Ditch The Sp Loaded Or Keep It?

[tryan1968]

First, let me say thank you to all. My learning curve in IPSC has been greatly reduced because of the sound advice many of you have made. The site is a wealth of information. The reponses are well thoughtout and give great insight to the Poster. I have made steady progress in my placing in matches, do in a large part to what I have read here at this site. Thanks.

I am new to IPSC and have been competing in matches since Aug 06. I compete in Single Stack Divison and use a Springfield Loaded model. It has over 6000 rds through it so far.

My concern:

The slide is loose. I replaced the recoil spring at 3000 rds with a Wolf 16lb spring. It has about 32nd of an inch to a 16th of an inch of movement side to side, vertically there is little movement. Without a mag in, it rattles like old pickup truck driving down a bumpy dirt road. Accuracy is ok, all in the A zone, if I do my part at 50 yds. It runs like the Ever-Ready bunny it keeps on going and going. I want to keep it that way. I was concerned about the play in the slide so I had a gunsmith take a look at it. I asked him if the loose slide fit was doing any harm to the pistol. He said no it was not.

Here's my question:

Should I replace the barrel and get the slide tightened? I'm concerned the metal could be soft. Is that type of wear normal? If so, do most shooters have to get their 1911s retightened after that many rds? Should I just ditch this gun and build another one? I have a Springer GI model laying and waiting to get its day in the sun. Please, keep in mind my buget is tight, back in college. What I have to spend on shooting is now mostly spent on reloading components and match fees.

Thanks and for any help.

[Matt Cheely]

Accuracy is ok, all in the A zone, if I do my part at 50 yds.

It runs like the Ever-Ready bunny it keeps on going and going.

You have everything you need in a IPSC pistol right there. Buy more ammo.

[Merlin Orr]

Keep shooting. If you tighten the gun it will loosen up very quickly. You could use something like Accurail process and it will last but I would not bother as the cost is half of a new gun like the one you are shooting.

On your Next gun... get a good one and have it hardchromed after a few rounds. Last about forever then....

.02

[tryan1968]

Accuracy is ok, all in the A zone, if I do my part at 50 yds.

It runs like the Ever-Ready bunny it keeps on going and going.

You have everything you need in a IPSC pistol right there. Buy more ammo.

Good point. The gun worked well in last months match. It helped me place ahead of some shooters that used more expensive pistols.

Thanks.

Keep shooting. If you tighten the gun it will loosen up very quickly. You could use something like Accurail process and it will last but I would not bother as the cost is half of a new gun like the one you are shooting.

On your Next gun... get a good one and have it hardchromed after a few rounds. Last about forever then....

.02

So this is relatively normal for an entry 1911? The metal is just soft with these entry models?

Thanks for the reply.

[Duane Thomas]

It's not that the metal is soft, it's that the tolerances on a typical factory gun are fairly generous. Thus the parts batter themselves every time the the gun is fired and swiftly loosen. In order to get around that, you need a gun that's been fitted very nicely to start with. And while such guns are great tools - I own several - it's also true that as a beginning IPSC shooter you probably don't really need that level of fit and long-term durability. What you're experiencing is normal with a quality factory 1911. My advice: shoot the hell out what you've got.

[mike cyrwus]

"Accuracy is ok, all in the A zone, if I do my part at 50 yds. "

-and its reliable??

Sounds like a perfect single stack for ipsc.

Let it rattle.

[JFD]

Use Slide Guide on the gun. A zone hits at 50 yards is pretty darn good for this factory gun shooter.

I'm positive SG does wonders for reducing wear over anything else I've tried. While I use it on all my guns, I bought a new Kimber for L-10 and used Slide Guide since day 1. The rails still have most of the original finish and I've yet to detect any loosening or loss of accuracy after at least 60K rounds.

3000 rounds is barely worn in this sport. I practice a fraction of what a lot of folks do here, and I still manage to run 1600 - 1800 rounds a month through my main gun. My wife does the same with her Limited Glock.

Personally I think barrel fit is a lot more important than frame/slide fit unless you're shooting an Open gun with frame mounted optics. I've got a 1969 .38 Super Colt with 250K through it that is on it's 4th barrel (Ed Brown). It will still shoot 2" at 25 yards off sandbags and has never been tightened. The barrel locks up perfectly with no movement at all. Of course this was a really good Colt when new($84 BTW ), I just wish Slide Guide had existed back then even though it's still no rattletrap now. The gun shot like crap with the original barrel that headspaced on the semi-rim, but a Bar-Sto barrel solved that.

Unless Hopalong did something to it, my Para Limited gun is still going strong and very accurate after at LEAST 70K rounds. Of course I've used SG in it since I got it, and I'm not afraid to use a LOT of SG.

This is just my experience, and I'm sure you'll get lots of great feedback from folks who really know what they're talking about

When you get bored you might want to try a 14 lb spring. I think you'd see a world of difference in the "feel" of the gun.

[tryan1968]

It's not that the metal is soft, it's that the tolerances on a typical factory gun are fairly generous. Thus the parts batter themselves every time the the gun is fired and swiftly loosen. In order to get around that, you need a gun that's been fitted very nicely to start with. And while such guns are great tools - I own several - it's also true that as a beginning IPSC shooter you probably don't really need that level of fit and long-term durability. What you're experiencing is normal with a quality factory 1911. My advice: shoot the hell out what you've got.

