart bushing barrel, along with the Nighthawk IOS plate system. It's a "lowered" firing pin stop, and I asked for it to be sprung for 230 grain factory ball. I was told to use Wilson or McCormick magazines. I'd love to post pics/dimensions, but are there any particular ones that would be of most interest to the thread?

[thatguybryan]

I had some issues viewing the last page of the thread- and this thread is very germane to my interests.

I just got a full rail Springfield Operator back from Innovative Custom Guns/Jim Milks. It got completely gutted and rebuilt with EGW parts and a Kart bushing barrel, along with the Nighthawk IOS plate system. It's a "lowered" firing pin stop, and I asked for it to be sprung for 230 grain factory ball. I was told to use Wilson or McCormick magazines. I'd love to post pics/dimensions, but are there any particular ones that would be of most interest to the thread?

I had the same issue. Have some questions—did Jim do the iOS cut for you? I was thinking of sending my TRP to him as well and would like to get it cut for a dot.

[thatguybryan]

I had some issues viewing the last page of the thread- and this thread is very germane to my interests.

I just got a full rail Springfield Operator back from Innovative Custom Guns/Jim Milks. It got completely gutted and rebuilt with EGW parts and a Kart bushing barrel, along with the Nighthawk IOS plate system. It's a "lowered" firing pin stop, and I asked for it to be sprung for 230 grain factory ball. I was told to use Wilson or McCormick magazines. I'd love to post pics/dimensions, but are there any particular ones that would be of most interest to the thread?

I had the same issue. Have some questions—did Jim do the iOS cut for you? I was thinking of sending my TRP to him as well and would like to get it cut for a dot.

[Bergeron]

Happy to answer questions, it was a great experience.

My understanding is that NHC themselves did the cut. There is mod to the IOS plates that ICG performed.

I’ve done direct mill on a handful of Glocks, and some plate system for my dotted 1911-22 (Trijicon??). This gun is my second XX11 RDS slide, and both are NHC IOS. I’m a big fan.

[SW CQB 45]

I had some issues viewing the last page of the thread- and this thread is very germane to my interests.

I just got a full rail Springfield Operator back from Innovative Custom Guns/Jim Milks. It got completely gutted and rebuilt with EGW parts and a Kart bushing barrel, along with the Nighthawk IOS plate system. It's a "lowered" firing pin stop, and I asked for it to be sprung for 230 grain factory ball. I was told to use Wilson or McCormick magazines. I'd love to post pics/dimensions, but are there any particular ones that would be of most interest to the thread?

I TOO HAD ISSUES WITH THE LAST PAGE FOR TWO DAYS. I was able to view it last night.

I would want to see your gun in general.

I am a rookie in the RDS pistol world even though I had a G19 RDS for years, I never put any real time behind it till recently.

When making the decision on RDS placement, I chose all the way to the rear with the Charyn plate. It was a pure guess on my part and after having it, I have zero issues with my decision on placement.

My only issue with mine so far

• I need to make time to pump some rounds through it to return to duty.
  
• I have to buy new leather
  
• and my Turbo X300 fits loose. SF told me to loosen the bolts and squeeze the rails together and tighten the bolts. I did, nuthin changed.
  

the dot is not that big, its how the camera views it

[farscott]

Some thoughts that maybe someone with more experience can answer—if I load the mag full and load the top round into the chamber from the mag, then reload that additional round, could that cause this? It seems the 1911 mags want to nosedive rounds when downloading from a full mag, and I’m thinking that could be a part of it.

The answer for this depends on a few factors. Assuming the question is for .45 ACP (another issue with the tapered 9x19 case), the follower and magazine spring matter as does the magazine catch height. Some magazines, mostly eight-round ones, when fully loaded put a lot of pressure on the slide disconnect rail when trying to chamber a round from slide lock. This tends to lead to rounds with the bullet nose jammed into the field ramp. A magazine catch that holds the magazine high can exacerbate the issue. Another concern is the magazine striking the ejector as that can both impact feeding and loosen the ejector.

