now that's more like it: Springfield Armory Mil Spec at the range

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thunderbyrd

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i've put up posts about my miseries of trying to get my 1911s to run right. i was frankly wondering if i ought to give up on them and go to glocks.

so i took the RIA which was giving me the biggest fit to a dealer here in town and traded it for a SA Mil-Spec. took it to the range today and put 62 rds downrange. it didn't malfunction one single time. the final mag, i just dumped as fast as i could work the trigger. i wanted to see what it would do. it did exactly what it's supposed to.

all ammo was armscore 230 FMJ. i'll try some hollow points eventually.

i also have a ronin in 9mm. it runs fairly good, but i'll get a failure to go into battery after i've put 3 or 4 mags through it. but that's why i wanted an SA .45, the 9 runs better than what else i've been shooting, 1911-wise. i'm interested to see if some 124 ammo will improve it's functioning.

also today i shot my kimber. this gun costs i think 150 - 200 bucks more than the SA i bought. and it screwed up in pretty much the same way it has since i've owned it. i put three 7 rd magazines through it and it had a FTF on the last round of the 3d mag. such a pretty gun! and very accurate, sweet to shoot. and there's going to be a Springfield Armory in it's place real soon.

think i'm a SA man. at least i am today!
 
thunderbyrd said:
i've put up posts about my miseries of trying to get my 1911s to run right. i was frankly wondering if i ought to give up on them and go to glocks.

so i took the RIA which was giving me the biggest fit to a dealer here in town and traded it for a SA Mil-Spec. took it to the range today and put 62 rds downrange. it didn't malfunction one single time. the final mag, i just dumped as fast as i could work the trigger. i wanted to see what it would do. it did exactly what it's supposed to.

all ammo was armscore 230 FMJ. i'll try some hollow points eventually.

i also have a ronin in 9mm. it runs fairly good, but i'll get a failure to go into battery after i've put 3 or 4 mags through it. but that's why i wanted an SA .45, the 9 runs better than what else i've been shooting, 1911-wise. i'm interested to see if some 124 ammo will improve it's functioning.

also today i shot my kimber. this gun costs i think 150 - 200 bucks more than the SA i bought. and it screwed up in pretty much the same way it has since i've owned it. i put three 7 rd magazines through it and it had a FTF on the last round of the 3d mag. such a pretty gun! and very accurate, sweet to shoot. and there's going to be a Springfield Armory in it's place real soon.

think i'm a SA man. at least i am today!
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I've put hundreds of rounds through my mil spec... I've had the occasional hiccup but I think they are ammo or mag related. I put a Nighthawk threaded barrel on it. Dad and I have our SOT and ordered a Silencerco Hybrid 46M and I have the booster assembly already. I will make a thread talking about it when we get it in.
 
Theoretically, lowering and flaring the ejection port gives it a better chance to eject a case efficiently.

Pretty much all 1911s these days have the port lowered compared to the old Army 1911 and true 'milspec" guns.

Most have some sort of flare as well.
 
OP, I was following your other thread. Glad you found one that works for you.
I have personally never had a single issue with my RIA in 45 ACP, and it gets fed nothing but 230 gn LRN handloads, using Unique powder.
I've actually had more problems with my Colt 1911 than any of my other 1911s.
I'd like to try out a Springfield sometime.
 
ontarget said:
OP, I was following your other thread. Glad you found one that works for you.
I have personally never had a single issue with my RIA in 45 ACP, and it gets fed nothing but 230 gn LRN handloads, using Unique powder.
I've actually had more problems with my Colt 1911 than any of my other 1911s.
I'd like to try out a Springfield sometime.
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i believe that someone who knows what they are doing could make that RIA i had work right, but i don't know how to adjust extractors and so forth.
 
Walkalong said:
View attachment 1164764

This very old SA basic model before they had a "milspec" has never failed, it will feed empty cases.


I lowered and scalloped the ejection port, added the aluminum trigger.
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The first two Springfields I bought were of that era and actually were sold at the time by Springfield as "kits". They came in a plastic bag completely in parts, and you had to put them together. Paid $250 each for them, and they were great guns and were as you described. I wish now I hadnt sold them off, as they were some of the better examples of 1911 copies Ive had out there.

If you look close at the gun in the pic above, you can see the dimensions of the frame are correct (especially at the front strap and dust cover) and pretty much match GI/Colt specs. Too bad they didnt stay with the good thing they had going there. What came after was all over the place and usually not close.


As far as mags go, the only way youre going to know with any of them, is to try and see and see what works in your guns and what doesnt.

The only mags Ive had over the years that have worked reliably in all my 1911's, were a lot of blued surplus 7 round USGI contract mags I bought in bulk back in the 90's. The next best bet has been the factory 7 round Colt mags. Their 8 rounders dont seem to work as well.

With both of the above, you need to be careful where you get them, especially off of places like eBay, ect, as there are a lot of counterfeits/fakes of both floating around. I got burned with a bunch of fake Colt mags off of eBay once, so you really need to pay attention.

