Transcription
[Music] What's going on everybody? Welcome back. I am glad you're here.
So, today is going to be the response to without a doubt like the most requested thing I've had on this channel thus far. Now, I made a a post recently basically telling everybody, "Look, the channel's gotten too big where I can't respond to every single comment anymore." Um, especially the ones where people are asking me to provide them links for 10 different products. Uh, that is a frustrating request. I'm not going to lie. It's um, if you guys realize that in the past two and a half months I've had 6,300 comments. Um, and a huge number of those, more than a thousand very easily, have been that question. And I, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to respond a thousand times to that question. I made that post basically saying I can't keep up with it anymore and you guys are going to have to do your own research.
However, I am going to try to meet you halfway. Now, I'm not going to put out a list and post it so you guys can reference it. I'm not going to do that. Here's why. I've already done that once and then the product numbers change and people go buy the product number that I listed and it's wrong and then they get upset and so I'm not doing that anymore. What I'm asking you guys to do, and I'm not trying to be ugly by saying this to you, I'm saying this so you're not upset at me and so you don't get the wrong thing. You guys need to do your own research. You need to use Google for yourself. I'm not googling things for you. And yes, people ask me to do that all the time. So, I'm going to show you the products that I use, but then you need to go hunt them down and make sure they're the right thing. I, I can't do that for you. Okay.
So, what we're going to be talking about are the big three that I always say are your responsibility to get right. Now, there's people who say the manufacturers know what they're doing and they get it right and I say you're wrong and I make videos about it and so I, I just don't agree with that. The me, no manufacturer on the factory category is doing mags springs properly. So, the reason I say it's your responsibility because it's your gun. You bought it. They're not doing it right. You got to pick up the slack. And I'm just saying this is a reality. We can get upset and say how it should be. And I'm not really here to litigate that, but I'm just telling you if you want your gun to run right, in my opinion, what is so vital that you need to get right, not get upset that the manufacturer didn't do it, but just, just do it. Just fix it. That is magazines, springs, and proper lubrication. If you'll notice, I didn't say special ammo. I didn't say a tuned extractor. I didn't say make up some special concoction of lubrication because I don't agree with any of that. The big three are those three: magazines, springs, lubrication.
So, I'm going to tell you what I do in those categories to every single 1911 that I get. It doesn't matter the brand. It doesn't matter if it's modern, if it's old school like this one. It doesn't matter if it's got this type of hammer, that type of hammer, if it's got unicorn hoofs on it, if it's got it, it doesn't matter. Like every proper five-inch 1911 in 45, and that's all I use. This is the same treatment they get across the board, unless there's an extenuating circumstance like my Kimber, which I've talked about in the past where I did have to use a different uh weight mainspring, but, um, that's another video for another time. So, and that's also worth pointing out. I'm not talking about 9mm s, uh, 38 supers. I'm not talking about commanders. I'm not talking about officer size. This is for 45 full size, all steel. That's it. And just so you know, and again guys, I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just trying to answer all the questions in advance that people are going to ask so I'm thorough. Um, I, I'm not going to recommend 9mm or 38 super springs. I'm not going to recommend Commander Springs. I, I'm not, I don't do any of that. And here's why. I could Google it and tell you what Google says. But here's the problem. Google's not always right. Because what Google's going to give you, or any search is going to give you, it's going to index likely, you know, forums and you're going to get people's opinions, which aren't always correct. The springs and the things that I use in these guns, the reason I recommend them is because I have tested them over 15 years. And so I have bet my life on them. I've watched them work over tens of thousands of rounds. I know for certain these products work. And so it's just an integrity thing. I can't in good conscience go Google a bunch of data for you guys and throw it at you because I don't know if that's right. So, I don't shoot 9 mil. I don't shoot commander. Anyway, that's what this is for. So, we're talking about a very specific, well, really the only true 1911, really.
