1911 guide rod installation technique needed

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Paddy

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I have a 1911 pistol that came with a 2pc full length guide rod. I can take it apart okay, using an Allen key as the first step of disassembly, but when I go to assemble I find it a bit awkward. If I wait until the end to insert the rod and screw it in then the spring gets in the way internally, because it's unsupported. If I try to assemble it all on the slide while off the frame then it's even weirder and just feels wrong.
Am I missing something super easy here? My other unit has the regular half guide rod and it's much easier to install.
 
After having a two piece come unscrewed while shooting I've pretty much sworn off them. What I generally do with a one-piece guide rod is grind enough off the end so you can rotate the bushing normally. You just need to make sure your plug has enough shoulder that the end of the rod is still captured by it when the slide is full forward.

OTOH no reason you can't buy a standard short rod and plug and use them instead. Something I've also done.
 
I considered switching to a short rod but that seemed like a backward step. Sure would be more convenient though. I don't like needing tools to clean guns.
 
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My first 1911 had a standard length rod (I didn't keep that gun though). My second had a full length. I thought the full length rod was a cool idea until I went to tear the thing down and reassemble it.

I immediately walked upstairs, went to Brownells, and ordered a standard length guide rod setup. I see absolutely no benefit in the full length rod - all it does is create a hassle on tear down. The dimensions of the 1911 slide simply weren't designed with a full length rod in mind.

My advice is to do what I did. It's a cheap part to replace.
 
Replace the FLGR with a G.I. rod. A FLGR does nothing for you or your pistol. I used to sell, install, and use FLGRs in competition guns for many years. All of my 1911s now use a G.I. guide rod. FLGRs are just like sticking a rear wing spoiler on your front wheel drive Honda. So it looks cool. Don't be that guy.
 
Drail, hit the nail, on the head. Full length guide rods accomplish nothing but to make the gun more difficult to disassemble.
 
Well shoot I'm glad to hear this, although I do wonder why Springfield would put it on if it didn't have a benefit. I suppose the spec sheet gets longer that way. Cool well I will $h*t can this thing and get a regular one (and by that I mean keep it in my parts bin just in case)

Any suggestions of regular length guides to use or just find the cheapest one in the brownells?
 
Springfield puts them on because ever since about 1992 EVERYBODY wanted one on their gun. Springfield will put on anything that helps sell the gun so long as it doesn't hurt anything. But help? All they do is get in the way. Life's too short. Just get a standard issue guide rod. I sold and installed boxes of FLGRs in the 90s and the reason we sold them was to make money. And we did. I tell people if they want to improve their pistol then spend your money on ammo and springs. Jerry Miculek says if you want to shoot really well be the first guy on the range in the morning and the last guy to leave. I did that. He's right.
 
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Springfield includes the full length guide rod for the same reason that Ed Brown does on his 1911s. Customers demand to pay for it.

FLGRs do serve a purpose on bull barrel 1911s...without barrel bushings
 
Paddy said:
Any suggestions of regular length guides to use or just find the cheapest one in the brownells?
Click to expand...

My guide rod is Wilson Combat (as is the mag release and mags) but the recoil spring plug is Ed Brown - just because at the time Wilson was out of stock. I'd worry more about it if it were part of the firing control group but the guide rod/plug parts there just isn't a lot of differentiation - any decent quality brand should all be about the same.
 
wally said:
After having a two piece come unscrewed while shooting I've pretty much sworn off them. What I generally do with a one-piece guide rod is grind enough off the end so you can rotate the bushing normally. You just need to make sure your plug has enough shoulder that the end of the rod is still captured by it when the slide is full forward.

OTOH no reason you can't buy a standard short rod and plug and use them instead. Something I've also done.
Click to expand...

You can bevel the end of a one piece FLGR if you take a little too much off.

I like the one piece FLGRs, because I can just cut them down to GI length, bevel them, and swap in a solid spring plug. None of my 1911s have a FLGR for long.
 
Interesting. It looks like they just made the end plug ID go onto the rod farther and then shortened the rod a bit to clear the bushing. So simplifies the concept a bit, although how do you line it up again when assembling it?

The more I look at the fl guide rods it would seem that I could just as easily cut down the guide rod I have about 1/8" just to clear the barrel bushing, and lock tite the two pieces together so they are more or less permanent. Need to measure the spring plug a bit first though. Probably smarter to buy a new one instead of modding mine, but then again im cheap.
 
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tark said:
Drail, hit the nail, on the head. Full length guide rods accomplish nothing but to make the gun more difficult to disassemble.
Click to expand...
This.
FLGR are fine in pistols designed for them, such as a Sig P22X series. In a 1911 they just makse life more difficult than it needs to be.
 
Well shoot guys I was a bit hesitant to mod the original parts, but I just ground off about .080 from the end of the rod, lock tited the two pieces together and now I seem to have all the "benefits" of the FL rod, but it comes apart without tools and like the design was meant to be. I see no reason it won't work, but if it doesn't I will just spend the 30$ on a Wilson setup.

Thanks for the advice and help!
 
FLGRs ate not that big of a deal...... My SA Loaded dis and re-assembly moves along in good fashion. So what if it takes 20 seconds more to clean. I've never had a 2 piece one unscrew.
 
"I've never had a 2 piece one unscrew". Yet. Murphy's law - If anything can go wrong it will - at the worst possible time." Murphy must have been a gunsmith.
 
Yes, I've had it loosen, and I also don't like cranking down the screw too hard. Now it's permanently screwed and easy to remove. I'm left wondering why they even make the 2 pc when a 1 pc seems superior in every way? I shouldn't proclaim it improved until I get to the range, but just removing that small bit seems to have made it just like the other 1pc FL designs.
 
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