slide to frame fit?

[JayDee]

Ok, I know that some of this has been covered in other posts, but usually in regard to vertical play. From what Ive ready here and on 1911 forum, barrel to frame fit is more important than slide to frame fit for accuracy. I am interested in a friends 2011 (STI Edge) and it has a super solid barrel lockup, but the slide is loose compared to my other 1911s.  It has some vertical play between the slide and frame (approximately 0.005") on each side. It also has some lateral play and the slide can be pushed from side to side at the muzzle (about 0.012" on each side, 0.025" total play). Not sure of round count and I haven't shot it yet. 

 

I'm not sure that peening the rails will fix this amount of slop. Is this a good candidate for Accu-rails, or another fix? Or, is this a big deal at all?

 

Thanks for the qualified opinions and insight.

 

 

[Foxj66]

If the barrel is fit well it will shoot plenty accurate for USPSA.

[Postal Bob]

1 hour ago, JayDee said:

Not sure of round count and I haven't shot it yet.

If it's a friend's gun, why haven't you shot it yet to see how accurate it is? And use his loads which I assume he's optimized for the gun. That's the first step. If it's accurate, then that's all that counts. If not, why bother with doing any work to it. Just look for another gun.

[Racinready300ex]

Yeah, I'd say shoot it first and see where you're at. I have some sloppy guns that are pretty accurate.

[zzt]

STI slides ride on their bottoms, not on the frame rails.  So the .005", while a lot, is not as important as the side to side play.  Personally, I would not buy the gun under any circumstances, just because I'm anal about all things 1911 fitwise.  Now, that being said, if the bottom lugs ride right on the SS pin with no play, the barrel hood is fit properly and the ID of the slide bore is no larger than .001" over the ID of the front of the barrel, it should shoot fine.

[CHA-LEE]

It all comes down to accuracy. I have had sloppy frame to slide fit guns that shot very accurate. I have also had others with a sloppy fit have poor accuracy. When the frame and slide have slop, I think the biggest variable is consistency of lockup. If a sloppy fit gun locks up in the same position every time, then it will be accurate. If it locks up in a slightly different position every time the slide cycles, then the accuracy will suffer. I have also seen tightly fit guns lose reliability when they get even slightly dirty. So its a double edged sword. You need it fit tight enough to produce consistent accuracy. But you also need it loose enough to function reliably when its really dirty. 

 

You also need to consider the mechanical accuracy verses what you are using the gun for. When we are running around a stage like a spider monkey squirting bullets at rage blast speeds on close targets you really don't need a super accurate gun as there are many other variables what will displace the hits from where you intend them to go. A gun that has a mechanical accuracy of 2 inches or less at 25 yards is far more accurate than what we are tasked with shooting in pretty much any practical shooting match. If you are shooting slow fire bullseye matches, then that is a different story. But not many of those guys are participating on this forum so I doubt that you fall into that category as well. 

[z40acp]

Depending on how much play you have, you can hard chrome the frame.

[bonglee0507]

Tig weld it

[Tompac]

I’d avoid accurails like the plaque. I have a 5” 9mm springfield that won’t run with accurails. Slide running on frame sounds like a hacksaw cutting. Total junk. My gunsmith won’t touch it. I bought it cheap but it’s a boat anchor. I won’t sell it to anybody. Only 1911 I’ve ever owned that I couldn’t make run in 30+ years and over 20 guns. YMMV

Edited June 4, 2018 by Tompac
Typo

[72stick]

As others have said, if it shoots good don't worry about the fit. If you're still curious about the fit/accuracy potential, you might want to check the slide stop pin to the bottom barrel lug fit. As ZZT points out, if the SS pin is worn excessively or maybe the lugs are wearing unevenly due to poor barrel/slide fit, the back end of the barrel can move around and accuracy will suffer. 

Edited June 5, 2018 by 72stick

[scubajosh77]

How are you measuring this play?  Estimate?  I agree that it should be plenty accurate but if it bothers you I'd look for a professional to laser weld the frame rails and refit.

 

[JayDee]

On 6/6/2018 at 9:14 AM, scubajosh77 said:

How are you measuring this play?  Estimate?  I agree that it should be plenty accurate but if it bothers you I'd look for a professional to laser weld the frame rails and refit.

 

I measured the gap between frame and slide with feeler gauges. They are accurate to about .002".

[JayDee]

I finally got to shoot it today and am reasonably pleased with the accuracy. I am not a bullseye shooter and I do not expect that level of accuracy from any gun. resting on a bag, I was able to keep a group around 3-4" at 25 yards which is about par for the course with my other gun and vision. It rattles more than my other guns, but it ran a variety of ammo at various COALs with no problem and the sights settle onto target nicely.

 

On 6/4/2018 at 7:51 PM, 72stick said:

As others have said, if it shoots good don't worry about the fit. If you're still curious about the fit/accuracy potential, you might want to check the slide stop pin to the bottom barrel lug fit. As ZZT points out, if the SS pin is worn excessively or maybe the lugs are wearing unevenly due to poor barrel/slide fit, the back end of the barrel can move around and accuracy will suffer. 

 

@72stick & @zzt - thanks for the suggestion, I will check this out. The barrel appears to lock up super tight. No noticeable play anywhere. 

 

Thanks for the input!