Springfield “Garrison” 1911

[Hambo]

Yep.

Beats me, I just shoot it. 750 rounds to date.

ETA: When I got it last July, slide to frame was pretty rough. The slide would not fall off the bare frame under it's own weight, at all. I worked it with Flitz until it did. It's pretty easy to fall now. Could be I did what you see in the photo, I guess; I only have this sample of one 1911 to go by.

It looks like tooling marks to me. I can't tell how much the photo accentuates it, or maybe the Flitz made them stand out, but I've never seen rails like that before. I'll have to see if I can find one in a store.

[RJ]

It looks like tooling marks to me. I can't tell how much the photo accentuates it, or maybe the Flitz made them stand out, but I've never seen rails like that before. I'll have to see if I can find one in a store.

Be interesting what you find out.

I tried out the new fancy-pants range near me on Tuesday; very nice it was, too. Even had air conditioning, which was a big step up from where I usually go. The retail shop has this large circular display with maybe 200 or so cabled pistols, all set up so you can handle them each in turn. I went around looking at all the 1911s that had ambi thumb safeties, so I could compare with mine before fitting on it some more.

Anyway, out of idle curiosity, I also felt the slide to frame fit of each one as I handled it. The display included a couple Colts, Springfield, Taurus, Ruger, and a S&W. No Tisas or RIA. It was funny, the guns with the most perceptible wiggle were the brown "Military" looking Colt and the Taurus. The one with the least was the Springfield.

These are finger banged a lot, sitting on display, of course. My Garrison feels fairly tight, or at least as tight as the best of them, which IIRC was a Springfield Loaded. I appreciate slide to frame fit isn't a lot to do with accuracy necessarily, and we are talking low end production guns, not Les Baer's, but I thought it was interesting, nonetheless.

[Robinson]

It was funny, the guns with the most perceptible wiggle were the brown "Military" looking Colt and the Taurus.

Colt is known for making 1911s with a fairly loose slide to frame fit, and it's actually by design. However, sometimes they are so loose that it detracts from a feel of quality and it affects the feel when shooting. I would prefer that they tighten things up a bit. The exception is the guns currently made in the Custom Shop -- they are built tight.

Springfield Armory has been building some pretty nice guns of late. I have been very impressed with my recent manufacture Operator.

[RJ]

Welp I'm still fiddling around with the gun. I have to say it is still pretty interesting, learning new stuff about the design. I'm sure it's old hat to most of you, but it is fun for me.

I wasn't thrilled with the U-notch in the 10 8 rear so I hogged out the channel with a file and reblued it. I much prefer this sight picture. Should lower my groups a tad, which I am ok with.


I had removed the granulate Talon front strap a few weeks ago, and finally installed the other option I had, which was the rubber. I like this a lot better; gives some texture but doesn't tear up my fingers.

Functionally the biggest recent change was installing a new EGW bushing and long nose spring plug. I measured my gun the way they suggest, then sat down and figured out which one of their "drop-in" parts would work best. After it arrived, it would barely turn in the slide, so I rubbed on it just a tad with some Flitz until it (barely) rotated. It chewed up my Wilson plastic wrench pretty good, I have an Aluminum one on the way. Bushing to barrel fit is also much tighter. Even racking the slide was quite a bit harder than before. I've watched several videos on Les Baer guns and there is a kind of "hitch" in the action that you can see people experience. Mine is exactly like that.

I shot 89 rounds this week at the square range with the new bushing with no issues. I can't say yet whether the bushing reduced my groups; I was on the short 15 yard range and didn't use a rest. If my gun had any play at the barrel end before, it sure doesn't now, I'll say. Just to include the clearances before and after, for reference (remember, all this is to Harbor Freight caliper standards, my Garrison ain't exactly a Mitutoyo-worthy gun):

Before: Data for Gun, Stock parts
Slide ID 0.6990
Springfield Bushing OD 0.6970 (Delta 0.0020)
Barrel OD 0.5795
Springfield Bushing ID 0.5830 (Delta 0.0035)

After: Data for Gun, EGW parts
Slide ID 0.6990
EGW Bushing OD 0.6990 (Delta 0.000)
Barrel OD 0.5795
EGW Bushing ID 0.5800 (Delta 0.0015)

(Part I bought was an EGW "Barrel Bushing Drop-in Carry Bevel Govt. 0.699x0.580 Angle Bore")



The new tighter bushing means I can't field strip with my normal, turn bushing first method. So I came across a good YT video of Rob Schauland with an excellent tutorial on the slide stop first method. I've been doing that lately, and it's been fairly easy, as long as I follow the procedure described. Rob has a good way of getting the loaded hand grenade which is the top end including RSA all put together, that works well. This was the big problem I had; and doing it the way Rob describes it really reduces the risk of parts going SPROING!! into the ceiling or carpet (or, worse, me).

It certainly was worth $25 to learn a lot more about barrel bushing fit. But that is like most of the things I get to fiddle with the gun; it's not so much about the gun per se for me, I am just curious how these work. Replacing parts is a pretty low-cost way of getting to understand the function, as I am more of a visual, hands-on learner. And it is fun to play with.


So, I'm up to 961 rounds, with no malfunctions or stoppages of any kind with ball or HP ever since I installed the higher shelf mag catch. Not sure quite what I'm going to try next, maybe a magwell. Thinking an Ed Brown Maxi-Well, most likely. It is a two piece, under $100, seems to be well reviewed.

