Posted: 8/30/2012 5:03:20 AM EDT
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As many of you know I just bought a 1911. I'd like to share a few thoughts with you.
After having the gun to the range twice with about 200 rounds through it, I feel that it is about the easiest gun to double tap something with. More than that, it's ridiculously easy to do failure to stop drills. I just let the front sight come down on the chest of the target and boom, boom and let the front sight go to the head, boom. Easy! The gun is a natural pointer. I would never have thought this possible after owning a lot of Glocks, but it is. The way I see it the more the gun points like your finger when you're pointing at some thing the better. I would have never thought this possible with a 1911. For some reason, S&W chose not only to friction fit the rear sight, but to add a set screw too. Why? I have no idea. Friction fit would keep the sight on, but to add a set screw? Oh well, maybe it came from the Novak factory that way. The reason is at first the gun was shooting left on me (all guns seem to shoot left for me, not just the 1911). I loosened the set screw and went to move the sight, nothing. I got it home, put it in a padded vise and proceeded to beat the snot out of the rear sight. It finally moved a little bit and my second trip to the range confirmed it was zeroed. I think that either the friction fit OR the set screw might have been enough, but not both. I went to wally world to pick up a 100 round value pack of WWB. There was one right beside it that only held 50 rounds. Thinking it was FMJ I bought it. It seemed a bit expensive, but it turns out it was HOLLOWPOINT ammo. I didn't find this out until AFTER I got to the range and AFTER I got done testing the hollow points I had in water (with 4 layers of denim). The Golden Saber was a dismal failure. The jacket seperated from the core both times. The HST +P was marginally better. The jackets on it were tight, but I got an uneven mushroom. Worse, one of the bullets penetrated the whole length of the water I was using (24"!!). My hopes are pinned on Gold Dots. Does anyone know a good +P load that would involve Gold Dots and Blue Dot powder? |
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Uh, 24" in water is a GOOD thing. As Old_Painless says, you can safely divide the penetration depth in water by 2, maybe 1.5, to get a more accurate approximation of the bullet's gel performance.
Minimum 12" penetration, max 18" are the FBI-test criteria for a service/defense round, as they've found that to correlate closely with good real-world performance. In those tests, HST, both +p and regular, did fine, as did Gold Dots. Personally, my choice in .45 is HST. Yes, Novak sights include the set-screw. Just one more bit of insurance against the sights "walking" in the dovetail. Loctite on the screw, too, if they're smart. |
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Yep, I added locktite to the screw. The red kind. Short of thermonuclear detonation, nothing is going to move that sight.
I guess I should get some gel and test it again. My money right now is being saved for a chronograph and a trigger pull gauge. I'd be nice to know what my trigger breaks at and how fast my bullets go. I pulled an HST bullet from the case. It has 6.1 grains of unknown ball powder and a very nice cannalure in the bullet (to prevent jacket seperation would be my guess). I know that big companies like Federal don't use canister grade powder, but I'm wondering what it is. I just added a Wilson speed chute to the grip frame. It looks a bit funny with 30 LPI checkering on the back strap and 20 on the front strap, but it does hold the hand really well. Oh yes, this marks the 250th round I've fired through the gun. What do you know? NO MALFUNCTIONS FROM THE EXTENDED SLIDE STOP! This has to be some sort of record. 
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Federal HST +P (P45HST1) is one of the better performers. My agency issues it. Good round, hotter than the Gold Dot 230gr. The HST was around 100fps faster than the Gold Dot out of a 5" 1911. Both penetrate over 12" in gel with the HST having a slight edge on expansion and the Gold Dot having a slight edge on penetration on average. I don't think you can go wrong with the HST or Gold Dot. Both good rounds. |
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Quoted:
Federal HST +P (P45HST1) is one of the better performers. My agency issues it. Good round, hotter than the Gold Dot 230gr. The HST was around 100fps faster than the Gold Dot out of a 5" 1911. Both penetrate over 12" in gel with the HST having a slight edge on expansion and the Gold Dot having a slight edge on penetration on average. I don't think you can go wrong with the HST or Gold Dot. Both good rounds. What kind of velocity did you get with the Gold Dot? I chrono'd some 230 grain GD through my suppressed HK USP Tactical and got 900 fps. I could tell it was a little faster than the standard ball ammo I was shooting because it wasn't as quiet as the ball. I'm not sure of the barrel length of my HK. |
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Quoted: Gold Dot average was around 846fps, HST averaged was around 943fps. My results are only a couple fps slower than published data on the HST and about 40 fps slower than published data on the Gold Dot. Both were chrono'd out of a 5" 1911.Quoted: Federal HST +P (P45HST1) is one of the better performers. My agency issues it. Good round, hotter than the Gold Dot 230gr. The HST was around 100fps faster than the Gold Dot out of a 5" 1911. Both penetrate over 12" in gel with the HST having a slight edge on expansion and the Gold Dot having a slight edge on penetration on average. I don't think you can go wrong with the HST or Gold Dot. Both good rounds. What kind of velocity did you get with the Gold Dot? I chrono'd some 230 grain GD through my suppressed HK USP Tactical and got 900 fps. I could tell it was a little faster than the standard ball ammo I was shooting because it wasn't as quiet as the ball. I'm not sure of the barrel length of my HK. |