Pondering 1911, need experienced opinions

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:46 am

Dave, I believe you have the 3.5" Concealed Carry model. Close the slide and slip a dowel into the barrel, all the way to the breech. Mark the dowel rod at the tip of the barrel then take it out and measure it. It should read 3.5".

R,
Bullseye

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 9:14 am

Bullseye wrote:Dave, I believe you have the 3.5" Concealed Carry model. Close the slide and slip a dowel into the barrel, all the way to the breech. Mark the dowel rod at the tip of the barrel then take it out and measure it. It should read 3.5".

R,
Bullseye

If that is the case it is pretty much like the SA V-10 if it has the shorter grip and 6 round mag, except the V-10 has a ported slide and barrel. Not sure if the porting really does much, but it does look sweeeet.

bgreenea3 · Post by **bgreenea3** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:27 pm

bearandoldman wrote:
Bullseye wrote:Dave, I believe you have the 3.5" Concealed Carry model. Close the slide and slip a dowel into the barrel, all the way to the breech. Mark the dowel rod at the tip of the barrel then take it out and measure it. It should read 3.5".

R,
Bullseye
If that is the case it is pretty much like the SA V-10 if it has the shorter grip and 6 round mag, except the V-10 has a ported slide and barrel. Not sure if the porting really does much, but it does look sweeeet.

and LOUD1

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 6:36 pm

OK, the internal measurement of the barrel length matches my external, just a hair over 3.5"
So I have a really dumb question to ask someone willing to slap a ruler to a magazine ... how deep is a standard mag-well and/or how tall is a standard magazine?
I measured the 7-round mags that came with it, and they're 4.5" tall measured along the back edge, with about the same inside the mag-well, obviously.

Maybe I'm an idiot, or I got confused with such an assortment of pistols and mags on the table in front of me, but I thought these were full-size 7-round mags, and yet when I look at the Citadel site/catalog pictures, it looks like the proportions are about right for a CC model.
Maybe the only discrepancy is the 7x mags with a plastic base instead of flush-fitting all metal 6x magazines Citadel lists?

That'll teach me to buy on research day, I suppose ... I suppose I got in a rush with only one day off in the shift rotation this week.
Regardless, it IS happy in my hand, it IS only a little bigger than my current CC (but a lot heavier!), and assuming it shoots better than I can without major malfunctions, I'm pretty happy with it.
I can also see how 1911-pattern guns could build up in a collection, there's a whole hell of a lot of options to pin onto these fairly simple machines.

bgreenea3 wrote:and LOUD

Can't be much louder than my CZ52! That thing is louder than most .357 magnums, and the only thing I own louder than my NAA mini-revolver in .22mag, for that matter.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 7:23 pm

BFD, sounds like you have a what Colt would have called a Commander with a 3.5 inch barrel, used a 4 inch barrel and they also made what they called the Officers I believe they Model with the same barrel but a shorter grip. I am far from being an expert on 1911's just shoot and carry them. A full size gun magazine measures 4.5 inches and the shorter grip model like my Micro measures 4 inches. Other than a carry mag all of mine are Wilson Combat with the base pad. Now a Wilson full size mag of 4.5 inches will hold 7 round, but they also make one with a shorter fol;lower that will hold 8, if my memory is correct as the are not in my hand at the time.

Post by **Bullseye** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:07 pm

I don't know why but I thought your reason for not seeing the pistol you own on the website was a 4" barrel. In response to my misinterpretation, I posted the barrel measurement technique for closed breech pistols. But after reading your post and rereading the earlier posts, I see that was not the case as I was mistaken. You did have it measured at 3.5" for the barrel length.

Why not contact Citadel via their website and ask them directly about your pistol? That would clear up any questions you have about it. Maybe they just haven't updated the website.

R,
Bullseye

bgreenea3 · Post by **bgreenea3** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:50 am

Ported guns like BAOM's V-10 tend to be a touch louder than standard guns.......I know my glock 22c is pretty darn loud compared to other .40's.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:04 am

bgreenea3 wrote:Ported guns like BAOM's V-10 tend to be a touch louder than standard guns.......I know my glock 22c is pretty darn loud compared to other .40's.

