Rush Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Hi All... Just got a springco and tried dropping it in my 5" STI, open gun. Thing is, springco is protruding about 1/4" out of the reverese plug when the gun is in battery.... Alan did say that there may be some minor fitting required.... so I'm hoping to get a head start by asking for some advice on what to do to get the springco to seat properly on the frame. I compared it to the standard guide rod and they're about the same length. So i guess its something on the slide/frame that's causing it not to seat properly on the frame when the whole gun is assembled.... has anyone had a similar problem? how did you fix it? (I locked the file set away until i'm sure on what to do ) Thanks all in advance.. Regards, Rush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Burst Posted October 28, 2004 Share Posted October 28, 2004 Just because it sticks out a little does not mean it is not properly seated, as you call it, in the frame. Mine sticks out about the same. So the sprinco is a little longer than your stock guide rod. If it bothers you that must file/grind the excess off. Never bothered me. The barrels on both my STI's stick out farther.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Your guide rod should absolutely not stick 1/4" out of the plug. The head of the guide rod is too large in dia to fit in the recess in the frame. Get our your calipers and turn that sucker down to the right diameter. (Measure your frame and give yourself a thou or two of clearance at least.) Your guide rod sounds like you're going to be removing several thou, so plan on using a lathe. Also, don't shoot your gun in this condition. It will peen the sh*t out of your frame and your frame will end up looking like mine. The flange on the right side of the photo must fit flush against your frame. Thus, the button on top of the flange (far right) needs to be smaller than the width of the channel in your frame. This should be no big deal for anyone with a pair of calipers and a lathe. I don't think you can do this on your own with a power drill and a file (like I did on my plain guide rod) - just because of the spring mechanism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Burst Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Sprinco's are know to be a little long. Here are some pics of my STI frame with just the sprinco guide rod. You can see it fits in the recess of the frame and I have done nothing but install it in the gun. Yes check it but I have had many sprinco's in all 1911 style guns I've owned and all of them have been slightly longer then the factory/original guide rod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 TriBurst, Thanks for the photos - that definitely shows the way the guiderod is supposed to fit. I do think you need to get a caliper out and measure the protrusion on your guide rod, however. It might stick out 3/32 to 1/8", which is a far cry from 1/4". (Unless your particular gun is 2X life size or something... ) I've had a springco in the past in a 5" gun and it didn't stick out anywhere close to 1/4" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Burst Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Your guide rod should absolutely not stick 1/4" out of the plug. The head of the guide rod is too large in dia to fit in the recess in the frame. Get our your calipers and turn that sucker down to the right diameter. (Measure your frame and give yourself a thou or two of clearance at least.) Your guide rod sounds like you're going to be removing several thou, so plan on using a lathe. Also, don't shoot your gun in this condition. It will peen the sh*t out of your frame and your frame will end up looking like mine. The flange on the right side of the photo must fit flush against your frame. Thus, the button on top of the flange (far right) needs to be smaller than the width of the channel in your frame. This should be no big deal for anyone with a pair of calipers and a lathe. I don't think you can do this on your own with a power drill and a file (like I did on my plain guide rod) - just because of the spring mechanism. If you had to grind down the guide rod flange then either the frame is out of spec or the guide rod is. With a correctly made/milled frame and guide rod you shouldn't have to grind down the guide rod cap. Edited for stupid spelling mistakes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 If you had to grind down the guide rod flange then either the frame is out of spec or the guide rod is. With a correctly made/milled frame and guide rod you should have to grind down the guide rod cap. I disagree. It's very common to have to fit 1911 guiderods to fit in S_I's. The part of the frame the guiderod button/head fits in is smaller in S_I's than in a regular 1911. This is a problem that has cropped up on the forum in the past and the solution has been universally to turn down the guiderod to fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Posted October 29, 2004 Author Share Posted October 29, 2004 Eric, Triburst... Great pics there and very helpful... My error, 1/4" is too much ... more likely 1/8th... sorry about that... looking at triburst pics... I get about the same amount of protrusion. The frame fit on my springco seems ok... but i'll do what Eric recommends and make sure the button fits ok into the recess. Not particularly sure yet, so out with the caliper Triburst, did you trim the ears on the flange head? Your springco looks like its been trimmed... I'm thinking of doing the same. Alan has also recommended that i check and trim if necessary this part... So I may trim the flang head "ears" a bit... wish i could post some pics of the springco and my old guide rod... planning to file it at some 45 degree angle and remove some material there... Just the info i needed and great forum... thanks again guys.. Regards, Rob PS.. how do you post the pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Burst Posted October 29, 2004 Share Posted October 29, 2004 Never touched it. I took it out of the package and installed it. I'd post some picture of my primary gun, which does have a newer Sprinco in it, but that's at the gunsmith having a new slide and hybrid barrel