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djcsmith

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Everything posted by djcsmith

  1. djcsmith
    I shot a Limited for a while, in my case an original Para 16-40 made in Canada 1/ Bullet profile made the biggest difference in feeding reliability. My pistol hated truncated cone bullets, and ran perfect with traditional round-nose 180's. 2/ Load long, mine were 1.19OAL with round-nose 3/ Examine your mags for cracks behind the feed lips, on top flat side of the mag tube. 4/ Do a search on-line, and there are lots of info on feed lip dimension, and mag tuning. Remember, 1911's were never really meant to run short cartridges like the .40 S&W & 9mm In a perfect world, we would still be shooting .45 ACP, 38 Super, and 10 mm.
  2. djcsmith
    BTW, I have a Sharpshooter classification, not M or DM.
  3. djcsmith
    I left IDPA in 2013. When I renewed last Fall, all my 2011 & 2013 classifications were there on IDPA members web sight, and I kept my old membership number. David
  4. djcsmith
    Ben Stoeger has great material. However, Steve Anderson has great material as well: http://shop.andersonshooting.com/books/
  5. djcsmith
    <"I decided to take a step to get into Race gun"> Most guys I know that shoot Open, know exactly what they want, and why they want it. A Race Gun is a delicate marriage of components, to suit the owner. Even developing a reliable load to run the comp is a full time job. Just go to any local IPSC/USPSA match and see the how problematic a Race Gun can be. They look cool and are cool, but are you really ready to put yourself through the expense & leaning curve? You can have just as much fun, and save a whack of money, by shooting Classic/Single Stack or Production Division. Most learn to fly a Cessna before they buy a Learjet.
  6. djcsmith
    Your stock gun should eat 130PF ammo fine. However, most guys in my area run a 9 pound recoil spring. In USPSA, Major guns seem to be the norm. In IPSC, Minor guns are more common. It has to do with stage design.
  7. djcsmith
    I find my .40S&W 1911 prefers bullets with a rounder nose-profile. Heavily truncated bullets seem to hit the feed ramp at a bad angle, or too early in the slide travel, stopping the slide. Also, I load mine to an OAL of 1.185". Many of my friends load as long as 1.2".
  8. djcsmith
    Having a fully-indexing shell plate is great when you are cranking out loads, but a pain when setting up, or finishing a session. I'm thinking, I'll just keep the primer tube full, and stop the case-feeder when I'm almost finished, then feed the case drop-tube one by one until I call it quits. Emptying the powder hopper is not a big deal. I'm loving he 650, but the 550 sure was simpler; manually indexing the shell-plate gave you lots of control, and options.
  9. djcsmith
    Dillon, Hodgdon, and others, recommend emptying the powder funnel at the end of each reloading session, and storing the powder back in it's original container. So how do you end your reloading session?: 1/ Let the brass &/or primer feeders run out? 2/ Just stop, and manually remove brass in the shell plate? 3/ Leave the powder in the funnel, and convince yourself that returning powder to the original container recommendation is just a liability thing? 4/ ??? Having just upgrading from a 550 to a 650, this is a bit of a pain.
  10. djcsmith
    Thanks for the suggestions on the last two posts. Haven't had a chance to investigate those yet. It is time to d a detail strip anyways, so I check everything out. I did change to a 9 Lb recoil spring, and haven't had issues in the last 150 rounds. I would suspect the ejector before the slide-stop. I did notice that it is the ejector that prevents me from using my .22 Ciener conversion kit. The ejector can be checked easily, but I might have to wait for the next issue to test the slide-stop issue.
  11. djcsmith
    I see contact marks, but can't say there is wear, or peening. I am not running a shock-buff. The gun has about 1500 rounds through it.
  12. djcsmith
    I am not left-handed. My best guess, at the moment, is that something is causing the base of the guide-rod to drag on the slide, or the spring is binding, or both. However, the next time it happens, I will certainly examine the slide-stop position.
  13. djcsmith
    <"Recoil spring installed backwards?"> Just field stripped the Trojan, and the spring is not backwards. <"Wrong guide rod that doesn't fit in the frame correctly?"> I think the guide rod is stock. However, "not fitting the frame" makes me wonder if the 8Lb spring was letting the slide "bounce", causing the horseshoe-shaped base of the guide-rod to jump out of it's resting position against the frame. This is just a theory, but I noticed that after I reassembled the slide after field-stripping, the slide was sticking at first, until I cycled it once or twice.
  14. djcsmith
    The slide is usually smooth, and cycles perfectly. However, once in a while (approx. 250 rounds), the slide binds and stops mid-cycle. I can manually move the slide, but with heavy drag, and feels like something is binding inside. If I manually cycle the slide several times, sometimes it fixes itself, and all is well again. Other times I have to field-strip, and reassemble to correct the issue. It is not an ammo issue, as it binds even if the gun is empty. I can only think it is the recoil spring binding on it's own links, or the slide. Anyone else had this happen? My Trojan is presently running an 8 Lb recoil spring, and has a factory one-piece recoil-spring guide. I could try a 9 Lb spring, but can't see how this would make a difference.
  15. djcsmith
    What bullet weight does Ben use? I'm sure if you asked him, he would tell you that better time-savings are gained during transitions, reloads, and the draw. The 124 vs 147 decision will probably never loose you a match.