Wilsons are decent mags, but they arent perfect either. I have a bunch of 47D's and they worked well in the old Colt Commander I used to carry, but they also had some issues with a couple of my other 1911's too, so like I said, you need to vet the mags you use in your gun, no matter who makes them. And you need to do that with every new mag too, just becasue one brand seems to work OK, doesnt mean the very next one of the same make will.

And when you come across mags that dont work all that great, dont toss them, as they are great for use in practice for random malfunction drills while youre shooting. Even junk can have good uses. :)
 
trackskippy said:
The first two Springfields I bought were of that era and actually were sold at the time by Springfield as "kits". They came in a plastic bag completely in parts, and you had to put them together. Paid $250 each for them, and they were great guns and were as you described. I wish now I hadnt sold them off, as they were some of the better examples of 1911 copies Ive had out there.

If you look close at the gun in the pic above, you can see the dimensions of the frame are correct (especially at the front strap and dust cover) and pretty much match GI/Colt specs. Too bad they didnt stay with the good thing they had going there. What came after was all over the place and usually not close.


As far as mags go, the only way youre going to know with any of them, is to try and see and see what works in your guns and what doesnt.

The only mags Ive had over the years that have worked reliably in all my 1911's, were a lot of blued surplus 7 round USGI contract mags I bought in bulk back in the 90's. The next best bet has been the factory 7 round Colt mags. Their 8 rounders dont seem to work as well.

With both of the above, you need to be careful where you get them, especially off of places like eBay, ect, as there are a lot of counterfeits/fakes of both floating around. I got burned with a bunch of fake Colt mags off of eBay once, so you really need to pay attention.

Wilsons are decent mags, but they arent perfect either. I have a bunch of 47D's and they worked well in the old Colt Commander I used to carry, but they also had some issues with a couple of my other 1911's too, so like I said, you need to vet the mags you use in your gun, no matter who makes them. And you need to do that with every new mag too, just becasue one brand seems to work OK, doesnt mean the very next one of the same make will.

And when you come across mags that dont work all that great, dont toss them, as they are great for use in practice for random malfunction drills while youre shooting. Even junk can have good uses. :)
Click to expand...
I got a 15rd promag (please remember our mags are garbage) as a joke (video game cosplay) and it sucked so bad I literally threw in the trash after it failed constantly three range trips in a row.

The only mags I buy now are mec-gar.
 
If you stick to stock loads, that is 230 RN bullets at 800 fps, and use fresh stock springs (16lbs standard recoil spring) feed and extraction problems are less. When you up the velocity, and try to compensate with a heavier recoil spring, now the timing of cartridge rise in the magazine, and into the chamber become issues.

There has to be a balance between cartridge case thrust, inertia of the slide, and spring constants for a reliable recoil operated mechanism. There is very little variation allowed before feed and extraction become unreliable.

It is my opinion the 1911 runs better with fast powders, such as Titegroup and Bullseye Pistol powder. These powders give a quick, sharp kick to the slide and the residual barrel pressure drops quickly as the slide moves back. You want a powder with low velocity extreme spreads, as that provides a constant kick. The original 1910 45 cartridges were loaded with 5.0 grains Bullseye Pistol Powder and a 230 FMJ. Loaded half an ammo can with 5.5 grs Unique and 230 LRN, and the loads shot well. Unique is probably as slow as I will go with a 45 ACP powder. Tried Blue Dot. the extreme spreads were too great. In cold weather, the low velocity rounds with Blue Dot in 9mm have caused failures to cycle. In hot weather, in the 45 ACP and 9mm, the high velocity round with Blue Dot cause excessively hard recoil and cases fly a country mile. Blue Dot only worked well at full power in Magnum cartridges and jacketed bullets. W231 is a great 45 ACP powder.

Purchased some estate sale Green Dot, it shot well in the 1911, took about a half grain more powder for the same velocity as Bullseye Pistol Powder. Finishing up a keg of AA#5, it has been a very good full power (800 fps) powder in the 45 ACP. It is a ball powder, unfortunately those little powder balls will gum up the slide bar on my Dillion powder horn. I am debating whether to buy more.

Things that are very hard to adjust are magazine height inside the pistol and feed ramp contours.
 
270OKIE said:
I got a 15rd promag (please remember our mags are garbage) as a joke (video game cosplay) and it sucked so bad I literally threw in the trash after it failed constantly three range trips in a row.

The only mags I buy now are mec-gar.
Click to expand...


I have a bunch of 9mm 1911 MecGar mags and some work great, and others not so much. They seem to work better in my Colt Commander, but they tend to be a lot more hit or miss in the Tisas guns I have. Either way, a common problem no matter the gun is, is occasionally puking live rounds out with the empties on cycling.

Their 10 round 9mm "match" mags are built a little differently than their standard 9 round mags, and seem to be a bit more reliable, and I think that's because of how they are built.

