Update on Colt 1911 9 mm

[AGE]

John D, Rudy and Jim (and anybody else who cares),

I had the Colt (and a few others) to the range today for some exercise. I started with the Colt and Wal-Mart Winchester ammo. The gun with 10# spring and Wilson extractor had worked perfectly last week for 100 rounds. It worked 100 % perfectly for another 70 rounds of the same ammo--then the slide was beginning to slow down. I disassembeled the gun and could see no problems. The only lube available was from the dipstick of my Ford Explorer--it worked great. I fired the other 30 rounds in the box with no problems with the slide operating smoothly.

Then I decided to fire the PMC ammo that had given me trouble before. Rats, the first round failed to extract. I broke out another box of the Wal-Mart ammo and shot another 32 rounds in the Colt with perfect reliability. I wiped the gun off and put it away. Later I pulled the extractor and bent it a little more and ground off the pad at the end of the extractor a few more mils to let it move inward a little more and lubed the gun to get ready for the range again.

While at the range I decided to use up the remaining 30 or 40 rounds of PMC ammo in my '36 Luger shooter. At 25 yards 6 of the 7 rounds in the first magazine went into one hole right in the center of the target that measured 1" high by 1/2" wide. The seventh round opened the group up to 1.75". What an improvement over the 3-5" groups I got with the Colt, even with the V notch Luger sight and heavy (and a little gritty) trigger. I will try to post a scan of the target later (I have never succeeded yet). Anyway, the rest of the PMC ammo worked perfectly in the Luger.

I followed this with a few rounds from my Colt .45 SAA and Para Ord .45. Great Guns.

Rudy, I am blessed with easy access to state owned ranges both here at our summer place in WV and also in FL. Hunting is big in both states and the ranges are uncrowded during the week (great for us retirees). I understand your range access problem--I lived in CT for 5 years and I had to drive 1 hour to reach the only good range in the state (that I knew of).

I will continue to reload most calibers for economy--I can reload .45 LC and .44 mag for $3 per box (and some labor) while storebought ammo in these calibers costs over $20 per box. Finding 9 mm ammo at $11/100 gives me a good excuse to get lazy (from reloading). 9 mm is pleasing to shoot, not quite up to .45 thrills but close.