Running Bul Armory 1911's (9mm) as competition raceguns (SS)

[KAYZER]

Hi all,

 

I am currently running 2 Bul Armory 9mm 1911's as dedicated IPSC Classic raceguns. I want to do a write-up on the whole process, my modifications and experiences along this now 4 year journey. 

 

A lot of questions pop up on BENOS like are they raceready, are they "just as good" etc. etc. I would like to know what question anyone might have on running these budget base guns in a competition setting, I might have some answers. 

 

Let me know! I will be adding into this topic along the way.. strap in! 

 

 

[KAYZER]

Below are my 2 builds. Both set up as an competition gun, within the IPSC Classic ruleset.

 

Bul Armory Trophy SAW 2 tone "Alpha"

Bul Armory Trophy Stainless      "Bravo"

 

 

My first contact with Bul Armory was very late 2017. I had been competing with a 9MM 1911 in IPSC Classic with a highly modified Kimber and decided I was getting serious as a competitor and needed a second competition 1911. 

Yonel, the Sales and Marketing manager told me to seek help in France as there was no Dutch distributor yet. I left it alone for a long period and every now and then a Bul Armory review or a snippet of info was available on youtube. At this time it was still a very much unknown brand. 

 

Late 2018 I came across this (I do not speak the language but it made me want this gun bad!) 

 

I decided I would seriously pursue my itch and contacted BUL again. Beginning of 2019 I was forwarded to a dealer in The Netherlands who had just been granted a dealership. Due to some issues upon availability and just a headache with this dealer I had my first BUL 1911 in hands August 2019. I treated myself with a 9MM Trophy SAW, with polished slide, Duotone look and TIN-coated Bul barrel. I got myself all the options then available. 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by KAYZER

[WFargo]

This thread is useless without pics...

In other words... you gotta show that beautiful custom Bul of yours... 

[KAYZER]

The Alpha built - initial impression + break-in 

 

The gun ran great, the fit and finish is very good considering these are still production line guns, made by a CNC machine and “fitted”. As one can expect most small parts are MIM, however this did not affect the quality feel at all. 

The barrel fit seemed tight, with no play. The barrel hood fits nice into the slide with no light gaps at the sides. A touchpoint seemed to form on the side of the barrel hood, opposite of the ejection port. 

The Slide to frame fit was very good, zero up/down play, a little side-to-side play. I needed to run light oil or the slide would retard. 

Trigger was clean, no creep but a bit heavy, lets say 4-4.5 pounds. Pre travel tabs were not bent and there was ample overtravel. I did not feel the trigger was “tuned” by any means.

I think I shot this in standard form for about 6 months and a good 5-8K rounds.   

 

The set-up was indeed race-ready. But It did left me wanting. 

 

• The mag catch was unpolished and way too heavy. I opted for a Ed Brown. It had no overtravel stop or relieve made you mag got trapped. 
• The bottom of the slide was sharp due to the polishing. No bevel. This has been later cut by a gunsmith. 
• Changed out the front sight for a more narrow option (.100) with a 1mm fibre. I still do not believe this is an option now from Bul.
• I changed out the firing parts for some Extreme Engineering. I never really like the Koening look, but the parts were very usable. 
• Gepperth (or ATLAS in USA) flat faced medium trigger
• Pure for cosmetics I swapped the mainspring and Grip safety for black parts to get the “skunk stripe” back
• Various grips and magwells were fitted. I settled on the Armanovs Ergos with a IPSC legal brass magwell (HUGE!)  

During the initial period I had one big issue and it has been (in hindsight) my own fault. As I was used to using Dawson/Metalforn tubes, so did I in this gun. I also use the brass basepads from Cesarshop. This combination requires a little room under the ejector (which is a MIM part). During slide locked reloads I cracked the ejector and has since been replaced by an EGW toolsteel version and relieved for my magazines.   

 

The extractor has failed to eject 2 times in my current total of approximately 15K rounds. I am using old crappy cases, and the tension needed to be put on the extractor a few times. In time a EGW part will be replaced.   

 

The safety has since been replaced by a shielded variant and the pins and small spring have been replaced by an Ed Brown set.  