fitted to it. I set up a personal webpage at my ISP so I could host the pictures. Then once the picture are on my website I copy and paste the URL into the post using the "IMG" (Image) button right below the "FONT" box of the "Reply to message" page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Posted October 30, 2004 Author Share Posted October 30, 2004 Just to update... I measured the "button" on the flange head... it's ok with the smaller recess of the frame where it's supposed to rest against.. I then placed the springco against the frame.. it fits just like tribursts springco, and seats fully against the frame. Alan did reduced the button size to accomodate the S_I's smaller recess as compared to other 1911's. So compared total lengths of two guide rods... they are visually, the same length. (Springco and SS guide rod).... the only difference between the two is the contour/shape of the flange. My old one had its "ears" reduced vs the stock springco... My old guide rod did not have the "ears" of the springco... My thinking now, is its the "ears"... or the tips of the "U" in the flange that may be contacting something on the frame prefenting the springco from fully seating... question is what? I'm going to grind down the "ears" of the springco and see if that works. Other than that, bummer... what else could cause the springco to move forward? Barrel link? Barrel? Springs? 2011's.... go figure.. but I love em! Regards & Thanks again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Posted November 18, 2004 Author Share Posted November 18, 2004 Hi All.. just wanted to update progress on this ... and share/obtain some insights... - the protrusion of the springco (at least my one) is about 0.059 of an inch... (finally took out the caliper) - the length of the springco and the common SS guide rod is the same... not exactly the same, but minor... - with the slide, barrel and springco only, there is no prortusion. There is none whatsoever in the normal SS guide rod. - with the slide, barrel, springco mounted on the frame and with the slide lock, there is a protrusion of 0.059 of an inch. - I've trimmed the ears of the flange by about 45 degrees... so there's little interference with the slide... and there's allowable movement of the springco. - had to remove a little of the reverse plug end off (a wee bit of it) as it was also protruding. The reverse plug is now flush with the frame so it doesn't interfere with the comp. So basically, just my thinking, - it appears that the springco is being pushed forward by the barrel lug or link pin when the slide stop is in place. but only on the springco... doesn't happen on the normal SS guide rod. - The springo flange is actually thinner than the SS guide rod flange so I can't see why it would do this... The gun functions ok even with the little protrusion from the springco... however, the question i've got now are.. (a) is the gun ok to use this way? ( will i end up accelerating breakage of a part with the barrel and/or link pushing the springco forward? Like the link pin, lower barrel lug,. slide stop break early? Thanks again.. and advanced happy thanksgiving... Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri Burst Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 With the slide off mount the barrel link with the slide stop through the link hole in the frame and slide the sprinco into the frame. Move the barrel forward and back to see if it hits the barrel lug. All I know is my sprinco sticks out from the frame with nothing else monuted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Bagnato Posted November 29, 2004 Share Posted November 29, 2004 I was speaking with Alan (Owner of Sprinco) looks like STI is using a different diameter than normal in there frames of newer guns etc. The thinking here (we believe) that there making the recoil master more proprietary by doing this SVI has not changed there dimensions. If you Sprinco doesn't drop in it may require a visit to the gunsmith. The solution is to either turn doen the plug as mentioned previously or bring the frame to normal spec. Alan is consdering offering different guide rods for STI framed guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dvc40jim Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 I got in on this one a little bit late.... but everyone so far seems to be pretty much on the mark with what I have found. I have worked and shot with Alan and Sprinco for about the last 6 years, and the product line has done nothing but improve the whole time! Enough about that, I have a Briley linkless limited set up and every Sprinco I have ever put in it sticks out a tad, gun runs great and is one of the few Linkless setups that has not had cracking problems and I have thousands of rounds thru it. On that particular gun, I can fix the protrusion on the Sprinco by reducing the working end and altering the shape, and have done so with no ill effects, however the extra length does not effect the functioning, even though it should cause the subspring to activate sooner. If you reduce the thickness of the head to fit the rod flush you do give up some of the threads that hold the rod onto the head, but not enough to cause a major problem so long as you locktite the head onto the rod or better yet... stake it in place when you are done. In either case it would be hard to tell if there is a functional change in the way the gun feels when it cycles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 What i did do was with the springco in, I marked the whole area at the back of the flange with a pentel pen. Put it in the gun and just left it there over a weekend of heavy shooting.... When I took it out, the pentel markings had been erased where the flange contacts/meets the frame and on the button at the rear of the flange... so i infer the link/lug and the button of the springco are hitting each other... I have a clark/para cut type barrel. I'm just not "technical" enough to be able to categorically say if this is "acceptable" in the interest of reliability... and my wallet but i do like the springco... solid construction all around... Regards, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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