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Thread: 1911 - 9mm vs 45 ACP

  1. #11
    Site Supporter Paul D's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by awp_101 View Post
    Was it bad/wrong from the factory or was it an ammo preference issue?
    The ejector was bad Too long and actually bent! I reload 9mm so I had to fit the extractor to allow for various case heads. That's easy. The recoil spring was for my load. The mag spring: personal preference. I always felt that a mag that moves the cartridge up quickly tends to have less feedway jams. I'm probably wrong about this.

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  2. #12
    Ready! Fire! Aim! awp_101's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul D View Post
    The ejector was bad Too long and actually bent! I reload 9mm so I had to fit the extractor to allow for various case heads. That's easy. The recoil spring was for my load. The mag spring: personal preference. I always felt that a mag that moves the cartridge up quickly tends to have less feedway jams. I'm probably wrong about this.

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    At least the ejector was an easy fix. You might bring up the mag speed theory in the 1911 Art and Science thread, might make for a good discussion.
    Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits - Mark Twain

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  3. #13
    The ejector on my Colt 9mm Competition broke also. I was using Wilson ETM mags and they lock in higher in the gun. When doing slide lock reloads that allowed the top round in the mag to contact the bottom of the ejector, bending it and eventually breaking it.

    I contacted Colt customer service to purchase a replacement ejector but was told they would fix it under warranty. They issued a pickup ticket and repaired the gun at no cost to me. Turn around time was less than 30 days.

    When I got the gun back, I took a file and relieved the bottom of the ejector enough so the top round doesn't hit it. The gun feeds everything I've shot through it from 115 Federal Champion aluminum case to Winchester 9mm 127gr +p+ Ranger Talon.

    A shooting buddy bought a new Colt Combat Elite in 9mm and some Wilson ETM mags. We relieved the bottom of his ejector for clearance before he ever shot it. At last check, that gun is approaching 1000rds fired with no malfunctions and no cleaning. He keeps it wet with lube.

  4. #14
    Site Supporter farscott's Avatar
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    9x19 in the 1911 has to be the handgun equivalent of Shangri-la, and much like that mythical place many have tried to get there and failed. When the pistol runs, it is a flat shooter with minimal muzzle lift and recoil. But the path there is fraught with failure and disappointment. Speaking as someone who has failed multiple times (I still have four in the safe), 9x19 is fundamentally incompatible with the 1911 for the following reasons.

    1) The round is too short to reliably feed in the 1911. The same pistol that will feed 9x23 without fail will fail to do so on 9x19, especially with a fully loaded magazine. The tapered case tends to have the round point down, jamming it into the feed ramp instead of feeding it into the barrel. The magazines also have short service lives, usually measured in hundreds, not thousands, of rounds. Every 9x19 magazine design will fail; not "if" but "when". Usually with no warning. Look at other 9x19 pistols, especially the Beretta 92, and the round goes straight into the chamber. The 1911 aims the round at the feed ramp, not the chamber. The narrower 9x19 round, unlike the .45, struggles with the feed ramp.

    2) The recoil impulse is right on the ragged edge of running the pistol, especially with ammo like WWB. The usual fix is to use a lighter recoil spring, making the slide run slowly and making a dirty gun more likely to suffer a stoppage.

    3) The ejector has to be moved inward to deal with the thinner case, putting it above the magazine lip. Forceful mag insertion can cause the magazine to strike the ejector, either loosening it or breaking it.

    4) That thinner case also moves the extractor hook inward, increasing the necessary bend on the extractor on the internal extractor design. This can lead to the extractor slipping from the rim.

    9x19 1911 pistols are fun, but there are better platforms for the round. Heck, even Wilson developed the EDC X9 platform to get the benefits of a 9x19 1911 with a reliable feeding system. That says it better than my words.
    Last edited by farscott; 05-24-2020 at 03:00 PM.

  5. #15
    Site Supporter Trooper224's Avatar
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    When I was still living in 1911land I bought a Springfield Range Officer in 9mm with the idea of using it as a training gun. That didn't work out for me as there was just too much difference in the recoil impulse for a seamless transition between my carry .45 and a 9mm trainer. When I decided to switch to a 9mm for carry, I never even considered the 1911 in 9mm, it was time to move onto other things. However, my wife wound up liking the RO in 9mm and adopted it as her gun. I have to admit, that's the one gun in my safe you might say I neglect. I've yet to clean it in thousands of rounds. My wife's a recreational shooter and doesn't carry, so the gun gets lubed up when she wants to go shooting and that's about it. I have yet to see a malfunction with either the factory supplied mags or Wilson ETM's. Still, if I was looking for a 1911 for serious purposes, that sample of one isn't enough to convince me the 1911 in 9mm concept is good for prime time.
    We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again.......

  6. #16
    Frequent DG Adventurer fatdog's Avatar
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    I have had 9mm Springfields that were a chore to get running and keep running, I have had STI single stack and a pair of 2011's in 9 that ran mostly, a joy to shoot, but were very high maintenance (springs and extractors) and the wide body mags were a chore, tuning, springs, replacing springs, etc.

    My Dan Wesson's (commander and officer) all seemed to mostly run out of the box but would never make it to 3K rounds without new flat wire springs and the extractors needed tweaking some time after 5K rounds.

    Each brand of 9mm gun I owned had its own very specific preference for magazine types, rear spacer, front spacer, type of lips, follower, cut at the top, angle of the top cartridge, etc. and would choke with the other types, especially when running 147gr JHP stuff.

    Never owned a Wilson or Nighthawk or any of the high end guns in 9mm so maybe that is the path to happiness and confidence.

    I finally tired of the 9mm 1911 tribe and sold them off. I have far fewer problems with the 45ACP tribe on that platform.

  7. #17
    Four String Fumbler Joe in PNG's Avatar
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    A 9mm 1911, in my experience, is a bit like owning an Italian Supercar.

    Super awesome and amazing when they work- but you're going to be doing a lot of tweaking and maintenance.
    "You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
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  8. #18
    Member SecondsCount's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul D View Post
    So you indentify as a.380 gender then.

    When I bought my Colt 1911 9mm competition model, I had to change the ejector, tune the extractor a little, play with the recoil spring weight and made sure the mag springs were robust. Definitely a lot more work but it my fasting shooting gun. Too much maintenance for more than a fun gun for me.

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    That's because you bought a Colt

    It's not your fault when most of the gun world thinks that little pony on the slide buys you something special. Buyer beware.
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  9. #19
    I agree, but i find myself talking with a gunsmith to build the 9mm i've always wanted... commander length sight tracker double stack


    Quote Originally Posted by Joe in PNG View Post
    A 9mm 1911, in my experience, is a bit like owning an Italian Supercar.

    Super awesome and amazing when they work- but you're going to be doing a lot of tweaking and maintenance.

  10. #20
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    Wilson offers 9mm and 38 Super buyers the option of a spare barrel in the other caliber.

    I had Alex Hamilton convert my Colt Combat Commander from .38 Super to 9mm. AFAIK it was simply a matter of him fitting a Kart 9mm barrel.

    So is it feasible to carry .38 super for increased reliability and swap out to a 9mm barrel or top end for training ? They seem to track and recoil similarly.

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