skorittnig Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 Ok guys- I posted a week ago about how my slide sort of intermittently lunges forward rather than sliding forward smoothly (grandmaster .38 super). I decided to check it out, thanks to the helpful comments I received on here. I ordered some springs, and a new guide rod as well. I WAS running a cominolli guide rod with the two shock buffs on it. I replaced that with an STI guide rod and a lighter spring (I have a few springs of varying strengths I'm going to try). First off, let me say that I believe the intermittent lunging forward of my slide was due to the shock buffs on the cominolli guide rod rubbing on the barrel when the gun was cycling. I took a razor and cut a fair amount of the "extra" material from the buffs, and now it works smooth as silk (like everyone elses' open guns). I'll probably stick with the cominolli, but I'd really like to pick your brains about an issue I noticed when trying to use an sti guide rod tonight. My question now is, when I replace the cominolli guide rod with the STI guide rod, the barrel hangs up when the slide is just about closed. It will slide into action with some force, but it isn't nearly as smooth. I didn't try putting 2 shock buffs on the guide rod (like the cominolli), but i'd like it to function as smooth with one (at the most). Both guide rods are the same length, but it seems that the barrel locks up smoother with the cominolli- why is this? BTW, I did check both guide rods and springs, and there doesn't seem to be any binding or stacking of the coils (there is constant recoil when compressed). Thanks to all! skorittnig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 Take a look at the head of the guide rod where the barrel link meets it and see if there's a ridge, bur or if there appears to be some uneven contact. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry cazes Posted June 26, 2009 Share Posted June 26, 2009 For what it's worth, I always run buffers in my 1911s but I always check for interference and often have to remove material from the buffers to make them fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 (edited) Unrelated but a personal experience: I have been using a cominolli tungsten framesaver for 4 years or so. finally broke the guide rod head and asked Joe Cominolli how much was one of the gude rod heads? He just sent me a new tungsten rod. Wow, Im a customer for life. I ordered about 5-6 guiderods from him for my buddies and my guns. I will never try another guide rod. Edited June 29, 2009 by Jasonub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted June 29, 2009 Share Posted June 29, 2009 (edited) I have been using a cominolli tungsten framesaver for 4 years or so. finally broke the guide rod head Finally? You say that like it's to be expected. If that happened to me I'd switch to a different brand guide rod permanently....I have some that are old enough to vote and haven't broken Edited June 29, 2009 by G-ManBart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 (edited) the rear shock buf was a little cut and i already used up my last one and wanted to practice. After about 100 rounds in practice, I shot 205 pf ammo to experience the boom. got home to clean the pistol and saw the bent guide rod head with a small crack. I bent it back and it seemed ok sans for the small crack. Shot a 115 round level 1 match the following weekend using my usual 176 pf loads. (replaced the cut buff already) When i cleaned it when i got home, the rod head fell apart. I finshed the match without any malfunctions and iirc i was also the champion in standard division. Im sticking with cominolli. Edited June 30, 2009 by Jasonub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larry cazes Posted June 30, 2009 Share Posted June 30, 2009 It does sound like a problem with fit. None of these should be breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 the rear shock buf was a little cut and i already used up my last one and wanted to practice. After about 100 rounds in practice, I shot 205 pf ammo to experience the boom. got home to clean the pistol and saw the bent guide rod head with a small crack. I bent it back and it seemed ok sans for the small crack. Shot a 115 round level 1 match the following weekend using my usual 176 pf loads. (replaced the cut buff already) When i cleaned it when i got home, the rod head fell apart. I finshed the match without any malfunctions and iirc i was also the champion in standard division. Im sticking with cominolli. Whether it stopped you from finishing the match or not wasn't my point. A guide rod shouldn't be expected to break. If you're expecting it to break, sooner or later it's going to do so in the middle of a big match and ruin your results. 225 rounds without a shock buff shouldn't be a factor in whether the guide rod fails either.....a properly fit gun doesn't need one in the first place. Obviously you're going to stick with whatever you like, but I hope you have a spare because if it's broken once, it's gonna do it again. Counting that it won't happen at the worst time seems like poor planning to me, but lots of people seem to be fine with that....until it screws them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsb45acp Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Just a quick question; does anyone have contact info or a website for Cominolli? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Just a quick question; does anyone have contact info or a website for Cominolli? TIA. You can find a little bit of info here: http://www.cominolli.com/ To purchase they suggest Brownells. It's really not much more than a guide rod with a shock buff on either side of the guide rod head, except that the head isn't nearly as strong and durable (as evidenced here). A 1911 that's been fit properly doesn't need "frame savers" and if they're not fit properly something is going to break even with a frame saver. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsb45acp Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Thanks G-Man. When I had a Limited pistol it had a tungsten GR in it and I liked the feel. I read somewhere that our esteemed host used to run Cominnoli gr in his and was just looking for some info on the product. Next pistol will probably have a tungsten gr also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 Thanks G-Man. When I had a Limited pistol it had a tungsten GR in it and I liked the feel. I read somewhere that our esteemed host used to run Cominnoli gr in his and was just looking for some info on the product. Next pistol will probably have a tungsten gr also. SV also makes a tungsten GR if that's what you're looking at...just another option. They list them for about $90 so I'm not sure which one would be less/more expensive. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonub Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 (edited) 100t plus rounds and it was still going strong. Nerver shot anything less than 175 pf on it since i got the pistol. I just had no more buffs on stock thus was not able to replace the rear buff which was already cut. something should have broke earlier if it was not fitted correctly. It groups real well around an inch or so at 25 meters if i do my part for the past 5 years. The same setup won me numerous level 1 and level 2's here. Have not gotten a level 3 win yet though. Had a spare rod but got rid of it when this setup served me without fail for 2 years. After the experience I think i wont shoot 200+ pf anymore on this pistol. (185 gr going at 1100 or so fps) Just the standard 175 pf. Ill still stick with this setup, I just wont be shooting more than 180pf on this pistol anymore. here is a crappy pic of the pistol Edited July 3, 2009 by Jasonub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mt_goat Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 (edited) I've never had a problem with a Cominolli frame saver guide rod and I've used one many years shooting with 180+ PF loads. They are not designed to use without both buffs on them though and I could see where that might cause a problem. Edited July 3, 2009 by mt_goat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-ManBart Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 (edited) something should have broke earlier if it was not fitted correctly. It groups real well around an inch or so at 25 meters if i do my part for the past 5 years. If it breaks when fit properly, something is wrong. So either it's fit properly and there's something wrong with the design or it's not fit properly....either way is bad. The gun's accuracy says almost nothing about the guide rod so that isn't proof that it's fit properly. Guide rods simply shouldn't break. I've got one with probably 100K+ (lost track ages ago) on it and it hasn't broken. In my small pile of 1911/2011's I've never had a guide rod break on them going back around 25 years. Had a spare rod but got rid of it when this setup served me without fail for 2 years. I guess you can't say that any more. It broke once it will break again. Edited July 3, 2009 by G-ManBart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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