Springfield 1911 milspec ammo recommendation

For a Springfield 1911 milspec... without any mods..

  • I trust it enough for home defense, but only with ball ammo

    Votes: 2 28.6%
  • I trust it enough for home-defense, and I use hollow points.

    Votes: 4 57.1%
  • Nope.. I don't trust it enough.

    Votes: 1 14.3%

  • Total voters
    7
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TheProf

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If you have found a reliable jhp for the milspec 1911 Springfield, please let me know. It would save a lot of trial and error on my part.

Thanks in advance.
 
I am gradually getting comfortable with 200 gr XTP in my Colt.
In the meanwhile, it gets a hollowpoint in the chamber and ball in the clip.
 
I haven't found any I would trust in mine. I only have about 500 rounds through it, but it seems to like hardball.

When it comes to .45, I'm ok with hardball. My Shield eats anything. However my SA gets fed fmj.
 
A poll won't tell you what works in your gun. Shooting it will. I have not found a milspec 1911 that failed with milspec 230 RN.
 
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Sadly, my experience is that each arm is niqe in what ammo it prefers.
My Series 70 positively hated Federal with it's truncated (flat side) cone shape; but would happy digest CCI 200gr "flying ashtrays." Best performance was with 185gr Silvertips.
The AMT hardballer would launch Federals, but not CCI, and had a "sweet spot for Hornady ammo.
The Sistema did not like HP ammo of most sorts.
The Norinco would happliy digest anything fed to it, but was most accurate with Black Talon--for no obvious reason.
The Officer's Model really likes 185gr hyrda-shok
Tha AO 1911A1 seems happiest with S&B JHP.

Not 1911--the taurus hated all HP ammo but, then again the frame was not drilled right, s it really hated all ammo.
The SIG P220 (US) also had a sweet spot for Hydra Shok--ust he big ones, not the 185s. The West German P220 likes JHP with an ogive, as long as they are not CCI or S&B. Neither of the S&W autos shot decently enough (for me, with the two I had) to even bother trying them with JHP.

So, I'm jaded. I pretty much assume I'm digging through all my partial boxes when I take something new to the range and try and see where it settles in best.

Oh, and that Series 70? More than 7500 rounds later, I still trust it will point better than my index finger.
 
If you can find the Winchester White Box Personal Protection 230 JHP they seem to work well in 5" barrels. They are also affordable enough to shoot enough to know they function.
 
I have a pet peeve about pistols that are picky about ammo. I want all of my guns to shoot whatever ammo I load it with. You could take the gun to a good gunsmith to have the headspace checked to verify it’s in spec. Have the barrel throat inspected to see whether it could use a little reprofiling. If necessary, have the GS recut the chamber to SAAMI specs with a finishing reamer. A finishing reamer used to recut a factory barrel chamber will almost always remove metal. This works to ensure that the gun chambers rounds reliably, and locks up when it’s hot, dry and dirty. A high polish is not necessary but looks nice anyway. Correct feed ramp and barrel throat geometry is critical, as no amount of polishing will fix poor geometry. I’ve had this work done to 2 of my 1911’s and a couple of my other guns.

In addition, a Wilson Combat 17lb flat-wire recoil spring with the full length guide rod & plug kit, would also be an upgrade I’d consider.
 
Not a Springfield GI 1911 owner. My other GI 1911s work just fine with Gold Dot 230gr hollow points.
 
Each of these gets someone who hand tunes the extractor, ejector, etc. There may be some variations to deal with in ammo likes-dislikes. I got brass to the forehead regardless of ammo used on my stock SA. After a replacing the extractor and ejector it handles pretty much everything well. It will not feed 200gr flat nose but does not have issues with JHP like 230gr HST, Hydrashok or the Hornady XTP, etc. Ball type is not an issue for the stock geometry.
 
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