[45dotACP]

Welp I'm still fiddling around with the gun. I have to say it is still pretty interesting, learning new stuff about the design. I'm sure it's old hat to most of you, but it is fun for me.

I wasn't thrilled with the U-notch in the 10 8 rear so I hogged out the channel with a file and reblued it. I much prefer this sight picture. Should lower my groups a tad, which I am ok with.


I had removed the granulate Talon front strap a few weeks ago, and finally installed the other option I had, which was the rubber. I like this a lot better; gives some texture but doesn't tear up my fingers.

Functionally the biggest recent change was installing a new EGW bushing and long nose spring plug. I measured my gun the way they suggest, then sat down and figured out which one of their "drop-in" parts would work best. After it arrived, it would barely turn in the slide, so I rubbed on it just a tad with some Flitz until it (barely) rotated. It chewed up my Wilson plastic wrench pretty good, I have an Aluminum one on the way. Bushing to barrel fit is also much tighter. Even racking the slide was quite a bit harder than before. I've watched several videos on Les Baer guns and there is a kind of "hitch" in the action that you can see people experience. Mine is exactly like that.

I shot 89 rounds this week at the square range with the new bushing with no issues. I can't say yet whether the bushing reduced my groups; I was on the short 15 yard range and didn't use a rest. If my gun had any play at the barrel end before, it sure doesn't now, I'll say.

Just to include the clearances before and after, for reference (remember, all this is to Harbor Freight caliper standards, my Garrison ain't exactly a Mitutoyo-worthy gun):

Before: Data for Gun, Stock parts
Slide ID 0.6990
Springfield Bushing OD 0.6970 (Delta 0.0020)
Barrel OD 0.5795
Springfield Bushing ID 0.5830 (Delta 0.0035)

After: Data for Gun, EGW parts
Slide ID 0.6990
EGW Bushing OD 0.6990 (Delta 0.000)
Barrel OD 0.5795
EGW Bushing ID 0.5800 (Delta 0.0015)

(Part I bought was an EGW "Barrel Bushing Drop-in Carry Bevel Govt. 0.699x0.580 Angle Bore")



The new tighter bushing means I can't field strip with my normal, turn bushing first method. So I came across a good YT video of Rob Schauland with an excellent tutorial on the slide stop first method. I've been doing that lately, and it's been fairly easy, as long as I follow the procedure described. Rob has a good way of getting the loaded hand grenade which is the top end including RSA all put together, that works well. This was the big problem I had; and doing it the way Rob describes it really reduces the risk of parts going SPROING!! into the ceiling or carpet (or, worse, me).

So, I'm up to 961 rounds, with no malfunctions or stoppages of any kind with ball or HP ever since I installed the higher shelf mag catch. Not sure quite what I'm going to try next, maybe a magwell. Thinking an Ed Brown Maxi-Well, most likely. It is a two piece, under $100, seems to be well reviewed.

I personally didn't love the Ed Brown Maxi-well. The magwell would get wobbly on the mainspring housing. I very much preferred the Smith and Alexander and it's the one that rides on my Caspian Build (which is my very favorite 1911).

The EGW bushings were a pain in the ass for me to install on my guns, but a well worthy pain in the ass. After installation, I noticed significant improvement in the accuracy of most of my 1911s. Definitely recommend a bushing wrench made of something more than just plastic, as it chewed up my plastic wrench very easily when I got my RRA poly 1911 and installed EGW bushings on my other 1911s.

[RJ]

I personally didn't love the Ed Brown Maxi-well. The magwell would get wobbly on the mainspring housing. I very much preferred the Smith and Alexander and it's the one that rides on my Caspian Build (which is my very favorite 1911).

Good to know, thanks for the perspective. That is a worry of mine with the two piece design. If I found some spare change down the couch cushions, I would probably opt for Stan Chen's user installed magwell, but it's a bit spendy.

[Chuck Whitlock]

Not sure quite what I'm going to try next, maybe a magwell. Thinking an Ed Brown Maxi-Well, most likely. It is a two piece, under $100, seems to be well reviewed.

Good to know, thanks for the perspective. That is a worry of mine with the two piece design. If I found some spare change down the couch cushions, I would probably opt for Stan Chen's user installed magwell, but it's a bit spendy.

Rich,

For not a lot of money, you could try the Wilson slip-on magwell to play with the concept.

https://wilsoncombat.com/magazine-well-blue.html

Looks like it is out of stock at Wilson, but looks available at Brownells and VZ.

https://www.brownells.com/gun-parts/...?sku=965170113

https://vzgrips.com/products/wilson-...zine-well.html

The inside of the grip panels need to be relieved, but I think you've got some spares lying around to toy with, if you've go an interest.

[SW CQB 45]

my fricken two piece factory DW Specialist mag well is junk.

I was messin with the gun the other day and I heard rattling. I took off the slide and the rattle was on the frame. The magwell is not tight. I will take a pic in a few days two show the design. Its a U shape cut out and uses the mainspring pin to keep the two together. I guess who was making them that day had something else on their mind.

My 1911 must haves...

good sights
good trigger
well fit barrel
mag well
some sort of front strap treatment with checkering being the sheeeeOT. I like 20/25 and 30.

[03RN]

I just put a nighthawk magwell on my loaded. It's about as solid as a piece of steel

[Trukinjp13]

I just put a nighthawk magwell on my loaded. It's about as solid as a piece of steel

Looks like you have some well placed accessories on her [emoji1303][emoji1303]


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