WWI and WWII M1911’s

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Marcus99

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I recently picked up a 1944 Remington Rand M1911a1. It’s in the exact configuration and condition as it served in the Second World War down to every part, finish etc. (except the springs as I plan to carefully shoot it, I kept the originals. More on that below). It came with some period canvas Mills accessories and I picked up two additional Scovill mags which I also replaced the springs on.

As mentioned I replaced the springs, installed a Wilson shok-buf buffer pad, and am now in the process of working up a new load for this gun. I have an established load of 5.2gr of W231 pushing a 230gr RN plated bullet that I use in modern 1911’s and my Sig P220 suppressed, but for this old war vet I want something more mild. I’m starting with 4.3gr of W231 pushing a 230gr RN lead bullet, going up in .1gr increments until I find a load that reliably cycles the gun.

I’m now looking for a First World War M1911 of similar condition. Those seem harder to find.

IstmTN6.jpeg
 
I have the one pictured below, date of manufacture is 1918. The person I bought it from had it documented/verified by Colt and it was confirmed as having been shipped to the Springfield armory. Kinda cool holding history like that, I also have a .22 conversion kit for it, not quite as old as the pistol though. And... I can't bring myself to shoot it. I swore I'd never own a safe queen, but here I am, with a safe queen.

-chris

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I have a mild load for 230gr LRN I shoot through my older, collectible 1911's. For the life of me I don't recall what is as I haven't cooked up any in quite a while. I usually shoot my somewhat hotter loads (with either Titegroup or Ramshot Competition) but I believe my lighter loads were with Unique. If I find the time to check later tonight I'll post back with what that recipe is.
 
With a 230gr LRN I have 5.3gr of Unique as a nice mild load. For an even milder plinker I have 4.0gr of Trail Boss (yes, for .45acp) with the same 230gr LRN bullet. I put a 14lb recoil spring in one of my 100+ year old guns and it was a soft kitty of a recoil. Function was perfect.
 
Thanks for the info! I settled on 4.2gr of W231 pushing a lead 230gr RN bullet. I went as low as 4.0gr and it was still functioning albeit with very weak ejection.
 
4.5 bullseye and a 200 grain clswc is my go to soft shooting load. That's if your government 1911 will feed a swc reliably of course.
 
That should be plenty of W231 to cycle a standard spring. I used to use less than for 200 grainers. In the mid 3s. Made a nice soft shooting very accurate and clean load.
 
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