Don't really notice the noise difference, as I do not shoot the full size gun much. Just mostly shoot the Micro as it is usually with me and need to get some exercise now and then. Th V-10 is my standby carry ti fill in if needed, but it is a half pound heavier than the Micro. The P3AT is my BUG, it get shot rarely as it sure is not a range gun, but it works.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:34 pm

Bullseye wrote:I don't know why but I thought your reason for not seeing the pistol you own on the website was a 4" barrel. In response to my misinterpretation, I posted the barrel measurement technique for closed breech pistols. But after reading your post and rereading the earlier posts, I see that was not the case as I was mistaken. You did have it measured at 3.5" for the barrel length.
Why not contact Citadel via their website and ask them directly about your pistol? That would clear up any questions you have about it. Maybe they just haven't updated the website.
R,
Bullseye

I'm now fairly sure that I have a compact with upgraded mags compared to the one on their website.
The case that came with it has a serial number, but nothing that I would point to and call a model number in the same format as their catalog/site. I'm waiting for some comparison before I decide to contact Citadel, and before I order any goodies for it. Hopefully shooting Friday, failing that I'm making time on the weekend (a rare weekend I'm not working).

I do have some good news to gloat over, I actually found .45ACP in stock at the local Wal-Cheap, and I pretty much cleaned them out, so now I have three kinds of ball ammo and two kinds of HP to test for function after some break-in.

greener · Post by **greener** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:12 pm

Seems all you need to do now is to make that ammo largesse disappear in pleasing loud noises.

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:30 pm

You know, I really should do an ammunition census around here ... I think I may be the guy the newspapers write scary articles about!
Of course, the count would be a lot less scary if rimfire wasn't tallied up, but I bet I could be the focus of some bad journalism even without all the .22 bulk boxes.

But being somewhat stocked on .45 and not having time to shoot is getting old fast ... how many rounds would be a reasonable break-in?

greener · Post by **greener** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:01 am

bigfatdave wrote:You know, I really should do an ammunition census around here ... I think I may be the guy the newspapers write scary articles about!
Of course, the count would be a lot less scary if rimfire wasn't tallied up, but I bet I could be the focus of some bad journalism even without all the .22 bulk boxes.

But being somewhat stocked on .45 and not having time to shoot is getting old fast ... how many rounds would be a reasonable break-in?

Yep, I've heard about those folks. They have an arsenal and a large cache of ammunition. I believe they mean more than one firearm and more than 20 rounds. Yep, and all them .22 hollow points in the WallyWorld Fed Value pack boxes count as the large cache.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:16 am

greener wrote:
bigfatdave wrote:You know, I really should do an ammunition census around here ... I think I may be the guy the newspapers write scary articles about!
Of course, the count would be a lot less scary if rimfire wasn't tallied up, but I bet I could be the focus of some bad journalism even without all the .22 bulk boxes.

But being somewhat stocked on .45 and not having time to shoot is getting old fast ... how many rounds would be a reasonable break-in?
Yep, I've heard about those folks. They have an arsenal and a large cache of ammunition. I believe they mean more than one firearm and more than 20 rounds. Yep, and all them .22 hollow points in the WallyWorld Fed Value pack boxes count as the large cache.

Guilty as charged you Honor?

Post by **Bullseye** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:23 am

For your Citadel, 300-400 rounds should be a good start for breaking it in. This doesn't have to be all at one range session. But if you have the ammo, why make more than one trip?

R,
Bullseye

bigfatdave · Post by **bigfatdave** » Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:05 am

Thanks, Bullseye.
It would have to be two trips, probably, unless I find another stash of ammunition before now and trigger time.

I suppose I should get a dummy check, I gave my new toy the standard semiauto treatment, I broke everything down (well, everything but the MSH/Hammer/plungers or removing the trigger) and got out the shipping grease, applies a very light film of oil to any moving parts, including blowing a bit into the hammer pivot. I made sure the firing pin and the FP hole were clean, applied some light grease to the rails and the hammer face ... anything I missed that might cause problems? Do I need to figure out the MSH/hammer removal before the first range trip?