| 10,722 rounds | 5 stoppages | 0 malfunctions | 0 parts breakages 4 mags deadlined |
Lots of fun with the gun this past week… including breaking the 10,000 round mark.
However, as you may notice, there was another stoppage (see left) at round count #10,083. It’s a pretty straightforward failure to eject and very similar to the last stoppage at #7,956. Ammo was 124gr mil-spec (“+p”) Cleanfire. Magazine was a Wilson ETM. The pistol had been cleaned literally a few hours and 62 rounds earlier. It then shot more than 600 rounds without any more problems.
The gun seems hell bent on hovering right at that 2,000 Mean Rounds Between Stoppage point. I think it’s the spirit of John Moses Browning taunting me.
Also, yet another of the Metalform 10rd magazines stopped locking the slide back. That makes four total that have been deadlined. Considering they’re now used for only a small portion of my practice (not for matches and never for carry), it’s a ridiculously high failure rate. I’ve got a dozen more still in the wrapper that I should probably just send back. But first I’m looking into a replacement spring to see if that can make all the problems go away.
I shot my first match (KSTG at the NRA Range) with the 1911:
If you think the reload looked bad there, you should see the ones during my F.A.S.T. runs. That’s one of the great things about videotaping yourself… it’s incontrovertible evidence of the mistakes you make. So I deconstructed the whole thing. Between dry fire, extensive dedicated slow fire practice, and some floating PAR drills I’ve been seeing pretty reasonable improvement. My near term goal is consistent sub-2 second runs.
Coming up next report will be one or two more practice sessions plus the inaugural Concealed Carry Skills class in Culpeper, Virginia.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
You can also follow and discuss via the pistol-forum.com 2012-2013 Endurance Test thread.
Previous Springfield/Warren 9mm 1911 Endurance Test posts at pistol-training.com:
- Report #5
- Report #4
- Report #3
- Report #2
- Report #1
- Springfield/Warren 9mm 1911: The Magazines
- Springfield/Warren 9mm 1911: The Gun
- I Own 1911s
- Springfield Endurance Test Guns
- Why 1911?
| a | b |
A dimpled slide stop can affect slide lock issues.
At one time, perhaps still, McCormick recommended against using a dimpled slide stop for that reason.
“The gun seems hell bent on hovering right at that 2,000 Mean Rounds Between Stoppage point.”
Y’know, I’d be totally comfortable with that. 8)
Tam — I’m comfortable enough that I’m still carrying it. But it’s still more than twice as frequent as the Glock (overall)… though coincidentally the same number of stoppages by this round count.
“Custom Carry Skills”
Can I take the class without a Shaggy?
=-P
BOM — even as I typed it, I knew something was wrong. Thanks! I’ll fix it.
Todd, is your right hand or pinkie finger in the way of the magazine dropping free?
You also seem to be dropping your hand pretty low during the reload.
Tony — no to blocking the mag, yes to having my hands too low. That’s one of the main things I worked on during my “deconstruction.”
I’ve had similar mag problems – not holding slide open. It seems to be an issue with plastic followers that eventually dimple/divot where it meets the slide stop. Sig fixed the issue with a thin metal cover over the follower where it meets the slide stop. No more divot.
I am betting new mag springs will fix your double-feed, FTE issue.
GS — Actually, the only mags that are working reliably are the Wilsons, which have a polymer follower. The Tripps and Metalform both use metal followers but have multiple problems.
Toodd, thoughts on a future test of the Beretta Px4? I’d like to know if you think a rotary barrel design is as reliable as a tilting barrel.
Todd- I’ve always had issues with plastic followers in 1911’s. Wilson 47D’s and the new ETM’s both failed to reliably lock the slide back and their springs weakened significantly faster than CMC’s. Not trying to be a CMC fanboy, but their mags have been dang near flawless for me in my guns (including the Springfield Pro I used to run). I would give them a call and see if they can cook up some 9mm mags for you.
Nice shooting on the move with that last popper!
Todd – In regards to the magazines, I noticed how in a previous test article you stated that the Wilson ETM mags gave you problems to start, but with a a little help from Wilson they now work well (or something to this effect). In the above comment, you conclude that the Wilson ETMs work reliably.
Can you elaborate on how Wilson helped you get them running reliably, if they did in fact do anything at all to assist with this?
Thanks in advance.
dtelston — Apparently, there is a finishing step that is done by hand to the followers to prevent them from binding in the mag catch cuts. Some of the mags I bought had missed that step, so Wilson sent me a handful of spare followers. I only replaced the ones that had caused problems initially, and now all of my Wilson mags are running properly.
Todd – thank you very much for your time and the information regarding 9mm 1911 mags for the WTL. Replacing the followers with an issue like this is surely an easy fix.
Thank you for running this endurance test as I’m always looking forward to reading the next one on this specific piece.
Todd… is there a way to ensure you get a proper “finished” Wilson mag without shooting X number of rounds to check it? As I’ve posted before I carry a 9mm 1911 on duty and I have had zero issues with it but use the 9 round Metalform mags. The springs get noticably weaker very quickly but still lock back. If the Wilson mags are working better and would get me one extra round that would be great.
Josh — After just a couple months of use I certainly cannot claim to be an expert. But in terms of the specific problem I was having, it is immediately noticeable. I could not load more than three rounds into some magazines because the edge of the follower would stick out the mag catch hole, jamming it. From what I’ve seen so far, either your follower does that from the beginning, or it’s fine. Even if it does it from the beginning, often simply forcing the next round into the mag will shave the edge and fix the problem. But when that doesn’t fix it, a properly polished follower will.