robertg5322 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I recently bought a Springfield Armory Loaded 9mm 1911. Here in California, it's the only 9mm 1911 legal for sale, and since they're in such short supply, you pay MSRP. Good job law makers. Gun looks nice, and from day one has functioned perfectly with the Metalform 10 round mags. It's about as loose with regards to slide to frame fit as it could be. Both vertically and laterally. Shake the gun and you hear it rattle. That said, it'll shoot 2-3" groups at 20 yards offhand, so I'm not too worried bout this. Might be why it's so reliable. The bushing is not tight, but it and the barrel seem to fit well and there is no perceptible movement between the barrel, bushing and slide in any direction when in battery. Lockup is ok, not tight but not overly loose. Very little vertical movement when pressing on the barrel hood when in battery, so the slide stop/lower lugs are probably fit pretty well. After about 4,000 rounds, no change in accuracy or reliability. Out of the box the trigger was horrible. not overly heavy, about 4.5 lbs, but it had miles of creep and was gritty as a desert. Tried to fix that by some basic stoning of the sear using the Ed Brown sear jig. Funny, there was zero room left for any stoning. The sear edge was at or below the .02 spacer, and when I started to cut the relief angle, it no longer held the hammer. So I replaced the sear (and hammer, disconnector and sear spring, Cylinder and Slide had their kit on sale for like $75.00). After a little work, got a nice 2.2 lb trigger with no creep, super short reset and no overtravel. Money well spent. I know I could have just replaced the sear, hammer hooks were right at .02", but I figured for the price of the C&S kit, why not just put all new bar stock parts in it. Replaced the front sight too, went with a Dawson .1" solid. Like it much better. Last part upgrade was the trigger, the SA trigger was loose and had tons of play, and the overtravel stop wouldn't stay put no matter how much loctite I used. Even using a punch to dimple it where the screw goes through didn't help. So a plastic STI version went in. Nice upgrade. Replaced the FLGR with a GI setup, and an EGW magwellMSH, with wood Hogue grips and sand paper. Makes USPSA weight easily. My question; is the frame to slide play something to worry about if the gun shoots well? I'm guessing at some point in its life I'll have to either get the slide and frame fit or accu-rails installed, but as long as it shoots as well as it does, I'm not going to mess with it.. As it stands now, I have a decent looking, nice shooting gun with a great trigger that rattles like a baby toy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb45 Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 (edited) What are the groups if you shoot from some type of rest? <2 is more ideal. IMO, the barrel to slide fit is most important. You want a consistent lock up each time. Lots of gun rattle that shoot very accurately. I have one gun that is accurailed. Shoots very good. I have others that are not. There are some good smiths in CA. Are you north or south? You can alwayst have it tightened up but you need to figure out if it will shoot loose again. Personally, I purchased a mediocre gun that shoots <1.25 at 25. Replaced a bunch of other stuff, triggers, sears, hammers, front sight, etc. It is a great shooter. All that matters to me is if it is accurate and there is a decent trigger job. But I am no GM. I have a couple of friends that have SA as a base gun and did mods to it. They are great guns to start, I much prefer them to STI. Edited February 9, 2015 by pjb45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 In Northern CA, bay area. Never shot off bench but it shoots 2" or so at 20 yards freestyle, standing so I'm not too worried about accuracy. I was more wondering if rattling was usual on the Loaded guns. Does your Springfield rattle? I have (had) a Kimber Custom II that shot equally as well but was free of rattles. I turned it into a .40 cal, still shoots great just with smaller bullets. Kimbers I've seen and handled have been similar. This is the only Springfield I've ever shot but most with them speak well of them. Just curious, why do you prefer Springfields to STI guns? Most on this forum have the opposite opinion. I have no preference, I have the .40 Kimber/STI mutation, the Springfield 9mm and a Les Baer .45 all shoot equally well. That says a lot for the Kimber as I built it and I'm no master gunsmith, just a guy who likes to tinker. Thanks for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasyTargetRN Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I'm going in the opposite direction replacing my GI guiderod with a FLGR. Interested in your thoughts behind the change. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I like the look of the traditional guide rod. Also helped me make weight. And easier to take down. Springfield FLGR is the worst design I've seen. Requires a tool to take the gun apart and has a reputation of coming apart on its own. That said, everything I've read says there's no advantage with either system. Purely personal preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al503 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 You might consider getting everything hard chromed. That will tighten everything up to a degree and most likely help with accuracy as well. It also makes cleaning much easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I just can't bring myself to hard chrome a stainless gun. At least not until it being loose affects performance or accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 my springfield loaded 9mm was a little loose. not super loose but not 'custom 1911 tight' either. the overall finishing on the gun is a bit behind what I might expect. For instance at the rear of the slide where it meets the frame (either side of the hammer) there were some protrusions where it was not smoothed to fit neatly. It shoots very well though. Did a few changes, EGW magwell and MSH, wilson front strap checkering piece, wilson mag button and mag button catch and that was about it. Will probably change the front sight soon too. It runs nicely on wilson combat ETM 10 round 9mm mags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Rear of slide and frame on mine was ok, matched up well. Finish is good. If the rattle was affecting accuracy, I might be upset. I think I just expected better fit for what Springfield charges and tne crap sear was annoying but an easy fix. I'm all about function over form though, and the gun works well so I'm relatively happy with it. Be nice if $1,100.00 bought more quality though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangSwitch Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 How was the fit on the grip safety? I've seen various fit on some Springfields Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) Grip safety fit was (is) ok, but not great. Bushing and barrel seem good. Slide to frame is the only really loose fit. Edited February 11, 2015 by robertg5322 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) funny. mine has no rattle, slide to frame and barrel to slide is quite decent. as I said not uber tight, but decent. it's the rear where slide meets frame that was a bit crap. grip safety was fairly well fitted. I agree it should be just a little better for the money. If the smith and wesson pro series 9mm was more available here and not a series 80 I probably would have bought it instead as it's finishing is much nicer. Edited February 12, 2015 by BeerBaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Build4u Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 If the barrel on an iron sighted gun locks up tight in the slide and on the slide stop they will shoot pretty good at least for a while. One problem that can come about is if the slide contacts the dust cover and can bounce or rattle on top. This is what can cause a crack back where the dust cover joins the beefy part of the frame. I live close to where the Accu-Rail process was invented by Bob Krieger who passed away recently and is still done by Doug Jones. I have quite a few railed guns and they are great. My well shot single stack .45 was done in about 1985 and is still perfect The dust cover was always clearanced just enough not to make contact. The process sometimes lowers the slide just a touch leaving Doug enough to do some fitting to the barrel. If your pistol gets loose enough you will love the fix. It is nice on a Stainless gun because it only runs on the rails eliminating any chance of galling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Thanks for the info Mr. Clark. Slide does not make contact with the dust cover, and the barrel sits nicely in the slide. Not tight but no perceptable play in barrel, bushing or slide. If accuracy starts going away, I'll give the Accu-Rails serious consideration. As it stands now, it's very accurate, which surprises me. Again, thanks for the info. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertg5322 Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 On another note, I can't say enough good things about Metalform 10 round mags. Got 12 of them for $24.00 from Midway (they have a birthday discount, I was only shopping cause I got a gift certificate, and saw the cheaper price, go Midway), and every one has been flawless. A pain to unload (when unloading them outside the gun), but small price to pay for excellent quality mags. They drop free, feed perfectly, are easy to load, and have light plastic base pads helping make weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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