[Trooper224]

I TOO HAD ISSUES WITH THE LAST PAGE FOR TWO DAYS. I was able to view it last night.

I would want to see your gun in general.

I am a rookie in the RDS pistol world even though I had a G19 RDS for years, I never put any real time behind it till recently.

When making the decision on RDS placement, I chose all the way to the rear with the Charyn plate. It was a pure guess on my part and after having it, I have zero issues with my decision on placement.

My only issue with mine so far

• I need to make time to pump some rounds through it to return to duty.
  
• I have to buy new leather
  
• and my Turbo X300 fits loose. SF told me to loosen the bolts and squeeze the rails together and tighten the bolts. I did, nuthin changed.
  

the dot is not that big, its how the camera views it

I sure like that.

[Bergeron]

I TOO HAD ISSUES WITH THE LAST PAGE FOR TWO DAYS. I was able to view it last night.

I would want to see your gun in general.

I went into embarrassing detail in my training journal, to avoid cluttering or derailing any other threads.

As I was prepping for getting this gun, I’ve been careful to read your threads, and they’ve been very informative, thank you. I kinda wish I had the sort of connection to Mr. Joe Chambers to get one his “strip it apart and measure everything” reviews. I’m certain it’s about as good as it can be, but the engineer inside me is curious about the numbers.

I will note that it has the lowered FP stop, and I hope that there’s a mainspring and recoil spring combo that would allow responsible 45 Super operation- the “field pistol” threads on PF are endlessly interesting. I won’t be unhappy if I can’t, though- I 100% explicitly asked for and plan a life of 230 grain factory ball with Wilsons and McCormicks.

[thatguybryan]

I TOO HAD ISSUES WITH THE LAST PAGE FOR TWO DAYS. I was able to view it last night.

I would want to see your gun in general.

I am a rookie in the RDS pistol world even though I had a G19 RDS for years, I never put any real time behind it till recently.

When making the decision on RDS placement, I chose all the way to the rear with the Charyn plate. It was a pure guess on my part and after having it, I have zero issues with my decision on placement.

My only issue with mine so far

• I need to make time to pump some rounds through it to return to duty.
  
• I have to buy new leather
  
• and my Turbo X300 fits loose. SF told me to loosen the bolts and squeeze the rails together and tighten the bolts. I did, nuthin changed.
  

the dot is not that big, its how the camera views it

I had a similar experience with an x300u-a, and was told the b model is better for metal guns. I think my issue was on a Sig 226, but I just could never get the -a tight enough for my liking. The -b is great though.

The answer for this depends on a few factors. Assuming the question is for .45 ACP (another issue with the tapered 9x19 case), the follower and magazine spring matter as does the magazine catch height. Some magazines, mostly eight-round ones, when fully loaded put a lot of pressure on the slide disconnect rail when trying to chamber a round from slide lock. This tends to lead to rounds with the bullet nose jammed into the field ramp. A magazine catch that holds the magazine high can exacerbate the issue. Another concern is the magazine striking the ejector as that can both impact feeding and loosen the ejector.

Both of these things make sense to me, but the weird thing is the ETM has a longer tube length to sort of help with this but it still happened, whereas my 47Ds do not have the issue at all. FWIW, I’m using the factory mag catch and I’ve confirmed none of the mag feed lips touch the ejector.

It’s just the weirdest issue. Only happened once though, and has not since then. However, I can’t help but carry the 47Ds because they have been stone cold reliable.

I do have some 7 round 47Ds I could test too, but I kinda like the idea of an 8 round mag if I can make it work.

[farscott]

In my experience, the ETM spring has a higher spring rate than the 47D. The reason is to handle hotter ammo that increases slide velocity. As with most 1911 decisions, there is no free lunch. That extra force on the disconnect rail with a fully loaded magazine can inhibit hand-cycled feeding from a fully-loaded magazine.