Springfield Armory 1911-A1 Log

This is a record of every round fired in a new 1911-A1.  It is a repeat of the same log I had started for a new PT1911 3 years ago:  (http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_5_26/108716_Lazy_s_PT1911_log__continued_.html)
The intent is an impartial running record of the performance and failures of the pistol.

The Gun:
Labeled: 45 STD SS 11-GS PX9151LP
Purchased Feb 2012 at a DFW area gun show for $762 ($825 after taxes)



Apparent features (by observation):
-Extended trigger (adjustable over travel)
-Forward slide serrations
-Relieved/beveled ejection port
-Ambidextrous extended safety
-Rosewood grips
-Polished sides, with bead blasted other surfaces to reduce glare and improve grip
beavertail tang
-Memory pad grip safety
-Drift adjustable 3 dot sights
-Slightly beveled mag-well
-2-piece full length guide rod
-Skeletal hammer
-Flared barrel at the end
-Loaded chamber indicator slit

Pistol came with a lockable plastic box, with the rigid style inserts to hold the gun and goodies.  The case is quite nice, the inserts appear well made and stout - and should last a long time.  Top half has an insert that is supposed to hold the paperwork.  Like most attempts it doesn't actually work and the "foam" just falls down and spills the paperwork in practice (they always do- I'll probably just glue it).  
Goodies include:
-Two 7 round stainless steel magazines, with flush metal floor plates
-Paddle holster,
-2-mag magazine holder (with integrated rails),
-Cleaning brush,
-A bag of mixed parts (two lock keys, a hex wrench for the guide rode, a hex wrench for the rear sight, and a bent piece for disassembly of some 1911 models (not this one))
-Manual
-Loaded promotional order card
-Registration card
-Other advertising type papers

Initial impressions (after 2/5/2012 firing session).  

The Good:  
-A solid high quality well built pistol - that looks handsome as Hell.  A good feeling of quality
-No jams in the first 150 rounds, including with police +P ammunition (my Taurus was not).
-Crisp trigger
-Perfect level of stiffness on the safety
-Numerous enhancements over stock that were pleasing
-Nice quality case
-Good value
-Nice inclusion of extras (2 magazines, holster, magazine holder, safety lock ability to the gun if desired)
-Star head grip screws (so often pistol grip screws get chewed up with flat head screw drivers)
-Well tensioned mag release spring for me.
-Slide serrations are cut sharp, and really grab the hand

The Bad:
-The trigger pull is excessive.  I'll weight it next week, but it feels like a >7# pull.  It's so excessive I've stopped - thinking I had left my safety on, more than once.
-While the manual states that the pistol is zeroed to hit 2" or so high at 25 yards, that was not ocurring with me.  After some on-line research, this might be related to the excessive trigger weight.  I won't fixate on this until after reducing the trigger.  Probably via installation of a lighter leaf spring (or just bending the current one), and perhaps a lighter mainspring.  As it stands, with the non-adjustable sights and heavy trigger, I have to fully cover my target and aim in the air above it to drop a 6" steel plate at 25 yards.

The above two are the most noteworthy detriments, and need to be addressed ASAP.  Other more minor items:
-The manual isn't very good.  It has disassembly instructions for 4 models of their 1911's, none of which apply to the full-length guide rod used in the Loaded model.  I had to refer to U-Tube videos to confirm I really had to use an Allen wrench to disassemble it.  That's poor.  
-The case is quite nice, but there are some minor flaws.  
    -
-Given the choice, I'm one of the few who would prefer a firing pin block.  But certainly appreciate that most people prefer it not be there.
-No front strap serrations nor serrations on the bottom of the trigger guard.  My PT1911 had them, and I liked them.  By cutting those serrations on the front of the grip, your grip was more positive, but also it effectively made the gun smaller to grasp.  I miss that.
-7 round magazines.  Why not 8?
-Disassembly requires an Allen wrench.  I'd prefer a disassembly system that didn't require tools.  More concerning, I've had a FL guide rod go flying out the end of a 1911 at the firing line once, which has made me leary of threaded guide rods.  Will pay attention to this over the life.  
-Wooden grips are extremely handsome, but in my hands I found the thinner plastic grips with sharper checkers made for a sure grip. I intend to keep them on - for now.
-The roll stamp "Model 1911-A1" is visibly deeper on the two ends, than the letters in the middle.
-The "1911 Loaded Coupon" is a nice gesture, but the discounts don't seem as deep at first glance as I'd like.  e.g. $12 for 7 round Springfield Magazines (+$10 S&H), but Midway is selling them for $14.

