New off the shelf option for single stack?

[ramairthree]

If I wanted to give single stack a try, what would a good, off the shelf, right out of the box option for a pistol be?

 

basic extended mag release, fo sight, extended safety, decent trigger, etc.

 

‘’And the easy button 10 round mag option?

[Guy Neill]

Check the Springfield Armory Loaded Model.  It doesn't have everything you want, but it's got good features for the price.

 

 

[Nc1911]

Bul Armory Trophy Classic or the Trophy Saw. Both ready to race.

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Nc1911

[RJH]

Whatever Springfield has the options you want, a trigger job, magwell,  and I had good luck with metal form/Dawson 9mm 10 rounders

[RePete]

46 minutes ago, RJH said:

Whatever Springfield has the options you want, a trigger job, magwell,  and I had good luck with metal form/Dawson 9mm 10 rounders

The sad part is that Dawson no longer sells the 10 rd mags.

[RJH]

22 minutes ago, RePete said:

The sad part is that Dawson no longer sells the 10 rd mags.

 

Back when I shot single stack minor I just used the metal form mags. It's the same thing Dawson was using, just didn't have the Dawson base pads, at least that's my understanding. They worked real well though

[RePete]

The ones Dawson sold were tuned and worked without issues.

 

I have one and can't get anymore.

[ramairthree]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

I just realized something.  I have just come off a long break of no matches, about ten years or so.

I have been to three in the past few months and nobody was shooting SS.

‘I had completely forgotten shooting major in SS was 8 round mags and minor ten.  I thought SS was all ten round mags.

 

A really fine gun would be wasted on me.

 

Now I’ll be completely honest about my shooting skills.  Twenty-ish years ago at my best I was shooting classifiers in the 60s.  I did none of the dry fire, match practice, etc. Sort of stuff.  I shoot some at work, went to the range once in a while, and simply saw a match as practice, not a goal in and of itself.

I had a Beretta 92FS initially, then an alloy framed P14, then a SS Limited one.  With no magwell and no super capacity mag builds.  I just did the 10 division.

‘Then went about a decade with no matches.

 

So a decade ago, I still had my six million dollar man eye vision, in good shape, but had had some injuries to the dominant arm, plus a rebuild to the wrist and lost some strength and fine motor.  I was still just using matches for practice, to take kids to for fun, etc.  I was down to classifiers about 50 percents.

 

I started going again just recently. My now need for glasses works great straight on and static.  I have not sorted out a good glasses setup that works good moving, on leaners, around barricades, etc.  I have twenty pounds of gut I didn’t have a decade ago.  I am doing classifiers at 30 percent.  I am slow as hell trying to aim and move, the stages are more tricky and complicated and seem designed to hunt and peck or trip up compared to how they used to be.  There seem to be far less casual shooters and way more people really into it.  I have not seen a SS shooter at any of the matches.  I have been the lone or maybe one other production.  There might only be a couple of limited shooters in a squad.  Virtually everyone is in an optics division.  And many of the shots on the stages are at a range and accuracy requirement to a degree more than I remember.  The round counts also seemed designed to force a mag change for the hi-cap divisions, which combined seem to be upping the round count for a match quite a bit.
 

I was going to shoot SS Major instead of production but mistakenly thought SS Major was also ten round mags like production.

 

Rethinking it, maybe to shoot Major I will dust of the P14 and shoot Limited-10.

 

I never got around to adding a magwell to it.

 

‘’Can you even find an extended magwell for a P14 anymore?

 

 

 

[Guy Neill]

Remember - the only person you are really competing with is yourself.  You need to strive to shoot your ability - the other divisions do not count. 

 

If you are not happy with your present ability, that's where dry fire and practice come into play.  

[RJH]

As a guy who loves single stack I hate to say it, but maybe you should look into carry-ops. You mentioned eye issues and distance shots, both of which a dot might help with. And if you go with a lower end optic like a Burris or a vortex, you can probably build a carryops gun for less money than you would spend on a decent 1911. And if you don't take it real serious, if you're lower in dot brakes it's not the end of the world. 

[jpm2953]

Another vote for Bul armory. Love mine. Just added a magwell. 

[ramairthree]

It’s not so much the comparison.

I can take a 69 GTO to the drag strip and run a high 13s at 100 mph or a 2006 stock GTO and run low 13s at 107 mph, or supercharge it and run in the high 11s at 120 mph.

And I’m cool with that’s the best I’m going to do with either of those equipment and skill wise.

 

Someone that launches perfectly and paddle shifts like a virtuoso can show up with a ZL1 and blow across the line in 11 flat at 130mph.

And someone that can launch like a boss on street tires is going to do a 10.7 at 135 mph.

 

Thats fine.  But the track still has the same lights, same surface, same width lanes, and is still a quarter mile.  Just like it was decades ago.

 

And if I wanted to play some pickup basketball after work, the court is still the same size and the rim is still ten feet and the free throw line is still in the same place.

 

The feeling I am trying to convey is that in USPSA, the drag strip has gotten a little longer with narrower lanes and curves/and the rime is now 11 feet tall on a bigger court with a further free throw line.

