Picked up a "loaded" Springfield today in the green Armory-Cote (?) finish for a great price. I just got thru learning to field-strip it, and I cleaned the goo and flooby dust out of the barrel so I can try her out. I have two boxes of cheapo Wallmart UMC hardball, and I am going to get up early and go to my range and bang away at those plates!

I am excited! This rounds out my auto collection, except I am afraid one will never be enough. I'm already thinking of ordering a Caspian frame and slide and building a custom gun. Oh yeah, I need dies, powder, Dillon caliber conversion, Wilson Combat mags, and components......

Who has the best case price on good reloadable .45 ball ammo?

How much is the cheap Wal-Mart ammo?  I got my first 1911(Colt) for X-Mas, and I love mine too!

$16/50 rds. That might not be that great; I've never bought .45 ammo before! I will check my catalogs, Weidners, ammoman, etc..

I just hit Wally on the way home for ANYTHING. It has been raining all day, but tomorrow should be dry enough - my club is outdoors, and I hate paying by the hour at those crappy indoor ranges.

Best price on reloaded ammo.......

Right there in your neck of the woods!

www.georiga-arms.com

look at their "Canned Heat"

I have shot their .223, outstanding stuff!!!

Thanks, 'rat! I forgot about those guys. I hardly buy loaded ammo anymore; all I shoot are my reloads. But I need to build up a stockpile of brass. There is a funshow the weekend of the 9th and they should be there.

PS I shot her this morning (came in to work 2 hrs late) and wore those plates out. DANG that UMC stuff is smutty. My purdy green gun is all dirty now.

1911's are great pistols. But..like all pistols they also have their flaws.

Some of these flaws have been fixed..others are just waiting for the right manufacturer to come along and incoroporate them.

One of the biggest flaws..is that orginally the 1911 had an unramped barrel. This caused failures to feed when hollow point ammunition started being used. And it caused part of the 45 ACP brass cartridge to be unsupported. This forced the 45 ACP to be loaded down to about the same loads as the original Black Powder 45 Long Colt loads.
Originally there was and is nothing wrong with such a load..but technology has improved over the years.
And this has been "fixed". You can now have a 1911 converted to shoot 45 Super. Which will give you near Magnum performance. And it will still shoot 45 ACP, all you have to do is change the recoil spring to a standard spring weight.

The 1911 also didn't use full length slides on their frame..but this has also been "fixed" by Les Baer's 1911 variant: the Monolith.

Other improvements: porting the 1911 is a good thing, it does lower the muzzle velocity slightly but more than makes up for it by reducing muzzle flip and decreasing the amount of time for an accurate follow-up shot.

Improvements that need to be made: the extractor. One of the biggest problems that 1911's have is with ejecting rounds. And a lot if it can be traced to the extractor. Perhaps using the same type of extractor as used on pistols such as the Sig Sauer can address this problem.

Quoted: 1911's are great pistols.

That's about the only part of your post that has a ring of truth to it.

Government Models, when chambered in .45 ACP, by no means need to use a ramped barrel. Although a ramped barrel might prove helpful when using high-pressure cartridges, they are not necessary in order to make a 1911 reliable. Proper fit of the barrel to the feed ramp and a barrel throat job ensure reliable feeding with all ammo types. Furthermore the gun was designed around the .45 ACP and originally intended to be used with that cartridge, unsupported barrel and all. Conventional 1911's can easily handle all major .45 ACP loads including +P's and don't need a fully supported chamber to do it. Bare in mind the .45 ACP cartridge proceeded the gun.

"Full length slides"? Well the slide on a Government Model has always been 'full length'. The gun started as a 5" and is still made that way. Some manufactures have introduced 'long slides' with 6" barrels but I'm not sure how that would qualify as an improvement. What I think you meant was full-length dust cover, which is by no means necessary or an improvement. The extended dust cover on Baer's Monolith is simply to increase weight and accommodate the option of an accessory rail. Necessary?

Porting a gun can help reduce muzzle flip and may be applicable for games but try firing the gun from a retention position. Porting is a modification that should be looked at with hard eye, if you don't need it don't put it on your gun. The best tool to control muzzle flip and recoil is the shooter. Additionally, porting a carry gun is something I would recommend someone think twice about.

The extractor on the 1911, although finicky, is more than adequate and in some regards superior to a spring-loaded extractor. Most of the trouble caused with a 1911s extractor can be traced to a simple mis-fitting or mis-use. Shade tree gunsmiths far too eager to "make the gun better" often screw up a properly tuned extractor. Lack of understanding of how the extractor works and fits in to the gun often result in failures to feed and failures to extract. Dropping the slide on a chambered cartridge, forcing the extractor to 'jump' the case rim in order to engage, also doesn't fair well with a 1911 and is a sure-fire way to 'need a better extractor'. Variances in materials (cast, MIM, etc.) also causes 1911 extractors to seem less reliable than they really are and make some feel the need to improve on the design. A bar stock extractor properly fitted to the gun will be as reliable as any one component can be and statistically more reliable than multi part extractors such as those in Sigs and the like. As Cooper once opined, if one is used to an outhouse there will be no need for indoor plumbing.

Is the 1911 perfect? No, but it also doesn't need any of the above referenced modifications to make it more perfect or correct any perceived ‘flaws’. In the end run the shooter will decide.

RW - don't try to find the "cheapest" ammo for your very fine handgun!

I have been guilty of this too - spend $1k on a P7 then try to look around to save a buck on 50 rounds of parabellum.

When we buy expensive guns we tend to feed it the cheapest ammo and carry it in the cheapest fabric holster we can find!  Not sure why.

Try winchester ball.

Ramblin, warning, shooting 1911's can be extremely habit forming.

