1911SC Oil or Grease on Rails?

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csdmann

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I have an opportunity to purchase a 1911sc from 2004. Original box, magazines, and not shot much at all. I am looking for input on this pistol: Being a Scandium frame is the recoil bad? I am not recoil sensitive but wondering how the .45auto acts out of this gun. Are these older 1911sc's a good gun? Was S&W building these good back in 2004. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am considering this for my next purchase. I have included a picture of the gun.
 

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I'm afraid that I'm not a great source for a review on this one, but I have VERY strong feelings on the decline of S&W and I'll say emphatically that if you are sure this is from 2004 then I would pay more, a lot more, for a this one used than anything S&W is making now, and I'll stand by that with all the energy I've got.

As to the pistol, a good buddy of mine grabbed one of these brand new a handful of years ago, his would have been made maybe 2010 or so. I ran a box of ammo through it and found that it ran well and was accurate, a little punchy in recoil but not awful. But one odd problem:

The left stock split in to two piece in my hands during my last magazine from the one box of ammo I put through. Never had that happen before! Definitely not an indictment on quality... likely a flaw in the wood, pretty random and S&W was lickity split in sending him out a replacement.

With all that said...
Are you sure about the 2004 date? I tend to think that this model was pretty new to market when my buddy showed up with it. 2004 seems like a LONG time ago, was this one truly out that long ago? 2014 seems more likely. But truly, I don't know.
 
I may have the manufacture date wrong. Either way it is an older SC model. I know they still make a Scandium frame one now but it is of course different.
 
Old bill board, depending on the price jump on it. Great pistols. And no, the recoil isn't anything to be concerned with. You never said how much they wanted for it? It could be a no brainer?
 
Good solid reliable pistol those. Its a NO Brainer at that price I feel.
 
I bought one used (JRE prefix) in December 2005. Paid $630 for it which included the complete package as in your photo.

As I have been downsizing a bit, it and a couple of others were replaced by a Dan Wesson ECP in .45.

It was a great shooter.
 
Love mine, shoots like a dream. I can tell no difference in recoil in it and my full size Springfrield Custom Carry .
 
I have owned 2 of them....first one was stolen and was JRE4825.....great gun. I found another in a gun show and traded a Sig 229 for it...both parties are happy!
The replacement is almost as accurate as my SA National Match gun and is tied with my Dan Wesson Pointman Major made before CZ bought them . doesn't seem to care what ammo I put into it, just feeds them all!

Grab it quick before someone else figures it out.......

Randy
 
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I was fortunate to get one of the Gunsite editions of this pistol while they were still available. Ordered it from S&W through my LGS about $1K out the door. Very happy with that gun. I recently put Crimson Trace Laser Grips on it and tucked the Herritts with the Raven logos away for safe keeping.
 
I picked up my JRE prefix billboard 1911SC about 3 years ago. I traded a M13 no dash 6" and $350 for it. I had about $400 in the M13, so figure about $750. Great trade...I love this 1911. A little snappy, but not bad. Very accurate and a dream to carry. When I first got it, I carried it condition 2 with a techniclip...so basically "Mexican carry". Got away from that now and carry it condition 1 in a paddle kydex holster mainly around the house. It's my nightstand gun and I can just roll out of bed and slip the paddle inside my waistband. It's light enough that the drawstring on the shorts I wear to bed can hold it up. It's no longer in my daily rotation, but I carried it for several months before I relegated it to nightstand duty. Definitely the easiest carrying Commander sized 1911 I've ever owned. There's a lot of threads on the forum extolling the virtues of the JRD and JRE early 1911SC's. Do a search and read about it. With the shape it's in and all the attendant accoutrements included, I'd say it's worth in the $800 to $850 range. I'd jump on it in a heartbeat if it was less than $800.
 

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csdmann said:
I have an opportunity to purchase a 1911sc from 2004. Original box, magazines, and not shot much at all. I am looking for input on this pistol: Being a Scandium frame is the recoil bad? I am not recoil sensitive but wondering how the .45auto acts out of this gun. Are these older 1911sc's a good gun? Was S&W building these good back in 2004. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I am considering this for my next purchase. I have included a picture of the gun.
Click to expand...

csdmann,

Buy it. Recoil is not bad and the guns made during that time period are great. During the early days of the 1911s they used Briley barrels and the guns shot very well. I was the LE guy for the west when the 1911 came out and still have both of my first sample guns with a "JRD" prefix. Both shoot like match pistols and I plan on having them buried with me. :D It's may or may not be well known, but one of the reasons S&W got into the 1911 market was because of Kimber. We did all of the forging for Kimber on their 1911s so we had a leg up on getting started and we built a better pistol. They would send a truck from New York (from what I was told) at least once a week to pick up the forgings for their guns. I believe that S&W still makes one of the better 1911s on the market and have recommended them to a lot of friends. I've worked on a lot of 1911s in my career as an LE armorer and gunsmith and consistency in workmanship in S&W's 1911s has always been very good. Of course I'm very biased.
 