Will do, thanks for the info.

[tryan1968]

Use Slide Guide on the gun. A zone hits at 50 yards is pretty darn good for this factory gun shooter.

I'm positive SG does wonders for reducing wear over anything else I've tried. While I use it on all my guns, I bought a new Kimber for L-10 and used Slide Guide since day 1. The rails still have most of the original finish and I've yet to detect any loosening or loss of accuracy after at least 60K rounds.

3000 rounds is barely worn in this sport. I practice a fraction of what a lot of folks do here, and I still manage to run 1600 - 1800 rounds a month through my main gun. My wife does the same with her Limited Glock.

Personally I think barrel fit is a lot more important than frame/slide fit unless you're shooting an Open gun with frame mounted optics. I've got a 1969 .38 Super Colt with 250K through it that is on it's 4th barrel (Ed Brown). It will still shoot 2" at 25 yards off sandbags and has never been tightened. The barrel locks up perfectly with no movement at all. Of course this was a really good Colt when new($84 BTW ), I just wish Slide Guide had existed back then even though it's still no rattletrap now. The gun shot like crap with the original barrel that headspaced on the semi-rim, but a Bar-Sto barrel solved that.

Unless Hopalong did something to it, my Para Limited gun is still going strong and very accurate after at LEAST 70K rounds. Of course I've used SG in it since I got it, and I'm not afraid to use a LOT of SG.

This is just my experience, and I'm sure you'll get lots of great feedback from folks who really know what they're talking about

When you get bored you might want to try a 14 lb spring. I think you'd see a world of difference in the "feel" of the gun.

Thanks JFD,

I got some Slide Guide when I bought my Dillion from Brian. I haven't used it yet because of the cold weather here in Vermont. I'll give it a try now that it has warmed up.

With a 14lb spring the load/FPS/PF should be reduced, so the pistol dosen't get bet up?

[Duane Thomas]

Nah. I've got about 30K through my Wilson .45, the vast majority of it with a Wolff 14-pound variable power recoil spring, with no problems at all. Actually the only difference I can see is that the gun has one hell of a lot less perceived recoil. I blame that more on the "variable power" part of the equation that the "14-pound" BTW, but there it is.

[JFD]

I have to admit I like the variable power springs the best too, but only by a very small margin. I wouldn't bet money I could tell the difference between the 2 types of springs in a blind test, but I can definitely tell the difference between a 16 lb spring and any 14 lb spring.

The gun recoils less and the sights seem to settle better with the 14 lb spring. Every round fired through that Kimber I mentioned earlier was with a 14 lb spring. This is with 170 PF ammo and a couple thousand factory rounds. I've never tried a lighter spring, and still think I'm kind of bold to use a 12 lb spring for major PF .40 loads in my Para even though I know a few who go as low as 9 lbs.

I also use a shok-buff and it isn't beaten up after 2K rounds. I usually clean the gun and replace the buff at that point just because they're cheap and I have a lot of them.

[Duane Thomas]

I've gone down to 10 pounds (variable power, natch ) with 170 pf .45 loads, with no problems.

[JFD]

I'm not that bold

I brought my ancient .38 Super out of retirement long enough to shoot it with 157 PF loads last week, still running the 14 spring that's factory standard (in 1969 anyway). I didn't remember it feeling that bad when I shot it all the time, as it really needs me to drop a 12 lb spring in.

[tryan1968]

I have to admit I like the variable power springs the best too, but only by a very small margin. I wouldn't bet money I could tell the difference between the 2 types of springs in a blind test, but I can definitely tell the difference between a 16 lb spring and any 14 lb spring.

The gun recoils less and the sights seem to settle better with the 14 lb spring. Every round fired through that Kimber I mentioned earlier was with a 14 lb spring. This is with 170 PF ammo and a couple thousand factory rounds. I've never tried a lighter spring, and still think I'm kind of bold to use a 12 lb spring for major PF .40 loads in my Para even though I know a few who go as low as 9 lbs.

I also use a shok-buff and it isn't beaten up after 2K rounds. I usually clean the gun and replace the buff at that point just because they're cheap and I have a lot of them.

Thanks for the info. I am ordering a 14lb spring tomorrow.

[JFD]

You'll love the feel with the new spring.

Now I just have to give good advice to 999 more people to break even for all the help I've gotten here

[Duane Thomas]

Pass it on.

[zhunter]

My .45 has a 11 lb. recoil spring and a Wilson shok-buff

No problems, the shok-buf never shows wear either

[shadetree]

You'll love the feel with the new spring.

Now I just have to give good advice to 999 more people to break even for all the help I've gotten here

+1

[JFD]

I'm going to have to try a 12 lb spring next time I shoot the Kimber just to check it out. I think that's the lightest I have on hand.

[jrguar]

Slide Glide & a 14# spring... sounds like a winner, you might want to consider a ISMI spring and pay attention to how to fit it.

I have a Mil Spec SF that have 25000 rounds thru it and slide glide makes it just wonderfully.

Good Luck

Joe

[tryan1968]

Thanks, I'll look into info on the IMSI spring.

[EricW]

It is common knowlege that SA slides are soft, particularly in stainless. Been there, done that, sold my Loaded as soon as the slide stop notch started peening over.

I'm sure the above statement will offend many, but that's the truth as I've experienced first hand, and have heard from others, particularly gunsmiths.