All right. So, let's start with springs. So, the first thing I do on any 1911 when I first get it is take it completely apart, clean it, and while it's apart, I go ahead and swap the springs. Now, um, a lot of people get really upset because they feel like I should like quote unquote give the factory springs a chance. I don't need to. I don't need to. I can look at a leaf spring, for instance, and just know right away whether or not I'm going to, it's going to last. Um, recoil springs are always wrong 100% of the time. I've never popped a 1911 open from the factory and the recoil spring be right. So, I don't need to shoot it. Doesn't matter. It's not going to last. So, basically starting out, I use a Wilson Combat bulletproof leaf spring. Now, their factory plus is also good, but if you want in what is in my opinion the very best leaf spring, these are tough. Uh, they really hold their, um, the bends you put in them better than anything. They last forever. These are the way to go and they're like eight bucks. And so, these are super affordable for literally the best leaf spring on the planet in my opinion. Um, now what do I mean by that? So, you know, when you're tuning a leaf spring, basically you are, you know, putting bends in these hands, right? Let me just go ahead and pop this out of the package. Okay. So, these hands have to be bent to put the appropriate amount of pressure on your sear, on your disconnector, and on your grip safety. And so what you find on a lot of factory leaf springs is you'll put your bend in them and you put the gun together and then about a week later you take it back out because your gun feels funny and those springs have gone back. They've bent back. That doesn't happen on these bulletproof leaf springs. These are very, very stiff, very tough springs. So whatever pitch you put in them is going to stay. And really the only way to for that to not happen is you bend it too much and too far and you just break it right in half. Now, that's never happened to me, but I'm just telling you these springs, this is a lifetime spring, okay? I, I trust these. My, uh, Springfield Armory has one of these in it from like 10, 12 years ago. It's the same one. It's, it's still there. I've never had to like retune it or replace it. So, this is a lifetime product in my opinion. Now, as of today, the product number is 417, but don't go by that. Okay? I'm going to say this over and over in this video because people seem to not get it. And again, I'm not trying to be mean, but I say these things and then people comment and I'm like, "Boy, you just didn't hear what I said." So, don't Google Wilson Combat 417. You need to look up Wilson Combat Bulletproof Sear Spring. Okay? That's what you need to to research. That's what I use in all my guns.
Next up, we've got the recoil spring. Without a doubt, the one that has caused me more controversy than anything for one simple reason. I gave out a part number for this product. And since then, Wilson Combat changed the product number. People went and bought it. It's not correct. And now they're like, "Well, crap. Now I've got a spring I don't want to use." So, as of today, this is a 10G16 recoil spring. Please don't search that. Go on MidwayUSA, search Wilson Combat 16lb recoil spring, and it's going to call it like a heavy-duty recoil spring. Okay, this is the one you want. Full size 1911, 16 pound recoil spring. If you want to go 17, it's not going to hurt it. But look, um, I've made videos on this. I'm probably gonna have to make another one. But the reason I go for the 16lb is that is the stock standard spring that's been around from from the beginning, okay? As far as we can tell. Um, I've made videos on this talking about like how far apart the coils are supposed to be, how long the spring is supposed to be overall. I think it's 6 and 1/2 inches. How long it's supposed to be at full compression. I think it's 1 and 5/8 inches. The diameter of the spring, the make of the steel, these specs have been around for 114 years. This spring is the one that matches those. And then also, I have watched these springs from Wilson Combat perform over 15 years. Nobody's going to talk me out of these. And now, here's the thing. People are going to ask, "What about chrome silicon?" No. Uh, what about this brand? What about that brand? Guys, the only two brands that I can speak to that I trust are Wilson Combat. That's my number one. And then Wolf, but my preferred is Wilson because this is what I have the majority of my experience with. So, what to search here is not the product number. Don't do that because in a year's time it could change and then you're going to be upset. Search Wilson Combat 16lb recoil spring. Make sure it's for the full-size gun for 45. And there you go. That's the recoil spring that I put in all my guns. No exceptions.
