Posted: 5/31/2008 6:30:15 PM EDT
| Just wondering what the differences were between the two. Reason im asking is I am getting a kimber stainless TLE II and wanted to change the full length GR to a standard GR w/plug and wanted to make sure im not compromising accuracy. |
|
I have never noticed any positive difference or benefit to using a full length guide rod. The two-piece rods I have had were prone to un-screwing at less than ideal times, and I have broken a number of one piece tungsten FLGRs in my game-guns. My most recent custom single stack I had built used a low-tech standard GI plug. ETA...Awwwww damn...post #223. |
| I had Jim Garthwaite work on a Colt that didn't shoot worth a damn. Jim put a full length guide rod in it among other things. I kept it like that for many years. The gun shoots like a dream. I eventually got sick of the disassembly procedure for the full length guide rod and I put a GI plug and guide rod in it just to see how it would shoot. The gun shoots the same as it did with the full length guide rod. I'm sticking with the GI plug and rod. |
| I have two SAs and have changed out the 2-piece rods for the G.I. for the reasons stated above. It's interesting that SA uses the G.I. guide rod config on their basic G.I. and Mil-spec models where cost/price is an issue, AND on the PRO and Custom models where the buyers know better. The mid-range pistols use the two-piece systems apparently as a marketing trap for those of us not so smart. I've never seen a convincing argument that would suggest that they're anything but a marketing ploy and a major PITA. |
|
I was looking for stainless plugs and the only place I could find them was Ed Brown. EB $25 total for the plug and stubby guide rod. Found it hard to believe that other big suppliers didn't have the SS (Midway and Brownells) and maybe/probably wasn't looking in the right place. |
Ed Brown is what I put in my first gen Kimber after I bought it. |
|
SS Brownells / Colt SS Recoil Spring Plug I'm not sure that anyone makes a recoil spring guide in stainless. The regular ones are here Recoil Spring Guide |
|
My SA Stainless Loaded came with their 2-piece FLGR. I kept it in for the first 300 rounds or so, decided it was too much of a hassle to keep tightening it down at the range, between mags, plus the extra step in disassembling the sucker, so I bought EB/Wilson guide and plug, GI-style, from Midway, while ordering a bunch of CMC mags (which were on sale), and put the GI-type setup into the pistol.\ I like it much better this way: no change in performance that I noticed, and easier to disassemble and clean. |
| Full length guide rods (FLGR) in a 1911 are the answer to a problem that never existed. I have them in two of my 1911 because they came that way, but there is really no reason to use a FLGR. They don't contribute one bit to accuracy, and the two piece FLGR's are another thing to have to take apart when you break the gun down. |