What's Old Is New Again
Firehand has rediscovered a lost secret from John Moses Browning to reduce 1911 recoil. It seems the Army thought the 1911 was too difficult to hand cycle the slide with the hammer down. As expected, manipulating the mechanics to acommodate user weakness resulted in functional weakness of the mechanism.
Chris Byrne gives his thoughts as well.
More on altering percieved 1911 recoil through firing pin stop manipulation can be found here.
Evolution Gun Works stocks the part. Fifteen bucks and a bit of file work, and Bob's your Uncle.
Labels: 1911 Basics, Gunsmithing
posted by Xavier at 9:57 PM
7 Comments:
Firehand has some real gems and this is no exception. I didn't realise that the army had been stupid enough to mess with something as basic to the design of the gun as the locked travel!
Fools and idiots, cretins and vandals!
JMB knew exactly what he was doing with that design.
I wouldn't be surprised to see longer life from the locking ribs in the slide and barrel and less battering of the frame on pistols put back to the way they should be.
perhaps it is harder to cycle, but hammers and firing pin stops are cheaper to change if they wear than a slide barrel and frame!
this certainly alters the criticisms of the swinging barrel link and its' moving of the locking faces when they are under load.
It's a bit like doctors thinking they know better than God or evolution what parts a human body should and shouldn't have....
Keith
Interesting article. Do you have any ideas on controlling recoil for a Springfield XD? Mine is only a 9mm, but the gun is so light it kicks like a mule.
So Xav, as I attempt to navigate through your dry wit and comments, can I ask: Do you think the modification would be fruitful in attenuating muzzle flip? If you do, do you think that it would be too detrimental to the weapon? If so, can you explain why for the record please?
I, in all seriousness, am a design engineer and a 1911 shooter and would like to learn more from your experience with the weapon. You tend to give straight forward, insightful commentary and suggestions.
You can never teach this old dog too many new (or rehashed) tricks (as long as they are good ones)....
Lost in Jacksonville
Thanks for the tip, Xavier. Getting 3 on order.
Seems to me you should get a quantity discount, though....
Not so much of a secret if you tune on High Powers much. Increasing the radius can smooth out a light spring light load pistol too.
Lost in Jacksonville, go to M1911.Org, hit the forums and go down to the gunsmithing, troubleshooting & refinishing section. In the 'gunsmithing sticky threads' at the top you'll find threads on a lot of information, the one in particular I used is here:
http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=13060
Lots of other good information. From what I read, this change in the stop radius will both delay unlocking- which seems to take a fair amount of stress off the locking lugs and link- and cause the slide to use more of the energy cocking the hammer than with a standard FPS, which tends to slow the slide down, which should reduce battering on the frame/slide.
I just tried a modified stop in a compact 1911, and- to me at least- the reduction in muzzle rise and twist to the right was surprising. While having the radius too small could cause short-cycling problems, I cannot see where it could cause any damage to the firearm.
Yeah, I just realized I reposted the link that Xavier used in the post.
Hey, how much brilliance you want from a guy?
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