I would make a recommendation that I do not believe was mentioned; take it apart and inspect the frame rails. I have seen a couple Sc's that were not properly greased and had excessive wear of the frame rails, even after only a few hundred rounds. Yes Scandium is tough, but it's no match for un-lubricated stainless steel. My Sc that has always been generously greased, and has over 1,000 rounds though it and shows no sign of any frame rail wear. Other than that precaution, it's a great pistol that will serve one well for many years.
A final item; I replaced the factory firing pin stop with a small radius firing pin stop and installed a heavier main spring, those two changes will help reduce and tame the recoil as well without changing the pistol timing.......
 
I bought a JRE with the atomic billboard new back in the day. In short it has been a fantastic gun.

I recall being surprised at the accuracy. It was exceptional for this price point. But what has amazed me over the years is the durability of the Sc alloy. I decided to use it as a carry gun and was concerned about the effect of hollow points on the feed ramp. Ran many hundreds of rounds of old school hydra shocks and also some 200 gr gold dots. Literally not a scratch on the feed ramp

Shot it quite a bit. The MIM hammer developed a little hairline crack which S&W replaced in usual fashion (paid shipping both ways, back in 10 days). The crack did not shut the gun down.

Still carry it from time to time. Inspired me to buy a full-size with Sc frame back then too, then an all steel full-size . Still have both Sc guns - the all steel got sold.

Oh yeah. Buy it.
 
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To be honest, I don't know why S&W even bothers with scandium on the 1911s. The typical lightweight commander from Colt, Ruger, Springfield, and etc weighs the same without any concern for strength with 99% of loads shoot out of them. Recoil on a 30oz 1911 45acp is not bad. My 40oz 1911 10mm feels about the same as a lightweight commander which is like plus p 38spl in an airweight. I wouldn't mind shooting 200 rounds a day through the lightweight commanders if I had to.
 
Loyaljeeper said:
To be honest, I don't know why S&W even bothers with scandium on the 1911s.
Click to expand...

Three reasons I can think of:

1) At that time aluminum feed ramps were considered fragile. I have some scarred up Colt ramps from hollow points that nose dived and impressed their tip edges into the feed ramp as the slide came to a halt. The fix for this at the time was a ramped barrel. Ramped barrels in 45 are inherently less reliable than the traditional feedramp/barrel arrangement. Yes they can be made to work but they are problematic in 45. The Sc alloy fixed that problem and they could go with the traditional ramp on the frame setup.

2) Old AL framed Colts were pretty famous for developing cracks at the base of the dust cover. Modern alloys improve this greatly, and SC alloy beats them all in this department.

3) Marketing. The 1911 marketplace is very crowded, and any differentiating factor is a big plus.
 
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1911SC

I too was looking at this but didn't have the $1,000 he's asking for it. If I hadn't just purchased a EMP3 I would have given it a more serious thought. These don't come up very often in our neck of the woods!
 
Thank you again to all that offered information and input. I am very happy that I did purchase this gun. My question now is with a scandium frame should I be using Oil or Grease. The gun does look like new and there is not a lot of wear on the rails/frame. I usually use a Wilson Combat oil that stays very well in place. I did purchase some Tetra Gun Grease. Can I use my regular oil or will the Gun Grease be better to avoid possible wear on this Scandium frame?
 
I think many will say grease, because grease stays. I love that it stays (mostly) but what I have found is grease that stays also collects filth and scum which also stays. A quality lube flows and I lube 'em immediately before a range session and I wipe the old oil out and put a light coat back in when I get home.

I like a red grease (Shooter's Choice) for the locking lugs and the barrel to bushing fit because I don't notice it turning in to a dark, dirty sludge there where I do when grease is on frame rails.

I believe if you use either, either will work perfectly well as long as you change it out often.

I'll say this! :D If we are talking "GUN LUBE", I expect nobody whatsoever to agree.
 
Like Sevens said, you'll get a lot of opinions on gun lube. I use moly grease on my 1911SC rails. True, it will gunk up if not cleaned after a range session, but I always clean after a range session and re-grease. I was told moly grease (molybdenum disulfide) was best for the steel-aluminum (or scandium) interface at the rails by the forum's foremost gunsmith.
 
Properly applied, I use either Wilson's oil or Brownells gun grease.
Much more important is change it often and don't let crud accumulate!
 
lube

csdmann said:
Thank you again to all that offered information and input. I am very happy that I did purchase this gun. My question now is with a scandium frame should I be using Oil or Grease. The gun does look like new and there is not a lot of wear on the rails/frame. I usually use a Wilson Combat oil that stays very well in place. I did purchase some Tetra Gun Grease. Can I use my regular oil or will the Gun Grease be better to avoid possible wear on this Scandium frame?
Click to expand...

Use whatever you like best............there will be as many opinions as there are people......

Randy
 
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