Edited January 17, 2022 by KAYZER

[KAYZER]

A good 2.5 years later

 

After the initial break-in (let’s say 2K rounds - 8 training sessions + 2 local matches)  various wear marks in the black coating were forming. The (I believe) black oxide over stainless steel does not seem durable. On the top is the slide the coating is wearing off due to dry fire racking. It cannot be touched up by a blueing agent, due to it being stainless. Well… one cannot expect a PVD/DLC coating or Ionbond in this pricing range. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also due to removing and fitting various safeties the frame does scratch easily in my experience. Perhaps also due to stainless being not as hard as carbon steel.

 

The slide catch got finicky and false lock. After initially blaming the magazines (weak springs) an EGW variant proved to solve the issue. I still have no clue what caused this.  

 

Other than that I have changed springs and it proved to be a very reliable gun. It has been my primary for many matches, local and level 3’s in Europe.    

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by KAYZER

[gethirt]

What safety did you settle on?

[shred]

If you can give weights that might be useful for USPSA competitors.

[KAYZER]

14 hours ago, gethirt said:

What safety did you settle on?

The alpha built was finished with a shielded DAA (made by BUL) it has later been ceracoated for a fellow shooter who has sold it to me. I did not pay full price and would not either. It feels quite brittle. DAA Safety They no not come in black and are MIM.

 

I believe a safety is best made from toolsteel and therefore the Bravo Build has a steel winged safety I think is sold by IPSCforyou and in US available via Doubletap. Shielded safety

Edited January 18, 2022 by KAYZER

[KAYZER]

9 hours ago, shred said:

If you can give weights that might be useful for USPSA competitors.

 

Alpha: 1280 grams - 45.15 ounces

Bravo: 1194 grams - 42.11 ounces

 

Keep in mind that these are Bulbarrel optioned guns. I don't really think they provide a real advantage over bushing guns. In fact a bushing gun is more centre balanced. The BUL Armory do seem to be more available in Europe in Bullbarrel and it does look slick. I do prefer running 1 pound lighter recoil due to the guns being more front weighted. 

[lfine]

Thanks for the info. Personally, I've been watching these quite a while and wouldn't mind picking one up before the season restarts. Your report helped a lot.

[shred]

Yeah, the bull barrel keeps it out of USPSA single stack... for no great reason IMO, but that's what the traditionalists wanted.

[KAYZER]

16 hours ago, lfine said:

Thanks for the info. Personally, I've been watching these quite a while and wouldn't mind picking one up before the season restarts. Your report helped a lot.

 Thanks for your input, good to know I am not blabbering into a vacuum. I will be updating this post also on build Bravo and the experiences along the way. But for now they do seem decent built and a good platform to start off on. 

[KAYZER]

11 hours ago, shred said:

Yeah, the bull barrel keeps it out of USPSA single stack... for no great reason IMO, but that's what the traditionalists wanted.

They are available in traditional bushings, I can imagine more so in the US. 

[Nc1911]

This is a good post of the Bul SAW.

  Which  magwells did you try and why did you pick one out over the others?

[KAYZER]

2 hours ago, Nc1911 said:

This is a good post of the Bul SAW.

  Which  magwells did you try and why did you pick one out over the others?

 

Thanks, more is coming on the "custom built" Keep in mind that the slide serrations are the only thing that makes a trophy SAW. They are grippy and the look bad ass IMO.

 

ooh the magwells I have owned...

 

Dawson IPSC - good magwell for keeping the 1911 looks. The MSH is aluminum and I prefer steel

Standard BUL - Open front (smith and Alexander style) Even more classic and the work just fine. Steel

M-Arms - Modern looking Alumnium multi-axle CNC product. Great fit on the frame, very solid option! (grips need to be cut down)

Bul Armory - Big magwell ( current on Bravo build) Best clean looking magwell, reminds me of a SVI option (grips need to be cut down)

Brass RC TECH  - Huge ugly magwell. I do like the lip on the front which gives support on my weakside pinky. Recoil seems to be affected. (current on Alpha built) 

[jpm2953]

I have a classic government from Bul in 9mm. I have been loving it. I ordered it from Gilbert Perez and it comes with “Dawson” style sights and G10 grips. 

I added a Dawson IPSC magwell and an Ed Brown mag release and that’s it. It’s perfect out of the box. 3lb trigger. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by jpm2953

[RandyMan]

What is the main difference between the classic Government and the trophy other that the saw option?

Do they shooter or handle much different?

 

[jim vaughan]

The current IPSC rules do not allow any slide lightening for classic division.

