BloodyThumb
New member
I currently have several 1911's, all of which get regular use, from Colt, Kimber, Wilson, and Ed Brown. None of these are exactly "stock" although the Brown is still exactly "as shipped". Over the last 20 years, I have never owned a Springfield, primarily, I guess, because they never made anything that really caught my eye enough to override one of the other flavors.
Well, to make a long story short, I have had my eye on the TRP Operator for a while, basically for home defense use only. Monday, I was in a shop a few miles from home, but close to family that I was visiting for Christmas. They had three in stock, all with adjustable night sights, the Armory Kote finish, bull barrel, and one piece guide rods. Everything else seemed to be common with the lower priced "Loaded" line.
One had a considerably better trigger than the other two and in addition I found that the ambi-safety operation of the other two was not nearly as crisp or positive as the one with the good, if not a little heavy, trigger. All else seemed equal. The slide to frame fit was very tight on all three, the finish was nice, and the trigger seemed to be fitted better than most of the Springfield's I have handled lately. It is a little concerning that there was that much difference in the trigger and safety on the 3 he had on hand, but I could find no faults with one of the 3, and the price was decent ( a little over $1100 ), so I took the plunge.
First thing this morning, I detail stripped it. The inside seemed to be finished as well as the outside, without the excessive machine and tool marks I have seen on some brands of late. The barrel and slide had been hand numbered to the frame with hand engraving of the last three numbers of the serial number. The barrel lug and link fitting was very good, and the lock up of the bull barrel was VERY tight with the slide fully in battery. The feed ramp was polished nicely and very smooth. Gap from feed ramp to barrel ramp was on the money.
One thing that I noticed that I DO NOT LIKE, is that the slide release does not contact the plunger at all. It appears that the plunger itself is of the same length, size, and configuration as the plungers from one of my Wilson's and that of an old 70 series that I have. I have to assume that the inside ridge in the plunger tube itself is further from the end of the plunger tube than it should be, because the plunger itself barely extends beyond the end of the plunger tube. I fully expected this to cause the slide to lock open prematurely when I got to the range, even though I could not force it to lock up even when holding the gun upside down and cycling the slide.
It has the ILS system on it, and I verified that it functions, and then turned it off. I have read that this can be bypassed by replacing the mainspring plunger with a stock one. I am not sure if this is the case, but I have one, so I may try it even if I put the original back. As long as I can be sure it will not engage itself somehow, I have no problem with it being there.
I cleaned off the light oil from the factory, reassembled it with Wilson's grease and lube, and installed a shock buff. Yes, I use them in all of my 5-inch and 4 1/4 inch guns, but not anything shorter. I will continue to until they give me some trouble. After 15 or so years of using them, I doubt they will. Next stop, my local range.
I fired 400 rounds of Fiocchi 230gr ball and 50 rounds of Federal 230gr Hydra Shocks during an hour and a half session, at 25 degrees and constant snow. I used the factory magazines which are stainless 7 rounders that appear identical to some "Shooting Star" and McCormick magazines that I have, and also some Wilson 7 and 8 rounders, and even a couple of old factory Colt's.
In keeping with reports I have read before, as it came from the box, it shot almost 5 inches low and 4 inches left. Thankfully the adjustable sights made for a quick fix, although the rear sight is obviously favoring the starboard side of the slide as you look at the gun from aft. The rest of the story is pretty simple. No "Failure to's" of any kind, with any of the magazines. Function was flawless with all of the magazines I had with me.
As for shooting impressions, from the limited time I have had with it, it seems to me that the slight reduction in muzzle flip from the extra weight up front, is offset by the extra time it takes to drag that weight back where it came from and get a stable sight picture. This could change after having more time with it. Time will tell.
The grips are wood based, and coated with what appears to be the same substance that coats skateboard tape. This coating did not come off on my hands, but did get lighter in color under my thumbs, I suspect from a thin layer of skin being deposited there by the end of the session. So far, I like them, but I am not confident they will last long. I could be wrong, and again, time will tell. If they last, I will continue to use then, as the definitely do the job of allowing the shooter to maintain control, even in the cold. If I have to replace them, it will likely be with black micarta from S&A to mate up to the mag chute.
After some dry firing and this first range session, the trigger measures a little over 4.5 pounds on my cheap little RCBS scale, but a very crisp break.
Overall, I am pleased, and will likely go ahead and order a Sure Fire for it, assuming that I find nothing alarming inside when I clean it later tonight. I will detail strip it again for inspection.
