Re: 1911 buffer question
wow, opinions. my grandfather had a saying aboutt opinions, lol. there is a guy that does the gunshow curcuit as the 1911 armourer, fixes stuff while you wait sometimes if its not too bad. old guy, looks like he carried one and worked on one in the service. anyway, he says always run them. my buddy has been in guns all his life. buys sells and trades. shoots 1911 in idpa and has 10-15 kimbers NIB squirreled away. knows 1911s by experience, but still takes his stuff to a smith. didnt know how to get the mag release out when i asked him, and wouldnt try. thats what a smith is for.
me, i get a hard on for 1911s after last man standing and ask my bud to get me a decent cheap 1911 so i can get hands on. i want to see what that safety is like, can i feel good about locked and cocked, decocking. ive never had a pistol at that worked like this. ive just had a glock 17L and 19, an XD45. my main pistol is a p7m13 so ive never had a safety per se. well i put in a buffer like the armourer said and immediately i have issues. my buddy is all "it was fine when i tested it before i sold it to you, take out the buffer". take it out, still issues. so i replace recoil spring and no more issues. add buffer, still no issues. can it save me some life on the frame? sure. some say they didnt come with a buffer when colt made them and cite the long use in the military issue... what are you gonna do? use it, if it dont cause issues great. if it does, dont use it, they are cheap, you can get a buddy to let you try one. if i were gonna carry, i would leave it out. that being said, my pillow kimber has one and i am confident in it after never having any range issues. but it just came out of the safe when i sold my xd. i still to put sabers in it.
that really didnt answer your question as much as i meant it to illustrate what people have said on both sides. im by no means an expert, i asked two knowlegable that had 1911 experience. got to different thoughts. i took a little from colum a, little from b and did my own thing. it wont hurt, it may help, replace your recoil spring when you get your gun unless its new sounds like a helpful hint. its cheap and easy to do and then you know its life cycle. if in doubt, whip it out...er, take it out, you know, if your life is on the line. and if you have doubts, take it to a smith unless you can fix it. but what do i know. like my grandfather always said, opinions are like ass holes, they are all over the internet