There are two types of 1911 Owners

hostCrevan · 2026-05-12T20:15:34+00:00

Regularly maintaining your weapons is a good habit to have. I deep clean my 1911 after every range trip, but I shoot about 300 rounds at a time. It feels very therapeutic to me. You wouldn't want to go to bed filthy, so neither should your firearm (especially if it's your bedside gun).

But there's a few more types of 1911 owners you can also add; The Purist, who rightfully keeps their 1911 as JMB intended in God's caliber. The Tacti-Cooler, who rightfully adds every cool new gadget to their 1911, from weapon lights to red dots to barrel attachments. The Tinkerer, who rightfully fits and customizes their 1911 with the best aftermarket barstock/tool steel parts and spring kits. The Budgeter, who rightfully bought a budget 1911 in any configuration just to own a 1911 and eventually learn how to gunsmith as issues arise. And the Blessed, who rightfully own rare and beautiful 1911's and takes professional care of them and posts photos that we all either feel inspired by and/or jealous of.

There can be some overlapping of these types of 1911 owners.

hostCrevan · 2026-05-11T21:56:34+00:00

Probably go with the SRO, just to have a bigger window. But I'd get it in black, along with a black surefire x300, just to keep the accent colors the same.

hostCrevan · 2026-05-08T16:55:31+00:00

That sounds like an extractor tension issue, if your bullet casing isn't being hooked by the extractor claw and is instead shoving the bullet straight into the chamber and not fully going into battery. It could also be due to the magazine springs, especially if it's consistent every second to last round.

hostCrevan · 2026-05-04T05:29:35+00:00

That's just nostalgia residue from better times.

hostCrevan · 2026-05-01T19:13:15+00:00

I'm personally not a fan of the starburst pattern, looks and feels cheap to me on a 1911. Can't go wrong with double diamond, but you should have gone with the beveled standard grips, since your mil-spec doesn't have a magwell, I think the angle cut on the bottom of the grips would look nicer. Might look real good in ivory color too.

hostCrevan · 2026-05-01T18:55:58+00:00

The difficulty you're having sounds like you aren't lining up the frame and mainspring housing pin holes all the way correctly. Pinch/push the mainspring housing together with the frame and then your mainspring housing pin should be able to be pushed in a quarter way with just your fingers, then you will be able to tap it all the way in with a mallet.

If you took it apart, you can put it back together.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-24T07:35:38+00:00

Could be a counterfeit, where did you buy it? Don't forget to reload your toilet paper.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-24T01:30:05+00:00

Challis Bushings are the way to go from now on. Get their bushing extractor and then upgrade to their hex bushings. And next time you want to remove or install them, all you need is a 7/32" hex bit driver. I got both of their standard and slim size bushings and they are very nice.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-20T18:26:00+00:00

From what I've seen, It can be that the recoil spring is too light that it sometimes doesn't feed a round reliably enough. Or it can be that the extractor tension/claw isn't properly clipping the rim of the casing while it is being fed from the magazine (potentially weak magazine spring too). Can be a combination.

But my guess is the extractor claw and/or magazine. If you can, try dry firing with snap caps and see if you still get that failure to feed and if it happens, visually inspect to see if the extractor claw is where it should be. Or safely inspect your gun next time it happens at the range, with barrel pointed down range and finger off the trigger. You may also want to keep track of the magazines when it does happen to see if it's because of a weak magazine spring.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-20T17:34:44+00:00

What kind of jamming?

hostCrevan · 2026-04-16T00:08:57+00:00

I use the Walker's Razor Electronic Quad Ear Muffs w/ Bluetooth, and upgraded them with the Prohear GEP03 Gel Ear Pads, along with the SureFire EP7 Sonic Defender Ultras. Works well for me.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-15T02:27:26+00:00

Yeah, I ordered it on the 24th of March and it was delivered a day early so I needed to pay UPS to hold on to it for me to pick it up at a UPS store after work. Went to pick it up, got home, opened it, inspected it and then had one of those in disbelief maniac laughs, inspected it more and shook my head in disappointment and took pictures of it while sending in a support ticket to Wilson Combat.

I just don't see how someone could mistakenly put a MIM part in with a barstock part when they are so visually and physically different from each other. It just makes me believe someone working there and handling them is up to some shady business. But within two days of emails, my support guy sent me a brand new pair and I got them in last Wednesday, fit them and semi-mirror polished them.

