Toothnnail comp on my 1919

[mscott]

Ordered it Saturday morning and arrived on Monday. That's pretty good! Got mine installed yesterday and had enough time to take it to the range today. Installation was pretty simple as they provide a template for the barrel porting. There are nine 1/8" holes on each side (3 rows of 3). The only snag I ran into was the stock barrel nut needed to be turned down in diameter to clear the comp. I simply pulled the barrel off and installed it according to the instructions .... never though it wouldn't clear the barrel nut. Turns out it hasn't been tried with the stock handguard system. Luckily I have a lathe and just turned down the O.D. of the barrel nut and installed it with pliers.

At the range the gun ran 100% as always, so no reliability issues. Noise is increased noticeably, as expected, but recoil seemed to be about what I remember it being. I made a few runs on the plate rack and was happy with how flat the gun stayed, so it does seem to improve that much of the gun. I really want to get to the range when I have more time and try a few runs with and without it to satisfy my spending money on a new gizmo. R.O.s are going to hate this gun along with my sbr with a brake Here are a couple of pics

[Flatland Shooter]

What ammo are you running? I believe I read that the hotter the ammo, the better it works.

You agree?

Thanks.

[mscott]

I am one of those guys that still reload shotshells. I have a bunch of 700x powder and my Benelli runs great on my loads. They are pretty stiff with 1 1/8oz of shot. Neither my Benelli or the 1919 won't run the cheapie Walmart Federals. I would imagine it's similar to an Open pistol with different powders/ammo giving different results. I'm hoping to get out in the next week or so with a few different shells and the Benelli to do some comparing. I know before the comp my Benelli seemed to stay flatter on the plate rack than the 1919, but I'm feeling like that may not be so any more.

[LoganbillJ]

Comp does need to be test fit on an assembled gun before porting your barrel to ensure clearance of all parts. First run of instructions left that little bit out. We run our aftermarket forend nut which is a little over 1/4" shorter. Looks good on your gun Mike. Let us know how it works for you.

[mscott]

I got the 1919 and Benelli both to the range for some side by side comparison. The good news is the comp does reduce muzzle rise noticeably and recoil some. It's right there with my M1.

The bad news is I guess I spoke too soon on the reliability as I've got some short stroking going on that's never happened with this 1919. I only ran a few shells through on my initial test run, but with 2 boxes yesterday I had probably 8 that didn't feed. I tried 2 different mags, so that's not it. I'm going to move the comp up and cover the first set of holes to see if that helps any.

[rlillyskygod]

Let us know the outcome.

[mscott]

I just remembered I have one of the Tromix gas booster bushings, so I'll have to try that as well. I might try that before blocking the holes on the barrel. One thing at a time, though.

[mscott]

The bushing didn't help, but moving the comp up to block the 1st rows of ports did the trick. The gun ran 2 mags of 10 rounds perfectly and it even felt like it was working better, but the comp was obviously less effective. Looks like the gas ports might be the next thing to work on. That's why I waited until the season was over to start playing.

[mscott]

Alright, after a PM conversation with LoganbillJ it seems my gas ports were a bit undersized. I ran a 1/8" bit through them and removed a slight bit of material. Then opened them up to 9/64 and put everything back together. I used all the barrel ports for the comp and removed the gas system booster ring I had installed earlier. That did the trick and it runs again. It's hard to believe, but using all the barrel ports for the comp makes a noticeable difference. Gun stays flat now, so I'm happy. I am going to try a lower powered recoil spring just to see if that allows me to use even lighter shells.

[Scubagrif]

I just got my comp today and will be installing it tomorrow with my buddy’s mill. I too started with the Tromix gas booster bushings and I really couldn’t tell much difference. The key for me was the light recoil spring, after that was install I have yet to have a misfeed of any kind with AAs or STSs. It still won’t cycle the cheap Walmart stuff, I get a stovepipe about every 5 rounds. At my local Walmart, the price for cheap Federal’s is only a buck or two less than the Winchester AAs at Scheels and since I shoot for Scheels it’s probably better if most of my products come for there.

So the bottom line is that now my gun runs perfect and I know I should leave things along that aren’t busted, but I’d love to get my recoil closer to my 1100. Plus these comps look super cool.

[LoganbillJ]

Gas port size is crucial for running the low power shells. The factory started out with smaller gas ports in the Pre-XN guns roughly 1/8". They continued this size with the early XN's and have since pushed them to 9/64". All of the new XN's we get in are the 9/64". Proper port size and a low power recoil spring should allow you to run the low power shells without any issues. That is assuming your mags are tuned properly.