glassblower
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Posts posted by glassblower
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I shoot major loads, no shock buff, 14lb spring. No worries for me about beating the gun up. Find a spring that works for your setup. Basically what brings the gun back to target with your load, grip, style, without going over or under the target.
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I would suggest the STI guide as it will have a slight bevel on the head end that an Edge likes, other guide rods may not have it. Regardless of which one choose....... Make sure it fits flush where the head end meets the frame. Also, when fitting the new spring you may have to trim a little off the spring. When the new guide and spring is installed, cycle the slide and if you feel any grating you will likely need to trim a little off the spring. Lastly, there is a difference in which end of the spring goes onto the guide rod head, the head end of the spring will appear to be slightly flattened or wound slightly tighter. Don't trim the head end of the spring. You didn't mention what caliber your Edge is, that will influence your choice of springs. Do a search on springs for your caliber and load pref.
Welcome to the world of 2011 limited tweaking!
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I recently installed a SVI enhanced grip and as a result, my grip has moved up, but so did my groups. My groups had expanded a little to the North, with the occasional flyer a little higher. So into diagnosis mode I went, cycled through .22, 9mm, and soft recoiling 40 to ensure no blinking or flinching. Did a few hidden snap caps too. I know those flaws usually go low. Paid attention to ensure that I wasn't putting pressure with the heel of my hand. Then I noticed that where the fingers of my left hand were interlacing with my right hand had slightly changed due to the higher grip. My left hand little, ring, and middle fingers were still nestled in between the corresponding right hand fingers, but the left hand index finger was now trying to push in between the top of my right hand middle finger and putting pressure on the trigger guard. I put in some time dry firing and moved my left index finger to be more on top of the right middle and my groups went back to where they should be.
I like the SVI enhanced grip, but I'm inclined to a more instinctive position of my grip without the added "thought" of where my index finger needs to go. With the other grips, I only had to think about equal pressure and ensuring unimpeded movement of my trigger finger. Is this new grip position something that can become instinctive so that when I'm under pressure or in unusual shooting positions, it will automatically/subconsciously happen?
I have a couple other 2011's with the standard grip and it is unlikely that I will convert them to the SVI grip because those SVI grips are very expensive.
Thanks
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I mostly use once fired and range brass and always resize using either the Dillon or Redding Competition Die set. I also use this same setup for any brass cycled through my older Glock. But, any ammo that will be used for competition or important practice, gets case gauged. For me, whether I would use a bulge buster or other resizing die, I would always case gauge important ammo. Hence IMO, a case gauge is necessary if you intend to use the ammo for matches or in places where a FTF would be bad. You might reduce the amount of tossed ammo if you use the bulge buster or similar dies, but not remove the need to case gauge.
Depending on the case gauge and you gun, they might detect an overly long OAL, which depending on who you ask, might affect accuracy. Oh, I hate case gauging and have one of the 100 round case gauges, if I thought I could get away with it, I wouldn't gauge, but when I get one of those rounds that jams in my gun because of a bulge, I cuss a lot. A whole lot.
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This has been resolved for awhile and I realized I should update this post. The cause was two specific variations in the XB bullet profile, not the bullet length. I accidentally found the cause when I was looking at a group of bullets from the top. See included photo. The two different profiles would cause the OAL to be1.203 or 1.225. When I made a custom mold of one of the bullets for my seating die, it would not properly fit the other variation. After a couple of conversations with XB, they acknowledged the issue and sent me pre-paid shipping for returning 6K bullets and a full refund. XB was top notch in their customer service! The cause in their process was very limited in scope and they have since resolved it.
One other note, I have since upgraded to a Super 1050 and added a Mr Bullet Feeder. I noticed a slight improvement in the OAL variation of any bullets after installing the bullet feeder. I suspect that when placing bullets by hand there may be times when it is not straight and that the bullet seating die isn't able to correct the alignment which might lead to a slight variation. The bullet feeder is way more consistent than I am in placing the bullets in straight.
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My Edges in 40 like 1.185 - 1.2 for OAL and everything I've heard is that Edges like to be loaded long. Could it be that 1.17 is a tad too short. Might be worth trying 1.185 or so and see if that helps.
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I run a BOSS for my S&W M&P in production and I have one that I use for 2011 in multi-gun. Works great in both situations. I have some Safari gear and like the interchangeability but the different holster adapters drive me nuts.
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STI 140's, TTI pads, Grams spring and follower. I also tuned my mags with the Dawson Mag Tuning kit. This combo gives me a very reliable 20. Don't know fi this is true for Glocks but keep in mind that when the 2011mags are at max capacity you will have to slap those puppies in a little harder than with a small load.