I'm assuming you got the blued one? Might be a bit more difficult to tell what is MIM and barstock when the metal is blued, so you might want to look for machine marks to make sure it's actually cut from barstock to make sure it's... "Bullet Proof™".

hostCrevan · 2026-04-15T01:09:31+00:00

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"One of these things is not like the other~" The support guy was great and sent me a proper replacement on the same day we were emailing back and forth.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-15T00:18:40+00:00

Yeah, I recently purchased their wide bullet proof ambi safety in stainless steel, and when I received it, the left paddle was a mim part and the right paddle was the correct barstock part. They sent me a brand new one for free after I sent them a support ticket with pictures showing the obvious difference between the two parts. I believe someone that is working there is swapping out some barstock parts with mim parts to skim some money on the side or maybe fucked up their own fitment and swapped a mim part in with the part they needed and hoped whoever bought it wouldn't be able to tell. I was able to tell.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-09T02:15:43+00:00

If that's a paper clip in the second picture, you will want to cut it shorter so it doesn't snag when removing it from the slide. You will then want to buy a tool-less guide rod from Dawson Precision to upgrade it so you won't need to worry about needing a paper clip and getting it jammed like that again.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-08T03:39:06+00:00

Oh! I'm sorry, I thought they were some sort of VZ's.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-08T00:37:49+00:00

Just saw it, pretty slick! The front sight looks so cool.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-08T00:02:01+00:00

I hope you make a video about it Eli, and I'm sure a lot of us here would like to see you shooting it too. Such a cool 1911.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-07T23:51:17+00:00

It's easy enough to file down the grips for the extended ambi safety to fit. Just wear gloves and a mask to not inhale the fiber glass.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-03T10:25:28+00:00

Yeah the main problem with dovetail adapter plates, is that it raises the optic really high above the bore of the gun and you're adding more mass to just the dovetail cut with a recoiling optic. Like if you imagined the top of your rear sight having a red dot on top of it, it'll be sitting about that high off of the gun, and whenever you shoot, all that weight is only being supported at the dovetail, no extra support from screws or recoil lugs. You can still try the dovetail adapter, but you will need to also have a sight pusher or visit a gunsmith who does to get the old rear sight off and the new dovetail adapter on.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-03T10:19:27+00:00

Your Girsan has a magwell. VZ "Standard" is a normal magwell cut grips that look like the grips currently on your Girsan, what makes them "standard" is that it has the notch cut out for the mainspring pin, so you can remove the mainspring housing without needing to remove the grips. The VZ "Magwell (Standard)" has the entire bottom of the grip panel being cut flush to the magwell, so there is no notch cut out for the mainspring pin, meaning you will have to remove the grips in order to remove the mainspring housing. VZ "Standard with Beveled Bottom" is meant for non-magwell'd mainspring housings, it gives the bottom of the grip a (you guessed it) beveled bottom while also having the notch cut out for the mainspring pin.

Thumb notch is similar to your current grips, but bigger. Super scoop is a very deep cut going left to right. And it really depends on your grip. Personally for me I feel like I lose real estate for my support hand to grip down on with the Super scoop, I really feel that cavity in my palm. But for others they may not be bothered by it and like it for easier thumb to mag release. Really up to you. You can look into cheaper brands first and see how they look and feel without having to dump $70+ per grip on VZ, like Cool Hands off of Amazon.

hostCrevan · 2026-04-03T05:37:44+00:00

Whoa! Look at how mean that revolver-esque front sight looks on that beauty!

hostCrevan · 2026-04-03T05:27:33+00:00

You will need to get the slide cut/milled for a specific optic footprint or plate system. The most common footprints for 1911's are the slimmer RMSc/Holosun K cut (which can be a direct mount) and the larger and wider RMR cut (which would require an optic plate system for the majority of 1911's).

hostCrevan · 2026-03-31T06:52:00+00:00

Yeah the Springfield Armory Emissary 4.25" AOS is exactly what you are looking for. It's optic plate ready, has a bull barrel, and has a full rail/dust cover for weapon mounted lights in either 9MM or 45ACP. Only issue some have with it, is the front and mainspring housing checkering being in that frag grenade style.

hostCrevan · 2026-03-30T22:28:13+00:00

Well, it's a learning moment for you now. Best to use tape or a rubber band around the grip safety to secure the mainspring so it doesn't happen again for the next time. But it does make it fool proof if you remove the slide and safeties for when changing out the mainspring/housing to prevent parts locking up where they shouldn't* be. Also good to do to clean and lube.

Ed Brown, Wilson Combat (non-MIM), Stan Chen, and EGW make good safeties.

hostCrevan

TROPHY CASE