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2/5/2012.  Fired 150 rounds of various 230 gr ammunition: Blazer, Monarch, Fiochi, and Federal +P police hollow point.  No failures of any kind.  As mentioned above, the most noteworthy concerns were the excessively heavy trigger pull, and the low shooting sights.  Precision was good, gun felt great.
http://i40.tinypic.com/jtxp2b.jpg
Total Round Count: 150
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2/12/2012.  Measured the trigger pull at ~6# 12oz.  Not as bad as originally thought, but still about 2# heavier than I'd like.  (Used a hanging Rapala 15# digital fish scale and a coat hanger.  Not the most precise, as it has a 1/2 second delay, and doesn't log breaking weight - but the most accurate method I could come up with)

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2/19/2012 Fired 104 rounds of Monarch 230gr TMJ and 21 rounds of Blazer 230 gr FMJ. No failures of any kind. Trigger pull remains heavy, and still shoots low. Compared to brothers SA GI 1911_A1, and found the GI to be more accurate with a better trigger. Intend to modify my Loaded with arched MS housing, 19# MS, and a lighter leaf spring.
Total round count: 275
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2/21/2012 In order to lighten the trigger pull, and perhaps adjust the point of impact, two changes were made:

Removed the original leaf spring, and the flat mainspring housing (with internals). Set aside to keep in original condition.

Replaced with a Wolf stainless steel leaf spring. Made some adjusting to it to get the grip tension I wanted, and a 5# 4 oz trigger pull.
Replaced the mainspring housing with a Brownells arched mainspring housing, and the mainspring with a 19# Wolf mainspring.


No rounds fired since change yet. Might be a couple weeks...
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3/18/2012.  Fired 83 rounds.  38 rounds of Monarch 230 gr ball, plus 15 rounds each of 3 different handloads.  No failures on the ball.  2 failure to fully align and then chamber on 2 rounds of the hottest handload of Semi-Wad-Cutters.  We'll chalk that up to an ammunition issue.  

Lightening the trigger spring made it significantly easier to fire the pistol accurately.  The arched mainspring felt better in my hands, and may have aided in elevating the point of impact.  Point of impact is still low.  Accuracy and reliability are good.  The 2 failures coincide with an unusual bullet configuration coupled with a pretty hot load.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2zizyft.jpg
(Note, I don't really recommend Blue Dot for .45.  It works, but makes a mess: spewing unburnt powder over your arms (and face).  Magnum primers don't appear to really help that.  Just using it because I have an 8lb jug I need to burn up).  

Total round count: 358
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3/30/201  Fired 148 rounds.  110 rounds of a handloads (200 gr TMJ/10 gr Blue Dot - not particularly a recommended load), 35 rounds of 230 gr FMJ ball, 3 rounds of a 230 gr handload using fired bullets recovered from the snow last winter).

Accuracy was exceptional today, especially with the relatively low quality Blue Dot/ TMJ rounds.  There were two failures, likely due to the odd SWC shape of the TMJ and erratic/filthy burn of that poor choice gunpowder.  
The first failure was a failure to go fully into battery.  
The second failure was a live round (last one), that essentially ejected live, rather than cycle into battery.  
The ball ammo ran fine.  

The full length guide ride started to unscrew itself (which is why I'm suspicious of two-piece full length thread guide rides).  Tightened it up when got it home.
The grip panels started to loosen up.  Tightened them up when got it back home.

The gun continues to shoot low with any and all ammo.  (about 16 MOA), and I'm going to contact Springfield about this.

Accuracy performance is shown:

15 yard performance with basic 230 gr commercial (Monarch) brass cased ball.
http://i42.tinypic.com/4ka9gi.jpg

15 yard performance with the handloads
http://i42.tinypic.com/2mpd2py.jpg

Basic 7 yard performance with the SWC hand loads.  Nice grouping.
http://i42.tinypic.com/5o5wlv.jpg

Can't see it well, but this one is amusing to me.  These are 3 230 gr ball bullets that recovered from a snow bank.  These bullets were already fired, but not deformed (snow is the best bullet trap, as it doesn't deform the bullets).  All three bullets had the rifling cut into them from the prior round.  On a lark, I loaded them up.  They were my most accurate load of the day - with a 3 shot group all in the same hole at 7 yards.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2u44voh.jpg

As an aside, the blue dot powder left a pretty dirty bore.  Conventional cleaning technique work, but the copper wool trick instead was very effective.

Total round count: 506

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4/13/2012 update.  Springfield sent a replacement front sight.  Thanks for that.  

Total round count: 506

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4/23/2012 update.  Installed  the new foresight.  That was more of a PITA than anticipated - if I had to do it again, I'd probably opt sending in the slide and having them do it.  Drifting out the old sight wasn't easy - had to drive a roll pin out first (which required purchasing a new punch).  Then had to use a wooden block and hammer to drift out the foresight.  And then two or three more wooden blocks, because kept crushing blocks before got it to drift.  Then, tried mounting the new sight, which had an over sized base.  So had to file down the base of the new one to get it to fit.  Which was a bit of an effort.  And apparently didn't file the right side, because now the holes for the roll pin don't line up anymore.  So it's on by friction only - but is pretty strong.  

