Small 1911 Pistols

WELCOME TO THE NO BS ZONE OF TEDDY JACOBSON
This subject is a never ending problem that I feel compelled to clear up once and for all. America is in love with the 45 acp caliber, always has been, always will be, there is no getting away from that. I have a great fondness for that caliber also but when I carried a Factory Colt Government model 1911 pistol in 1975 it let me down, because it was worked on people that were unable to correct the problem, thats how I got into learning about handguns.

Using a 5 inch government model with the necessary slide weight allows me to make a 1911 flawless in operation. When these manufacturers tell you that you have a 3 inch barrel always remember that they are including the chamber in that dimension, so in realitity you have 2 inches of rifling.

Lets assume you just must have a miniature 1911 design pistol that is chambered in 45 acp caliber with a 3 inch barrel. Lacking the slide weight of the government model which uses a factory stardard recoil spring rated at 16 lbs, your new small 45 acp pistol must use spring power to compensate for lack of slide weight. Many companies have no choice but to use a captivated dual recoil spring system (approx. 22 lbs.) in the short cycle of this small compact 1911 design pistol.

A great deal must happen when you try and feed weak ball ammo in a small 1911 pistol. First you must not have too much tension on your extractor or the bullet will not feed. If its not enough tension the extractor will not pull the empty case out of the chamber. As the slide is coming forward so very fast because of the strong dual recoil spring system if your extractor is too tight it will not allow the rim of the case to get under the extractor claw and it will not chamber a bullet, it will lack about 1/4 inch of allowing the slide to close into full battery.

So lets say your extractor is set correctly with the proper relief cut, now we have the problem of whether the weak ball ammo will have enough energy to cycle the slide all the way back fighting this new captive dual recoil spring that is very strong in order to eject the spent case with sufficient rearward force or you will either get a smoke stack jam or the empty cases will hit you in the head.

Lets go one step further and say it works with ball ammo flawlessly. We are now faced with another problem, we do not know whether your box of factory full metal jacketed ammo is filled with fast or slow burning powder. Remember you only have 2 inches of rifling, if you have slow burning powder most of your powder will be burning outside the front of your barrel and that could give you a velocity of 650 feet per second (estimated).

Do you really want to carry a 230 grain bullet that is a full metal jacket traveling at that speed. Now if you are using a fast burning powder you will pick up some velocity. Most factories will never tell you what specific powder they are using, do not take my word for it, call 4 or 5 ammunition companies and ask them exactly what brand primers and what brand and how much powder they are using in their 230 FMJ ammo, see what they say.

Now lets say your captivated dual recoil spring is so strong it will not work with ball ammo, period..... NOW you can only use +p ammo because you are stuck with a dual recoil spring assembly where there are no replacement options.
My rule of thumb is I never carry any handgun where I can not achieve 1000 feet per second regardless of what caliber I use.

It is my personal opinion that if you want to carry a small 45 acp pistol, the best one out there is the Glock 36, although it is not a 1911 design that you are in love with. Another very good small 45 acp is the HK USP in 45 acp in the compact version. This is reality, deal with it, you do not like it, "TOUGH" - "IT IS WHAT IT IS".

There are other issues I have not covered in this 1911 compact design of the small mini pistol but you now understand why I can not recommend them. Aluminum alloy frames take a beating also, especially using very hot ammo. You do not have the killing machine you think you do packing that mini 1911 pistol with ball ammo loaded with 6 rounds, compared to my mini Glock 27 loaded with 9 or 10 rounds of 40 caliber +P+ ammo traveling at 1250 feet per second.


AUTHORS PERSONAL NOTATION:
This commentary as well as all my previous commentaries are my personal opinion only and my personal viewpoint only. Please note how many hits there are on this counter as it has only been up for about 3 months. These BS wannabbee websites do not get this amount of hits in a year or more.
Our PROJECT STREET GUN has had a tremendous amount of positive email and phone calls and we will be getting started very soon. I will accomodate all sincere people. I personally will finish every project gun to be sure its perfect.
Thankyou very much for your kind emails. When you write me please send a copy to Mr. Camp as he has a special folder set up for every TEAM MEMBER.


Teddy Jacobson / Pistolsmith
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