 

 

 

[mcflury]

I second the Springfield loaded plus any problems you can send it back 

[cheby]

8 hours ago, jpm2953 said:

Another vote for Bul armory. Love mine. Just added a magwell. 

Where can I buy it?

[jpm2953]

4 hours ago, cheby said:

Where can I buy it?

GP arms. Gilbert is an active USPSA shooter. Super nice and easy to deal with 

[Bakerjd]

On 12/6/2021 at 11:42 AM, ramairthree said:

 

 

‘’Can you even find an extended magwell for a P14 anymore?

 

 

 

Yes yes you can. Matt at cheely custom Gunworks happens to have some in stock right now. He only makes them maybe once a year these days. Also Tayslor Freelance makes one for the rock island hicap that works on the para as well. If you go that route Male sure you read the description as there are to frame styles he makes the magwell for. You want the one for the rock island they doesn't have the longer main spring housing set up. 

[SGT_Schultz]

On 12/6/2021 at 6:54 PM, ramairthree said:

It’s not so much the comparison.

I can take a 69 GTO to the drag strip and run a high 13s at 100 mph or a 2006 stock GTO and run low 13s at 107 mph, or supercharge it and run in the high 11s at 120 mph.

And I’m cool with that’s the best I’m going to do with either of those equipment and skill wise.

 

Someone that launches perfectly and paddle shifts like a virtuoso can show up with a ZL1 and blow across the line in 11 flat at 130mph.

And someone that can launch like a boss on street tires is going to do a 10.7 at 135 mph.

 

Thats fine.  But the track still has the same lights, same surface, same width lanes, and is still a quarter mile.  Just like it was decades ago.

 

And if I wanted to play some pickup basketball after work, the court is still the same size and the rim is still ten feet and the free throw line is still in the same place.

 

The feeling I am trying to convey is that in USPSA, the drag strip has gotten a little longer with narrower lanes and curves/and the rime is now 11 feet tall on a bigger court with a further free throw line.

 

 

 

 

There's always IDPA........

[ramairthree]

Yes, I plan to try some IDPA.  I went to a couple a decade ago, and it was very no movement, very low round count, very gimmicky “tactical” scenarios.

I do not know what they are like now.

 

They typical USPSA stages then seemed just right.  
‘The stages I have done in the past few months seem like they would be perfect and a blast for guys that go to a match every weekend, hit the range on the weekends there is not, do some dry fire practice when they get home from work every night, spent 87 hours tweaking mags to get 23+1 reliably and sometimes even last round hold open, etc.  Basically, the local level 1 matches are trying to be set up for what used to be the hardcore big matches.

 

The people there are great and still friendly and inviting.  It’s just way less fun, in my opinion, for the casual shooter that does half a dozen matches a year, moderate guy that does one a month, and is way more complicated to being a new shooter to and get them started.  
 

Now, in the past, yes, every even little match I went to would have a stage that might be a beast.  And maybe another stage with a shot or two that was tough.

 

But having one sil at 25 with a no shoot leaving just a head shot was different.  The new shooter would not be painfully blasting ammo on a row of small steel at 25.  
Or they would miss a swinger vs surround the swinger with no shoots, etc.

 

maybe I just picked a hardcore place by accident and it’s not really like that everywhere.

 

‘’maybe the couple of COViD years have driven out all but the very serious shooters with the ammo situation and they have changed to cater to this.

 

‘’I’m not sure, I’ll keep going.

 

but ask yourself- how easy was it to hook and get a newby started ten or twenty years ago compared to now?

[zzt]

On 12/6/2021 at 10:04 AM, RePete said:

The ones Dawson sold were tuned and worked without issues.

 

I have one and can't get anymore.

 

The Brownell's mags are the same with a different base pad.  I have six of them and they worked 100% from day one.

[RePete]

30 minutes ago, zzt said:

 

The Brownell's mags are the same with a different base pad.  I have six of them and they worked 100% from day one.

That's good the hear.  What gun?

 

Mine is an STI ranger II and the 9rd Checkmates work, the MecGar 10'd don't,  the Wilson ETM's, gen 1, don't, but the Dawson did.

[zzt]

3 hours ago, RePete said:

That's good the hear.  What gun?

 

Custom 1911 on a JEM Guns receiver.  MecGar, McCormick and Wilson did not work for me either.

[ramairthree]

Thank you.  My Cheely custom magwell arrived.  But my mags don’t seat.  Have you guys had to modify or something?

[zzt]

4 hours ago, ramairthree said:

Thank you.  My Cheely custom magwell arrived.  But my mags don’t seat.  Have you guys had to modify or something?

 

Do they seat without the magwell?

[ramairthree]

Yes, I have about a dozen p14-45 magazines ranging from Canadian 1990s to US to Mec-gar over the years.

 

They all seat and function fine.

 

I know some magwells only function with certain basepads/extensions.  
 

on closer review, it looks like they are meant for 140mm mag bodies.  Which might still be floating around for P18-9s and P16-40s, but I doubt P14-45s.