I picked up a Springfield Armory Range Officer Operator 1911 in .45Auto over the weekend as my first 1911 as pictured below. It’s got just short of 100 rounds through it and so far I’m totally digging it. Didn’t get a chance to get more ammo through it as the wife and I were shooting other things as well. More to come though as I hope this thing keeps chugging along.
Being new to the platform and wanting to learn more I’m in the process of absorbing as much info as I can. My hopes with this thread is to garner additional info that a newbie to the platform should know and be cognizant of and how to maintain from here as well as any possible idiosyncrasies that may be unique to SA 1911s in general.
It’s got the fiber front and I’ve blacked out the rear sight, so that should be sufficient for now. Although I’ll probably want to eventually get it swapped out for a blacked out and serrated rear at some point. The front seems fine enough to keep, so I don’t see the point of swapping it out. The torx grip screws seem like a dumb idea, so I’ll be swapping those out with flat head screws, but since I’m doing that I might as well throw some decent G10 grips on it. Preferably something with a texture that’s somewhat grippy, but also comfortable enough for carry as I’d like to try my hand at that for giggles down the road. I’ll probably get the grips from LOK. I like VZ grips, don’t get me wrong (love the LTT grips and J-frame grips I have on my guns now), but I like to support Michigan companies when I can. So suggestions there would be appreciated.
Beyond that I’ll probably run at least a case or two of ammo through it before I change anything else more drastically, which should take me a while because it’s not a Glock and .45Auto ain’t super cheap. I do foresee some sort of magwell and ambi-safety in my future though, so suggestions there would be appreciated as well. For mags, I’ve got the two no-names that came with the gun and I picked up a Wilson 47. So far no issues, but we’ll see. I’ll probably pick up another 47, a couple Metalform 8 rounders, and a couple CMC 8 rounders to give myself something to work with for now and test.
Now, springs and maintenance intervals are probably what I’m most curious about right now. I have no idea what spring weights SA ships their guns with. It seems to shoot fine now so I’m inclined to leave well enough alone, but curious if maybe doing the recommended 18lb recoil spring and 23lb mainspring thing now is better or keep using what was supplied. Change recoil springs every 2,000 rounds? Any other springs at that time? What’s the next maintenance interval part?
Spare extractors. Any suggestions on which brand I should have on hand as a spare? Any other high wear parts I should have spares of for giggles?