The MecGar 45 mags that came with my one Tisas seems to work fine in it and my other 45's.

I think MecGar is one of the better mag makers, and I have them for a number of other types of autos, and with those, I cant remember them ever being an issue or problem. I think a lot of this is more a 1911 problem, more than it is a mag problem. There are so many people making them these days, and even with just one maker, the differences in guns can be enough that what works in one, doesn't do so great in another. The only way to know what works in "your" gun, is to see what does.
 
My Mil Spec has been trouble free for several thousand rounds at this point.

My SA Loaded had a few malfunctions due to extractor clocking. A new fps cured it and it has been great for several hundred rounds since.

Lastly, I’ve tried metalform, Mec Gar, and Wilson 47D mags with various bullet profiles and weight. I’ve yet to find a combo that has not worked out well in the Mil Spec.
 
Have a SA mil-spec I bought new in '93. Came with 2 Chip McCormick "Shooting Star" mags. Factory rounds and my handloads have never had an issue with the pistol or mags.
Those SA mil-specs just flat work. BTW, bought 5 more "Shooting Star" 7 rounders years ago. All work fine.
 
Folks, i'm only human - and i can't help but brag. took my Springfield Armory 1911 back to the range today. 10 mags, 70 rounds. i wasn't really working on my marksmanship today, i was unloading those mags pretty fast. i was trying to make it mess up. at 42 rds, i put some oil on the rails.

not one single malfunction. i felt like King Kong. at last, i have a 1911 that will run.

brought it home, cleaned it, spoke sweet words of love to it.
 
I only have 1 Springfield 1911, a Range Officer Target and it is one of the most accurate handguns I own. It also will eat any kind of ammo I have put in it. I only have the one, but if it is indicative of how the majority of Springfield 1911s are built, then you should be a ok when you decide to run some hollow points. As for RIA 1911s, I don't have much experience with them other than a double stack 10mm version that was a lemon. After that I decided to never buy another RIA branded hand gun.

My RO is sitting on the desk in front of me, currently in rotation as my daily carry. It is sporting a act mag loaded with Sig Elite V-Crown. The only problem with mine is an out of spec plunger. Not a deal breaker, but can be aggravating during reassembly after cleaning.

PXL-20230806-051614728.jpg

PXL-20230806-051551628.jpg
 
i'm not going to endlessly belabor this thread, just this last entry of today's victorious visit to the range. 77 more rounds, all good. today i ventured out just a bit: 2 new 8 round wilson combat magazines. i've read that not all 1911's like an 8nrd mag, so i was nervous about it. i've enjoyed shooting a 1911 that doesn't mess up and i hated possibly breaking a winning streak. but no fear. it ate it all. next time, hollow points!

the dealer i got this from has another just like this one. i've been wondering how nutty it would be to have two identical pistols?

also, i slowed down and worked on marksmanship today- the gun is accurate. if you do what you're supposed to. it does what it's supposed to.
 
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Had a Springer some years ago; it was either Filipino or Brazilian, it ran fine, the GI sights were what they were. Traded it on a G43... :( Saw one of the current Turks two years ago, got it for a b-flat 1911. It's not quite genuine GI, but mine is nicely fitted, and has gone bang all the time.
Helped another friend take a Turk to Camp Perry for their GI class; those sights take some serious moving. My Real Avid pusher wouldn't touch it; brass drift and a BFH finally did the job.
A buddy likes to talk about that scene from The Sand Pebbles where Richard Crenna boards the junk with a cutlass in one hand, and a 1911 in the other...that is a fun way to shoot ol' slabsides. Even if you don't have a boarding cutlass.
The only rub is hammer bite; one handed, it drew blood for me. Some careful rounding/polishing of the hammer solved the problem, usually.
Have a drawerful of 1911 mags; GI, Colt, gosh knows what. All seem to work equally well, but I stay away from Colt 8 rounders.
 
I've only got one 1911, a Tisas duty model that came with a Mec-gar 8 round mag and it inserts into the gun and feeds flawlessly. I bought five other 8 round Promags and they are difficult to insert with 8 rounds and occasionally the slide will catch the first round halfway into the chamber when the slide is released. Put 7 in the magazine and there are no problems. Visually, I see no difference between the Mec-gar and Promag so I'm thinking its the spring in the promag causing the issue.
 
Barmcd said:
I've only got one 1911, a Tisas duty model that came with a Mec-gar 8 round mag and it inserts into the gun and feeds flawlessly. I bought five other 8 round Promags and they are difficult to insert with 8 rounds and occasionally the slide will catch the first round halfway into the chamber when the slide is released. Put 7 in the magazine and there are no problems. Visually, I see no difference between the Mec-gar and Promag so I'm thinking its the spring in the promag causing the issue.
Click to expand...
Promags do not have a sparkling reputation. You should be able to find GI mags pretty cheaply, or even more MecGars.
Moon
 
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