+p ammo in a COLT 80's series 1911???

[pps]

Was at my local gun store and saw a new Colt 1911 80 series government model. Something I have not seen there in a couple of years...so, I bought it.

The ammo I ordered online last night (I was tired and eyes were a bit blurred) I noticed in my confirmation e-mail that it's +p Federal HST 230 grain. After some searching, there are some internet keyboard commandos who claim a steady diet of +p will "wear out" the gun faster...whatever they mean by that.

What, IF ANY, adverse effects could happen from running occasional +p rounds through a new Colt 1911??? Are we talking recoil spring wearing faster than normal, ftf or fte problems? My inclination from seeing advertised velocity of 950 is to just try a few magazines to test for function and not worry about it, as the majority of the ammo I'll run is standard pressure 230 grain ball or LRN bullets.

What say the experts here?

 

[rcmodel]

Of course +P will wear out a gun faster then standard pressure ammo of the same bullet weight.

Because slide velocity is higher, and more banging & clanging between the slide & fame will take place.

However, your Colt will not fall apart the day after you shoot 500 or 1,000 rounds of it.

rc

 

[hentown]

If you use an 18.5# recoil spring, you won't see much/any frame battering. I know a 1911's not designed to be as durable as a Glock, but you could probably run several hundred thousand rounds of +p through a G30 or G21, with no problems.

 

[pps]

hentown If you use an 18.5# recoil spring, you won't see much/any frame battering. I know a 1911's not designed to be as durable as a Glock, but you could probably run several hundred thousand rounds of +p through a G30 or G21, with no problems.

I figured a heavy spring, and just placed an order for a Wolf 18.5#....probably won't have to chase brass as far with that heavy spring. I'll pass on the tupperware, though...my wife has enough of that stuff in the kitchen

 

[hentown]

I wasn't suggesting that you buy a Glock, just using them as a point of reference. I own three 70 Series Gold cups, one of which I occasionally shoot, when I'm feeling nostalgic. I wouldn't hesitate to run +p through my Colts.

 

[ugaarguy]

If you use an 18.5# recoil spring, you won't see much/any frame battering.

I used to think that, until I asked about the recoil sprigs in a Delta Elite. You might wanna read the answers I got from Tuner, Mac, and Bill - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=620760

 

[pps]

ugaarguy
Quote:
If you use an 18.5# recoil spring, you won't see much/any frame battering.

I used to think that, until I asked about the recoil sprigs in a Delta Elite. You might wanna read the answers I got from Tuner, Mac, and Bill - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=620760

Wow. 1911 Tuner really laid out some great information on which parts will get beaten up...heavy spring or not. Some of the excerpts from that thread really would be a good sticky.

 

[Drail]

Almost every post Tuner puts up would make a good sticky. You're not going to do much damage shooting one box of +P ammo but in .45 ACP "+P" is not going to gain you much performance.

 

[One_Jackal]

@PPS Colt tech support is great. I would just call Colt. I prefer to know the real deal not what someone you have never seen thinks.

 

[ugaarguy]

Just looked in the current Colt 80 Series Pistol Manual (they sent the 80 series manual with my non-80 series Wiley Clapp Commander ). All it says about +P ammo is "NOTE: Extensive use of +P ammunition will accelerate wear in your pistol." These aren't old spot heat treated GI pistols that stood up to countless thousands of rounds of standard pressure rounds. I really wouldn't worry about running .45 ACP +P ammo in a modern Colt.

 

[hentown]

@PPS Colt tech support is great. I would just call Colt. I prefer to know the real deal not what someone you have never seen thinks.

I've never seen anyone who works at Colt! I don't shoot my 1911s enough to "accelerate the wear," even if I were shooting .45 Supers through them. Since I mostly shoot Glocks, I can just tailor my Glocks' recoil spring weights to the loads/calibers that I'm shooting.

 

[1911Tuner]

The modern Colts are perfectly capable of handling +P ammunition. The .45 Auto cartridge operates at pretty low pressures to start with. As noted, any increase in stresses that comes with +P will hasten the day that the pistol becomes unserviceable, but that won't be measured in a couple hundred rounds. It's when you get into the insane stuff like .45 Super and .460 Rowland that you really have to put that sort of limit on it.

Pressure in and of itself isn't the only concern, and it's not really the main concern. As long as the case head is adequately supported and the headspace is good, the pistol can handle the pressures easily. It's the upper barrel lugs and the tensile stresses imposed on the slide between the first lug wall and the breechface that kills.

Even though the modern 1911s are much superior in the metallurgical sense than the old ones, they still have those tiny radial lugs and the relatively thin cross section in the slide between the two points noted.

Lastly...most people worry far too much about the frame and ignore the slide. The slide and barrel assembly is the gun. The slide and barrel are the parts that catch hell. The frame is just the gun mount.

 

[Gary A]

I hope this question is germane, but as a primarily revolver guy, I realize that a heavier recoil spring will slow the slide speed as it comes back from a heavier load, but doesn't a heavier spring mean that the slide will then slam closed at a higher speed, also? Wouldn't that introduce greater stresses as the slide closes, even though it lessens the stresses as the slide opens? Just curious.

 

[ugaarguy]

Gary A, you're spot on with the heavier recoil spring creating more force when returning the slide to battery. In a 1911 the recoil spring does very little to slow the slide's rearward travel. 1911 Tuner goes into that in detail in the thread I linked in post 6. I would have never figured that out until I asked the question, and he & some other very knowledgeable folks laid it out for me.

Along the same lines I read somewhere about the heavier 18.5 lb recoil spring used in the MEU (SOC) 1911s. IIRC, the heavier recoil spring choice had nothing to do with recoil forces, but was specified to increase the reliability of the slide returning fully to battery when the pistols are full of crud from the harsh environments in which they're used.