Next up is the main spring. Now, this one, I said this earlier, but this can be hit and miss. Some manufacturers are getting their, uh, main springs right. Some aren't. T-s seems to be the only one right now that I've seen where you can pretty much just leave the main spring in there. Um, in fact, I have a pile of main springs like this one because I bought them expecting it to be wrong and I pulled it out and went, "Well, would you look at that? It's actually right." So, I just left it in there. If you're going to buy a, uh, hammer spring, the, the correct poundage for a full-size all-steel 45 gun is 23 pounds. And I buy Wolf, uh, main springs because they're the most affordable and they're solid, uh, springs. This is one of those areas where like if you were really questioning whether you need to change this spring, I would say this is the least important one. I do it because like there's a lot into this, right? There's you want to make sure that you have, uh, you know, an appropriate lock time, meaning the time it takes for the hammer to fall after you break the sear. You want to make sure that you have the appropriate weight so you're not getting soft primer strikes because some manufacturers use really hard primers. Uh, let's say the gun's really dirty. You want to have enough weight to push through all that grit and get an appropriate hammer strike. There's a lot of reasons why you want the right main spring. And that's it. I don't do plunger springs. Um, you know, if you wanted to do an extra power firing pin, uh, firing pin spring, you could, but the deal with those is pretty much all manufacturers now know that you need to do a titanium firing pin with an extra power, uh, firing pin spring. I don't really know of too many who don't do that, right? Because it's a liability thing for them. And also, for them to be able to sell their guns in certain states, they have to pass certain standards for drop test safety. And so that's a real standard thing across the board. I don't really know anybody who's doing like carbon steel pins with, you know, short springs. So if you want to change it, you can, but I think across the board pretty much everybody's doing that, right? I don't change anything else though, like, you know, plunger spring. You know, really, honestly, guys, if your plunger spring here is a little weak, just take it and pull on it. Just freaking stretch it out real hard. And guess what? You just added a bunch of weight to the spring. So, that's all I ever do. I think I, I think I've only changed a plunger spring like once or twice.
Okay, let's move on to, uh, this one really quick. So, this is something I do standard across every single pistol I own. And this is because I have had the unfortunate experience of having grip screws, uh, strip out. Uh, what, what's even worse is it spins the bushing in the frame as you tighten it and then the bushing strips the frame out. That is a nightmare. That's what happened to me. So to prevent that, what I do is I use these. You can find them on Amazon. They're Chalice grip screw O-rings. These are very thin. They're not like the ones you get from VZ grips that are super super thick. If you look inside one of your grip panels, you have this flat portion inside the screw, uh, hole, right? And that is where the head of the screw is bottoming out on the grip panel and pulling it into the pistol. Now, that's fine. That works. However, as you're tightening it down, you're, you're really bearing down on the grip, which is then putting stress on the end of your screw. Not the end of the world. However, what you can do to help, uh, not put so much, so much stress on the screw is using these O-rings. Now, instead of that screw bearing down on that hard plastic or, uh, bone or Micarta, whatever your grip's made out of, it's bearing down on the rubber, which smushes as you tighten it. And so, it acts sort of like a brake pad, right? And so now the thing that's getting pushed down and compressed is the rubber, not your threads. Now, people are going to dispute this and go right ahead. That's fine. But I have seen over years of taking grip screws out of guns and, you know, just when you're cleaning them, that last little bit of the grip screw doesn't have the threads rounded off when I use these, uh, O-rings. You guys can say that's not scientific. I'm not here to litigate that. I'm just telling you my experience. If, if you don't care about that, here is an undeniable fact. O-rings act as vibration isolators. So, if anybody has ever had grip screws come loose on your 1911, I know you can pick up brass and tighten them. It's super old school. I get it. But what's even better is for your grip screws to not come loose. Now, some people would say tighten them down really hard and all that. Again, you are risking stripping out your bushings and your screws. I hate that idea. What these O-rings do is they act as vibration isolators. My grip screws absolutely never come loose. And my screws are not that tight. They, they are not that tight. I take that screwdriver and once I feel them start to grab, I just go just like an eighth of a turn, maybe a quarter turn. And, and now it's just smashing that little O-ring flat. Stop. So, not only do your grip screws not have to be as tight, which is going to spare your threads across the board, it's also going to keep them from backing out. And so, this is such a cheap solution to a problem that can be a real nightmare if you do it wrong like I have in the past. So, this is a 24-pack, 12 bucks, worth every penny.
