Jfitz427

I’ve been slowly changing parts out. Just little things. I put a Dawson extended mag release in it. I read about one guy with an sps breaking an ejector due to overinsertion so I don’t want that to happen. I also put a Dawson firing pin, and I have a Dawson tooless guide rod that should be here today with an 12lb wolf variable spring. No problems with any of the stock stuff, but I’d rather put some high quality parts in it. I just dropped in a Brazos pro series itrigger group into my open gun I’m rebuilding this winter. It was super easy no fitting required and gave about a 1.5lb pull, super crisp. Either when the factory stuff in the Pantera breaks, or I have an extra 150 bucks laying around I’m gonna put one in this gun too. This gun already has a sweet trigger, and if it lasts forever I’d totally keep it. It shows no signs of letting up yet. But being that they are mim parts, I’d rather replace them with high quality parts so I don’t have to worry about something breaking at a big match which’ is definitely when they’d fail. They wouldn’t break at a convienent time like dry fire or even live fire practice session. Only when it really matters.

Why a SS? Compared to the Dawson extended one I have? Definitely agree with the heavier mainspring. I’ll have gans tune it up with a heavier main spring, but still keep the trigger at or slightly under 2lbs. The stock trigger in my sps Pantera is around 2lbs 3ozs, and based off how hard the hammer falls it’s got a heavy main. spring. It falls with a lot more authority then this gun. And it will reliably ignite any primer I feed it. Id love to just carry over that same setup into this gun. Seems to be a great combo of parts.

So I put together another 40 mag with the TTI ultra thin follower to see if I could get an easy 21rds, and it worked. When I first assembled the mag and loaded it up I lost count by one round, and I thought I was forcing in the 21st round. I couldn’t quite get it, it was really close. Then I unloaded the magazine and counted and I actually had 21 in the mag and I was trying to force in the 22nd. So 21 rounds is easy. Can easily start with 21+1. I could even reload to 21. Gonna load it up for a week and let the springs set in. I’ve only cycled them though the gun by hand, but it functions fine that way. And stripping the rounds out one at a time the next one comes up angled up correctly. So i think it’s gonna run fine. I’m leaving my others with grams guts and follower since they are just ultra reliable. This mag will be starts only. Or other times I see fit. Then i I been working on getting the capacity of the 126mm mags up. They started at 16 rounds. I added the Dawson baseplates that fit the ipsc box, and sti springs and follower I took out of another mag. Like this they held 17, and were 100% reliable. Then I added TTI springs and the ultra thin +1 follower and now they hold 18+1. I just use these for practice, dropping them over and over again and not having to worry.

Started the make over today. Bought the Brazos trigger group, so new hammer, strut, sear, sear spring, and mainspring. The kit dropped right in, didn’t have to do any fitting even of the safety. I haven’t installed the new mainspring yet though. But with the existing one the trigger is 1.5lbs. It’s really nice, super crisp break. I think the kit comes with a 17lb main spring. I don’t know what the one in the gun is now, but it seems light, maybe 15lbs. So I’m guessing the pull is going to go up a bit when I install the new one. Hopefully not much though. I’m hoping with the installation of the new main spring I’ll be able to reliably ignite primers other then federal. I also bought an extended firing pin. And when I went to install it I found out the gun already had the exact one I bought. Dawson extended length. So I just dropped it in my sps limited gun. Kinda hard to believe it will only reliably ignite federal primers even with the extended firing pin. Is that normal? i also have a Dawson big hands magwell coming, as well as a tooless guide. Good buy recoil master. I hate having to use paper clips to take the gun apart. Next i I think I’m going to buy a DVC large grip. I just don’t have the money for a PT. And I’m not even sure I want to make the gun even heavier. Next week im going to call Gans. Talk about installing the 9mm barrel, possibly putting a few holes in it and lighten up the slide. The last part of this will be getting the gun refinished. Thinking about one of those ion bonded finishes or something. And I’d like to get the barrel Tin coated in gold. Should look nice when it’s all done.

I’m also very happy going to the 2011 from the Glock. The best part is my sps runs like a Swiss watch. Plus that crisp 2lb trigger, the grip angle makes the gun point more naturally. I love it. I’m still a big fan of glocks though, nothing beats it for self defense. CCW, home defense, military, law enforcement, the Glock rules. The light polymer frame helps a lot carrying it around all day. And the generous tolerances enable it to run in even the roughest conditions. But for competition, or just range fun, nothing beats a 2011 or 1911.

Ya I’m actually fine with the mag release being left on the normal left side of the gun. After all these years I’m used to it. Apparently a lot of righty shooters switch theirs to the opposite side of the gun, So to use it the same way we do with our trigger or middle finger. I put an extended mag release on my Pantera and it’s super easy to get to.

