GI type 1911's

C

CSAY

New member
I have sometimes thought of the 1911 as somewhat unreliable, with magazines being the weak link. After extensive range time with various 1911's, I've found that magazines are definitely the key to the 1911's reliability. The USGI type 1911 comes out as my favorite and with the right magazines, can be quite reliable. What I would like to know is how many of you have had zero problems with your mil-spec 1911's? How many rounds?
 
Me! I have 2 box stock commercial guns, Springfield and 70 Colt that have always run fine. The Colt I have seen in action now for 20 years 10,000 plus rounds, nothing new but the recoil spring. The dreaded collet bushing is still kicking. Other than that I have a old US property RemRand that some on this board snicker at because it looks old, the park job worn around the edges and such. Previous owner upgraded sights and trigger, left all else alone. I added pretty stocks and an ambi safety, it still runs fine. Been wanting to re-barrel it, but as a temporary measure decided to drop barrel and bushing from Colt in it since the bushing is much tighter than the USGI. Wonder of wonders, it still worked great. Gun has not been throated, feeds everything from Golden Sabre to Hydrashock to ball without error. I had one problem with Silvertips, hence I don't get near them. To those snickering, my gun is still running! :p

You're right, I've said it so often Wilson should pay me, but Wilson mags, steel basepad. You can't go wrong.
 
I have a WWII Reproduction that operated flawlessly until I stuck a Mec-Gar magazine in it. That mag has been relegated to the junk bin and I'm back in business with my factory Colt mags and a few Wilsons.

I'll also cast a supporting vote for getting steel basepads for the Wilson mags. I think they're offering them that way from the factory now. I had to order 'em at a cost of almost five bucks a whack. But I think they're way better than the cheezy plastic ones. :)
 
I've put about 150 rounds through a used stock 1911 Norinco without a hiccup. It came with a GI mag that works fine and I bought a 7 round Mec-Gar that works good too. Best, J. Parker
 
My Springfield Armory Mil Spec has been absolutely FLAWLESS with every type of ammo. Various hollowpoints, ball, etc.

I use Shooting Star 8 round mags and have had no trouble at all. My 1911 has been as flawless as my Glocks are. I shoot it better too! I personally have put 900-1000 rounds through it.

I took one of my wife's friends shooting for the first time a few weekends ago. It was her first time to even hold a handgun. She learned on the Glock 26. I was using my SA. I put 8 rounds into about 1 1/2" - 2" at 7 yards using rapid fire (1 shot/second) into the forehead of a silhouette target. She was impressed - I tried to show her that the Glock could do the same - but was unable to duplicate the performance :(

Must have gotten too used to that 1911 trigger!

Regards,

canis
 
Mil Spec 1911

I love my Springfield Mil Spec.

I picked it up used and have put probably 1500 rounds through it. The only problem I ever had was with the blunt tipped Win-Clean ammo. Any ball or Hollow Point feeds perfectly fro GI or McCormick mags.

The big challenge is to keep it Mil Spec and not add a bunch of extra stuff like new night sights, grips, lasers, pinwheels, temperature humidity sensors tied to microchips implanted in the grips to determine the point of impact based on your altitude ... OK I made that last one up. But there seems to be a disease that goes with every 1911 and it involves buying "stuff" for it. Pretty soon it ain't Mil-Spec anymore.

For the last five years I have resisted the temptation and haven't even added a full length guide rod that "improves reliability". Mine's plenty reliable and a nice piece of history for me to shoot and enjoy. By the way I am totally confident in its reliability and use it as my primary home defense gun, backed up by Browning Pump 12 ga.

Don P.
 
Ahh, the urge to tinker. Factor #1 in the fables of 1911 unreliability is that its been made by countless different people over the years with varying standards of QC. Of course when they choke everyone blames the 1911 design rather than the crappy gun.

Factor #2 comes into play more often these days, and that's what I call the Law of Dremel Probability. Meaning that the less mechanical talent someone possesses they are more likely to work on their gun. The 1911 is so easy to swap parts on without having to understand how the part in question makes the gun function. I work on mine, but if something goes wrong I immediately revert back to the last correct configuration. Some people just don't have the basic troubleshooting skills to do that. I also know that metal removal is forever barrring drastic procedures. And it is true that the less you do to your gun the happier you will be.
 
I've been shooting my '42 Colt in IPSC competition for over four years. It is at least as reliable as any other gun that I see on the range. When the gun doesn't work, there's a specific problem. I've replaced the barrel, bushing, extractor, pins, springs, and the only time it hasn't run perfectly is when a couple of mag springs went soft, and when the extractor finally gave up the ghost after 58 years of duty. Inexplicable stoppages, that couldn't be attributed to a bad handload or worn-out part, amount to three failures to feed in approx 10,000 rounds.
 
Dremel's First Law--Think twice, grind once.

Mags are the key. My SA MliSpec ran 100% with the factory mag, and with Wilson conversions.
 
The GI Model 1911/A1 are extremely reliable with GI magazines as long as only GI ball or equivalent is used. With some of the new super "flying trash cans" and the like, they are often not reliable. Unlike many of today's magazines, including some brand names, GI magazines are properly hardened at the feed lips and bending is rare, though cracking is not uncommon.

Jim
 
Shortly after getting into IPSC many years ago, I found that revolvers and 9mm's weren't the best way to get good scores. So, I dusted off an old Colt 1911-A1. It was obviously assembled by an armorer somewhere. Blued replacement Colt slide on a parkerized Colt frame, a mix of 1911 and 1911-A1 small parts. I did throat the barrel, put on high viz sights and slightly lowered the ejection port. The gun ran and still runs flawlessly with good mags.

At one particular match, the weather was extremely cold and wet, lots of mud, some ice and snow. A lot of guys with custom guns had problems with jams. My old 1911 never missed a beat. My next IPSC gun was a heavily modified 1911 and it had problems. Extremely accurate, but the barrel chamber needed to be cleaned after about 50 rounds. For IPSC and defense I will take 100% reliability over superior accuracy any day. My competition gun now has a standard chamber, lost very little accuracy, but reliability was returned.
 
My homebuilt 1911 (Sarco parts kit, $153 for everything except the frame) will feed the truncated cone WinClean stuff. The magazines (Promag and a Sarco, might be USGI) hate the Wolf stuff though, I can only get like 5 in there before they start feeding funny. With the Winclean, its 100% reliable, the Wolf is 100% reliable, IF I only load the magazines to 5 rounds.

Kharn
 
I have a hard time believing any "zero" claims. When I carried a .45 in the Army, I collected a bunch of mags after testing them in my Colt. About 2/3rds of the USGI mags worked fine, and at $7-10 are good if you need a lot of capacity - I carried eight of them on border patrols....
 
While I haven't fired every one of my GI .45's (some are too collectible to shoot), I have NEVER had a malfunction in those that I have fired after many years and thousands of rounds. Of course, I also only shoot the original ammo they were meant to use (230gr. ball) and use only quality GI or commercial mags. What many folks don't realize is that a lot of the so-called "GI" mags really aren't.
 
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