All right, let's talk magazines. This one's really important. Really, really important. So before I even talk about magazines, people are going to ask, "What about this brand? What about that brand?" I don't know. Okay, I have a lot of mags. I've got MetGars. I've got random, you know, bargain bin magazines. I've got Colts. I've got, gosh, you name it. I, I have somewhere around 70 or 80 1911 magazines. I probably 20 of them need to be thrown away. I don't use them anymore. The springs are shot. The followers are beat up. The, the lips warp. They're rusted. I just, I don't, I don't use them anymore. They're just kind of in a basket in a chest in my garage. The magazines that I use are the ones that I use. If you guys are going to ask, "What about your magazines?" I'm just going to tell you these are the ones that I use. Okay? So, all of these magazines are from the same manufacturer. People say that it's Checkmate who makes them. People say that it's this guy, it's that guy. I don't know. All I'm telling you is these are the magazines that I use. So, my, my preferred is Springfield Armory. These are like 15 bucks on Midway. These are the seven rounders. They're all steel, welded base plate, proper follower, nice strong spring. These just have worked in every properly built 1911 for 15 years. They're just proven for me and nobody can talk me out of them. Like I've just seen too many guns work with these. And, uh, now my older ones, I've got two right now that are causing failures to feed. And I know because I isolate those magazines out when those failures start happening and the failures go away. So, your, your springs can get weak in these and they can start causing problems. But overall, this is my go-to standard magazine. Springfield Armory 7-rounder. There you go. Next up would be the Springfield Armory with the base plate. It's the same exact magazine except it is stainless and it has a base plate. Same mag. They work great. So there you go. There's those. Next up is Checkmate. It's the same magazine. The only difference is this one is Parkerized and it has a little stamp there saying that it's Checkmate. Same follower, same spring, seven rounds. Uh, next is Kimber. Again, this is the same magazine as these other mags. They're the same thing. The only difference is this is stainless with a good polish on it. It has the same follower, same welded base plate. It's the same. Last on this list, uh, would probably be Colt. It seems to be made in the same factory as these. Like all the markings are identical, the dimensions and everything. However, the Colt has a little bit of a different follower. So, I didn't put this one on the, that one on the table because I don't know about that one. I haven't shot it a ton, but I know about these. So, Springfield Armory Mags, Checkmate, Kimber. They're all the same magazine with different finishes. At the end of the day, these are the ones I recommend. That's it. I'll say this about Wilson Combat Mags. Now, to prove to you I'm not anti-Wilson Combat, there you go. Like, I just recommended to you their products. So, I'm not anti-Wilson Combat. But here's the deal. The 47 Delta Mags from Wilson Combat are not magical. They do not solve all feed problems. They're not as durable as people report they are, and they, they don't work in all guns. I've seen it. Um, the base plates on those pop off way too easy. The followers can kick up and out and get, you know, caught up in the action. It's happened to me. Uh, I don't like plastic followers. So, I don't think they're these amazing perfect magazines that work in everything. These mags have a far better track record for me than Wilson Combat 47Ds do. Now, I own, I think four or five 47Ds. They're okay. They're fine. But if I'm gonna trust my life, these are the ones. And it's not just like catastrophic failures of their mags that I've seen, which is very minimal. Let, I'm going to say it's happened like twice, okay? But I have not had that with these mags ever. I've not had any mags just like fall apart. I've had them wear out, you know, after 15 years. That's fair, right? That's expected. But I've never had them just like rapid unplanned disassembly, right? I've never had that happen. So, it's not just about the critical failures. It's about how they feed. I've talked about this a lot, but there's some mags that it's like, okay, it worked technically, but barely. Like you can hear that it feeds rough and it's clunky and it feels like the gun's right on the edge of wanting to jam up and the cases are real scratched up and marred as they feed, right? That's not normal. These mags, if the gun is set up properly and built properly, they feed super super smooth. There's like no resistance. These are what I recommend. So, I'm happy for you guys to make your comments and say what works for you. I'm glad your stuff works for you. I'm just talking. If you're asking the question, here's my answer. It's those four: Um, Springfields, Checkmates, Kimbers, and if you want the base plate, I'm sticking with Springfield as well.
