How many rounds?

[1911crazy]

1.How many rounds does it take to break in a 1911a1 in 45acp?

2.Do you do any thing special before or while breaking in your new 1911a1?  (I have heard that some will polish their frame rails)

3.How long did it take before your brand new 1911a1 was finally broken in to where it was reliable and dependable to where you would carry it? (Some guns are tighter than others and need a break in time)

4.How many rounds do you go thru at the range on a normal day?
 (I found that a having a 1911a1 working properly I go thru more ammo now. On a normal day i would shoot 1 or 2 boxes of ammo. Now i may have to take 500rds with me.)

Any opinions on brand new tight fitting 1911a1's?  

BTW: We talked about loose fitting slides on 1911a1's but what about brand new guns with tight fitting slides. I also understand a 1911/1911a1 has to have that "rattle" too and some looseness is acceptable thats what makes it more reliable and dependable. But now its in the other direction about being too tight when its a brand new one.

[jakes10mm]

Let's See:
1.  Pistol dependent in my experience.  Recently, my SW1911 didn't require a "break-in"....from shot one it fed and ejected perfectly.  My Colt 1991 Govt...took about 250-300 rounds.  During that time, it failed to fully return to battery on many occassions.  Then, without any real indication "why", it became 100% reliable.  Everyone that I have owned, except the rare SW1911, has required a couple hundred rounds until they have smoothed themselves out and become reliable.

2.  Tried toothpaste once to "hone" the slide-frame rails.  If you want the polished effect, you can try the fine valve grinding compounds.  One recommendation....COMPLETE disassemble the 1911 and only work the bare slide and frame if you do this.  Grinding compound will not do you any favors in the trigger, hammer, or firing pin areas.

3.  Worst case...about 300 rounds, average probably pushing 200 rounds.

4.  100-200 rounds...depending if I have more that one firearm with me.

Regarding the "tight" fitting slide.....go shoot it and break it in before you start worrying about changing anything.  If you keep your firearm in good clean working order, the tight fit should not be a problem, but potentially a slight accuracy advantage (given all other parts are fit correctly).  You're pistol is not going to get tighter with age, so go with it and see what happens.

[williamlayton]

I would agree with Jakes.
Blessings

PS- I am still trying to break in the HEN but she is very stubborn.

[Mikey]

D MAN - I would put at least (at the very least) 500 rounds of factory/mil-spec hardball through it before I even played with other loads.  You want that piece to settle into where she is gonna shoot before you start, ummmm, improving things.  You might find that she shoots just perfectly for you and you have no complaints and prefer to carry it that way after about 5-600 rounds.  If you throw a couple of hundred down range and then make changes, she might yet settle in somewhere else.

I shot the snot out of my Springer before I found I needed improvements.  I made them at probably the 1K round mark and she hasn't changed a bit.  Now I shoot anything I want to from it at the range because I know where she is going to shoot with my carry ammo.

I will burn up about 200 rounds at a range session, whether pistol or revolver.  What Jake said about breakin is correct for functional use but I have always preferred additional useage before trying improvements.  

You just need to get to the range a couple of times with it.  500 rounds of hardball 45 in one day is a lot of shooting and not condusive to accuracy determinations due to shooter fatigue.  HTH.  Mikey.

[unclenick]

It depends on the nature of the tightening.  Russ Carniak used to point out that the looseness in GI .45’s was to comply with a test criterion imposed back when it was under consideration as the new service pistol.  It had to withstand being immersed in water, then in sand, then keep on firing.  Maybe some mud got in there as well.  I’ve forgotten.  It was a criterion geared toward trench warfare, and Russ felt that unless we were planning to fight WW I over again, it made no sense to compromise consistency of the action’s working motions toward that end.  A properly fit gun would be tighter, more accurate, and feed more reliably than the original loose GI gun.  It would not, however, be as tight as a wad gun for bull’s eye match shooting.

In any event, if you buy a tight factory gun, like a Kimber, by all means run a couple hundred rounds of ball through it.  People who want a little light lapping to speed things up often now load it with J.B. Bore Compound.  This stuff won’t cut enough metal to hurt the gun even if you fail to remove it all successfully.  

If you get a gun hand fit for carry, it should already be lapped enough to be a little looser than a top target pistol, but still very accurate and reliable.  I would always run the couple of hundred rounds anyway, but don’t expect it to stop unless the smith has told you he left some of it tight enough to need the extra wear.

Nick

[jro45]

My Springfield 45. When I first bought this gun new I just shot it [ a box of 50 rounds ] took it home and cleaned it. Reloaded those 50 and did the same next week and didn't have any problems at all. But thats how I brake in all my guns. Nothing special, just shoot them.