My muse told me to get off my lazy butt, so it’s time to share my 1911 project gun.
My project is a .45 ACP 1911 with a chrome Colt Series 80 slide, a Caspian frame, a 1990s vintage Aimpoint, Colt grips, and a 20 plus pound recoil spring. The recoil and main springs are so stiff that the former owner converted remnants of a Chevy gas pedal into a slide racker, just to be able to chamber a round. Each time I refer to this little beast as a Frankengun, I could swear it snipes back at me, “it’s pronounced Fron-kon-gunn.”
After SHOT Show 2011, Mz. VRWC decided she absolutely needed a 9mm Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical so she could continue shooting USPSA matches while her Production class gun went in for a doctor visit. Suddenly, I feared that I would need to learn a lot more about working on guns derived from John Moses Browning’s most famous design.
A nearby gun store in Mesa just happened to have a 9mm RIA in stock, as well as a rough, vintage looking, 1911 race gun. I don’t think I actually said, “hold my beer and watch this” out loud, but somewhere inside, a voice did say, “you can learn all about making a 1911 run with that one”. The Frankengun just kept staring at me with that sad mournful look that usually haunts people in pet stores and animal shelters.
After trading the store (that I borrowed the photo from) a few dollars and the Taurus Judge previously won at a Friends of NRA dinner, Mz. VRWC had a budget 1911 for Single Stack competition and I had a “new” used gun. More precisely, I had a new project.
When this project is finished, I should have a fun .45 for shooting steel, or a pile of scrap metal. Follow along as I go through the gun in the coming weeks and see what’s inside Frankengun.
It’s time for SHOT Show 2012. Time for the annual pilgrimage to NSSF’s Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, the biggest firearms trade show in America. Mz. VRWC and I will lead you to the various temptations of new guns you’ll need to buy this year.
Our GunBroker.com SHOT Glass from SHOT Show 2011. What will they have for us this year?
Top Shot 3 is right around the corner, premiering on Tuesday, August 9th at 10/9c. Even with the somewhat lopsided ratio of drama llama to actual shooting, I’ll be watching (and hoping the drama llama goes on hiatus for season 3). I’ve already got my favorite shooter picked out for the season – Sara Ahrens. I had the pleasure of co-manning the WOMA booth at SHOT Show this year with her, and she is funny, beautiful and knows how to shoot. I will be looking forward to watching her kick some tail this season.
If you’re not familiar with Top Shot Season 3’s cast of characters, here’s the “exclusive” cast intro video:
In other exciting news, we will be having a Top Shot contest with some great prizes, courtesy of the fine folks at the History Channel. As they say in the TV business, stay tuned for details!
I also wanted to take a minute to give a big thanks to all of you (including the Top Shot producers) who provided me with awesome support over the last couple of months as I made my way through the application process for Top Shot Season 4. Sadly, I did not make the cut, but no worries – I will be back with bells on (and some bigger wins under my belt) when next season’s application comes out.
A few months ago, my awesome competition pistol got a boo-boo, and had to be sent back to the manufacturer for some TLC. I needed a new pistol STAT, and rather than purchase another USPSA production division pistol, I decided it was time to pick up a 1911 so I could start training for the next Western States Single Stack Match, and to avoid becoming a One Gun Princess.
At SHOT Show earlier this year, I had the chance to run a few rounds through a Rock Island Armory 1911 in 9mm, and I remembered being impressed with both the gun and its modest price tag. At under $500, we were willing to take a chance that the RIA would perform acceptably in a competition setting, and we liked the benefit of 9mm being more cost effective than a 45 ACP.
I was able to find an RIA 1911-A1 (tactical version with Novak style sights) at a local shop, brought it home and gave it a light cleaning, then packed it in my range bag for use the next morning. Out of the box, it performed flawlessly – Zero malfunctions, and it shot more accurately than I did.
There was only one issue with the 1911’s performance, and I noticed it about halfway through the match. I felt a slight burning sensation coming from my right arm, and my first thought was that it was time to reapply the sunscreen. I then looked at my arm and noticed that it was dotted up and down with red marks from spent shells repeatedly tagging me.
We took it home and figured out pretty quickly that the extractor probably needed a little adjustment. As soon as I started taking it apart, I was really glad I had picked up a couple of tools for the 1911 – a plastic barrel bushing wrench and an extractor removal tool from Brownells. Both tools are already invaluable to me – I don’t have to call Capitalist Pig out to the garage every 10 minutes to be my extra hand or muscle something for me (which probably makes the tools invaluable to him as well). The extractor tool is especially handy, as one end works perfectly to get the firing pin out, and the other end has a nifty little notch that makes quick work of extracting the extractor, so to speak. After the extractor was out, C. Pig took a look and did just a wee bit of re-profiling to one of the edges, and it’s been extracting casings away from my body parts ever since.
I got my production pistol back from the shop some time ago, but I’ve enjoyed shooting the Rock Island 1911 so much that just within the last couple of weeks I’ve forced myself to go back to the production pistol, since I’ll be shooting my first “big” match with it this fall. I’m sure my RIA in 9mm won’t be collecting any dust though, I am already looking forward to shooting it again.