What holster do I use? El Paso Summer Cruiser. Uh, this is a recent purchase, but pretty much anything like this, you know, the Milt Sparks, Galco Summer Comfort. This is it. This is my main. So, there you go.
And then another very frequently asked question, what defensive ammo do I carry? And you're about to be very underwhelmed, my friends. This is what I use. This is Remington UMC jacketed hollow points. They are nothing special. Here's the deal. Here's what I believe. I believe a 230 grain bullet chambered in 45 going about 850 feet per second has been working for a long time. So, that's what I carry. The only reason that I carry these is because they're 230 grain going about 850 feet per second. That's it. I don't believe in magic bullets. I don't, I don't believe in any of that. I think at the end of the day, when you factor in, you know, differences of barriers, you know, clothes, glass, you know, doors, wood, plaster, all these things, hollow points are not guaranteed to work. And so, what I want is I want the right diameter. I want the right weight and I want it to run in my gun. That's what I care about. I don't care about plus P. Again, this 230 grain 45 has been working for too many years for somebody to argue and say it needs to be plus P. Now, if you, if that's what you do, I'm not judging you. That's okay. You, you make your choices for yourself. And if, if it's working for you, I wish you the best and I wish you never have to use it. Um, but because people ask, this is what I use. So, this box of 50 is 35 bucks. What's great about these is I carry them once they start getting a little beat up from being loaded in mags and chambered and all that, I just go to the range and shoot them and order another box. I shoot the whole 50 and I have been doing this. I probably buy a box a quarter. I run all 50 rounds through whatever 1911. And every single 1911 I own has run a box of UMC's. And, and keep in mind these are like beat up, you know, UMC's. They're not like fresh out of the box. Now, they run fresh out of the box fine. I've done that. But I'm just saying like it's not optimal optimal conditions. And all my 1911s run these. So, all of the people who say 1911s can't run hollow points, how do I even calculate this? I guess over like the past six, seven, eight years that I've been carrying these since I gave up the magic bullet belief. Um, I mean, just I guess do the math. Two, 250 rounds a year I've shot out of my whatever gun, uh, with hollow points. I've never had a failure. Never. Not once. People that say 1911s have to run ball, have an improperly built 1911. They're not using good mags. They're the gun is not properly sprung. It's not properly lubricated. Or here's the last one. They're using bullets that have a very weird profile. So while I don't agree that, you know, 1911s have to have ball to run, that's not true. What they do have to have is a slightly rounded nose. And really, it doesn't even have to be the tip because what's happening, right? It's hitting the feed ramp and it's not hitting the feed ramp on the mouth. It's hitting the feed ramp on the side. Then it makes the turn and then what's happening? It's hitting the barrel hood and it's making the turn. Right? So, as long as it's profiled correctly, it works. And I've proved that over years with thousands of rounds of these. Like I, guys, I, I've been doing this same thing for a long, long time.
