Springfield Loaded Ultra Compact 1911

The fever for 1911's is getting worse. So I gave in and added this to the collection...it's a mini-me to the full-size 5-in barrel.

New Springfield Loaded Ultra Compact Stainless Steel:

From the factory, the slide and frame fit is tighter in tolerance when compared to the Mil-Spec. I really like the Trijicon night sights.

Parts already on order:

1. 10-8 flat trigger
2. Ed Brown rebuild kit with 19# mainspring
3. JB Bore compound to lap in the slide and frame to help with the break-in period.

Now I need to get a holster for it. It's going to be a hard decision since I really like the stainless on there and I don't know if I want to go with a Raven Phantom Kydex holster. Another thing is that Raven doesn't have a Phatom that will house a 3.5-in barrel. Might have to buy a Commander size Phantom and cut it down to fit the shorter barrel. The alternative would to spend the money on a Milt Sparks leather holster. Both will take some time for it to come in.

I will also be spending some time on hand fitting the beaver tail to the frame. Currently, it doesn't flush up to the bottom of the tang, and shows a good amount of extra materials on the beavertail. And will also be filling down both left and right thumb safeties to give a narrower profile.

Will take it to the range and post up a report.

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Springfield Mil-Spec Full Size 1911 : Round 3

So I bought some defense JHP for this pistol; Federal Hydra-Shok .45ACP 185g. I loaded up all three mags and cycled them through the pistol. On each one of the mag, the first round never chambered correctly. They would all get stuck, midway, up the ramp, on the frame. However, each rounds after would chambered correctly. Prior to this, the 1911 have only saw 75 rounds of standard ball ammo; Remington UMC .45ACP 230g.

Here are some pictures of the frame's feed ramp after the range:

After cleaning the ramp of any residue, you can see the horizontal machining marks. These doesn't help with ammo feed, especially JHP.

Here are some pictures of the ramp free of any copper residue.

I decided to take some 300 grit sandpaper and hit the ramp in a vertical direction (moving from north to south direction of the pistol) to remove the horizontal machine markings. I was careful not to alter the angle of the ramp. I went lightly and try to just remove the scratches. After the majority of the marks are gone, I follow up with some polishing with 600 grit sandpaper.

After 40 minutes of polishing the end results:

I'm extremely happy with the result. I can see reflections off the ramp. It's amazing. Glass smooth feel.

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Springfield Mil-Spec Full Size 1911 : Round 2

Thanks to a friend of mine, we did some mods to the stock Springfield Mil-Spec 1911. The pistol only had roughly 75 rounds through it, thus far. But I wanted a few things changed. Early last week, parts were ordered and arrived. Saturday was gun mod day :-D.

Parts ordered:

1. Flat trigger by 10-8
2. Stainless steel rebuild kit by Ed Brown
3. Drop-in barrel bushing by Ed Brown
4. Stainless steel ambi thumb safety by Kimber

Before any work was done:

After many hours of filing:

The pistol was completely stripped down and was given a once over. Mods were done to the following parts/area:

1. Tuned sear and hammer. Now it has a solid lock and crisp break on the trigger.
2. Tuned trigger and trigger tunnel and eliminated the sloppy play of the trigger in the frame.
3. Switched to a flat mainspring housing. Along with this, we replaced it with a lighter 19# mainspring. Also removed the Integral Locking System (aka ILS).
4. Polished the stainless steel ambi thumb safety to match the finish of the slide and frame.
5. Flushed the slide lock pin to the frame.
6. Cut one coil from the plunger spring to reduce thumb safety pressure.

Already the pistol feels so much better. The new bushing took a lot of play out of the barrel and frame contact area. This should help with tighter grouping. And the trigger pull is now tuned to a 4# pull. And the flat mainspring housing has improve my grip and aim to quickly be on target.

I can't wait to take this puppy out to the range and see the difference. Will post my range finding.

www.UrbanGuerillaClothing.com

Springfield Mil-Spec Full Size 1911

I finally bought my first 1911 pistol. Now I know why it is one of the best pistol ever designed my John Browning. I went with a Springfield Mil-Spec stainless, full size 1911.

It feels great! And took it out to the range to break it in. The grouping was decent for being fresh-out-of-the-box. Before the range, I didn't even field strip it. Just loaded the mags with some Remington UMC ammos and away they went.

After shooting the pistol, I know what I want to mod on it. So we're going to start with these mods:

1. The stock short, curved trigger didn't do the job. So I'm going with a new flat trigger. This will give me an even trigger pull at ever part of the trigger, no matter where my finger sits.
2. The thumb safety will be replace with an ambi safety. What can I say, I'm a lefty.
3. New 19# mainspring.

Future plans:

1. Novak rear sight.
2. Dovetail front sigh.
3. Complete polish of slide and frame to remove the matte areas.
4. Commander hammer. Will have to mod the stock grip safety to accommodate the new hammer, because I don't want a beaver tail safety.

Will post pictures of before and after soon.

www.UrbanGuerillaClothing.com