Do .40 Caliber 1911 or 2011's ........

[shotgunone]

run right out of the box? Are they reliable with factory ammo? Do you have to reload to have dependability? How's the recoil?

Seems like when I search the internet all I find is how you have to tweak the ammo length or do some work on the gun or magazine to make them where they feed and function dependably. Seems like most people say you have to reload your own ammo and find what your gun likes. Lots of people saying that factory ammo won't function reliably or run in the gun. I would really like to have a 1911 or 2011 in 40 cal. but I don't reload right now. I'd want it to run great with factory ammo, even the cheap stuff.

Also a little interested in the felt recoil. I understand recoil is a personal thing, but I don't have access to someone with a 40 cal.1911 or 2011. I have a full size 1911 in 45 ACP. I also have a gen 3 glock 23 that I shoot regularly and carry, how would a STI Trojan 40 cal or a double stack Eagle compare recoil wise to my midsize glock 23 or Colt 1911?

I appreciate the comments.

Thanks

Tony H.

Edited October 24, 2014 by shotgunone

[Rob Tompkins]

My Kimber 1911 40 cal runs factory ammo just fine. Recoils seems about same as 45acp at same PF. Recoil with same ammo in my M&P is a bit harsher.

[jcc7x7]

Every STI 2011 I've owned has worked out of the box with factory non tuned mags and run factory ammo.

with that said

Every 2011 and 1911 I've owned and currently own run much better with tweaked ammo and some have run better with "tuned" mags

BUT

all have run out of the box

40 factory is obnoxious but handloaded its very polite

Edited October 24, 2014 by jcc7x7

[Maxximuss]

I have a STI Eagle in .40. Your Glock 23 will be much more "snappy" compared to the 2011. If you don't shoot a TON of 1911/2011 you probably won't notice too much difference between the two. The impulse will be slightly different with a 230 grain .45 bullet vs. 180 grain .40. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

On reliability: I personally load my .40 at a 1.175 overall length vs. the factory length of 1.125-1.135. I ran the entire USPSA State and National Championship without one malfunction (about 1k rounds). I don't remember seeing my gun malfunction in the last 4k rounds or so. On factory loads I will once in a while get a feeding malfunction, maybe once every 500 rounds.

[shotgunone]

Glad to hear about the positive side of these guns working out of the box. I really like the STI line up and especially the Eagle's.

[amish_rabbi]

Same answer as when you buy a high end car and ask "can I run this on 87 octane fuel?" sure, but its not going to perform as well.

[shotgunone]

I know rolling you own ammo will get you better accuracy. Just makes since when you have control over all the components. I would expect a well tuned gun to be near perfect. It just seems like the 40 gets bashed a lot right out of the box. Most of the threads are older and talk about changing the fed ramp angle. So hopefully the makers have it down a little better by now. Glad to see some folks saying they run out of the box. I just don't want to get a gun that I have to send off to a pistol smith before I can even break it in.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom.

Tony H.

[bigcraig]

My factory Edge and my GH2 custom will both run factory ammo just fine.

[Rob01]

I bought my Eagle used and it runs everything I put in it from factory 165s to my handloads, which I load at 1.140" so i can use them in my Glock too.

My .40 Trojan that I got new was giving me some problems with nose diving. No matter what I did for possible fixes it would nose dive when loading from the mag at slide lock. I had Virgil Tripp do his reliability work on it and it has run like a top ever since with both factory and handloads. STI would have done it but I didn't want to wait the time it would have taken and would rather have it back in a 7-10 days from Tripp.

[blaese490]

I have a 40 Edge... runs Factory and Handloads perfectly.. it was also used but is pretty much stock! good luck!

[JayDee]

My Dan Wesson runs factory ammo just fine. A lot of factory 40 is pretty hot, i.e. UMC 180 grain from my pistol has a PF above 185. However, I've been using Freedom Munitions 180 grain reloads and they are a much more manageable load. PF is around 171 last time I checked.

[CDPMatt]

My Dan Wesson SSC runs great with Tripp COREY mags. Recoil is a little more than my 45 DW specialist. Both shoot well. I load for both but both run factory as well.

[cooshball74]

My Para Pro Comp 40 can run factory loads IF I use the factory magazines. I've been using the 10mm Tripp Corey mags, and because of it, I've had to load long to avoid feeding issues.

[shotgunone]

Seems to be that the double stack 2011 have less feeding problems overall than the single stack in the 40. I've read that the 1911 was built for the longer .45 ACP round and that the shorter rounds have more feeding trouble. I've also notice people reference the 9mm feeding issues some to due to the tapered case dimensions causing the case's to not stack well in the magazines. I figured with spacers in the magazines and the more parallel case dimensions of the .40 S&W that the .40 shouldn't have the feeding issue. Especially if the bullet is started far enough forward in the magazine using a spacer in the back.

Glad to see some folks having good success right out of the box. Thanks to all those that PM'd me about their experience and those that address the recoil issue between a polymer guns (Glock 23 and M&P 40) and the 1911/2011 guns. I figured there was a huge difference in the felt recoil between my glock 23 and a steel guns or mostly steel gun like the 1911 / 2011.

Tony H.

[pjb45]

I beg to differ. 2011 have had a serious problem feeding in the past. Some adjustments have been made and they are much better now.

Both my custom 1911 run great with and without factory ammo. Perhaps because I use Tripp mags things just work.

I have a SV in 9mm that runs like a top but I am using SV mags, so that pretty much tells you all you really need to know.

