The Art and Science of Keeping Your 1911 Running

[SW CQB 45]

I have a Colt Govt that my dad gave me which will never leave my side. It was dedicated for accuracy type matches and was barreled and tuned in 2005. It ran flawless with CMC mags.

I wanted to make some changes to the Colt and I ended up sending it to David Sams who did not like the barrel fit, so did his magic. It was no longer reliable with the original use CMC mags. An occasional failure to feed which was not good for the match.

He said to switch to Mec-Gar 7 rounders which have been 100% reliable but ran into a snag.

My Colt has a magwell and I tried to drill the metal baseplates to screw on bumpers..... damn the base plates are sooooo hard, I could not drill a single hole. I dont have access to a decent drill press.

I ran last season with a magwell and no mag bumpers. It felt odd, but I got it done. While my SA scores were decent... my revolver scores help me take 1st by 10 points overall.

anyone know a shop that is able to drill and screw on bumpers to Mec-Gar steel base mags? I am assuming the weld hardened the base plate.



SA




Revolver

[Corse]

Yes indeed... I send them out with every 45ACP gun I build.

I guess I thought they were all 47Ds now.

I take it that you recommend the 47 then?

ETA: I went back and found the YouTube links. Good info, thanks for putting that out there. Now I Might need to grab a couple more mags.

[JTQ]

I guess I thought they were all 47Ds now.

I take it that you recommend the 47 then?

ETA: I went back and found the YouTube links. Good info, thanks for putting that out there. Now I Might need to grab a couple more mags.

Still on sale https://www.brownells.com/magazines/...%7cMake_3=1911

[03RN]

Guess my trigger bow needed tweeking. Wasn't dropping mags free. Ive got it now.

[awp_101]

Bump!

[Outlier]

Guess my trigger bow needed tweeking. Wasn't dropping mags free. Ive got it now.

How did you go about doing that? Use one of these?

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...e-prod788.aspx

[03RN]

How did you go about doing that? Use one of these?

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...e-prod788.aspx

Thats cool.

No, i just used my fingers and used trial an error

[Outlier]

Ah. Yeah, I'm not that good.

[awp_101]

Thanks to the extractor tips and info from @RevolverRob and @45dotACP the RIA/PSA homebrew 9mm appears to be up and running! I spent about 20 minutes doing the replacement this morning. I put it in my Weigand Extractor Adjustment Tool, gave it some bend and figured I'd start there. When I got to the range both mags passed the 10-8 test right out of the gate. After that I did 2 rounds from each mag with no failures and then loaded each to capacity and joyously emptied both without issue. Throughout the rest of the range session (5 hours worth) I would take a break from whatever I was working with to put another couple of mags through it. Ammo used was Blazer Brass 115g and Fed Syntec 150g. Grand total was only 50-60 rounds but that is way more than I've ever gotten though it without a failure until now.

Ed Brown replacement extractor top, factory RIA below:


The EB protrudes from the rear of the slide but it works. I might file it down someday. Or not...


Here it is as it sits for now:

[awp_101]

This was along for the range trip yesterday. RIA 1911A1ATacorsomesuchubercoolname. I usually keep my AA .22 kit on this but I picked up a set of Practitioners from @vcdgrips and I wanted to try them with the mighty .45ACP. Me likey. A LOT!





I picked up 3 boxes of 200gr SWC a couple of weeks ago. I put 16 through the RIA and the last 4 through my SR1911 Commander. The last round of each mag (a 47D and an ETM) through the RIA was FTEject and looked like this:


The last round from the Ruger mag ejected fine.

It runs 230gr ball just fine, I'm guessing I need to drop down to a lighter spring if I want to run these on a regular basis?