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There are a couple of ways you can go to improve the triggers, drop in components or modify the existing. Both paths will improve the trigger with very little effort. I've replaced the triggers on several of my STI's with EGW components and got excellent results. I also cleaned up one of my stock STI triggers using Power Custom Series stoning fixture and the results were pretty good. I've kept the plastic mainspring housing and have not had any issues. I have replaced the trigger bow on all of them with the SV trigger and bow cuz I wanted to tune it to my finger.
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Wouldn't an STI Apeiro be pretty close to what you want to build? An island barrel might be another more common route to take that would minimize the front sight movement.
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The SVI trigger bow frame is slightly wider than the STI, when you remove material from the bow or grip, (for the three SVI's triggers I've fitted to my guns I removed material from the grip) coat the trigger bow and trigger with a permanent marker or dykem, fit the bow to the gun, and remove material from where ever the dyekem is rubbed off. When you are finished, take the slide off, insert a mag (preferably a full one) and make sure the new bow is not rubbing on the mag.
keep in mind that you don't want to affect the geometry of where the back of the bow contacts the disconnector. You want to make sure that they remain parallel to each other.
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Before I did anything to the frame, I'd check with STI about what they might be able to do about it. They've usually been pretty good about standing behind their products.
You didn't mention any mods to the gun, if there have been mods such as new barrel, link, etc, could they have contributed to causing excess stress in that area?
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A stock STI Edge is already pretty reliable. Where most reliability issues occur with it are in the magazines. If you don't already have tuned mags and haven't tuned mags before, check out Dawson's mag tuning kit. Edges in 40 also like long OAL such as 1.185 - 1.2.
Most everything else you do to an Edge is related to your shooting prefs such as trigger, swapping the recoil master out for a standard guide rod, grip stippling, etc.
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I have several FGW's and all have been flawless from day 1.
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What is it about 55/56 years of age that makes sensible folks jump into a sport that requires speed, vision, agility, mental clarity, memory, and $$$$$$$! Hmm, must be that first issue of AARP that they send out at about that age. I plinked for a couple of years before I started USPSA competitions at 56, now I'm 58 and just made B in Limited.
Besides the fun of competing, this sport emphasizes the maintenance of those physical and mental attributes that at this age, are usually in decline. For me, the sport re-started a physical fitness program and dry fire and other vision exercises seem to have slowed vision degeneration. The best part of all this was engaging in the mental training aspects so now, rather than browsing the new Suduko books, I'm in the meditation, strategy, and mind improvement book section. And of course BE's book and his recommended reading list. Practicing those techniques has helped me in this sport and in life in general. Uh, wait, what did I have for breakfast..............hmmmmm
While this sport is great fun it certainly may cause us old farts to engage in beneficial activities and help up fend off those young trigger snappers awhile longer! I did for me!
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1911/2011's in 9mm typically have more extraction issues when new than other calibers.I have several and all took a little tuning to run as reliably as an STI 2011 in 40 OOTB. Here is what I did to get excellent reliability in mine.
1) "I" tuned my mags with Dawson's mag tuning kit and paid attention to the dimension of the feed lips
2) My 9mm mags have 9mm followers AND a spacer
3) I tuned my followers and slide lock to NOT lock back. That is a common practice for Edge's used in competition. If you have not tuned yours to not slide lock, ensure that the follower and slide lock properly engage by tuning your mags and checking the configuration of your slide lock.
3) I fully loaded my 9mm mags and let them sit that way for a week to set the springs (when springs are new)
4) I swapped out the stock extractor with an Aftec.
I also reload for 9mm and the OAL I use for my STI 2011/9mm is 1.165 and I load to around a 125 PF for all. Only occasionally do I tear down or remove the extractor and certainly not as often as every 500 rounds. After this, none of my **11's have reliability issues.
FWIW, I've read that because the breach face of **11's were initially designed for 45 and that there is so much difference in size in the 9mm, the position of the extractor on the breach face makes it much harder to get reliable extraction in a 9mm.
As you probably know, shooting a **11 in 9mm is tons of fun, so I hope you stick with tuning your Edge, cuz it is totally worth it!
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I have a couple of STI 40's, one with the stock barrel, and the other is a schuemann. Both like an OAL between 1.185 - 1.2. At 1.2 it does not contact the rifling, at least in mine.
