Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns What are the 1911's weakness?

Not everyone knows what to look for, myself included on a 1911. I can see burrs that don't belong but know nothing about the platform. That's why I enlisted the help of a good friend to set this one up and we are getting close. I got into this one cheap enough that it'll make a nice learning project.

But to pay $1000 or more and have to finish a pistol is unacceptable.

I changed followers in 4 mags last night, went out and shot 9 different mags this morning. My Colt mags may be the biggest part of the problem after all. The remaining 5 mags ran fine. It's off to have a few more details ironed out and I need to get a new grip safety fitted (this one is chewing my hand up). I found 47D's on sale at Brownells last night and have some of the coming in. Once it's all done I'll post it up and see where we stand.

Tripp Cobra Mags

Tripp Research

Wilson 47D's are also very,very reliable in most guns.

There's just a lot of little things & interactions on a 1911 that need to be correct.....the extractor (several aspects), ejector, ejection port, breech face of the slide smooth, disconnector head free of burrs, top locking lugs on the barrel & the slide need to be burr free, fitted right & the edges broken, right spring, etc. & of course the magazines, the feed ramp & the relationship of the feed ramp to the barrel & the barrel's throat.

The chamber, bottom of the barrel hood & the feed ramp (on a steel framed gun) should be highly polished, IMO.

Lots of people have a real tendency to think that a super power recoil spring is the answer to all feeding / failure to return to battery issues with 1911's but that, many times, is not the answer & many times, makes it worse.

I use 16 or 17 lb variable rate springs with a square bottom firing pin stop for all but a steady, long term diet of +P 230 grain loads, as I believe in the lightest spring that the gun will reliably function with & not hammer the frame is best........the original GI spring spec is 16 lb & much of reliable feeding & ejection is about timing & slide speed is a part of that equation.

Also lots of feeding issues, which sometimes result in a failure to return to battery, can be related to the follower angle & the angle that the round is presented to the chamber.

That's part of the reason that magazines like the Tripp work so consistently is because of the deep follower that keeps each round's orientation straight & consistent.

MM

I have a strong impression that this chasm twixt the 1911 likers and the GlockSigM&PEtc camp falls along generational lines, with the 1911 folks likely in the 50+ year old category while the other group is more likely 40 or under.

It is logical for all of us to be more enamored of whichever platform we first learned "serious" shooting technique with, be that military or LE training or private attendance at Chapman's, Gunsite, TR etc.

Since my first exposure to the modern technique was a 40 hour Intermediate Pistol course as taught by Ray C. in 1980, I fall into the over 50/1911 camp.
I currently have 7 1911s, all 45s.
But I also own (or have owned) G17, G19x2, G20, G21x2, G23, G26, G30, and G36 along with a handful of SIGs and one M&P 45.

My daily carry rotation includes 2 of the 1911s, Kimber Ultra CDP and DW CCO. None of the Glocks are in my rotation because I'm simply not comfortable carrying one in Condition 1, and if I'm carrying a piece it's going to be in Con 1.

So, that's me, perfectly happy with a cocked & locked 1911 on my hip, but not with a cocked and unlocked G whatever.

PS-The local Sheriff's dept requires deputies to buy their own sidearm from an approved list which includes all the usual suspects. However, a recent discussion with one deputy revealed that, ironically, the 1911 is no longer on that list. Seems the current brass believes the public would react negatively to seeing an officer carrying a cocked and locked 1911. I guess the public doesn't mind seeing a cocked and unlocked Glock?

Pete

...and forgive me but this is a prime example of the weaknesses in the 1911 platform. It's a complicated design that is rather delicate or you wouldn't hear of any of these issues, they would have been corrected and standardized in the 100 years it's been in production.

Just saying...

Not everyone knows what to look for, myself included on a 1911. I can see burrs that don't belong but know nothing about the platform. That's why I enlisted the help of a good friend to set this one up and we are getting close. I got into this one cheap enough that it'll make a nice learning project.

and forgive me but this is a prime example of the weaknesses in the 1911 platform. It's a complicated design that is rather delicate or you wouldn't hear of any of these issues, they would have been corrected and standardized in the 100 years it's been in production.

As a relative newbie to 1911's, what are some of the trouble areas or weakness of the 1911's that I should be paying attention to?

The Pachmyer followers are to "cure the last round hangup common in 1911's" according to Brownells.

Maybe those magazines will work in a Glock.

A guy can't make this stuff up.

You'd think after over 100 years, 1911 magazines would be sorted out.

My first issue pistol was a 1911A1. It was oooold and tired, probably from WWII, or Korea. Magazine problems were really common. Other than that, the front sight flew off one time at the requal range. Good times.