I'm not as knowledgable as some people here, or even most, but I picked up a new Springfield M1911-A1 on Friday and thought I'd write some observations on it.

I ordered it last Wednesday and picked it up at Mooneys on Friday.  I got it home and field stripped it for a quick cleaning before going to the range.  The magazine latch is extremely stiff on it.  Also, the slotted part that turns to release it from the frame was a little "boogered up."  It looks like it was boogered up prior to assembly, since the boogered up part is parkerized.  It's fully serviceable, though, but I plan on replacing it with a Wilson.

Also, the "lefty" side of the ambi safety was a little dinged.  Now, this is not going to be a safe queen, so it's going to get dinged anyway, but it's interesting anyway.  I know nobody but me handled it since the factory, too, since I was there when the big brown truck dropped it off!  

The bore was really rough.  The rifling was so sharp that I was a little concerned with it.  I took a little time with some JB Bore Paste just to smooth up the worst of the rough spots, then lubed, re-assembled and got some rest.

Saturday, I drove out to the outdoor range near where I live.  I brought this one and a Kimber Eclipse Pro-II just as a comparison.  I'm no great shakes at pistol shooting.  I get by.  I'm generally about minute of bad guy.  Anyway, as far as accuracy was concerned, once it and I settled down a bit, I saw no difference in accuracy between the Springfield and my Kimber.  POI was low, but about the same as it is with the Kimber.  I figure it's something I do on a regular basis, but I'm not sure what.  Either way, it's totally repeatable since I hit the same spot each time!

I shot 230 gr. ball, Remington golden sabres that I'd rotated out of my carry ammo, and some 200 gr. lead semi-wadcutters.  The Kimber goes jammomatic on those lead bullets, but the Springfield seemed to like them just fine.  I had three stoppages all day.  All of them were with a batch of reloads I'd loaded just a little long.  The rest of the time, it digested anything I threw at it.

On cleaning, everything came clean just fine.  I do have the epoxied ejector, but I'm not all that concerned about it.  If I really want to get fancy, I'll have a gunsmith drill a hole.  For now, it's fine the way it is.  The barrel was as smooth as the Kimber after 300 or so odd rounds through and it cleaned up nicely, nothing too bad on the fouling.  I was really concerned about how much fouling it'd have when I inspected prior to shooting, but it cleaned up nicely.

Trigger pull was fine.  I adjusted the overtravel screw to suit me and it still went bang every time.

Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase.  I think I might make two changes.  Like I said, I've already ordered the Wilson magazine latch and I think I'll replace the rear sight with a Novak adjustable with tritium inserts.  If I were making the same purchase again, I'd still buy this handgun, so I guess that's as much a statement as any.

Hope this info helps,

kk7sm

I have the same pistol.  Mine likes to have failure to ejects occassionally so I have to take the extractor out and clean it.  I'm planning to replace it with a Wilson extractor.