 

[Nc1911]

Did you retain the original grip safeties on both guns?  I looked at my original but wasn’t sure of the radius that Bul used on their guns.

[KAYZER]

On 1/20/2022 at 11:32 AM, jim vaughan said:

The current IPSC rules do not allow any slide lightening for classic division.

 

 

That is correct! See point 18 that shaping of the slide is allowed, weapons that have slide cuts/windows are rejected. A good example is the SW performance centre with the see trough cuts. 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by KAYZER

[KAYZER]

On 1/19/2022 at 8:10 PM, RandyMan said:

What is the main difference between the classic Government and the trophy other that the saw option?

Do they shooter or handle much different?

 

 

For me, the difference is in the options. AFAIK the frames are the same (which makes sense for a production house) 

 

- Government - fixed sights (looks like ledge style is now standard) black still uses the Oxide coating (rub off) 

- EDC - fixed sights (looks like ledge style is now standard) Lightrail + PVD coating + upgraded parts like hammer? 

 

I believe for competition only below is really interesting

 

- Trophy - Bowmar style rear blade + extended controls - magwell 

- Racer - above + large magwel + grips / SAW serrations / modular trigger (is not available in 45 ACP?) 

 

For me I need a bowmar blacked-out rear blade and a narrow fibre front sight. I you plan on upgrading your gun with a different trigger and magwell I would make sense to spring for the racer. Unfortunately it is only available now in stainless. Perhaps Bull has come to the insight that only PVD coating really works on stainless. A back oxide finish is not durable. I would be really nice if they offer the PVD coating on the racer, that would make sense!

 

It looks like BUL is really maturing as a production house. Offering less options and the options they do offer, make sense. I do no longer see the TIN barrels as an option (which is surprising) and the trigger parts looks like the upgraded parts from a year or-so ago. Then marketed as "R-line" I do not think these are made in-hose but rather sourced for Extreme engineering. And if these are made in-house, good on you BUL! The dimensions and fit and finish are on par with the best. 

 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by KAYZER

[KAYZER]

On 1/20/2022 at 6:44 PM, Nc1911 said:

Did you retain the original grip safeties on both guns?  I looked at my original but wasn’t sure of the radius that Bul used on their guns.

 

For the Alpha I picked a black version from BUL, just a "Two tone is the best tone reason"

For the Bravo I kept the Stainless look. 

 

The GS are contoured nicely and high. I like the bump on the back and see no real need to switch them out. The are MIM and my competition guns are pinned anyway. 

I did switched them out for an all steel Ed Brown and noticed no difference other than the blending that needed to be done. 

 

 

[KAYZER]

Update on the Alpha build - "beater gun" (Aprox. 8K rounds)

 

Parts 

• Trigger: Gepperth medium flat
• Ignition: Extreme engineering / 15 pound main - 800 grams (1.75 pounds) pull weight - 2MM pre-travel / hardwall / 800-850 grams break/ hard spring reset of 3MM
• Cilinder and Slide sear leaf spring
• EGW HD Long Ejector - relieved for Dawson magazine tubes
• Ed brown extended mag release
• Bul shielded safeties (MIM)
• Brass RC TECH  magwell
• Armavov Ergogrips 
• EGW HD slidestop .200"

 

Fixed ejector issue (MIM) to EGW long and relieved for tubes (dawson magazines

 

 

 

 

Updated grip safety and MSH to a black variant for looks

 

 

 

Has been running flawlessly for many 1000's of rounds. Lock-up is solid, Black finish is wearing. Had some issues on  lockup and non-lockback. Changed out the Bul armory slide stop which was wearing some flats for an EGW tool-steel option. Great options as is has the indent for assembly. 

 

 

 

 

Wear pattern and contact on the barrel under lugs seems very equal, fir with the .200 slide stop is very solid 

 

 

It will be this configuration for the foreseeable future (next 5K)

 

 

[Nc1911]

I hesitate to ask this question because I don’t want to hijack your post and enter into a different discussion, but I noticed a shock buff on your guide rod.  
Do you run thr buffs on all your guns and have YOU had any problems with cycling (reliability)of the gun?

[terrydoc]

The Bul are a very popular option here in Australia regardless of the model, whether Open gun, Standard (limited) gun or Classic (single stack) guns, great value for money options and 5 mags out of the box.