Check out Ncengravers.com or google it if that’s not the right website. He’s in Winston Salem nc. He did work on my Glock, 3 windows in the front of the slide, and stepped down the area around the 3 cuts. Then he milled my slide for my RMR, and cerakoted it. It was very reasonable. He got the gun on a Friday and I picked it up Sunday. He has both CNC, and lasers. Go check out his work on his YouTube channel. And here’s a pick of my Glock. http://ncengravers.com/

I just started with these guns myself about 2 months ago. I was really worried before that I wouldn’t be able to trouble shoot them or do any work myself, and i don’t have any good 1911 smiths near me. First thing I learned was how to take apart the slide, firing pin stop, the firing pin and extractor. That’s pretty simple. Then how to tune the extractors. There’s good videos on YouTube about this and how much tension they should have. I feel like I can handle this if the issue arises. Then for the .trigger group. Just take your gun apart, all the way down to the frame, or leave the grip on and everything else. Man first time I did this I thought I’d have to bring the box of parts to a gun smith. Getting the pin that holds the disconnector and sear is a pain in the ass. But I got it, then the thumb safety was another pain in the ass. But after doing all this it gave me a good understanding of how all the parts work and work together. I felt much better about this platform after I did this. There’s a really good video on YouTube on how to disassemble and reassembly a 2011 specifically. This should be all you need. Getting into fitting slides and barrels looks like a whole different animal that I’m not gonna touch. Maybe one day when I have the tools and more experience with these guns in general. That kinda stuff you’ll have to bring it to a competent gun smith. But all the other stuff is totally doable. Id like to pickup some good books or videos on a more in depth look into it now.

You know reliability and being finicky was something I was worried about too when moving to the 2011s from my ultra reliable glocks. Especially with mags and “tuning”. But man my stuff just runs. My SPS 40 runs just as well as my Glock. Now if I started dropping it in the sand maybe that would change. But I keep my guns clean and lubed. Though 3000rds the SPS has never failed. And the mags have been great too. Sti, mbx and sps mags all perfect. I drop them in the dirt, mud. They run. Then the Dawson tooless basepad s make it simple to clean after a range trip. And thwt amazing trigger on these style guns is just awesome. Crisp 2lb break, no pre or over travel. Ive recently started learning how to work on them too. That’s something I was worried about. I can do anything to a Glock, troubleshoot any problem. I was worried as these guns are much more complicated and everything needs to be fitted. So far I’ve learned how to take down everything in the slide and know how to tune extractors, but haven’t needed to do it yet. I’ve taken the whole frame down to nothing and learned how each of the parts work together. Been watching videos on how to fit the thumb safety’s As I’m gonna drop in a new trigger group from Brazos soon. So I’m not that worried anymore. I’m rebuilding my open gun winter so that should give me a good feel for everything. I do miss the simplicity of glocks though.

That’s interesting. 4.3 gives me 173pf. Dropped down to 4.2 for 170pf. I’m loading them at 1.205. I love the load though. Titegroup feels so snappy now after shooting clays.

I couldn’t spend 5k on an open gun either. No way. I put less down on my new truck! You can buy used. Right now there’s tons of great deals in the classifieds. Way more then when I bought mine. I couldn’t find a single open gun in 9 major for the price I was looking at. All were 38s. So I bought one and bought a new 9mm barrel for it.

It’s takes a while to get the hang of. I remember when I first started with the dot, I’d lose it all the time. Damn thing was just nowhere to be found. Then with time it got easier and easier to track. Just give it some time and practice .

Can you show the ofher side of the tube with the control rib? It might be an sps tube. Like others have said you can do one of two things, put a different basepad on it, or file a bit of the rear of the feedlips, which is probably what I would do.

Ya, I ran an open Glock in 9 major for quite a while. I didn’t know what i was missing until I moved to a 2011 metal gun. Now the damn Glock feels like a hand grenade ready to blow! But my Glock ran, and still runs great. With a 15lb recoil spring, it just runs and runs, and this is with the carver 4 port comp. even COF my trigger and locking block pins would walk about almost all the way. I never tried doing anything about it, so I’m sure this can be remedied. The biggest problem is they’re just to light. You can get a pretty flat load, or you think until you shoot a metal gun and the damn thing doesn’t move at all when firing a 115g bullet at 1500 FPS. I thought my Glock was heavy with all the s#!t I added to it. I never tried a frame weight though, that could help put some weight where it’s needed up front. Bottom line is they work. They’ll get you into open for cheap. Threaded barrel, comp, red dot and beaver tail mount kit unless you have you slide milled, then a magwell and some mag extensions plus a spring and connector kit and you’re good to go. I keep mine to back up my 2011.

I have a 2011, but this is making me want to buy one of the 6 inch RAI and build one of those. It could be a backup, that’s what I’ll tell my wife. Really nice gun.