New front sight is lower, which brings up the muzzle.  But the three dot's, if lined up, means the top of the sights (rear and front), no longer line up.  So can either aim by lining up the dots, or by lining up top of the sights so that part is level.  Turns out, to get impacts centered vertically, you have to line up to the tops of the sights (making the dot's of little use).  That said, it's not a problem, and the vertical zero is at last perfect.

After all that: Fired about 125 rounds.  Mixed 230 gr ball and prior mentioned flat point reloads.  A few jams with the reloads (don't blame the gun).  Ran fine with the ball.  All said, like the new sight, it's working great.
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5/1/2012 update.  Fired 100 rounds of the TMJ reloads.  As before - this ammo sucks.  The sights are doing great.  

Total round count: 730
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5/3/2012 update.  Fired 100 rounds of the TMJ reloads.  As before - this ammo sucks.  Good accuracy today though.  

Total round count: 830
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6/6/2012 update.  Fired 70 rounds of the iffy reloads.  A few jams, but not so bad.  

Total round count = 900 rounds
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6/19/2012 update.  Fired 60 rounds of the iffy reloads.  interestingly, tried those loads in a modern FN .45, and it wouldn't even feed them.  This 1911 does though.  Shot well actually today.

Total round count = 960 rounds
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6/24/2012 update.  Fired 100 rounds, including 50 rounds of new reloads with FMJ and Bullseye.  

Load.  230 gr FMJ, Tula large pistol primer, mixed brass, and Bullseye gunpowder.

4.6 gr powder: 793 fps - suitable accuracy and reliability.  Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat.
4.8 gr powder: 814 fps - suitable accuracy and reliability.  Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat. (chosen load for future batches)
5.0 gr powder: 836 fps - suitable accuracy and reliability.  Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat.

200 gr TMJ SWC, 10.0 gr blue dot: 913 fps - suitable accuracy, poor reliability.  Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat.

Reference data from 230 gr ball: 825 fps.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol
Total round count = 1060 rounds
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7/19/2012 update: Fired 150 rounds. 50 of them being the ball reloads. No issues with the ball ammo. Good accuracy at 45 feet.

Total round count = 1210 rounds
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7/24/2012 update.  Fired 100 rounds of ball ammunition.  Anticipated high reliability, however experienced several jams - all of the same nature.  The slide would not fully close on a live round.  Inspection showed that the round was being fed in front of the extractor, and there was not enough force to pop the extractor over the rim in those cases.  Not sure why this is occurring, or how to fix.

Total round count = 1310 rounds
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8/25/2012 Fired 75 rounds.  50 of the unreliable reloads (the last of that stock - thank God), with the occasional failure.  And a few rounds of ball reloads.  Observed that sometimes the slide would not close - interestingly, because the round just didn't want to fit in the chamber.  I could push the round the rest of the way in, with my finger down through the ejection port.  So I think the cases weren't crimped back down enough after belling and seating - on some at least.  Will be more careful on this on future reloads.

The full length guide rod came lose.  It always does after a few hundred rounds.  I'm not a big fan of screw together full length guide rods - they always loosen up.  And you can't lock-tight this one together, because it has to come apart every time for cleaning.

Also, finally got the rear sight where I wanted, and this time I used Lock Tight Blue on the set screw - we'll see how that holds up.  Gave the gun a thorough cleaning, and replaced the recoil spring with a stock recoil spring that I had from my prior Taurus PT1911 (it saw a few hundred rounds).  I also took some pliers and tighten up the lips on the magazines.  If no problems, we'll call that good.  If no joy, may just replace my magazines.  Note, these 4 magazines have seen close to 4000 rounds between them.

Total round count: 1535
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9/16/2012 Some maintenance and firing data today.

Upon cleaning after the prior outing:
- Replaced the recoil spring, which has now seen 1535 rounds, with one from a Taurus PT1911 that had seen 300 rounds.
- Took out the and cleaned the firing pin and the extractor
- Heavily torqued the full-length guide rod upon reassembly

Returned to the range and fired 100 rounds of ball reloads. No failures of any kind. Interestingly, no chewed brass either. Note that occasionally, with the low-grade prior reloads, the gun would chew brass, even when functioning. Today, there was none of that with the clean gun (and clean extractor), shooting decent ball ammo.

Accuracy was decent, with grouping perhaps 3" high and 1 or so inch left at 15 yards - while using center hold.

Rear sight stayed in place fine.

