Well, I finally got to the range today. This is my first 1911 varient, and with all the problems discussed with some of them I was a bit leary. I ran 150 rounds of 230 gr ball, American Eagle. It is dirty ammo (bought it so I could have the brass), but the Springfield digested it just fine. Quite impressed with the trigger, and how much easier it is to shoot well with a decent trigger. There is some slight take-up, but no creep, with a crisp let-off at (I'm guessing) around 6 lbs. I'll get out the scale for some better figures. The only other centerfire handgun that I currently own is a Witness compact-it's trigger isn't bad, but it sure doesn't compare to the Springfield. I also shot a box (20 rounds) of 230 g HydraShocks, it also handled them just fine. I have 165 grain Hyrda's for my carry load, I need to pick up a few boxes and verify reliability.
Accuracy seemed to be very good, with some 25 yard groups running around 2", throwing out some fliers on my part. I sure wish I could shoot like some of you and do tight groups consistantly. Lets just say the gun is more accurate than I am. I also spend some time in rapid presentation and rapid fire shooting, found it very easy to get on target quickly.
Upon cleaning it, I found the guts to be pretty well gummed up with the cheap ammo, I'm kind of supprised that there were no reliablilty problems. Prior to shooting I did lube the feed ramp and the magazines (especially the lips) with a very light shot of Tetra, which I then wiped off. I don't know if that helped the reliability any, but it made things fairly easy to clean.
I picked up some .45 dies for my reloader (RCBS Pro 2000) and some 185 grain jacketed SWC bullets, should have them loaded and be back to the range by Sunday. I expect some mild loads with lighter bullets to be even more fun to shoot.
I was also out playing in the dark to see how the night sights will show up for me. I think they will be great, they stand out very well, and I was easily able to "draw down" on objects that I could not have without them. This was a non-firing exercise to avoid spooking the neighbors. I've got some other property where I should be able to shoot afer dark without causing too much excitment, hope to get out there next week. The only issue is the with the 3 dots-at first it takes a bit to figure out which one is the front sight. I'm sure this will come with experience.
And to the issue with the mags not going in till the mag release was pressed, non-issue. It did not show up during shooting today, I probably was just being a little too gentle the other night.
Sorry for the rambling review, but I wanted to share the excitment with someone....my wife just doesn't understand. Gotta work on that, I think she has inherited a Witness
:
) before you can carry your new gun. I figure it to be much talk with little practice, there may be a few rich souls that do it, but fewer than the number that claim the practice.