The Art and Science of Keeping Your 1911 Running

[Trooper224]

This is why I like this forum so much - lots of real life experiences amongst the members.

My Springfield came with a 9# spring, which is far too low. That's one of the Prodigys problems, especially with a full length slide. My RO was right on the ragged edge of functionality with so light a spring.

[SW CQB 45]

Alright, here comes the test. 2005 Green-eee

I am hoping to pump out at least 500 rounds of 230 ball if the class lets me.

I put a WC extractor in it and was getting alot of brass contact and its possible it's too long (something out of spec).

I honed on it a lot and time will tell.

The MIM factory trigger group had a gross hitch and could not iron it out. I bought some used WC components for cheap just to have a cleaner trigger break around 5#

and if I cannot see that front sight, I got problems.

This was a complete failure, but not what you think.

The weather did not behave which caused us to schedule changes to classroom time and work around the rain. We dealt with the wind and cold (40s).

We had some cadets that required additional focus and thus I only shot around 250 or so rounds. Toward the end of day two or three, I racked the slide and felt and heard crunchy.

It was windy and that range has some fine powder like dirt/sand. I was on the ground several times before the rain started (got the groundwork done first) and that dirt likely came from that. I had one mag that locked the slide back when empty but would not drop free. As I ripped it out, I could feel the dirt causing the interference. I reloaded and shot and never felt the dirt again, but I did not get to shoot the amount I had intended. So foooey!

One day, I had three layers of pants and four layers of shirts because of the cold, my draw was so slow!!!!!!

[Catshooter]

The best laid plans . . .

Life can go like that sometimes. Now though, you can see some of its limitations.

[03RN]

I'd say 250 rounds in harsh conditions is a better test then 500 in perfect conditions.

[JohnK]

I'd say 250 rounds in harsh conditions is a better test then 500 in perfect conditions.

I would second that. With that said, I had a baer in the holster rolling around on the ground and shooting in a class and all the dust that kicked up into the gun (plus all of the residue) caused it to have a few stoppages but I cleared them with haste and whatever "cronch" was in there worked itself out.

[SW CQB 45]

in the late 90s early 2000s, before we were allowed 1911 carry, I used to carry a Smith & Wesson Performance Center CQB 45 on duty (SW CQB 45 my prefix) and it's a fitted SW 4500 and I lubed it with Tetra grease the day before night training and qualification. It was unusally dark that evening with hardly any ambient light from the city lights.

It was in the mid 20s that night and huge lessoned learned, the grease and 20-degree temps do mix. I had a single shot 8 shot .45acp. All they kept hearing (it was dark) "BANG", cussing, slapping, racking, "BANG", cussing... REPEAT. The slide was not moving enough to kick out the empties. The rock throwing was heavy that evening. Fun times.

it was the aluminum frame two tone.

[Catshooter]

Those were fine weapons weren't they.

I carried a Shorty .45 for years, loved it. Too damn bad they stopped supporting them.

[SW CQB 45]

Those were fine weapons weren't they.

I carried a Shorty .45 for years, loved it. Too damn bad they stopped supporting them.

Both CQBs were mine, one all stainless, the other alum frame and blackened stainless slide. the upper left hand corner is the front end of my dad's Shorty 45. All 3 were performers.

I goth the Shorty when my dad passed in 2005 and decided to push them all when SW stop making parts for 3rd Gen Smiths.

[RJ]

As a lefty, I’ve experience malfunctions caused by pushing on the slide stop pin. I tried to address that today by flush cutting the pin:


It occurred to me I have a small flat abrasive disk in my rotary tool kit. I decided to have a try on the Springfield factory MIM part, as this would be easy to replace if I messed up. I chucked it into my vise, put on my safety glasses and went to work slowly. It took maybe 30-45 minutes, stopping to check the fit from time to time.

I finished with 800 then 2000 wet/dry, then a bit of Flitz. I need to get some treatment (Cold Blue?) so it matches the slide, but it doesn’t look too bad as it is.

Dry practice, it works well; I can now use my natural grip and not worry as much about pushing the slide stop pin locking up the slide.

[SW CQB 45]

Nice job


You reminded me of this
Between 2003 -2005, our city was plagued with heavy prison gang drive by shootings. I was pulling my gun out on a lot of traffic stops 4 nights a work week. We got into a car chase where both the driver and passenger were shooting out of the car at a night club. The car crashed into another car and the driver gave up quickly. The passenger would not listen to commands and nor would he exit. He just stayed looking forward in the front passenger seat. I saw a line of bushes that offered concealment right up to where he was positioned in the car. I made my way up this line and took my sights on him and observed a 1911 in his hands at somewhat of a high ready position with the muzzle angled up. I was about 7-10 yards angled to his rear and he had no clue I was there. He was still faced forward with a hard focus. I communicated to him that he would not win, to drop the gun and put his hands up. I still recall what seemed like minutes, but it was likely seconds he faced forward with no movement and then his eyes slowly turned to his right but the 1911 never moved from being pointed forward.

While the car was well lit up with quite a few patrol units, when I made my presence known, I also put a handheld light beam on him (probably a 60 lumen Surefire, hey that was the shit back then) and notice the 1911 was missing the slide stop pin as all I saw was the hole from the ejection side. He then let the 1911 fall onto the floorboard (I heard it hit) and raised both his hands out the door and he came out.

After the car was cleared, I went to get the 1911 and was amazed to see the slide stop was on the ragged edge of falling out. It was likely thin on the barrel link/lug. Hell, it might have fired one more time or whatever was left in the mag. I don't recall what brand other than it was beat up.