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I have several edges in 40 and depending on the barrel manuf and bullet profile they like an OAL of between 1.185 and 1.2. I would try that length and see if it improves. Depending on how new the mag springs are, you could also try loading a mag full, leave it that way for a week and then try it. If it seems to occur with only 1 or 2 rounds left, trying tuning your mags. Most Edges prefer a tuned mag to run best, at the least look into upgraded mag internals, small investments, long in reliability.
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Measured 30 of each and used the modified bullet stem.
Xtreme 180 RNFP - Measured stem to bullet base varied 0.011
Montana Gold 180 JHP - Measured stem to bullet base varied 0.004
When loading both bullets I still measured a similar variation with mixed brass. I also took one of the longer loaded bullets and put it back in the seating die and pushed on the handle a little harder than I normally would, and it only decreased the OAL by 0.001. The 0.011 variation still doesn't account for the 0.022. It seems others are getting tighter OAL with mixed brass and XB or similar, I would like too as well.
I will try a combination of MG and new Starline, however, that is the most expensive path and one that I will pursue for my match ammo. From a cost perspective, I still want to find what is causing the wide variation so I can use less expensive ammo.
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Update - the variation still occurs despite using only new Starline brass, only Dillon or Redding dies in the head, creating a custom fit seating stem using the XB epoxy trick, or changing the amount of bell. I've marked and checked each station in the shell plate to see if one was wonky. The measurements still cluster together and vary by 3-4 thousandths and then jump by 22 thousandths off.
I've talked to Dillon, Redding, and XB and tried all their suggestions which were the ones repeated in these forums a zillion times.
I don't know what else to do. I get to go to area 2 in a couple of weeks and at this point I will have to measure each bullet to make sure that all will meet chrono.
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I am in the process of doing the same and found the following very helpful;
Building the Ultimate 1911 DVD from AGI, make sure to get Vol 3 Disc 2
The US M1911/M1911A1Pistols (both vols) by Jerry Kuhnhausen
You might also try looking in the gunsmith section, There might be someone there who will give you more advice.
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Did the following but it did not improve the variation.
Stripped it down to the ram shaft (the ram screws were tight) inspected for cracks or anything that might contribute.
Removed some slight burring around the edges of the primer holes in the primer plate
Cleaned and re-lubed everything
Checked it with the full set of Redding Comp Pro (sizer, seater, and crimp), did the same with Dillon.
Double checked my micrometer against another.
Grrrrrrrr, no improvement. The only thing I noticed during the teardown was that the ram had some looseness at full extension but when it engages the dies it goes away. I try to be consistent on my strokes, could that looseness introduce some variation. If so, I can't fix that, it would have to go to Dillon.
I'm just about ready to remove all the goodies that are supposed to tighten things up and go back to the very basics. Over time I've been adding the little things like the thrust bearing shell plate and screws to the die head and each one at the time seemed to help.
My 2011 runs reliably with the variations and I'm not flirting with the high end of pressure, so I'm ok in that respect. But, now that I'm competing and getting chrono'd I have to make sure that my SD keeps me above major PF. Much harder to do with that much variation.
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Just tried switching to the dillon, it does pretty much the same. I also examined the stop pads and they were clean.
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I set up my 40 OAL for 1.20. My measured OAL is either 1.203 or 1.225 with nothing in-between. If there was some looseness in the press or short strokes I would expect some differences between the two measurements. I've sampled my mixed brass and there isn't a headstamp that isn't in both and it occurs with XB or MG bullets. I've checked the OAL for each station in the plate too.
I set up with brass in every station, the shell plate has no movement (using a thrust bearing), base plate is tight, and the dies were tightened with the brass in and at the top. The toolhead has the Uniquetek screws installed and the screws were lightly tightened with brass in and at top of stroke.
Press info
XL 650
Station 1 Redding Comp Pro
Station 2 Dillon
Station 3 Powder check
Station 4 Redding Comp Pro (tried it with and without the micro spring
Station 5 Dillon
I am stumped as to what could cause this and to top it off, my AET barrel likes the 1.225 better than 1.20 but I can't risk longer so setting up for longer than 1.20 wouldn't be a good idea.
Its almost like something is occasionally getting under the plate or somewhere and causing the longer or shorter stroke, but I checked and couldn't find anything.
Is there anything else that may cause this?
Thx,
Al
6" 2011s new norm?
in 1911-style Pistols
Posted
For comparison, I have a FGW 6" and a FGW 5". Both have the same slide mods, The 6" has the barrel flutes. 95% of the time I shoot the 5" at matches because I feel that I can point it faster. But, if I was going more for accuracy, I would shoot the 6". However I don't set nor follow trends.