Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivan the Butcher
I built about 40 1911's. Most with the GI guide rod and plug. But I built about 10 with long "Full Length" guide rods. When you have massive return spring tension, the FL guide rod keeps the spring from "Snaking" inside the gun and rubbing, causing FTE and stove pipping (Plus arresting recoil). Every FL guide rod I used was Two Part, with the rear half the same length as the GI guide rod, allowing the traditional take down procedure.
FL guide rods have a seam were the halves screw together. The means of turning the front half varies! Screw slot, Allen head, and small thru hole are the 3 I have worked with, there could easily be others!
If you don't have the neoprene (plastic) recoil buffer on the guide rod, you better git one! This will increase spring tension by about 1/2 pound on a 5" barrel (ON 45 ACP MODELS), about 1.5 pounds on 4" and about 6 pounds on 3.25" models. You may (read that as most likely) need to reduce return spring tension on 10mm models, because the start with so much higher power!
Wolfe and Wilson customer service are the people to talk to (Remington CS no longer exists!) Springs are relatively cheap. So buy at least one above and one below the recommended power. I Know Wilson made a 8 spring kit for 45's they may make one for 10mm (or make your own, just label which strength they are!)
Ivan
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My experience with a truly heavy recoil spring in the 1911 was in a Colt Delta Elite 10mm Auto. The factory dual coil springs and plastic guide rod was... an interesting concept with highly questionable results. In that 10mm, I did find that a full length guide rod and a 24 pound spring worked better. Better still, a flat bottom firing pin stop, heavy hammer spring, and a 20 pound recoil spring to tame slide velocity.
My only experience with a two piece full length guide rod came to an end when I found it could unscrew itself during extended firing sessions. I have used shock buffers, not a big fan of them on self defense 1911's as they shorten the distance the slide can travel and they can begin to disintegrate, potentially tying up the pistol, but they are fine on range guns.