1911 Information Gap

[bountyhunter]

After reading an adjacent thread wherein the following "fact" was posted:

"On Browning and most other recoil pistols, the bore is "floating" in it's slide or frame clearances; nothing is fixed. The ability of the barrel to re-seat is fought by breachface friction, extractor tension and fouling."

It occurs that there is a serious information gap about how a properly fitted 1911 locks up. If you get a target grade 1911 built by a competent smith, the barrel is absolutely NOT FLOATING in lockup. The lower (rear) barrel lugs rest on the cross pin of the slide lock and the upper lugs rest against the slide surface. It is a snug fit with zero play. The front is also dead tight in the bushing and also between the bushing and frame. This is because the barrel, slide and frame start out slightly oversized and are cut down to fit.

It's true that there is inherent play between the slide and frame, but this has virtually no effect on accuracy: You aim with the sights which are bolted to the slide. If the barrel is in the slide tight, the bore will be aimed at the same place every time.

I would agree that most off-the-rack 1911's are pretty sloppy, but you can't blame the 1911 design for that.

 

[BigG]

Very true. Where the disconnect occurred imho is the writer was using "theoretical" judgment without "practical" testing.

I see a lot of similar errors (to me) when people take published ballistic data and say, "See? The ____ grain whatever has more muzzle energy than the ____ grain whatsis, THEREFORE, (the disconnect) it's just as effective if not more." Theory and practice hardly track too well in the real world, in my experience.