zdog

Thanks zdog

I tried the arched main spring housing and it did not make a noticeable difference. I do intend to add an Ed Brown memory grip safety. I understand that also helps. zdog

Thanks, Your post deserves some thought. zdog

Thanks for the info. I sent an email to Rogers and am awaiting a reply. I will also check with EGW. zdog

Thanks, I will take a look at that. zdog

Someone has to or needs to make a medium rise thumb safety for the 1911. I heard of a guy that cut the front half of the Gunsite safety off so he wouldn't inadvertently engage it when shooting weak hand. I really liked the gunsite lowride safety till the weak hand thing came up. I guess I need to find a welder and have him make one for me. Thanks for the thought zdog

I have been using the high thumbs grip for about 5 years and now I want a safety that fits. Thanks for the thought, zdog

That sounds like the safety on the Les Baer p2 that I sold because of the thumb safety. It was so bad that I was often not getting the grip safety depressed. Thanks for the thought, zdog

I love shooting my Colt 1911 but I have hands on the smaller side so I have had to make some changes. I have the short trigger and the thin grips. I used to have the GunSite low ride thumb safety which worked great till I found out that when shooting left handed I kept engaging the safety. This is not a good thing so I removed it and returned it. I have since learned that there may be someone making a a mid-range thumb safety that allows folks with smaller hands to use the ride the safety grip and still shoot with the left hand and not constantly engage the safety. My question is: Does anyone know of such a safety for the 1911? zdog

I was wondering that myself. I do not have a high quality digital caliper. My good caliper is in Arizona. What I am really going on is adjusting the cylinder to match the slug I ran through the barrel. I may send a slug of the muzzle to Veral at LBT and have him measure it. I am not the original owner of the 625-8 so who knows what treatment it has had in the past. zdog You really need to measure the slug with a micrometer. Calipers aren't accurate enough to measure below about .001 and even that's iffy. The external jaws and internal jaws can be different from each other too due to wear, being dropped or slide adjustment. I'm fortunate to have been a machinist for about 20 years and still have all of my tools. But, you can probably find someone around you that has an 0-1" mic. Otherwise sending it to LBT is a good idea. Measure your cylinder throats with a telescoping gage and micrometer. They are kind of tricky to use as there is a certain "feel". Or a set of precision gage pins will work but those are even harder to find unless you know a machinist or something. I have a 625-8 too. And I get some leading in the cylinder and the forcing cone too. My cylinder throats are right on .4525 give or take .0001/.0002". I haven't gaged my barrel yet. Good luck and please post up what you find about you barrel. Is there a chance I could send you a barrel slug from my 625 and have you measure it? Zdog

I was wondering that myself. I do not have a high quality digital caliper. My good caliper is in Arizona. What I am really going on is adjusting the cylinder to match the slug I ran through the barrel. I may send a slug of the muzzle to Veral at LBT and have him measure it. I am not the original owner of the 625-8 so who knows what treatment it has had in the past. zdog

After thinking about the website these folks have and the info it contains I was wondering if the .4525 that they advertise for a finished diameter for a 45acp cylinder ream job would be big enough. The grove diameter on my 625-8 barrel measures .4540. I understand that a desired cylinder throat for lead cast bullets would be 1 thousandth over this number in which case the cylindersmith number would be 1.6 thousands too small. Am I thinking along the right lines here? Thanks, zdog

The cylinders are now reamed to where I can push the barrel slug through them with a little effort. I will try it out for a while and I may need to open them a little more. zdog

Thanks for the idea. I decided to hand ream the cylinders myself. I will let folks know how it turned out when I get a chance to shoot it more. The first 18 rounds showed no sign of leading in the forcing cone. zdog

I emailed Mike and he would polish the front of the cylinder, which allows the rounds to drop into the cylinder easier, not the forcing cone or exit of the cylinder which is under sizing the cast bullets and causing the leading problem. zdog

