I went shooting yesterday with some guys from church. I had forgotten how much I love the M1911A1. Wonderful pointing, accurate enough and when those big bullets hit milk jugs, they fly.
I had planned to sight in the 3x-9x40 scope on the AR-15, but that's hard to do when shivering. Late spring, maybe.
Cleaned both guns this morning. During field stripping, I failed to hold the recoil spring plug, and it launched across the garage. When trying to reassemble, I found myself wondering how I had forgotten the "fun" involved. At least when the recoil spring launched, the extra weight gave me a slower moving target to look for with less range to search.
What was so hard? The Browning Hi-Power reassembles slightly differently, and I was doing it wrong. It has been some years since I cleaned the M1911A1.
As much as I love it, I won't be using it instead my Browning as a carry gun if I go to... Wait a minute, the only place that I have been recently that both recognizes my many carry permits and is that scary is Hartford, Conn.
After lusting after a BHP for many, many years, I finally bought one a few months ago. Only fired it once, about 2 mags worth, as it's very difficult for me to rack the slide, especially if the hammer is down. Yes, I'm not nearly as strong at 74 as I was at 34, but.... An M1911, of which I have at least a half-dozen, including variants, is no trouble at all.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is pretty, and it feels good in the hand, but the M1911 is equally attractive. I should buy a nice blued M1911 one day....
Jim,
ReplyDeleteif you had the original 1911 JMB designed firing pin stop plate in your various 1911a1 variants, you would probably make the same complaint about racking it with the hammer down. The original design has a square bottom corner that the hammer works against. The -A1 version has a large radius in place of that corner, to make racking easier. Since the Army mandated condition 3 carry, soldiers were having to rack it against the hammer, and much bitching was heard. The military didn't like JMB's grip safety for loaded carry, and the later thumb safety they requested was made redundant when they mandated empty chamber, hammer down carry. The military brass mind on display.
That corner design was part of the recoil management, which then suffered when others made changes, probably without fully understanding the dynamics involved. I think the recoil spring weight changed due to this, but memory is fuzzy on it.