Tweeked my 1911 a little today....

Y

yankytrash

New member
Went to the gun show in Richmond today, hell bent on getting an ambisafety to cure my leftyism on my cheapo Norinco 1911A1.

Ended up walking away from the table with a full-length guide rod, new spring for same, ambisafety, and a regular milspec bushing to replace my retarded looking muzzle brake/bushing.

I was so exited, I immediately went back to the VCDL booth, which I was supposed to be working, and stripped her down. Replaced all the parts I bought, and what a difference!!

What used to be a two-handed job in pulling back the slide is now a two finger operation - and talk about smoooooothhh! Looks better without that damn muzzle brake (came on the gun when I bought it), and the ambisafety is, well, long overdue. I believe I'm going to have retrain myself in it's use. I keep finding myself reaching over the slide with my thumb on the draw.

Total cost, with all cheapo generic parts, to match the gun of course, was $60. Not bad at all. Had a fellow VCDL member who just bought a brand new Springfield 1911 wishin he didn't.;)

So whatcha waitin for? Upgrade!!:D
 
I was about to say. Make sure that is really a 16# or better spring you've got in there, or else you're going to pound the gun to pieces in a hurry.
 
Hi, Yankytrash,

I consider FL guide rods a useless waste of money, and I will guarantee that that alone did not reduce your slide retraction that much. I suspect you now have too light a spring.

FWIW, I have two Norincos and they are tough guns, quite possibly the best of the 1911 clones so far as the basic gun goes. (No bells and whistles a la modern guns, but all hardened, forged steel.)

Jim
 
Investing in a 1911 (yes that correct 1911 NOT A1)

I obtained my origional 1911 pistol way back in 1985. It was far from an origional collectors piece but all the necessary parts were
there. The first thing I did was fins and purchace a colt 22/45 conversion kit(colt had recently discontinued them again) a gunsmith friend found me one in PA and bought it for me. I mailed him a check he mailed me the conversion. This was not my first 1911 but it was my first Colt (my first 45 auto was a put together with an A&R alum frame) But if I even had an inkling of what I was about to do I may have tyhought twice(Nah I like customizing but you should hear what some folks say when I tell them how much I have invested in the old girl over the years) I have added a variety of aftermarket toys to the gun but some have not been up to the task or I simply could not stand them. Some included oversized ejector buttons slide releases and an S&A mag funnel/mainspring housing. Polished nickle modern colt safty lever. I added a electroless nickle commander slide with both 5" and a commander barrel fitted.
A long alum trigger installed, checkered the mainspring housing & removed the lanyard ring, Pachmayr grip safty, hogue checkered walnut grips, #4 trigger. Hard chrome frame, polish and throat both barrels. Replace all springs with wolfs. and probably a lot more I don't remember- the most expensive was probably the second frame for the conversion kit! Oh well the 1911 would'nt be as much fun if thewre was not so much you could do to it.
 
Good on ya. Sounds like you had a ball. I just picked up a pretty nice 1911 Norinco this past weekend. Damn is it sweet! Where's Norinco been all my life? For $270 bucks? This pistol HAS to be the bargain of the a lifetime.
Re-blued the slide and got some nice panels for it and IT"S ROCKIN'. Beyond that I'm leavin' it as is (ran out of money). Congrats, J. Parker
 
Art, dsk - The spring I bought was milspec, whatever that means. I hope that means 16lbs, as dsk pointed out. I'm afraid that I ain't no pistol expert, so my explanation here might be lame.

See, I thought I better buy new spring because the old one that's in it appeared to have been cut by the previous owner. I heard, somewhere, that cutting the springs for lighter pulls here and lighter pulls there was very, very bad, because of the reason dsk stated. The only spring pressure that I heard you could mess with was the hammer spring (mainspring). The poster that said that seemed to have to real good, legitamate arguments, and his advice was less risky than any other advice I've read (basically - stay stock as you can, that's what it was designed to do).

I believe I'll be ok, because for some reason my Norinco can't do anything with the hotter loads, or regular commercial loads, for that matter. She prefers handloaded 230gr with only the minimum amount of 231 or Unique backing it up - 4.5gr for either, IIRC without my book in front of me.

I have, of course, been thinking of switch to a lighter bullet altogether, but you know how we men can be sometimes - bigger is better.:D ;)
 
Not to burst your bubble, but unless the bushing was pre-fit, you may need to fit it or you'll risk barrel spring. If you're shooting light reloads you don't need more than a 16# recoil spring and could probably get away with a 15# or less. Heavier isn't always better. If you're worried frame wear, try a skhok-buff. I had a Norinco that I kick myself for having sold--it was a good gun.
 
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