Pondering 1911, need experienced opinions

greener · Post by **greener** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:50 pm

bearandoldman wrote:
greener wrote:You are behind Richmond in snow and need to catch up.
NOOOOOOOO

Just looked at the weather report. Don't think you will catch up. You will need more.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:52 pm

greener wrote:
bearandoldman wrote:
greener wrote:You are behind Richmond in snow and need to catch up.
NOOOOOOOO
Just looked at the weather report. Don't think you will catch up. You will need more.

Glad to hear that, sure is nice to be behind the top.

greener · Post by **greener** » Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:54 pm

bigfatdave wrote:
greener wrote:Can't stand it. Time to go make some noise with my .45's.
I know!
I'll have to go on Monday, too.

On another note, I ordered some mags, hopefully they'll fit along with the other stuff Midway's coupon program convinced me to order.
Probably won't show up in the morning, sadly.

Midway is a terrible place. Just when you think you've kicked the midway habit, they send you a catalog.

Fine afternoon. Temps hit about 60. The .45's made sufficient noise. They've even learned to do pretty well one-handed.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:25 am

greener wrote:Midway is a terrible place. Just when you think you've kicked the midway habit, they send you a catalog.

Fine afternoon. Temps hit about 60. The .45's made sufficient noise. They've even learned to do pretty well one-handed.

I've been trying to figure out why they send me catalogs when I only order online ... but when I need a disposable somewhat-forgiving bonking surface and can't find a phone-book, that 1" thick catalog is nice!
Someone call Midway up and tell them to print their catalog single-sided with targets on the back ... if they're going to send it no matter what at least they could make it as "recyclable" as paper bags!

Sounds warmer than my range, greener, it was cold enough that I needed my jacket indoors.

===

Some shots from the trip:

Shots taken at 10 yards, aimed fire with WWB ball, Sharpie for scale.
Not too bad, I hope. (the extra holes above my high-quality target were on the board when I got there, I swear!)

-

One of two odd ejections ... both would have dropped out when the mag was removed (or just with a tilt/shake of the pistol before dropping the mag) ... so I won't quite call them malfunctions. The other one was lined up with the barrel perfectly, I only got this shot, though.
The last empty often went straight back, also ... maybe the casing is hitting the "step" on the magazine follower?

Just a target that needed to be shown, I was only able to pull this off a few times in ~200 rounds.

The other rounds from that mag load

All in all, malfunctions were greatly reduced, I only had a few instances of the top round "nosediving" when picked up, and I think all were with the same magazine, and all were cleared with tap-rack-bang (of course being careful to deliver the "bang" in a controlled manner). I've been in the habit of tapping the rounds back in the mag for a while, is that non-helpful with 1911s, or is there anything I can do beyond better mags? I've got two Chip McCormick mags on the way, perhaps they can be carry mags and the Citadel ones will be range-only.

On a side note, my Walther PPS holster from CrossBreed almost fits the Citadel, I went ahead and ordered the right one already, but it is nice to know I have a close-enough holster that probably fits better than a generic soft one would.

greener · Post by **greener** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:44 am

Looks good, Dave.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:53 am

Looks like someone needs to take a look at my recycling plan. http://www.guntalk-online.com/forum/vie ... ag+targets

Next time they ask - say paper!

R,
Bullseye

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:21 pm

HA!
I've been cutting them the wrong way the whole time, I bet the other way is easier and faster.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:23 pm

Well, I've been working lots of long shifts, so no range reports since the last.
But I did spend some surplus OT cash on new stuff from Midway (as a side note, NEVER take the cheapest shipping option from Midway, I ordered this stuff on 21FEB, and it didn't show up until 05MAR).

I wanted to add a few mags, and started out in what seemed to be the mid-range with two from Chip McCormick, they snap in nicely and after a few cycles with snap-caps they're pretty smooth. Hopefully they'll prove reliable when doing real work and not just cycling plastic dummy rounds. I did get one repeat of what occurred with my friend's Taurus PT1911 mags, with the magazine follower catching on the slide's underside ... I couldn't repeat it with the PT1911 mag, and I can't repeat it with these either ... I take some consolation in the fact that these things happen only when hand-cycling so far.
A few full/empty cycles and a good blowing out with air did get these mags moving a lot more smoothly, I wasn't thrilled to see that the base pads had to be attached with a pair of screws, and they're quite hard plastic, not the somewhat yielding stuff on the Citadel mags.
Here's one compared to the factory mag and one locked into the pistol:

I'm undecided about the base pads, I'm leaving one on and one off for now to figure out if I want the extra bulk.

I've always liked thin in handguns, so I tossed in a set of slimline aluminum grips with the corresponding screws and bushings, I'm pretty sure I'll like them, both for the size and the pattern:

They feel a LOT thinner than the stock grips, now the slide latch and safety levers are the widest parts of the pistol by a large margin.
MrsBFD found them more comfortable than the stock ones, hopefully they'll feel as good while shooting next range trip. Luckily they're only a bit greenish, it was the only color I could find in stock at a decent price.

Now all I need is for my SuperTuck to arrive and to find some reliable carry ammunition ... I have a feeling that this is going to get carried ... but probably not as often as my super-lightweight PPS.

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 9:49 pm

Nice looking pistol. I don't know if you do combat style reloads and drop the mags on the floor. Those large bumper base pads will help if they do drop.

R,
Bullseye

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 10:21 pm

I try to do those outdoors onto the grass (PPS mags are $45+!), but I hadn't thought about the help on concrete.
Something to ponder, certainly.

The Chip McCormick mags were a compromise, another good sale at an online mag dealer or a good gun-show find might get me something different for the rest of my magazine load-out for this pistol. 4 is probably enough, 5-6 would be better. Reliability is of course concern #1, then I can worry about the base pad material and shape.

Is there a magazine brand with softer base pads? That's what I had pictured on these for some reason, maybe I'm imagining something that doesn't exist.

Yet another question:
Are these base pads designed to work with the extended beveled magazine wells? Because some of them seem WAY too tall, and stick way too far out of the frame without adding any extra capacity ... on the other hand, Wilson makes (for almost double the price) 8-round mags that don't look any taller than these CM 7-round ones

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 3:00 am

The Wilson 8 round mags are the same as the 7 round mags, they just use a shorter follower to get the greater capacity. Other than the stock SA ags, all my extra's are Wilson, very good quality. When I bought them I wanted reliability which they are noted for and did not pay attention to a few bucks different in price.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:14 pm

bearandoldman wrote:The Wilson 8 round mags are the same as the 7 round mags, they just use a shorter follower to get the greater capacity. Other than the stock SA mags, all my extra's are Wilson, very good quality. When I bought them I wanted reliability which they are noted for and did not pay attention to a few bucks different in price.

B&OM, thanks for the tip on Wilson mags, I ordered a pair and couldn't induce a failure with them in ~70 rounds of WWB and a handful of overly dinged-up carry ammo.
I'll have to get some more of them next time I make a gun-stuff order.