Jack Spade

I ordered some springs and the hone for the main spring housing. Is there a way to tell what weight a spring is? I have some assorted 1911 recoil springs but don't remember what they are, can I measure them somehow?

Anyone have spring weight recommendations?

One of our older shooters was paring down some guns and brought one to a match today where I bought it. What can anyone tell me about the Para Ordnance Wild Bunch 1911? It seems pretty stiff like it needs some springs changed to ease/smooth operation for competition. Looking forward to seeing what your opinion is of these.

I will do some more investigating now that I am not in the heat of competition and try to analyze what exactly was happening. I will report back.

So I ran into a problem with my Auto Ordnance 1911 at the Ides of March wild bunch side match over the weekend. The pistol shot and ran fine at home before I went. Loaded magazines with 7 rounds, using 7 round colt and springfield magazines. First stage, pulled pistol, racked the slide and it hung up, wouldn't strip a round and go into battery. Fiddled with the mag and release and finally got it to go. Mag was fully seated and latched. Next mag same thing. Had to push on mag and hit the slide release. I normally slingshot the slide, wouldn't work. Finally got to a stage that only had 5 rounds loaded in the mag and it cycled and fed perfectly through 5 magazines. I am thinking too much spring pressure in the magazines. Can I cut off one coil of the mag spring? Any other thoughts on what is causing my problem. Thanks

I am not sure what he called them. Said they were a legal modification to still shoot traditional category. They are fixed but taller front and rear. Had to file the front to shoot with my load.

That's what I use and it is great. I sent mine to Boggus Deal and had him upgrade the sights. I shoot traditional.

Anyone shooting the wild bunch match at the Ides of March this year? I am planning on it.

I understand bobbing it completely off would be illegal, is it illegal to just shorten the spur a bit to stop the biting?

The pistol I have is the Auto Ordnance A1 clone. Looks like I will be bobbing the hammer. I guess first question I have, is it legal for WB if I bob it? If it is, anyone have any pics of how they have done it or other pointers? Thanks

I am shooting an auto ordnance 1911 and shooting traditional category. I have shot different 1911's all my life but never had one bite me like this one does. First time out it drew blood on my hand. This time I gripped it really hard with my ring and little finger putting more pressure on the bottom of the grip and while it didn't draw blood it left a welt. Do I need to bob the hammer? Anything else I need to do to stop this? Will a flat main spring housing help? Gun is just for shooting wild bunch so I don't mind modifying it.

Thanks for all the replies, to update this thread I have bought an Auto Ordnance and sent the slide to Bogus Deal and had new sights put on it. Been working up a load using WST and 230 grain bullet. Have not been shooting lately because it is HOT in Florida but plan on starting back probably in September. Looking forward to using this new pistol in wild bunch.

Looks like the majority think the way I do. Keep them separate. It is nice to come to a forum and have a conversation with knowledgeable folks and get a straight answer.

That is my plan for now, just toss them in a bucket and wait until the die comes back in stock or I find one used at a reasonable price.

I can find the bulge buster lots of places, cheaper at midway, but everyone is out of stock on the factory crimp die.

Thanks for the help guys. I will look for a bulge buster.

I just recently started reloading 45 acp. I load on a dillon 650 with dillon dies. I run all my completed rounds through a shell checker/gauge and I have quite a few that fail. I am using used brass so I have no idea where it came from or what gun it was shot in. Is it normal to have a lot of failures? When I say a lot it is 1-2%.

I knew to avoid the 3" duck guns. I was planning on cutting the poly choke off, just wasn't sure what the consensus was on how far to go. The one with the poly choke also has a shortened stock and I think will be an awesome wild bunch gun.

I was at the Tulsa gun show over the weekend and picked up a couple of model 12 wild bunch candidates. Both are well loved/used no bluing left, one has had the barrel cut off to 26 inches, other has been cut and has a poly choke and the stock has been , no collector value whatsoever. So what mods should be done to these to make them full fledged wild bunch guns? I will be test firing them this week to check for function. I plan on shortening the barrels, what length do you like? Which springs, firing pin, etc? Let's hear your thoughts.

I am just learning this game so open to suggestions. I want to stay in traditional category. I guess I will start off with what bullet weight and load do you recommend because I know that effects which springs you would also recommend. For this match I loaded up some 200 gr swc's at 800 fps average. I have heard that 230's loaded at lower velocity to meet power factor actually recoil less but I haven't had time to experiment with this yet. What mods do you recommend besides springs? What do you do to improve the sights? Thanks for the help.

Here is some more information. I shoot traditional. The pistol I was shooting yesterday was a "franken" gun that I picked up cheap. it is a put together parts gun, aluminum frame, SS slide, GI barrel, assorted parts and pieces from who knows what guns. The magazines are either new colt or new springfield 7 round mags. I tested the mags in two other 1911's and they worked perfect. The gun failed to go into battery several times, failed to eject twice, and on a one round reload it didn't feed the cartridge into the barrel and I had to dump the mag, reload the cartridge and try again. The ammo is loaded on my Dillon 650 and every round is checked in a chamber gauge. I think in the future I am going to load new brass for any big matches and use my used brass at local wild bunch events. I may drop in a new set of springs and see if that solves any of my problems but regardless, I am not spending the money on this one to go to a smith to make it run. It isn't worth it. The parts are worth what I paid for it so I am not out anything. So I am in the market for a 1911, either one ready to run from someone who doesn't shoot wild bunch anymore, someone's spare, or I would take recommendations on what new gun to buy.

Shot my first big wild bunch match yesterday and the pistol I brought performed less than stellar. Had hiccups all day. The gun I was using is not worth spending any more money on. I am looking for a 1911 that is slicked up and ready to run wild bunch. Let me know what you have. Thanks

I found some Vectan Ba9 at my local gun shop. I loaded 45 acp and shot it at the Ides of March wild bunch match yesterday. Worked great and it shoots pretty clean. I went to their website and found the load data. They showed 5.9 as the minimum load, I backed it off to 5.7 and it wouldn't cycle the gun. Wound up loading I think 6.1 to meet power factor out of my gun. Will probably have to work up your own load with it as there isn't a lot of data available but I do like the powder and the price. Paid $25 a bottle here in florida.

If a supplier or individual has a Wild Bunch ready model 12 for sale could you please PM me? Thanks