All right, and then let's close the video out with lubrication because we talked about mags, we talked about springs, we talked about, you know, some extra stuff like the grip O-rings, holsters, hollow points, all that stuff. And then lastly, we're going to talk about how to properly lubricate the 1911. Now, this is a quick lubrication. Um, there, you know, if you go do my, look at my disassembly video, I talk about in there just basic, like as the whole gun is stripped, how do you lube things as you put it back together. This is like a basic, you know, what you should do once the internals are lubricated and all that. This is just like your basic lubrication process. So, personally, I am going to take the slide off. So, the 1911 is not like your polymer whiz pistols. They have some extra places that require lubrication. Okay. So, I'm going to start with the frame. First of all, I'm going to put, and by the way, I'm using just 5W30 here. Been using this for years and years and years and years. So, all the people telling me that the additives are going to turn your gun into table salt. Okay. Well, you know, 10 years and that hasn't happened yet. So, maybe it'll be 11 years. That's when it'll happen. Um, all right. So, I'm putting a little bit of oil down on the disconnector. Okay. And basically, that disconnector is in a little channel in a hole. I just want to make sure it can slide up and down freely. Next, I'm going to put just a little bead on either side of the hammer. Whoops. And then do not drop your hammer on your frame. So, I'm, I'm keeping the trigger pulled and I'm just working the hammer back and forth. Okay. And I should see a little bit of runout on the back of the hammer. I want to make sure that hammer pin that's going through and capturing the hammer is lubricated. So, that's spinning freely. Okay. Other than that, I'm going to run a quick bead on the rails. And don't be afraid to go a little bit ham bone here because if there's too much in the gun, it's going to push it out. It's that simple. You're not going to malfunction your pistol by putting too much lube. And the people that say, "What happens if you drop it in the dirt?" Don't drop it in the dirt. All right. So, I did the rails and then I also put a tiny little drop on my thumb safety detent. Just so that's nice and free. On the slide, I like to just make sure that the bottom of the bolt is, I just run a little bead like that. And then just make sure it's wet. That's it. Nothing crazy. And, uh, that's about it. Going to put my barrel in. And now this is really, really, really important. Your barrel link is a very important center for reliability in the 1911. Make sure it's lubed. Like, I can't emphasize that enough. So, I'm going to put it down on the pin that captures the barrel link. Work it back and forth. Okay. I also like to take some and just do like that. One little stripe across the barrel. And the reason is so that my guide rod or plug, as I like to call it, can slide nicely on the bottom of that barrel. There's nothing grabbing and interfering. Now, before I put it all back together, I'm going to put in my bushing. And then I'm going to push the barrel all the way forward. And I'm going to just hose it on there. Okay. Rub it in with my finger. Just spread it out. Then I'm going to grab it by the link and I'm just going to work it back and forth. Okay. Then once it's back, you're going to see a lot of excess there. I just wipe out that excess. You don't need to have it that wet. All right. No, I do not lubricate my springs. They usually do a pretty good job of not rusting. All right. And then, uh, I'm going to put the gun back together. Okay. Next thing is slide stop pin. Now mine is visibly wet with lubrication. This is another part you need to make sure is lubricated. Um, it cannot be dry. It will not run. The gun will cease to function if your barrel link is, uh, really, really dry. It might run for a little while, but I'm not going to chance it. All right. So, now the gun is back together. Want to get rid of some of the excess. Okay. And then we're still not done. I'm going to do one more thing here. I'm going to take a bead and I'm going to go on the top of the barrel hood. Let that run down the side. Over the top bead, run down the side. So, I'm putting a big enough drip to where it's going to literally roll down the side of the barrel hood. And then want to work that in. Okay. So, now right now there is legit too much oil in it. But this is where you run the action and keep running it. Like, really work it in. Make sure it's, you know, spreading out and everything. Now, if you, what if you didn't work it in? It doesn't matter. When you shoot, it's going to just spit oil all over your face. And so, that'll be that. It's not a big deal. But the gun is not going to cease working because you put too much oil on it. Unless, I don't know, unless you literally just submerge it in a tub of cold oil and maybe it would have some, uh, some hydro issues there. But yeah, and that's it, guys. So, if you've done all of that, that's what I do. Um, that's how I lube the gun. That's how I spring it. That's, you know, those are the mags I use. Those are the bullets I use. That is the list. I hope that was thorough for everyone. I know it's going to be a little bit of a longer video, but I like to be thorough. I like to be descriptive and make sure that everything is laid out. I give my reasoning. So, hope that was helpful for everybody. And this will become the, the reference video for what I do to my 1911s. So, hope that helped you guys out. We will see you on the next one. [Music]