Total round count: 1635
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9/22/2012 Fired 100 rounds of ball reloads.  Gun not cleaned from last time, so has now seen 200 rounds between cleanings.  2 failures, likely reload related:
1st failure- dud.  A round was struck, primer was impacted as normal, but round did not fire.  Bad primer.   I am trying out Tula Primers for the first time.  I have noticed that Tula Primers do not have the anvil held as securely as other brand primers.  If you drop one, there's a real chance the anvil will go separate and fly off, which happened to me at least once while I was reloading with these.  I blame this dud on the Tula primer - either not enough compound, or missing anvil.  The dud was discarded w/out opening.
2nd failure - failure to close into battery.  I trace this back to not crimping the mouth back down enough.  I've noticed that some of my reloads do not want to easily chamber or easily fall back out of the chamber.  Especially when the gun is dirty.  I suspect this has to do with my adjustment of the crimping stage.  Since some of the bullets have been plated, those can be damaged by too much crimp, and I've gotten in the habit of taking it very easy on crimping.  Maybe too easy.  I'll say this much, I've never had this much of a hassle reloading for any other caliber or gun as I have for the 1911 - it's a finicky beast.  But once you get what it likes, it does seem to run smooth.
Good accuracy.  Recovered brass was in good shape.

Total round count: 1735
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10/17/2012 Fired 100 rounds of ball reloads. Clean. 2 failures, appear to be magazine related.
Both failures with well used Chip McCormick magazines, and both on the last round - where the casing didn't fully eject, but ended up wedged into the mouth of the magazine - from the case being wedged into the back the barrel.  
No other issues.
Total round count: 1835
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11/8/2012. Fired 100 rounds of ball ammunition - reloads. 1 jam - failure to close into battery. Cause appears to be tight chamber and fat mouth of the round.
Accuracy was good. Function was otherwise fine.
Considering installing a heavier recoil spring. While the jam appears ammo related, it's annoying.
Total Round Count: 1935
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12/12/2012   Fired 100 rounds of ball ammunition - reloads.  Through a clean gun.  No failures or jams.  Accuracy was good.  Function was good.
Total round count: 2035
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1/24/2013   Fired 85 rounds of ball ammunition - reloads.  Through a clean gun.  No failures or jams.  Accuracy was good.  Function was good.
Total round count: 2120
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2/5/2013   Fired 100 rounds of mixed plated ball - reloads.  No failures or jams.  Accuracy was good.  Function was good.
Total round count: 2220
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3/2/2013    Fired 60 rounds of reloads.  No jams or failures of any kind.

Lot 45-14.  Plated 230 gr HP over 5.1 gr HP-38.  Shot well enough, sometimes smoke coming out the end of the barrel.  752 FPS, 10.6 MOA average to center
Lot 45-15.  Plated 230 gr HP over 5.5 gr HP-38.  Shot well, snappy, no smoke out end of the barrel.  781 FPS, 9.3 MOA average to center
Lot 45-10.  230 FMJ ball, over 4.8 gr Bullseye.  Seated a bit deep.  Shot great.

Total Round Count: 2280
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3/13/2013  Fired 120 rounds of mixed reloads.  1 Jam.  See text.
Fired 30 rounds of FMJ ball reloads, a warm load of 230 gr FMJ, over 4.8 gr Bullseye. at 821 FPS.  Snappy, with 1 jam.  The last fired casing of a string wedged into the top of a magazine, rather then being ejected normally.  Dropping plates at 17 yards with center hold aim.
Fired 30 rounds of reloads, 230 gr plated hollow point, over 5.5 gr HP-38, at 780 FPS.  Snappy with no jams.  Dropping plates at 17 yards with center hold aim.
Fired 50 rounds of reloads, 200 gr plated round nose, over 5.5 gr HP-38, at 755 FPS.  Very soft, sprayed powder in face.  Dropping plates at 17 yards, but have to aim at the top of the 6" plate to hit it.

Total Round Count: 2400
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5/4/2013  Fired 200 rounds of reloads.  No failures.  

Total Round Count: 2600
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10/10/2013 Fired 100 rounds of mild reloads.  No failures.  Noted that accuracy continues to be very satisfying.
Total Round Count: 2700
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1/26/2014
Fired 103 rounds of reloads.  Two items of note.  
-1 Failure to complete cambering upon manually racking the slide (not observed when using slide release or during normal fire).  Edge of casing hung up before fully going in the chamber.  Tapped the back of the slide to complete close.
-1 failure to eject on the last round of a magazine.  Chewed brass reversed and laying on top of empty magazine.  Might have fallen out upon dropping the mag, might not.  Plucked it out with fingers instead.

Pistol not cleaned.

Total round count: 2703
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2/9/2013
Fired 5 rounds of 230 gr ball reloads.  No failures of any kind.  
Pistol not cleaned.
Total round count: 2708
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2/23/2014
Fired 122 rounds of various reloads.  No failures of any kind.
Pistol was filthy, so cleaned it
Total round count: 2830
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(date lost) Fired 100 rounds of mixed reloads. Gun not cleaned
Total rounds: 2930

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5/25/2014 Fired 106 rounds of mild reloads. Gun has not been cleaned since last time. One failure to close into battery. Impacts seemed a bit to the left. no other issues.
Cleaned the gun when got home.
Total rounds: 3036

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6/26/2014 Fired 100 rounds of mild reloads.  No cycling issues. Cleaned
Total rounds 3136
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7/27/2014 Fired 100 rounds of mild reloads. No cycling issues or other jams of any kind. No cleaning.

