Guns 2011-11.pdf - Jeffersonian

• M A S S A D A Y O O B •A Matter of ChoiceApart from sizes and calibers, the1911 user has other selections to make.s the Centennial year of the 1911 pistol approaches itsAend, we’ll have more people than ever using them. Someout of nostalgia, like the old guy here—who always had asoft spot for ’em, but has spent an inordinate percentageof time carrying them in celebration of the anniversary—and some who have finally decided to buy their first, todetermine for themselves what all the fuss is about.There is much to decide.Mainspring housing configuration?Full-length guide rod or not? How biga mag well? Big or small thumb safety,single-side or ambidextrous? Triggerlength? Grip safety style?Mainspring HousingThe flat-back mainspring housingof the original 1911 pistol, the USArmy Ordnance Board determinedafter WWI, might have been a culpritin the gun often shooting low incombat. (Apparently, desperatelyjerking the trigger to keep from beingkilled didn’t rank high as a factor intheir analysis.) An arched housingwas created for the 1911A1 to drivethe muzzle upward, and it remainedon the Colt pistol through most of the20th Century. By the 1950s, though,serious shooters often found theypreferred the flat housing, and it’s allbut standard today. A few years agoEd Brown created the Bobtail, whichproved to work so well that othermanufacturers have gone to it since asan option: Dan Wesson, Kimber, andS&W come to mind. Which is best?When I was young, I thought thestandard gun writer statement of “try’em all, and pick the one that fits youbest” was a huge cop-out. Decades ofexperience taught me; in this case atleast, it was the correct answer.Some consider the Full-LengthGuide Rod for the recoil spring themark of the professional 1911 user,The arched mainspring housing was standard soon after WWI until recently (top left on a Series ’70Colt) when the early, original flat mainspring housing (top right on a Series ’80 Colt) has made aresurgence. The newest iteration of the mainspring housing, the “Bobtail” configuration, created byEd Brown (bottom), is shown on an Ed Brown Executive Carry 1911.A well dimensioned thumb safety and ergonomicbeavertail grip safety with speed bump (not tomention a Novak rear sight), are all standard onthe new Ruger SR1911.though fewer did in the past. I knowmasters of the 1911 who feel it’s anessential feature for accuracy andreliability, and others who wouldn’thave it in their guns. Slightly over 50years of owning and shooting 1911pistols has swayed me toward the latterside of the argument. I honestly can’tsee an improvement in either accuracyor reliability with the FLGR.On the down side, the FLGR is aminor to major pain in the butt forfieldstripping and a huge liability forfieldstripping in (duh) the field. I’veseen the 2-piece ones fail and tie upthe gun as well. I own 1911s that have1-piece FLGRs and work fine. Theycame with it installed, and it wasn’ta deal breaker. I promise myself thatone day, though, I’ll find time to geta bunch of standard recoil springsystems and swap ’em into every dangone of those pistols….SafetiesMy first 1911 was a Colt producedfor the US military circa 1917. (No,I didn’t get it new, I just look thatold.) It had that little tiny nubbin of asafety lever on the left side only. I gotused to it. What tore me up, literally,was the short little grip safety that duginto the web of my hand, and allowed16WWW.GUNSMAGAZINE.COM • NOVEMBER 2011