Brand new to 1911's

[Will Bison]

Well kinda sorta new. After perusing alllllll the various forums, sites, books and whatever, I felt like I was left behind in the early part of the last century. I got my first 1911 in the early 60's, carried one in Viet Nam but offed my personal piece in the '70s.

After looking at all the many brand names and all the whistles and bells available I did the plain Jane Springer thing. Got the green one, GI Joe model.

I picked up two thousand rounds of hardball so I don't expect I'll shoot too many of those fancy "dixie cup" bullets. It's primarily a car gun/open carry gun. I do have a Bianchi pancake for occasional CC. This is gonna be a plinking gun but I also like an authoritative pistol to carry on auto trips. I don't need 50 cent piece groups at 25 yards. I want reliable operation and will concede some accuracy to that end.

What after market items should I be looking at for continued reliability? The fit, feel and functionality of the single sided controls are fine as is. I suppose my other question is "what's gonna bust first"?

[Mikey]

Will - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  If the GI 45, by any maker, fits, feels and functions to your satisfaction, then use it as is.  Lots of folks find themselves with unreliable pistols after they have 'enhanced' them and if you are to be using this as a carry gun you will want it 100% reliable.

You asked - 'what's gonna bust first'?.  Nothing is gonna bust, actually, but at the 5K round mark you may wish to consider a new set of springs for the piece.  

If the sights, fit and feel, and function of the piece is what you want, and expect in similarity to the 45 you carried in SE Asia, then leave it be and enjoy it.  Mikey.

[Flash]

Unless it's hidden somewhere in your message, what kind did you get? Plane Jane Springer  aka  Springfield? I personally would get an extendent magazine release and adjustable sights. Oh, and recoil buffers plus some spare magazines.

[Vern Humphrey]

I'm gonna go along with the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach.

Do you plan to shoot a lot of different loads?  Then you don't need adjustable sight -- get it shooting where you aim, and stick with one load and fixed sights will do just fine.

New springs -- basically just the recoil spring -- ever 5,000 or so rounds is a good idea.  The standard spring is 16 lbs, some people like to go to an 18 lb spring.

Recoil buffers are iffy -- some guns won't function reliably with them.  My carry gun is a Kimber, and Kimber advises against recoil buffers in their pistols.  My old carry gun was an Argentine M1927 (a M1911A1 made in Argentina, on Colt machinery under Colt supervision.)  It would not function reliably with a buffer installed.

Extended safties, slide lock and magazine releases are popular, but I never found them worth while in a carry pistol.  The downside is, extended controls can be activated accidentally -- for example, you can drop a magazine or activate the slide lock accidentally.

Extra magazines are a good idea -- I always carry at least one loaded spare, and preferrably two.  I like Chip McCormic "Shooting Star" magazines, and find the 8-round versions function perfectly in all my M1911s.

[Will Bison]

Well I did get a few rounds fired and it works great. Then the snow came so shooting of any kind is now off 'till Summer.