Disclaimer: I did not get paid to write this, or any other posts on this site. The kind folks at Brownells provided me with the extractor tool with no expectation of anything other than an honest review. When I say I like it, I mean it. If you took mine away from me (don’t even think about it), I would buy another one the same day.
We got a chance to shoot the new Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition series 9mm on Saturday. Legendary Team Springfield Armory shooter Rob Leatham and his wife, Kippi Leatham, a fellow Team Springfield shooter, invited people out to shoot the new XDm Competition series pistol at Rio Salado Sportsman’s Club.
The short review
It is an excellent gun for competition!
The longer review
The Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition is based on a wishlist Rob Leatham gave to Springfield Armory a few years ago. The 9mm XDm Competition series starts with the current XDm lower, complete with a match trigger and interchangable backstraps which allow you to adjust the grip size to fit your hand.
The upper part of the new XDm is where the real changes have been made. This pistol features a 5.25″ match grade barrel, extending the sight radius to 7 1/4″ for a more precise sight alignment, while reducing the recoil. The extended barrel and slide gives the pistol an 8.3″ overall length.
The extended slide features a lightening slot to keep the weight the same as the shorter, non-competition XDm at 29 ounces. The Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition also has a low profile adjustable rear site and a fiber optic front sight.
The gun is built to be legal for competition in USPSA and IDPA shooting. Production Division approval is expected after at least 2,000 guns are built (hopefully in the next month), in time for the USPSA Nationals.
The Trigger
Mr. Leatham brought out two stock XDm 5.25 Competition pistols, and one with a Springfield factory trigger job. While the trigger job resulted in a much lighter trigger pull, the stock triggers were fine and had a medium pull, a clean break, and a consistent reset. The pull and reset are excellent compared to other polymer guns (I’m spoiled by a nice 1911), and was a noticable improvement over the standard XD trigger.
Shooting the XDm 5.25 Competition
TGO (The Great One, Rob Leatham’s nickname) brought the ammo and let us shoot as many 19 round mags as we wanted to, with only one restriction. He doesn’t load magazines for anyone else. That seemed reasonable, so we stuck around to shoot the steel plates that made up the Springfield Challenge stage.
The stage had steel plate targets, so while group measurements weren’t possible, the accuracy of the pistol was apparent. Shooting quickly at a 6″ swinging Hostage Target Head plate at about 10 yards demonstrated the improved recoil control and sight radius that make this a formidable pistol for competition.
Just in case there was any question on the new pistol’s accuracy, Rob Leatham’s Mother placed a dead center hit on each of the plates.
Conclusion
It is safe to say that I liked the Springfield XDm 5.25 Competition. The gun sights easily, the trigger is good, and the accuracy is great. In fact, I’ll be contacting Arizona Firearms and Pawn this week to order a two-tone XDm 5.25 Competition and see if they’ll accept a partial trade for an XD-9.
Out with the old, in with the new
UPDATE: A distributor has relayed that the XDm 5.25 Competition in black has an MSRP of $799 and the bi-tone model has an MSRP of $869, with gun store prices around $100 lower.
UPDATE 9/17/2012: XDm Reliability report for my XDm 5.25 – I now have over 5,862 rounds through the gun without any mechanical failures. One failure to eject (FTE) occurred at around 3,410 rounds when using beatup reloads. A failure to feed happened after about 4,490 rounds due to a bulged case, and at 5,282 due to a short cartridge.
It’s time for the fun to start at the LuckyGunner.com blog shoot, at an undisclosed location, just outside Knoxville, Tennessee.
We made it to Tennessee, and our firearms did too. The TSA check on our luggage was a bit of a nail biter as we watched the TSA agent swabbing the contents of the bags (like holsters and gun belts – think there might be some gunpowder residue on there?).
The bags passed the test, and while there was no “bad touch” for either of us, we both were directed to the “enhanced” millimeter-wave machine. After getting an unknown dose of radiation, we made it to the gate, arrived in Tennessee and jumped into the rental car just in time to drive through a ginormous super-cell thunderstorm.
We arrived a couple of days early so we could check out some of the sights. It’s green beyond imagination!
The jungles of Eastern Tennessee
We’ve had a lot of biscuits since the International Biscuit Festival is underway in Knoxville. Picked up some extra radiation during an educational visit to the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge (as in Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Oak Ridge Boys). Now, it’s time to meet celebrity gun bloggers we read on a regular basis and hang out with some old friends.
LuckyGunner.com is honoring the best gun bloggers on the internet and they want your help choosing the winners! Go to the Gunnie Awards page to vote for your favorites.
Again, this is a partial list, you’ll have to go to the Gunnie Awards page to see the rest of the nominees and cast your votes.
Get your vote in by Friday, May 27th, 2011. The winners will be announced & presented with their 30mm replica round trophy from Technoframes on Saturday night, May 28th at the LuckyGunner.com Blogger Shoot held in Knoxville, TN this Memorial Day Weekend.
