RippinSVT

Don't shorten it. A Marvel cut on the disco rail helps reduce the feel of it when cycling the gun. Another trick is to file a filet/bevel on the top inside of the center searspring leaf and polish it. This prevents the hard contact or catching of the edge of the spring on the back bevel of the disco and allows slicker movement there.

I’ve shot Toolguy’s gun, it’s properly loud and efficient.

Modern S&W's, in particular 929's, have suffered from some pour QC in the last 5-10 years. As a result accuracy has often been piss-poor. To put into perspective, I did a 929 for a known pro shooter last year and prior to crown/cone work, it would barely keep the shots on paper, 8-10" groups at 25yds from a bench. After recutting, it would put all 8 into an inch easily. Essentially all that is done is squaring the crown and ensuring concentric bullet release. On the forcing cone end, the rear of the barrel is squared to the cylinder, and then a gentle taper/leade is reamed into the start of the rifling, ensuring concentric and gradual bullet engagement with the rifling. It's unbelievable the difference it can make, and it's only an hour job max.

A crown and forcing cone job should be high on the list. Easy to do, and the accuracy advantages on these "performance" center guns is unbelievable.

Yep, Doug's gun has the comp secured into the shroud, shroud secured to frame, and a Commander slide like mentioned. The barrel reciprocates within the bushing/comp assembly. I've seen it apart but can't remember exactly how the bushing sits in there, whether it's secured directly to the frame or the shroud/comp. I am actually building a similar setup now for both a 1911 and a P210A.

My stock 6" 9mm Trojan shoots outrageously well, around 1.25" at 50yds for 6 shots. Never over 2" at 50yds. That's with a really good known 9mm accuracy load.

External ballistics having an appreciable effect on POI inside 50 yards is a fallacy for everything but the slowest 45acp and 38 Special loads, where it's still only a few inches. 99.9999% of the time appreciable POI changes over distance is as a result of the sight plane being out of parallel to the bore axis, often as a result of a real close zero. This is exacerbated with a tall dot. The further you can zero your pistol, the better your average POA/POI will be over distance, at least out the point where external ballistics really start playing with the equation and appreciable drop occurs, which is around 70-80 yards with a minor 9mm 115/124gr load. A solid 50yd zero will often vary +/- 1" all the way back to 10 yards or so, with low impacts occurring below this distance due to the height of the sight above bore centerline (plus the inherent 1* or 52 minute downward tilt of a 1911 barrel). Actual load to load POI variance at practical distances is more closely related to recoil impulse, twist rate, bullet design, etc. I know there's gonna be people who dispute me based on their experience, and none of what I've said covers every factor/situation, but I have tested perhaps 100k pistol rounds and hundreds of loads, just from a bench, over the years for accuracy, from 10-100yds and what I said above is an opinion based on that data and nothing more.

I made a set for a friend's Ruger 22 that mounts forward of the scope rings on the rail. Let me look, I may have made two sets Kyle

Wow that’s a great idea!

When they are that bad I put 3 jacketed rounds in a mag and into the gun, lock the slide back, and then hit the comp ports with a propane torch for 10-15 seconds until the lead starts to pool, then snap the slide closed and fire 3 quick shots into the ground. Say what you will, but it's quick and WORKS. Then spray your comp with lanolin/alcohol regularly to prevent it next time. Another secret is to use weld spatter cleaner in the comp. It's expensive but won't allow buildup.

I have experience with several of the options named here. The RO is a solid gun, decently accurate, but certainly not brilliant out of the box. The PM9 that I worked on had a great trigger and slide/frame fit. The barrel fit was decent, but had some vertical play on the lugs. The disconnector was ultra stiff with its interaction with the slide some much so that you could stop the slide on it 2/3 back. The Colt Comps were pretty loose guns in all respects. If I had to choose, I would take the PM9 under the pretenses that I went over it and did a few things, like a disco ramp cut at the stripping block/breachface. I'd probably fit a barrel in any factory gun, and the RO would need a sear/hook job for sure. All that said, I've rarely handled any factory 1911 up to and including stuff in the Baer line that didn't need some work IMHO. Exceptions being some of the older STI singlestacks, minus the chintzy finish. I've got a 6" 9mm Trojan and 6" 9mm Targetmaster that have both shoot 1" at 50yds.