  16. djcsmith
    The two sides of the slide look different, mostly I believe, from having beat up several guiderod spring plugs. It is easy to replace a plug, a lot more expensive to replace the slide. The slide has been getting filed a bit whenever it gets too deformed. I have been test fitting each new plug, and they do sit flat when new. I'll be putting another 100 rounds through it tonight, and will examine the parts again after.
  17. djcsmith
    I might try the 13 Lb spring, once all this has settled down a bit, and I learn to trust the pistol again, and get a back-up plug. Last summer, I had to do a last minute switch to Single Stack with my .45, because my Limited Para had the reverse-plug flu.
  18. djcsmith
    Thanks to all those who submitted suggestions on this thread. I'm back from my match. Between last Tuesday & today, I've put 250 rounds through the pistol, with a new 14 Lb spring & new reverse-plug. The plug remains undamaged, so recoil spring weight is critical in this pistol. I can't use a 12 Lb, without damaging the plug. If this rears it's head again, I'll change to a different style of reverse-plug, as suggested by others; either a hat-style or Briley. (photos attached) Both these options would require machining the slide to fit, but certainly better than a new pistol. David
  19. djcsmith
    EclipseDS mentioned a Briley Plug. . . . . . . <Maybe you/they tried a Briley plug?> I did a You Tube search, and found this video: The poster of the You Tube video mentioned the reason he fitted the Briley Plug, was to prevent the rotation and damage to the reverse plug. BTW, a Briley Plug has extra lobes which fit into the slide to prevent it from rotating. It requires some machining of the slide to fit the plug. So my issue has been seen before. In this case, rather than find the reason for the damage, he just prevented it from happening again. If my situation continues, I have 2 solutions: 1/ Buy and fit a Briley Tube, 2/ Go back to a bushing barrel. As the barrel in my pistol has seen so much use, a new bushing barrel might improve accuracy, and avoid the issue. Sunday's match will determine if this is necessary. I'll report back then.
  20. djcsmith
    Thanks for everyone's comments. I looks like the heavier spring is the key to solving this issue. Last night I installed a new Wilson reverse plug, and a new 14 pound spring. My club-match last night was about 100 rounds. So far, no peening of the tabs on the plug. It seems that the heavier spring is doing a better job of holding the plug in place, preventing it from bouncing around. This Sunday, I have a 7-stage match. After that, I should definitely see if the heavier spring solves the problem. If not, I'm about ready to revert to a bushing barrel. BTW, I'm running one of the original Canadian-made Paras, probably built in the late 80's. It has had 10's of thousands of rounds through it.
  21. djcsmith
    Trying the 14 pound recoil spring tonight, with a new plug. After the match, I'll strip it, and check for damage.
  22. djcsmith
    Thanks jcc7x7. Attached are a few more photos to help explain how the plug fits into the pistol. I'm not sure what parts the Para came with originally, as I am the second owner. It is one of the original Canadian made Paras. When I first acquired it, it had some feeding issues, which were due to bad mags, since then has been a solid pistol. It is a workhorse; with 10's of thousands of rounds through it, and runs reliably with most competition loads. I have a match Tuesday, so I can test out my theory about the weight of the recoil spring. Maybe a 14 pound spring will hold the plug from dancing about as the gun cycles.
  23. djcsmith
    I'm replying to my own post here. . . . . I just had a thought; a year or two ago, I changed from running 14 pound recoil spring, to a 12 pound. My issues with the plug may have started about this time. If the plug is shifting during slide-cycling, this might explain it if one believes that a light spring may allow some "bounce" of the plug every stroke of the slide. I am going to replace the plug with a new one, and at the same time try going back to a 14 pound recoil spring. Still interested to hear if anyone has had similar experiences, as well as some theories for the cause.
  24. djcsmith
    My 1911 Para 16-40 has a bull-barrel and reverse full-length guide rod plug. It keeps beating up guide rod plugs. It starts with peening the lip of the plug, progresses to the point where the tunnel goes out of round, and binds with the recoil spring. Left long enough, the plug splits along it's length. I am on my 4th plug. I had the slide mating-surface milled square, as the peening always happens on the same side, but it keeps re-occurring. I have also tried filing the mating surfaces of the slide to remove rough edges. I'm not sure it is due to sloppy assembly after field-stripping, or the plug twists as the gun cycles. See attached photos. Any one else seen this? David
  25. djcsmith
    I, too, have an old Para 16-40 that I shoot for IPSC & USPSA. The Canadian built ones have a much better reputation than the newer USA built Paras. My only issue with the pistol is that some parts are specific to the Para. STI disconnect & sear work just fine, but finding a replacement trigger is often difficult. Magazines can be had from Mec-Gar. Last year getting mags from Para-USA was not a option, as they claim that they were revising the mag-design and weren't available. I'm running an Aftec extractor. The plastic mag release wears out quickly, so put in a steel one. The pistol is still going strong, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have bought an STI just for better parts availability. If you are loading to minor, don't go much below 140 power factor or you will have feed issues, or notice the slide is getting too slow. Playing with spring combinations might solve this issue. For reloading, round nose profile bullets feed much easier than truncated nose profile bullets. Good luck, David
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