Total rounds 3236

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8/24/2014 Fired 50 rounds of mild reloads. No cycling issues or other jams of any kind. No cleaning.

Total rounds 3286

This space reserved for future updates

This space reserved for future updates

This space reserved for future updates

Just bought one of these 1911. This will be my first 1911. Thanks for the post.

2/12/2012 Update.  Measured the trigger pull at ~6# 12oz.  Not as bad as originally thought, but still about 2# heavier than I'd like.  (Used a hanging Rapala 15# digital fish scale and a coat hanger.  Not the most precise, as it has a 1/2 second delay, and doesn't log breaking weight - but the most accurate method I could come up with)

2/19/2012 Fired 104 rounds of Monarch 230gr TMJ and 21 rounds of Blazer 230 gr FMJ.  No failures of any kind.  Trigger pull remains heavy, and still shoots low.  Compared to brothers SA GI 1911_A1, and found the GI to be more accurate with a better trigger.  Intend to modify my Loaded with arched MS housing, 19# MS, and a lighter leaf spring.
Total round count: 275

2/21/2012  In order to lighten the trigger pull, and perhaps adjust the point of impact, two changes were made:  

Removed the original leaf spring, and the flat mainspring housing (with internals).  Set aside to keep in original condition.

Replaced with a Wolf stainless steel leaf spring.  Made some adjusting to it to get the grip tension I wanted, and a 5# 4 oz trigger pull.  Replaced the mainspring housing with a Brownells arched mainspring housing, and the mainspring with a 19# mainspring.  Turned in the over travel adjustment screw a couple throws worth on the Allen wrench.

No rounds fired since change yet.  Might be a couple weeks...

3/18/2012.  Update.  Fired 83 rounds.  38 rounds of Monarch 230 gr ball, plus 15 rounds each of 3 different handloads.  No failures on the ball.  2 failure to fully align and then chamber on 2 rounds of the hottest handload of Semi-Wad-Cutters.  We'll chalk that up to an ammunition issue.  

Lightening the trigger spring made it significantly easier to fire the pistol accurately.  The arched mainspring felt better in my hands, and may have aided in elevating the point of impact.  Point of impact is still low.  Accuracy and reliability are good.  The 2 failures coincide with an unusual bullet configuration coupled with a pretty hot load.

http://i40.tinypic.com/2zizyft.jpg
(Note, I don't really recommend Blue Dot for .45.  It works, but makes a mess: spewing unburnt powder over your arms (and face).  Magnum primers don't appear to really help that.  Just using it because I have an 8lb jug I need to burn up).  

Total round count: 358

3/30/201  Fired 148 rounds.  110 rounds of a handloads (200 gr TMJ/10 gr Blue Dot - not particularly a recommended load), 35 rounds of 230 gr FMJ ball, 3 rounds of a 230 gr handload using fired bullets recovered from the snow last winter).

Accuracy was exceptional today, especially with the relatively low quality Blue Dot/ TMJ rounds.  There were two failures, likely due to the odd SWC shape of the TMJ and erratic/filthy burn of that poor choice gunpowder.  
The first failure was a failure to go fully into battery.  
The second failure was a live round (last one), that essentially ejected live, rather than cycle into battery.  
The ball ammo ran fine.  

The full length guide ride started to unscrew itself (which is why I'm suspicious of two-piece full length thread guide rides).  Tightened it up when got it home.
The grip panels started to loosen up.  Tightened them up when got it back home.

The gun continues to shoot low with any and all ammo.  (about 16 MOA), and I'm going to contact Springfield about this.

Accuracy performance is shown:

15 yard performance with basic 230 gr commercial (Monarch) brass cased ball.
http://i42.tinypic.com/4ka9gi.jpg

15 yard performance with the handloads
http://i42.tinypic.com/2mpd2py.jpg

Basic 7 yard performance with the SWC hand loads.  Nice grouping.
http://i42.tinypic.com/5o5wlv.jpg

Can't see it well, but this one is amusing to me.  These are 3 230 gr ball bullets that recovered from a snow bank.  These bullets were already fired, but not deformed (snow is the best bullet trap, as it doesn't deform the bullets).  All three bullets had the rifling cut into them from the prior round.  On a lark, I loaded them up.  They were my most accurate load of the day - with a 3 shot group all in the same hole at 7 yards.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2u44voh.jpg

As an aside, the blue dot powder left a pretty dirty bore.  Conventional cleaning technique work, but the copper wool trick instead was very effective.