Spacers are only needed in STI mags--SV does not.

[negative]

I went into my first 2011 expecting to have to tune and tweak everything to get it to run right. It ran 100% right out of the box with untuned magazines and continues to do so after a full competition season.

On the subject of recoil, coming from a Glock I had more "tweaking" to do on myself than on the gun to get the recoil under control. That Glock grip angle just naturally forces you to lock those wrists down. I found myself allowing too much movement in the wrists after first making the switch. Switching out to a 12lb recoil spring did help. I ran a buffer for a while but eventually took it out.

[anilson]

40 cal 2011s that are factory made are a gamble, i have seen guns that run and some that don't. The mags are very important, and must be tuned.

40 cal single stack guns have a problem that the 2011s don't. Then bullets stack in the mag (start to tilt down when the mag is full) You need good mags and they often need to sit higher in the gun then a 45acp mag would. Factory guns will be like the 2011s very hit or miss.

[2MoreChains]

My experience with .40 1911s and 2011's is varied but mostly good. My stock Eagle ran fine from the get go with long and factory length ammo. My custom 6" 2011 was also fine from the start but I've never shot factory thru that gun so can't honestly say.

On two of my .40 1911's, one is a factory gun other is a custom build. The factory gun had some issues that were related to finding the right mags. The custom one with an after market barrel required some feedramp cutting to feed right -similar to other issues that have been reported about .40 1911's. Good mags were also key to getting this gun to run as well.

On the other hand, all my .45 1911's ran fine out of the box, but in one that I had a new barrel installed (to improve the accuracy) it required some tuning to get it to feed right.

All this would have been really irritating if I wasn't my own shade-tree gun wrench or had access to a really good gunsmith who is far from a shade-tree wrench... But the experience has taught me a few things over the years. Best advice I have for getting into a 1911 or 2011 for the first time, ask around at your local club to see if there is anybody you can go to for help (professional or shade-tree variety) if/when your gun has issues. It may run fine out of the box, but after you dump 20-30K thru it (or more) you may have some issues or the itch to do something to it.

[sbaker5]

My 40 edge runs all factory ammo including minor loads and has never had a malfunction.

[shotgunone]

Seems like 2011 and 1911 in 40 have a pretty mixed review on this thread. Many are favorable, and I like seeing that. One thing I think I am seeing is the for the guns that don't run right out of the box with factory ammo it is mostly magazine related. Feed ramps are kind of distant second on the FTF problems. Is that accurate?

I don't want to stop all the helpful comments. Not trying to start a war here, but I know we as humans tend to complain more out loud when we have a problem, than we give praise when "all is good". So it's good to see some positive comment on the 40 cal 1911 and 2011 platforms.

If you had problems and got them fixed, please share what you did to get the gun running well.

Thanks

Tony H.

[2MoreChains]

Well, for the 1911 that was nosediving on me and causing the bullets to jam up on the feed ramp, my gunsmith broke the feed ramp angle slightly and re-polished it. I'm not 100% certain if the feed ramp on that brand of barrel is too steep or if it was the way the mag releases the top rounds, but that was the fix that worked. An EGW mag catch that holds the mag slightly (.020") higher helped a little, but the rounds would still hangup on the feed ramp. Plus the higher mag catch made seating the mag harder, so I didn't want to rely on that as the sole fix. But once we got the right angle on the feed ramp I was able to go back to using a normal mag catch.

As far as my other 1911 in .40 finding the right mag helped. I'm currently using Tripp "Corey" mags which are 10-rnd 10mm mags but with Tripp's hybrid followers that IMO are better than the flex followers. But with the hybrid follower you can only get 9 rnds of .40 in the mag as opposed to 10 when using the flex follower (not a big deal for SS division). Personally I like the snappier recoil impulse of a .40 in a 1911 and it seems to shoot flatter for me than a .45 loaded to the same PF, plus I can use the same ammo I use with my 2011 Limited guns.

As far as 2011's go, the stock mags have worked just fine for me. However when you try to eek out 20 or 21 capacity in a 140mm mag that's when some tweaking or mix and matching of followers and basepads is needed.

Yeah, there are some problems that occur with 1911 or 2011's, but once you get past them (if they occur at all) they are some fine guns to shoot!

[SWprotected]

I have a 40 Edge that I bought in March, the only FTFs I have had were with some Remanufactured ammo which was loaded 1.115". I shot several hundred rounds of this stuff and only had a few failures and this was while I was still breaking in the gun. As far as magazines go this is important for any 1911/2011. I have tuned my mags for reliability and capacity but factory STI mags will run. If you can load your own ammo I do find the gun seems to cycle better with longer loaded rounds.

[OPENB]

My Para Pro Comp 40 will feed every bullet shape I could find. It will even feed an empty case! It came with Checkmate mags that worked great, so I bought 8 more from Top Gun Supply. I also have some Tripp 40 mags that hold 9. They work as well. The factory fire control parts suck, but that is a different story.

[chuckstur]

My Eagle is still at 95%. Feed stoppages despite STI re-profiling the feed ramp. Presently at 1.7 OAL with BBI 180s. 165s are worse. Tried 10# to 14# recoil springs. Magazine lips .381" to .388". Ordered Grams followers.

[anilson]

I just shot a match where a buddy came up to me after to show me his brand new edge that was not feeding.

This gun was hard chromed, the gun was full of brass shavings. Needed some slide tuning and cleaning. The brass got into the extractor tunnel and keep the gun from feeding. (caused the extractor to stop moving freely)