2011 Guide Rod Fitting

[ihatepickles]

I have a short dustcover early vintage STI 2011 frame that doesn't seem to have a cut for the guiderod to seat. I've spoken to a few knowledgeable folks and traded these same photos with them, I'm curious what the BE community thinks too though.

I know current production 2011's use a .420" guiderod head vs. the 1911 guiderod head of .450". I know early 2011's had a smaller cut for the guiderod and used a smaller guideod head, but I don't know the exact size of the early small rod heads.

This gun was run with a .420" rod head and it caused peening on the frame where the guiderod sat against the frame. I can't see anything in these photos (or on the gun in-hand) that a seat was ever cut for the guiderod head to sit, but the peening does make it tough to say with 100% certainty that there never was a cut made.

The peening is in green.

Second angle.

For reference, here's a shot of my Colt 1911 with the .450" cut for guiderod seating.

So what's going on with the STI? The .420" guiderod doesn't fit flat on the frame and I'm thinking my best long term fix is to have a machinist cut the frame so that the standard .420" fits correctly. I know I could clean up the peening and turn down the guiderod head to fit the slot, but without a place to sit in the frame I think the guiderod will walk around during firing and the peening will come back.

Lastly, if some STI owners would be willing to take some photos of the same area of their pistols, it would help me out a lot. I'd like too see how the current vintage frames are cut.

Edited March 11, 2007 by ihatepickles

[HSMITH]

I have one of the old frames in one of my guns, problem is that it is under a Serendipity and getting a picture of it with my skill and camera might be really hard.

I turned the guide rod head down where it fit between the rails, as long as the head fits flat and flush on the impact surface you are good to go. You don't want the head so small it flops around in there, but you do want a little bit of clearance.

If I were you I would clean up the edges of the peening, turn the head down a little and shoot on.

[ihatepickles]

If I were you I would clean up the edges of the peening, turn the head down a little and shoot on.

I haven't tried this, but in my mind the guiderod head needs a rear anchor. Without a seat in the frame the head of the guiderod would be banging the barrel on one shot and resting against the dustcover on the next one. In my gun, it's just a vertical slot with parallel walls, a guiderod turned down to .375" (that's the width of the slot) could rest anywhere up or down this slot. In your gun, what keeps this from happening? Is your slot like mine, just a vertical slot with parallel sides?

That combined with the thought that the cost of the machine work is <$50 makes me lean toward having the frame cut. For now, I'm collecting info though and I'm not in a hurry.

If you figure out the picture it would add a lot to the discussion, I haven't come across another person with an older frame in-hand. I find daylight photography to be a lot easier to get right.

Are there any folks with current design STI frames willing to take a few pictures too?

[joecichlid]

I also have an older STI (orginally sold in 1993) and I haven't noticed any peening in this area but I will be sure to keep an eye out for it.

Joe W.