Total round count: 506

I have one just like that. It was so tight it kept jamming for the first 150 rounds or so. I think I got lucky. Trigger pull pull on mine is about 5 pounds. After the first 150 rounds the gun never jammed again and it digests all kinds of hollow points I have tried. The round count on mine is about 2000 rounds and only thing changed was recoil spring twice.

4/13/2012 Update.  Springfield sent me a replacement front sight which should increase my point of impact.  Props to SA for the good customer service.

4/23/2012 update.  Installed  the new foresight.  That was more of a PITA than anticipated - if I had to do it again, I'd probably opt sending in the slide and having them do it.  Drifting out the old sight wasn't easy - had to drive a roll pin out first (which required purchasing a new punch).  Then had to use a wooden block and hammer to drift out the foresight.  And then two or three more wooden blocks, because kept crushing blocks before got it to drift.  Then, tried mounting the new sight, which had an over sized base.  So had to file down the base of the new one to get it to fit.  Which was a bit of an effort.  And apparently didn't file the right side, because now the holes for the roll pin don't line up anymore.  So it's on by friction only - but is pretty strong.  

New front sight is lower, which brings up the muzzle.  But the three dot's, if lined up, means the top of the sights (rear and front), no longer line up.  So can either aim by lining up the dots, or by lining up top of the sights so that part is level.  Turns out, to get impacts centered vertically, you have to line up to the tops of the sights (making the dot's of little use).  That said, it's not a problem, and the vertical zero is at last perfect.

After all that: Fired about 125 rounds.  Mixed 230 gr ball and prior mentioned flat point reloads.  A few jams with the reloads (don't blame the gun).  Ran fine with the ball.  All said, like the new sight, it's working great.

5/1/2012 update.  Fired 100 rounds of the TMJ reloads.  As before - this ammo sucks.  The sights are doing great.  

Total round count: 730

6/03/2012 Update.  Fired 100 rounds of the low grade SWC reloads.  A few jams.  Notice that in many of the jams, the slide locks back and the last round of the mag is laying in the gun, but not chambered or fully in the magazine.  Not sure why.

Total round count = 830.

6/6/2012 update.  Fired 70 rounds of the iffy reloads.  A few jams, but not so bad.  

Total round count = 900 rounds

6/19/2012 update. Fired 60 rounds of the iffy reloads. interestingly, tried those loads in a modern FN .45, and it wouldn't even feed them. This 1911 does though. Shot well actually today.

Total round count = 960 rounds
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6/24/2012 update. Fired 100 rounds, including 50 rounds of new reloads with FMJ and Bullseye.

Load. 230 gr FMJ, Tula large pistol primer, mixed brass, and Bullseye gunpowder.

4.6 gr powder: 793 fps - suitable accuracy and reliability. Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat.
4.8 gr powder: 814 fps - suitable accuracy and reliability. Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat. (chosen load for future batches)
5.0 gr powder: 836 fps - suitable accuracy and reliability. Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat.

200 gr TMJ SWC, 10.0 gr blue dot: 913 fps - suitable accuracy, poor reliability. Snappy recoil, primer flattened somewhat.

Reference data from 230 gr ball: 825 fps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol

Total round count = 1060 rounds

Fired 150 rounds.  50 of them being the ball reloads.  No issues with the ball ammo.  Good accuracy at 45 feet.

Total round count = 1210 rounds

7/24/2012 update.  Fired 100 rounds of ball ammunition.  Anticipated high reliability, however experienced several jams - all of the same nature.  The slide would not fully close on a live round.  Inspection showed that the round was being fed in front of the extractor, and there was not enough force to pop the extractor over the rim in those cases.  Not sure why this is occurring, or how to fix.

Total round count = 1310 rounds

What kind of mags are you using?  Sometimes 1911 feeding problems are magazine related.  It might be time to up grade to new/better magazines.

7/28/2012  Update.
Fired 50 rounds of SWC reloads, and 30 rounds of ball.  Better reliably today, no issues with the ball.

Thanks for the reply Tommy, I think you may be right.  I'm using factory and Chip McCorming.  With some of those bad reloads, they'd come back and wedge in the lips, which no doubt stretched the out a bit.

Total round count: 1390

7/29/2012 Update.
Fired 50 rounds of SWC reloads, and 20 rounds of ball.  An annoying item came up - the lock screw for holding down the rear sight came lose, and the sight drifted.  it keeps coming lose upon recoil.  (And now I lost the dadgum Allen wrench).  Intend to get a new Allen wrench, and maybe some lock tight.

Decent reliability, a couple jams that may be magazine related as described above.  

Total round count: 1460

8/25/2012 Fired 75 rounds.  50 of the unreliable reloads (the last of that stock - thank God), with the occasional failure.  And a few rounds of ball reloads.  Observed that sometimes the slide would not close - interestingly, because the round just didn't want to fit in the chamber.  I could push the round the rest of the way in, with my finger down through the ejection port.  So I think the cases weren't crimped back down enough after belling and seating - on some at least.  Will be more careful on this on future reloads.

