I just picked up a Series 80 1911 Mark IV in 9mm. It has a two piece threaded rod guide that requires an allen wrench to take apart. I've never had one with a two piece rod guide. Is the only way to clean it to unscrew the guide? I can field strip my other ones with my eyes closed, but this is a real pain. TIA
1911 Series 80 question
- Thread starter Malpaso
- Start date
CastleBravo
New member
I'd suggest exactly the opposite: a one-piece FLGR and a bushing wrench. 
CastleBravo
New member
For a slightly more substantive response than my first one:
A full-length guide rod IS functionally better than the goofy short plug that comes standard on a 1911. It ensures the uniform movement of the spring, which would be more irregular without it. That's just basic mechanical engineering. Result: smoother cycling of the firearm and somewhat increased spring life.
Note, however, that for the most part the *practical* advantage of going to a FLGR is pretty darn small, and has to be counter-ballanced with the annoyance of disassembling the pistol. With a solid FLGR you need to use a bushing wrench, especially if the bushing-barrel-slide fit is very tight. Two-piece guide rods have to be unscrewed and have been known to shoot themselves un-screwed and get launched downrange.
For a 9mm 1911 I would probably go with the standard Colt arrangement. There is so much margin of safety shooting 9mm in a .45 ACP platform that it probably doesn't pay off to put up with the annoyance of a FLGR. With more powerful cartridges (e.g. 10mm, .45 Super) I think that *not* going with a FLGR arrangement is a bit foolish. In those cases you SHOULD go for every little advantage in optimizing your recoil setup. Since it routinely handles 600+ ft-lbs loads my Delta Elite has a Wilson Combat FLGR, a Wolff 24lb recoil spring and a CP shock buffer.
A full-length guide rod IS functionally better than the goofy short plug that comes standard on a 1911. It ensures the uniform movement of the spring, which would be more irregular without it. That's just basic mechanical engineering. Result: smoother cycling of the firearm and somewhat increased spring life.
Note, however, that for the most part the *practical* advantage of going to a FLGR is pretty darn small, and has to be counter-ballanced with the annoyance of disassembling the pistol. With a solid FLGR you need to use a bushing wrench, especially if the bushing-barrel-slide fit is very tight. Two-piece guide rods have to be unscrewed and have been known to shoot themselves un-screwed and get launched downrange.
For a 9mm 1911 I would probably go with the standard Colt arrangement. There is so much margin of safety shooting 9mm in a .45 ACP platform that it probably doesn't pay off to put up with the annoyance of a FLGR. With more powerful cartridges (e.g. 10mm, .45 Super) I think that *not* going with a FLGR arrangement is a bit foolish. In those cases you SHOULD go for every little advantage in optimizing your recoil setup. Since it routinely handles 600+ ft-lbs loads my Delta Elite has a Wilson Combat FLGR, a Wolff 24lb recoil spring and a CP shock buffer.