Chris I have used the new style. After just a bit of standard feedlip tuning and no other modification, they have been very reliable.

I think it may have an advantage over TG/Bullseye/N320 in 38 Super and Special due to the increased case volume, since it's a bulkier powder. In the tiny 9mm that wasn't my experience. That's pure speculation.

Holster options have been the only thing keeping me from shooting my K38 in Production. It's just so brutally slow and cumbersome to draw with the long barrel.

I didn't have much luck with PP. In minor loads I have always had the best luck with really fast powders like Bullseye, TG, and N320 at around 4gr with a 115.

I LOVE 6" 9mm 1911's, it's almost an obsession. I have 4 of them and all are capable of shooting around 1" at 50 yards. I like the sight radius and the sluggish recoil allows me to track my sights better.

Thank you! Side note: can you bring an extra set screw for your prone pads to the match this weekend? I misplaced one of mine when I was switching things around and couldn't seem to find the right thread at the hardware store. I'll throw you a few bucks for your trouble of course.

Thanks Warren! I thought about the lathe but I don't know if I trust myself yet, baby steps on that machine.

I'm building a 2011 open gun and would like to machine the comp to match the slide exactly I figured I'd use a corner-rounding endmill. Anybody have a clue which size to use for this task or have a better way? I'm not keen on draw a file to blend the two with that much surface area.

My wife and I enjoyed it. I really liked both movies.

Thank you. Did you have to remove several thousandths about 3/4" back from the comp? That seems to be my major contact area. My first lug recess on the barrel is .046" at 12-o'clock but I may need to take a little off at "10 and 2" as well. The black soot seems like the hot ticket on the barrel cone contact.

Thanks Tommy. I too always break and chamfer the edges of the lugs and hood. I will use soot and particularly look for contact towards the front of the cone, top and bottom.

I did but I can't remember offhand.

Doing a little more thinking on this, and I'm wondering if I could have some vertical binding or springing in the bull barrel flare near the muzzle. Pretty hard to tell with this permanent comp.

Hey guys, perhaps this should be in the gunsmithing lobby, I dunno. I'm building my first full ground-up open gun and I'm fitting 2 barrels, one in 9mm and one in 38SC. Anyhow, I started last night and I made my 1-degree cut on the front of the slide, followed by fitting the 38SC barrel hood and cone comp. I took a few light passes in my lathe at the back of the comp to get the slide/comp clearance I wanted, and got it locking up smooth and firm. Next up was the 9mm Trubor barrel from Brazos with the Thundercomp II. The barrel dropped into the rear hood recess with only a few file swipes on each side, and it became clear that I was never going to get initial lockup unless I took several thousandths from either the slide or the comp to allow the barrel to move back towards the first lug. Having already fit the 38SC barrel, I chose to turn the back of the Trubor comp down on the lathe, maybe .020". I don't know if this is kosher, but that's what I did. Some measuring and file work at the rear of the hood and I had lockup. Here's my issue as it stands: I've fit several barrels into some highly accurate guns (like 1" at 50yds), and never had to remove a lot of material from the barrel lug recesses to get firing pin alignment and .045" lug engagement. The hood is not binding on the breachface but is touching. The comp appears to have 004"-.005" clearance with the slide as well. Currently I only have about .027-.030" upper lug engagement with the Trubor barrel in the CK Arms slide, whereas I have almost .050" with the other barrel (Kart). Has anybody else found the Trubor barrels to be very oversized on the upper recess radii, or should I look elsewhere for my impedence? I'm gonna get the modeling clay out tonight and do some more checks, but I found it extremely strange that the Trubor wasn't particularly oversized at the hood and yet I possibly need to file .015" off the lugs.