The full length guide rod came lose.  It always does after a few hundred rounds.  I'm not a big fan of screw together full length guide rods - they always loosen up.  And you can't lock-tight this one together, because it has to come apart every time for cleaning.

Also, finally got the rear sight where I wanted, and this time I used Lock Tight Blue on the set screw - we'll see how that holds up.  Gave the gun a thorough cleaning, and replaced the recoil spring with a stock recoil spring that I had from my prior Taurus PT1911 (it saw a few hundred rounds).  I also took some pliers and tighten up the lips on the magazines.  If no problems, we'll call that good.  If no joy, may just replace my magazines.  Note, these 4 magazines have seen close to 4000 rounds between them.

Total round count: 1535

9/16/2012  Some maintenance and firing data today.

Upon cleaning after the prior outing:
- Replaced the recoil spring, which has now seen 1535 rounds, with one from a Taurus PT1911 that had seen 300 rounds.
- Took out the and cleaned the firing pin and the extractor
- Heavily torqued the full-length guide rod upon reassembly

Returned to the range and fired 100 rounds of ball reloads.  No failures of any kind.  Interestingly, no chewed brass either.  Note that occasionally, with the low-grade prior reloads, the gun would chew brass, even when functioning.  Today, there was none of that with the clean gun (and clean extractor), shooting decent ball ammo.

Accuracy was decent, with grouping perhaps 3" high and 1 or so inch left at 15 yards - while using center hold.

Rear sight stayed in place fine.

Total round count: 1635

Thank you.  I'm using two of the factory 7 round magazines, and 2 Chip McCormick 8 round magazines.

Upon some good pistol cleaning, and switching to better quality ammunition, the gun shot very well at the last outing.  I'm not too judgmental about the jams with the prior ammo.  They were low grade budget ammo put together with left-over components.  Two other .45's couldn't even feed them.

I will continue to monitor though, and may replace the magazines if it looks necessary.

9/22/2012 Fired 100 rounds of ball reloads. Gun not cleaned from last time, so has now seen 200 rounds between cleanings. 2 failures, likely reload related:
1st failure- dud. A round was struck, primer was impacted as normal, but round did not fire. Bad primer. I am trying out Tula Primers for the first time. I have noticed that Tula Primers do not have the anvil held as securely as other brand primers. If you drop one, there's a real chance the anvil will go separate and fly off, which happened to me at least once while I was reloading with these. I blame this dud on the Tula primer - either not enough compound, or missing anvil. The dud was discarded w/out opening.
2nd failure - failure to close into battery. I trace this back to not crimping the mouth back down enough. I've noticed that some of my reloads do not want to easily chamber or easily fall back out of the chamber. Especially when the gun is dirty. I suspect this has to do with my adjustment of the crimping stage. Since some of the bullets have been plated, those can be damaged by too much crimp, and I've gotten in the habit of taking it very easy on crimping. Maybe too easy. I'll say this much, I've never had this much of a hassle reloading for any other caliber or gun as I have for the 1911 - it's a finicky beast. But once you get what it likes, it does seem to run smooth.

Good accuracy. Recovered brass was in good shape.

Total round count: 1735

10/17/2012 Fired 100 rounds of ball reloads. Clean. 2 failures, appear to be magazine related.
Both failures with well used Chip McCormick magazines, and both on the last round - where the casing didn't fully eject, but ended up wedged into the mouth of the magazine - from the case being wedged into the back the barrel.  

No other issues.

Total round count: 1835

11/8/2012.  Fired 100 rounds of ball ammunition - reloads.  1 jam - failure to close into battery.  Cause appears to be tight chamber and fat mouth of the round.  

Accuracy was good.  Function was otherwise fine.

Considering installing a heavier recoil spring.  While the jam appears ammo related, it's annoying.

Total Round Count: 1935

12/12/2012   Fired 100 rounds of ball ammunition - reloads.  Through a clean gun.  No failures or jams.  Accuracy was good.  Function was good.
Total round count: 2035

1/24/2013. Fired 85 rounds of ball ammunition - reloads. No failures.

Total Round Count: 2120

Broke the 2000 round mark, and running strong.

Ive always wanted one of these. Ill be watching this one...

Fired 60 rounds of reloads.  No jams or failures of any kind.

Lot 45-14.  Plated 230 gr HP over 5.1 gr HP-38.  Shot well enough, sometimes smoke coming out the end of the barrel.  752 FPS, 10.6 MOA average to center
Lot 45-15.  Plated 230 gr HP over 5.5 gr HP-38.  Shot well, snappy, no smoke out end of the barrel.  781 FPS, 9.3 MOA average to center
Lot 45-10.  230 FMJ ball, over 4.8 gr Bullseye.  Seated a bit deep.  Shot great.