You know I’ve always heard the series 80s triggers aren’t very good. But yesterday at my LGS I handled a kimber full size 1911 in 45acp and the trigger was very nice, super crisp break, little to no take up and minimal over travel. It was a bit heavy for me, probably 4-5lbs. But that’s a normal weight for a non competition gun. So I wouldn’t be to worried about a series 80 trigger. Sorry I don’t have any experience with the brand you’re asking about.

Ya, it’s become a Venezuela model. Really rich and really poor, not much in between. It was once a beacon of light for the rest of the cointyy. A middle class paridise. Solidly red state. It’s changed so fast. Now you can smoke weed legally, but get arrested for having a plastic straw. these polticans in these states do not believe that limiting magazine capacity by a law, to try and stop people who don’t follow the law is going to make anyone safer, and all the other assault weapon crap. What they are doing is being openly hostile to gun owners. They want to make it so hard to get a gun, with so many stupid laws that we all leave their states. They hate is, despise us. I think this stuff is going to end soon and challenges are going to be accepted by SCOTUS now that we have a solid 5-4 majority. I think they were holding off while Kennedy was still on the court because they weren’t sure how he would vote on more specific laws like mag limits and gun type bans. Justice Thomas and has been begging for these to come before him. And Kavanaugh has already said AWB are unconstitutional. The future looks good. Have you heard about the plan to break California up into 3? With northern CA being it’s own state. If that is mostly conservative then that would be great for y’all. I just can’t imagine having the money, and not being able to buy any gun I want. Only ones on the “approved” roster.

Looks like a good gun. But I don’t get why anyone would stay in Cali, NY etc. I left New York 6 years ago. If I was still there I’d start looking for jobs in free states and when I landed one I’d move. NC has basically no gun state gun control laws. All those high capacity death magazines I want. I love it here. And just the lack of regulation in all areas of life.

Ya, so by putting the mbx guts with the low pro follower into my sti tube with SNl basepad I can get 21rds reloadable. My mags with grams guts are ultra reliable though, so I’m gonna leave them as is. But im thinking the TTI ultra low pro follower will be much like the mbx in allowing extra room. I have some tti followers and springs coming. I think I’m gonna buy another tube and basepad to have a designated 21rd mag.

New development this morning. I just started full length sizing my 40 brass, and I’m guessing my springs have finally worn in a bit. But I can get 21 rounds in my sti mags with grams guts and Dawson SNL basepads. And I can lock the mag into the gun without a crazy amount of force. So I can start now with 21 plus one in the chamber. I tried this in my mbx also and couldn’t do it, I can get the 21st round in the mag, but I can’t lock it in the gun. It’s surprising because the mbx follower is super low profile. It’s really thin, whereas the grams follower is pretty thick, about as thick as half a 40 round. So you’d think it would be the other way around, 21 in the mbx and 20 with the sti. But I guess the SNL gives a bit extra room. I’m gonna try putting the low pro mbx follower into my sti mags and see if I get a easily reloadable 21rds.

My range doesn’t have enough steel so I was thinking about getting some portable steel targets too. I saw this guy with some one day at my range. It was like a thick maybe 3ft tall metal post, small though like a stake, and at the top it it went 90 degrees right, probably 6-8 inches and then down a bit and a steel plate hung form there. I’d guess it was a 6-8 inch steel plate. He had a whole course of them setup. Form what I saw this was super easy to move around. And at the end of the day you just took all the steel off the stakes, and then took them out of the ground and went home. i haven’t been able to find anything like this. It look. I can’t inagine they cost more then 20-30 bucks a piece. Anyone ever seen something like this? I should have asked him when I saw it.

Definitely not noticeably thinner. They could be a bit thinner though. The new sti mags are really stout. But the sps mags seem to be well made. They list 21rd mags on some websites for like 55 bucks. So I’m thinking about buying one of the 140s and replacing the guts and base pads and seeing if 21 is possible. They’re similar to the old SV mags. The SV mags are definitely better quality, but the design of the SPS has one thing going for it over the SVs in that the control ribs extend further down the mag basically right to the bottom, whereas the SV control rib ends pretty high up, lot of room rounds to slip off and under the follower. Guess that doesn’t matter to you if you’re only loading 10rds. I’d definitely say give the SPS mags a try.

Like some others have said, a 10mm Glock will likely run 40 in the stock setup. But then ya you could load long.

Another hs-6 fan here. With 124g coated blue bullets its a great flat shooting load. Don’t really get much build up in the comp either.

Ya this older pro I shoot and train with was talking about when he ran Clays when the power factor was 180. And he was telling me he had the barrel freebored so he could load out to 1.250. He says he was one of the firsts to do this in uspsa sometime back in the early 90s. I think it’s a great soft shooting load.