1911 guide spring rod

[Ebow1]

I traded in my P14, got myself an American Classic 1911A1. I love it, got a set of grips for it that I love. One problem, plastic guide rod. I need a metal one. I was wondering what some of the more experienced 1911 owners would recommend.

[LngRngShtr]

Mine all wear a Clark 2 pc Steel guiderods ... with a hole drilled in them for a paperclip to help takedown.. keeps the spring on the rod when you clean a comp gun..

You can do this for a 5" gun also you just need to have the recoil spring tunnel ridge cut look at the back of the "tube" where the plug goes,.. see the ridge ? it can leave it doesn't do anything. IPSC guns use a reverse plug on cone comps and bushing guns are sometimes cut like this so my 'smith cut my 5" Gold Cup slide so they all are the same now

Brownells makes a cutter to take it out by hand works like a charm then it doesn't matter if its a 1 or 2 pc. rod called a recoil spring tunnel ridge cutter

Servicing just got easier :

1. Lock pistol open

2. insert bent paperclip into hole in guide rod

3. release slide stop

4. remove slidestop,slide and then the guide rod comes out back of slide like the barrel set on bench, no need to argue with plug and spring leaving the bench without permission...

You can also keep a few assemblies in different spring rates depending on what you are doing a light one for Bullseye or Steel Challenge type loads and a heavier one for IPSC, or Ball ammo and an extra heavy for Bowling Pins or hunting loads.. I used to have 2 as my 5" did double duty as a Bulsey gun and IPSC Limited for a few years

Many years and many many rounds of ammo without a hitch... I can measure for the paperclip hole but some rods come pre-drilled,..I think Wilsons are...STI does/used to whole assemblies spring and all,. called recoilmasters

John

[USMCJG]

I traded in my P14, got myself an American Classic 1911A1. I love it, got a set of grips for it that I love. One problem, plastic guide rod. I need a metal one. I was wondering what some of the more experienced 1911 owners would recommend.

Nothing wrong with a plastic guide rod. Lots of very successful and very reliable pistols come standard with plastic guide rods. But if you really want metal, I like the traditional style (non full length)Ed Brown guide rods and plugs.

LngRngShtr, STI standard FLGRs are also pre-drilled for a paper clip.

[willis68]

I would just remove it, None of my 1911's have Guide Rods as they are not needed

[TN-popo]

I like the traditional style (non full length)Ed Brown guide rods and plugs.

I would just remove it, None of my 1911's have Guide Rods as they are not needed

Agreed and what I use as well.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I also have a Metro Arms American CLassic. It didn't come with a guide rod, plastic or otherwise. It has a plug and spring and works great. And has been 100% reliable when firing.

Here is a reiview of mine:

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/handguns/46092-american-classic-ii-picture-heavy-56k-beware.html

For the money they are very nice but not without issues. The sights are good but not great. On mine the rear sight cut isn't in the center of the sight. It will get getting replaced. I was having extractor issues that are now resolved with a new one. Some loaded rounds would hang on the front of the ejection port as I cleared the gun but firing was always 100% regardless of what I fed it. After replacing the extractor the clearing issue went away.

I also replaced the sear, disconnect, sear spring and mainspring with known quality pieces because mine is destined to be a carry gun. It isn't that I don't trust the MIM parts I replaced but I do trust machined parts. Many manufacturers have started to use MIM parts in their firearms including S&W, Colt, Remington as well as a few others. I have replaced a few other parts because of personal likes and not because it needs it. I am not even sure it needed the MIM parts replaced but I did.

The frame to slide fit is very tight for a budget gun. The barrel also locks up very tight and the bushing is also very tight. These lead to the accuracy I am seeing which is great. I am very, very pleased with mine. I have tried factory parts from Colt to check dimensions on the AC. It takes all the Colt parts easily without any issues. The only parts that need to be fitted were parts that would need to be fitted regardless of maker. I have about 300 rounds thru mine now without a single issue. I have fired factory FMJ, factory HP, reloaded SWC and reloaded FMJ's.

Dolomite

[LngRngShtr]

If all I owned were 5" 1911's I would agree with the above, other than to make it a bit more muzzle heavy it doesn't do much for reliability, but a compensated gun without a guide rod sucks to reassemble without one..and on a bushing comp gun I have not found a way to do it since the comp closes over the bushing..

But since I do own 2 race guns, I like the setup to change springs to suit the event the 5" is attending....

[Ebow1]

Well the good news is I put 100 cheapo rounds through it up at GNL Sunday without any problems. More good news I put a whole lot of rounds in the exact same spots on the paper. The bad news is I just need those spots to be in the middle of the paper.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Well the good news is I put 100 cheapo rounds through it up at GNL Sunday without any problems. More good news I put a whole lot of rounds in the exact same spots on the paper. The bad news is I just need those spots to be in the middle of the paper.

Mine is turning out to be very accurate as well.

Dolomite

[LngRngShtr]

Pictures of the targets and some here can read them,... does it hit where it is pointed from a rest ? fixed or adjustable sights ?

[Ebow1]

I'm low and to the left. I am however getting incredibly more consistent which is good in and of itself. I had roughly one big 50 round hole between the 8 and 9 rings. And before anybody pulls up the chart, I have a printoff of it, and I'm working to fix my problems. I must admit I was very surprised by how well it functioned. It said 7 round capacity but it fed 8 round mags just fine (came with it). I ended up trading those in for a pair of 7 round mags with a buddy simply because they just weren't flush with the magazine well. They would fit and feed but a little bit of the magazine would stick out and that just bugged me.

[LngRngShtr]

Just remember most of those charts are for one handed shooting, Shooting with two hands changes the dynamics,..

Consistency is good as long as it is consistent improvement

Enjoy your 1911

[Dolomite_supafly]

Are you by chance a regular shooter of striker fired pistols?

I was and I noticed that the first 50 or so rounds I fired were low as well. I actually thought something was wrong until I sat down and made a concerted effort to maintain a decent trigger pull. After that the groups seemed to come up a bit.

Mine also fired to the left but I corrected that with a sight adjustment. I now shoot to it to POA.

Dolomite