Total Round Count: 2280

3/13/2013  Fired 120 rounds of mixed reloads.  1 Jam.  See text.
Fired 30 rounds of FMJ ball reloads, a warm load of 230 gr FMJ, over 4.8 gr Bullseye. at 821 FPS.  Snappy, with 1 jam.  The last fired casing of a string wedged into the top of a magazine, rather then being ejected normally.  Dropping plates at 17 yards with center hold aim.
Fired 30 rounds of reloads, 230 gr plated hollow point, over 5.5 gr HP-38, at 780 FPS.  Snappy with no jams.  Dropping plates at 17 yards with center hold aim.
Fired 50 rounds of reloads, 200 gr plated round nose, over 5.5 gr HP-38, at 755 FPS.  Very soft, sprayed powder in face.  Dropping plates at 17 yards, but have to aim at the top of the 6" plate to hit it.

Total Round Count: 2400

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5/4/2013  Fired 200 rounds of reloads.  No failures.

Total Round Count: 2600

Have you noticed any changes in accuracy as the round count is going up?  I know that is one of the things that lead you to ditching the Taurus.

not yet - though not impossible.  I probably should have used a ransom rest, and then check it periodically with such.  We have one at the club, I should check it out...

I would certainly hope not at 2600 rounds.  That's just a couple of practice sessions for a lot of competition shooters.

I like that the OP is doing this.  It's always interesting to see how long it takes for the lower lugs to break off the barrel.  I'm betting somewhere around 4-5K rounds.

8/04/2013 Lost track on the last couple of outings.  Call it 150 rounds fired, for a total count of 2550.  No issues.  

Total Round Count: 2550

10/10/2013 Fired 100 rounds of mild reloads.  No failures.  Noted that accuracy continues to be very satisfying.
Total Round Count: 2700

lost count, 2550 + 100 is not 2700. from here on out its all approx round count I guess.

Thanks for paying attention.   There were rounds fired on 5/14/13 that didn't make it to a reply based update.

1/26/2014
Fired 103 rounds of reloads.  Two items of note.  
-1 Failure to complete cambering upon manually racking the slide (not observed when using slide release or during normal fire).  Edge of casing hung up before fully going in the chamber.  Tapped the back of the slide to complete close.
-1 failure to eject on the last round of a magazine.  Chewed brass reversed and laying on top of empty magazine.  Might have fallen out upon dropping the mag, might not.  Plucked it out with fingers instead.

Pistol not cleaned.

Total round count: 2703

2/9/2013
Fired 5 rounds of 230 gr ball reloads (through a chrony for velocity check).  No failures of any kind.  For grins, I looked at the rifle target that was 100 yards away (for which the chrony had been set up).  3 of the 5 shots through the 1911 hit the paper - not bad.

Total round count: 2708

2/23/2014
Fired 122 rounds of various reloads.  No failures of any kind.  reloads included "missed primer" loads.  Which is to say, recently got a progressive press.  Which doesn't like Winchester primers apparently, and sometimes doesn't feed those primers.  So some rounds don't get primed, and end up made up anyway in the machine, and so spill powder through the flash hole.  Those rounds are put back in, and primed as is, and then clearly marked as below spec powder load - due to unquantified spillage - as undercharged range loads only (possible squib's).  Those mild loads too all fired fine.


Pistol was filthy, so cleaned it.  Still hate how I have to torque the crap out of an Allen wrench to pull out the full-length guide rod.  And then torque the goodness out of it again upon assembly (or it will for sure self loosen under recoil - as I have learned)
Total round count: 2830

(date lost)  Fired 100 rounds of mixed reloads.  Gun not cleaned
Total rounds: 2930


5/25/2014  Fired 106 rounds of mild reloads.  Gun has not been cleaned since last time.  One failure to close into battery.  Impacts seemed a bit to the left.  no other issues.
Cleaned the gun when got home.

Total rounds 3036

You oughta ditch that guide rod if it gets on your nerves.  I like a Wilson rod and a genuine Colt plug with a 16lb Wolff spring.

Have you changed the recoil spring?

6/26/2014 Fired 100 rounds of mild reloads. Not as accuate a day as I'd like, but unclear if that was me or the gun or the reloads.  No cycling issues.

Cleaned the gun when got home.

Total rounds 3136

7/27/2014 Fired 100 rounds of mild reloads.  No cycling issues or other jams of any kind.  Did NOT clean the gun.

Total rounds 3236

8/24/2014  Fired 50 rounds of mild ball reloads.  No failures of any kind.

Total round count: 3286

The Taurus was down for the count by this time, wasn't it?

I hate to say the Taurus was down for the count, but it had significantly loosened up.  And to my opinion, accuracy had begun to loosen up a good bit.