The slide release plunger still bothers be, although it caused no problems at the range.
Like I said before………… Time will tell!
BT
Well, to make a long story short, I have had my eye on the TRP Operator for a while, basically for home defense use only. Monday, I was in a shop a few miles from home, but close to family that I was visiting for Christmas. They had three in stock, all with adjustable night sights, the Armory Kote finish, bull barrel, and one piece guide rods. Everything else seemed to be common with the lower priced "Loaded" line.
One had a considerably better trigger than the other two and in addition I found that the ambi-safety operation of the other two was not nearly as crisp or positive as the one with the good, if not a little heavy, trigger. All else seemed equal. The slide to frame fit was very tight on all three, the finish was nice, and the trigger seemed to be fitted better than most of the Springfield's I have handled lately. It is a little concerning that there was that much difference in the trigger and safety on the 3 he had on hand, but I could find no faults with one of the 3, and the price was decent ( a little over $1100 ), so I took the plunge.
First thing this morning, I detail stripped it. The inside seemed to be finished as well as the outside, without the excessive machine and tool marks I have seen on some brands of late. The barrel and slide had been hand numbered to the frame with hand engraving of the last three numbers of the serial number. The barrel lug and link fitting was very good, and the lock up of the bull barrel was VERY tight with the slide fully in battery. The feed ramp was polished nicely and very smooth. Gap from feed ramp to barrel ramp was on the money.
One thing that I noticed that I DO NOT LIKE, is that the slide release does not contact the plunger at all. It appears that the plunger itself is of the same length, size, and configuration as the plungers from one of my Wilson's and that of an old 70 series that I have. I have to assume that the inside ridge in the plunger tube itself is further from the end of the plunger tube than it should be, because the plunger itself barely extends beyond the end of the plunger tube. I fully expected this to cause the slide to lock open prematurely when I got to the range, even though I could not force it to lock up even when holding the gun upside down and cycling the slide.
It has the ILS system on it, and I verified that it functions, and then turned it off. I have read that this can be bypassed by replacing the mainspring plunger with a stock one. I am not sure if this is the case, but I have one, so I may try it even if I put the original back. As long as I can be sure it will not engage itself somehow, I have no problem with it being there.
I cleaned off the light oil from the factory, reassembled it with Wilson's grease and lube, and installed a shock buff. Yes, I use them in all of my 5-inch and 4 1/4 inch guns, but not anything shorter. I will continue to until they give me some trouble. After 15 or so years of using them, I doubt they will. Next stop, my local range.
I fired 400 rounds of Fiocchi 230gr ball and 50 rounds of Federal 230gr Hydra Shocks during an hour and a half session, at 25 degrees and constant snow. I used the factory magazines which are stainless 7 rounders that appear identical to some "Shooting Star" and McCormick magazines that I have, and also some Wilson 7 and 8 rounders, and even a couple of old factory Colt's.
In keeping with reports I have read before, as it came from the box, it shot almost 5 inches low and 4 inches left. Thankfully the adjustable sights made for a quick fix, although the rear sight is obviously favoring the starboard side of the slide as you look at the gun from aft. The rest of the story is pretty simple. No "Failure to's" of any kind, with any of the magazines. Function was flawless with all of the magazines I had with me.
As for shooting impressions, from the limited time I have had with it, it seems to me that the slight reduction in muzzle flip from the extra weight up front, is offset by the extra time it takes to drag that weight back where it came from and get a stable sight picture. This could change after having more time with it. Time will tell.
The grips are wood based, and coated with what appears to be the same substance that coats skateboard tape. This coating did not come off on my hands, but did get lighter in color under my thumbs, I suspect from a thin layer of skin being deposited there by the end of the session. So far, I like them, but I am not confident they will last long. I could be wrong, and again, time will tell. If they last, I will continue to use then, as the definitely do the job of allowing the shooter to maintain control, even in the cold. If I have to replace them, it will likely be with black micarta from S&A to mate up to the mag chute.
After some dry firing and this first range session, the trigger measures a little over 4.5 pounds on my cheap little RCBS scale, but a very crisp break.
Overall, I am pleased, and will likely go ahead and order a Sure Fire for it, assuming that I find nothing alarming inside when I clean it later tonight. I will detail strip it again for inspection.
The slide release plunger still bothers be, although it caused no problems at the range.
Like I said before………… Time will tell!
BT
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