John D. and Jim (and anyone else interested),

I received the Wilson extractor and the 10# recoil spring in the mail today. You have to adjust the tension in the Wilson extractor, rats (it's absolutely straight when they ship it). I think I got it adjusted pretty well, it takes a lb. or so of force to slide out a case. The old recoil spring was much shorter than the new 10# spring.

I'm ready to head out to the range again--maybe Monday (retirement is tough, but someone has to do it--might as well be me).

Until later.

Hi Al..!!!!

OK- the SPEC on tension is 3 pounds - but to measure it, you'd need a special guage, and with your fingers - 1# feels a LOT like 3#'s :) .... Anyway - let us know how she runs, OK? Did you check the FPS against the new extractor, so you know it isn't clocking???

Best to you!!!!

John D.

It runs great. I just put 120 rounds of Waleymart Winchester through the gun. Everything worked perfectly--all rounds ejected properly, no early slide locks, and the slide always locked back after the last round. I guess the new extractor does the job.

With the longer 10# spring the gun kicks a little more. That surprised me--feels more like a .45 now.

John, from the 1911 forum I got a hint about measuring extractor tension without a gage. You can wrap a piece of fishing line or tape around the cartridge case, place it under the extractor, hold the slide horizontal and fasten a soft drink bottle to the line or tape and keep adding water until the weight pulls the case out. I didn't do that, but I did wrap a loop of tape around the case and leave another loop to pull on and then increased extractor tension until it took a sizable tug to pull it out.

Jim,

It's great to have a reliable 9 mm 1911. I think I'll enjoy this one, especially since it's so cheap and easy to feed.

AGE, do you ever shoot that old beat up Luger I sold you?

Ted,

Yes I do shoot the 1915 DWM that you sold me last year. However, since it's so old and yet beautiful, I put most of the wear and tear on my 1936 Mauser shooter (reblued by somebody unknown and wearing grips modified by Hugh). The DWM is spending the summer sleeping in my safe in FL while we are on our annual migration to WV.

After shooting these and my (former) frankenluger, I had to have a 1911 in 9 mm. Thus, these latest adventures. Us overgrown boys need toys to keep us out of trouble.

Along with the Luger, the Colt 1911 is also a piece that I enjoy shooting. I have the MK IV,series 70 1911 in the various calibers it was offered in, .22, 9mm, 38sup, and 45acp. I haven't picked up on the latest offerings yet, 10mm,etc.
I just can't help but mention one of the sweetest shooting 1911s I have is the one I converted to .30 Luger. For this conversion, I bored out a spare shot out barrel to accept a .30 sleeve turned out from a Hi-Power barrel. A good tight fit followed with a little silver solder and it was good to go. I use this barrel on the 9mm 1911. The stock spring works just fine. The accuracy is on par with the 9mm,very manageble recoil, and so far, no feeding problems.
I was once told that the 1911 was chambered for the .30L but I have yet to find such a barrel. The only glitch is the Hi power barrel is just a little shorter than the GI barrel.
Rudy Nilo

Rudy,

Your .30 Luger barrel sounds interesting, but my reason for wanting the 9 mm is economy without reloading. I now have multiple 1911s in .45 (high capacity, lightweight, GI, Gold Cup, hardball, gallery load, etc. and a few spares). I have a super accurate 1911 set up with a Day .22 Conversion unit with a Bomar rib to match my gallery gun. I previously had a .38 Gold Cup that I wore out (still sold it for 3X what I paid for it) and another set up with a Colt .22 conversion unit (couldn't get match accuracy from that one).

I'm getting too lazy to reload as much as I want to shoot so the 9 mm with Wallymart ammo fills the bill--.22s are too boring. Of course if I continue my past behavior and go for custom work on the 9 mm, I could have bought a lot of .45 ammo for the same $$.

Al,
I agree 100% with economical shooting. If not for reloading, I'd be lost! The problem in my neck of the woods is finding a place to shoot. We have indoor ranges available but understandable limits are placed on the shooters. I guess that's why I find myself "tinkering" more and shooting less! Once I get a few projects done, I'll go to the range to find out what bugs on what piece needs to be worked out. Than back home for more tuning.
Anyways, .22s ARE kinda boring,factory 9mm prices ARE getting to be attractive even to reloaders!
Rudy Nilo