Welcome to the club!  I have a Springfield 1911A1 Loaded stainless.  It's a sweet peice.  The only thing I feel bad about when I shoot it, is that I don't have MORE AMMO!!  I've only ever had a couple FTFs with some 200gr SWC handloads, but I ain't gonna load them anymore, I'll stick with round nose.  Feeds any and all hollowpoint rounds I've tried and ball works flawlessly.  Fit and finish are great.

I think you'll love the 1911!

Quoted: I've only ever had a couple FTFs with some 200gr SWC handloads

Fencer, I had this problem also with 200SWC reloads. I found that my changing the bullet seating depth a bit fixed this. The other round my Springfield didn't like were the original Federal 230 Hydra shocks. Too truncated on the nose. Remington Golden Sabers zip right through so I use them. Also it looks like Federal changed the profile on their Hydras a bit the last few years, they seem more rounded up front now than they used to.

Quoted: Fencer, I had this problem also with 200SWC reloads. I found that my changing the bullet seating depth a bit fixed this. The other round my Springfield didn't like were the original Federal 230 Hydra shocks. Too truncated on the nose. Remington Golden Sabers zip right through so I use them. Also it looks like Federal changed the profile on their Hydras a bit the last few years, they seem more rounded up front now than they used to.

What was the OAL you came up with on those SWC loads?  I can't remember what I have mine at, and I still have 300 bullets left to load up.  I think I will switch to 230gr RN from now on... only about a buck or two difference in price for 500 at a local store.  I don't think I've tried the HydraShoks, but Silvertips, XTC and a couple other different HP rounds worked great.  I've got some new Chip McCormick mags to try out this weekend, but I'm sure they'll work great, they've got a good rep.

M@

Quoted: Quoted: Fencer, I had this problem also with 200SWC reloads. I found that my changing the bullet seating depth a bit fixed this. The other round my Springfield didn't like were the original Federal 230 Hydra shocks. Too truncated on the nose. Remington Golden Sabers zip right through so I use them. Also it looks like Federal changed the profile on their Hydras a bit the last few years, they seem more rounded up front now than they used to. What was the OAL you came up with on those SWC loads?  I can't remember what I have mine at, and I still have 300 bullets left to load up.  I think I will switch to 230gr RN from now on... only about a buck or two difference in price for 500 at a local store.  I don't think I've tried the HydraShoks, but Silvertips, XTC and a couple other different HP rounds worked great.  I've got some new Chip McCormick mags to try out this weekend, but I'm sure they'll work great, they've got a good rep. M@

Fencer, I used the following load.

200 gr. SWC cast lead
6.0 gr. Unique
1.270" OAL

I didn't write down the primer but I mostly use CCI large pistol.

You can go out to 1.275" thats the MAX.

I finally switched to 230gr FMJ. Its much cleaner shooting. Hope this helps you use up the rest of your 200 grainers...

Congrats on your new pistol, mine is a unmodified Colt MkIV and works perfectly. And loads and shoots anything I feed her. From 230gr FMJ to Speer birdshot rounds.

A "gunsmith" nearly ruined mine by putting in a bad trigger/sear/hammer combo and made completely unreliable. Took out these parts as soon as I realized what monster he had created.

Lesson learned.

Only modification I can think of is a high ride beavertail gripsafety. Even though I consider the hammerbite a lovebite from the gun, it can tend to distract you from accuracy when shooting.

Congrats on your new 1911 RamblinWreck!

Check out this deal on Winchester 230gr FMJ. $11.50 for a box/50 rounds. 1350fps??? Either that's some very hot ammo or it's a misprint.

stores.yahoo.com/omb-ps/q4usa45calam.html

BTW Kuiper, the Springfield 'loaded' comes with a beavertail grip safety.

Quoted: Additionally, porting a carry gun is something I would recommend someone think twice about.

Dumb question, but why?

Quoted: $16/50 rds. That might not be that great; I've never bought .45 ammo before! I will check my catalogs, Weidners, ammoman, etc...

I buy NIB 45acp ammo at gunshows for $10/50rds for brands like PMC. Shipping is a bitch to pay for from mail-order.

Quoted: Quoted: Additionally, porting a carry gun is something I would recommend someone think twice about. Dumb question, but why?

The reasons being that:

1) Sometimes jacket shavings from the bullet can be expelled upward through the ports. In a defensive situation where you may have to hold the gun close to your body (e.g.- close range while using the other hand to push the attacker away) you may get pelted.

2) like above, hot gasses are also expelled from the ports.

Quoted: I have been guilty of this too - spend $1k on a P7 then try to look around to save a buck on 50 rounds of parabellum.

As I do!! >gg<  Mine is a P7M8, yours?

Quoted: Quoted: Additionally, porting a carry gun is something I would recommend someone think twice about. Dumb question, but why?

Nope, not a dumb question at all. When the barrel of a gun is ported the ports allow gas to vent up through the top of the barrel in order to help control muzzle rise. Obviously these gasses will be quite hot and may contain un-burnt particles of powder and other residues, also quite hot.

Many times in defensive in shooting scenarios the shooter may be required to fire his weapon from a retention position. The gun will be held at about mid-chest level with the shooter’s arm tucked close to the trunk of the body. With a ported gun the hot gasses venting up through the ports will be in close proximity to the shooters face. The shooter stands a pretty good chance of getting a face full of hot gasses and un-burnt powder, which I can tell you is not the most comfortable sensation. This occurrence could potentially make it pretty hard to stay in the fight and deliver additional hits to the target.

If you are wiping your eyes to clear them of any debris that may limit you vision or are experiencing some type of discomfort due to being exposed to hot exhaust gasses being vented through the top of the barrel it will probably be pretty hard to shoot a gun.