I have learned a few things today. I talked to Veral at LBT about the undersized cylinder on my 625. I was mistaken when I thought that fire lapping would open up the cylinder. Veral said if I want a reamer to check with a machine tool maker which would be cheaper. After a little conversation he suggested chucking up a 3/8 in or so slotted rod in an electric drill and wrapping some medium grit emery cloth around it to polish the cylinder with. He said that is what some gun smiths do. I had some 3/8 in wooden dowel stock so I cut off a piece and used a hack saw to cut a slot in it for the emery cloth. Long story short I now have all the cylinders evened up where a .4525 cast bullet will pass through with equal and very little resistance. I had to hammer the .4525 bullets through before I polished the cylinders. After slugging the front of my barrel the grove diameter measured 454 so I have a little more to go. I understand that slugging just the front of the barrel and then pulling the slug back out will keep the slug from being undersized by whatever restrictions may be in the barrel. Veral says to shoot for 1 thousandth over the barrel grove diameter. My plan is to keep polishing the cylinders until I can push the barrel slug through the cylinder with little resistance. If I were shooting jacketed bullets then I would stop here as they are not so persnickety about diameter. Hopefully this is going to resolve my forcing cone leading problems and the not so good accuracy I was getting with cast bullets. Best to all, zdog

I took a look at that reamer at Brownells. $80 plus shipping. That may be the option of last resort. I guess I could sell it after I used it once. I only have one 45ACP revolver. I don't suppose there is anyone out there that has a reamer that they would loan or rent to me for a one time use. Thanks, zdog

I have been chasing this problem for awhile now and think I may have found the problem. I ordered and tried some push through barrel slugs from Lead Bullets Technology. Long story short it looks like my cylinder diameter is about 2 or 3 thousandths less than the grove diameter of the barrel. According to LBT the next step is fire lapping. I am not sure this would be the best way to open up the cylinder diameter. I feel that sending the cylinder out for a ream job might be the answer. I would appreciate other opinions including where to send the cylinder to get adjusted if that is the best answer. Thanks, zdog

Thanks, Now if I can just find where the wife hides her butter and egg money...... zdog

Thanks Scott, Would you tell me what kind of trigger pull could I expect with your stock trigger job please and I do I have to use soft primers? Zdog We do not use reduced power striker springs on any of our trigger jobs, so they hit the same as from the factory. We can make them pretty light, but we don't have a "stock" trigger job, we make them to customer specs. One last question please. If I were to buy your parts and install them myself, what would be a reasonable guess for the trigger pull? zdog

Does shooting someone with 12lb trigger make it any more legal? That's like saying if you practice, it's intent. I know it doesn't make much sense but when dealing with lawyers and the legal system not much does make sense. Do a little looking around on the web or ask a lawyer if you know one. Even if you shoot someone and are completely in the right you better be ready for a $100,000 legal bill if the guy or his survivors take you to court. When it comes out that you have had the trigger altered in any way shape or form it will work against you big time. Check with Marty Hayes at Firearms Academy of Seattle (FAS). He makes a living by selling policy's to folks who carry guns who may need a lawyer after the fact. Start a new thread and throw that question out and see what kind of answers you get. I am on your side but being on the side of reason will lose every time versus the legal system. zdog

Once you have or have had any trigger work done you would be well advised not to shoot anyone with that sidearm because the lawyers will find out and it will not go well for you. The trigger job on the XDs dramatically changes the trigger. Aside from lightening the trigger pull the Springer Precision kit takes out about half the take up travel and half the reset travel. Working on the XD trigger is way different than taking a little creep out of a 1911 trigger. zdog

Thanks Scott, Would you tell me what kind of trigger pull could I expect with your stock trigger job please and I do I have to use soft primers? Zdog

What would you recommend for alterations to this pistol for a "b" shooter? Trigger, guide rod...? I have three XD9s that you did trigger jobs on years ago. I have to admit that the trigger still feels mushy to me. Have things improved since then with you trigger job and what kind of pull could I expect with your stock trigger job? Too bad Springfield still doesn't have it quite right on this new pistol. What is the trigger pull on the stock 5.25 and have they shortened the pull and reset like your trigger job does? Thanks, Zdog

Anyone know what size the front fiber optic front sight is on the XDM95259BHC kit? I have heard that there are two available,.100 and .140. Thanks, Zdog