Garrison Joe

Maybe you are not logged in when all you get is the Report/Share on the 3 dots. Course, you only should get Edit and Delete on the post or reply message you created. (Could be the moderators get to edit/delete them also, usually they would on a forum board.) good luck, GJ

No, no height restrictions for holster or they would be in the rules. Remember to keep it simple. In WB, holster holds the 1911 till you need it, lets you draw cleanly, and you reholster off the clock. Hard to beat something about like this: https://www.mernickleholsters.com/shop/1911-Wild-Bunch-Classic-Style-Holster-Only-p314904869 Note the ejection port is covered, trigger covered (mostly) and the front drops half inch or so, for a little faster draw. Open toe. This one puts the grip just above the belt, letting fingers have clear access. Make enough mag holders to carry 6. Whether you like some rifle or shotgun shells on your gun belt (I don't), you will need to consider how you will carry some. Slides work for some folks. A separate belt just for a few S/G and a few rifle seems overkill to me. good luck, GJ

TIMOTHY! Wish I could come. Best of luck with it! GJ

Mitchell Mausers are not fakes. They are rebuilds, usually with a new stock. As long as they have original sights and have not been sporterized, they are legal for BAMM. Would a serious collector want one for his military collection? Probably not. But if you want a shooter, it would be worth considering. GJ

All of the Yugo Mausers (M24, M24/47 or the M47 Yugo Mauser) are good rifles for BAMM. That 44 you see on the side of action is the plant number = Preduzece 44. That plant is now Zastava Arms. It's a good plant that updated a lot of Model 24 Yugo Mausers (and modified M24s to 24/47) and made the M47. Do be aware that the magazine well is slightly shorter length on a Yugo Mauser than on German and Belgian (etc) Mausers. That shorter action means a standard Mauser stock will not fit a Yugo Mauser, and the Yugo's cannot feed a really long 8MM (aka 7.92MM) Mauser cartridge, but it will fit most ammo you would use for BAMM just fine. I have a couple of them, and since they got a new barrel in the late 1940s (Yugo under Communist regime), they are often very accurate. The M47 Yugos have been declared legal for WB as the design is considered WW II even if guns were actually built after the war. That French MAS you saw is also a good BAMM rifle, but the ammo is harder to find than the Mauser 8mm, which itself right now is about like Hen's Teeth. Sometimes Privi Partisan lots will hit some of the vendors. Another rifle that is a current favorite is the K31 straight pull Swiss rifle shooting 7.5x55 Swiss ammo. Also hard to find ammo for now. The K31 is a real tack driver, and usually well cared for by a fine Swiss militia man (or woman) during the 1940s and 50s. good luck, GJ

Thanks for the data on RS14 powder! Well, RS14 has a couple things not going for it. Haven't heard of anyone in USA carrying it, distributing it, etc. "absurdly expensive" - yeah, that is surely what I'd want to shoot action pistol with. One big reason I never used TB. The 300 Blackout shooters may want to pay that and search for that. I understand they were the ones driving the prices on the last supplies of TB out through the roof in the last year. SO many other good choices available to US shooters. good luck, GJ

Many powders will support your switch over. There is no powder closely comparable to Trail Boss, because of it's extremely fluffy consistency. But it's at the root a quick burning pistol cartridge powder. Many of those are around. Red Dot comes to mind first. Win Super Target (WST) is a long time, proven, highly accurate powder in the .45 auto. And it works in the .45 Colt cartridge too. Clay Dot is often available and will do anything that Red Dot can. And any of these three powders load a very nice WB 12 gauge shotshell, too. And if needed, probably another 15 powders on the market will do yeoman's duty. 231 and TiteGroup and Unique will work well, as well. Very little need for anxiousness about not having any great choices available. Better to pay attention to what powder(s) you can get most reliably, in case the next few years are anything like the last 3 years. And several periods of time before that. good luck, GJ

If a major match (state and above) is being held and the ROs are not current with RO training, I'd like to know so I don't spend time and money to come out. 😄 good luck, GJ

Shoot it a lot. But if you want faster results, look for tight rubbed spots in the blueing on the action and front end. The worst of these, stone lightly and try again. If this doesn't fix things, a trip to a good Model 12 shop is probably in order. Nu-Line in Missouri is one I have used for a major rebuild, they were "quick" and "reasonable cost." I'd bet your gunsmith free-with-purchase cleaning involved wiping off the bolt face and running a patch or two down the barrel. Not enough to solve stiff operation. good luck, GJ

I've written before about the things I've learned from Wilson and other 1911 builders, and my own experience shooting 1911s for 50 years, but here's a short discussion for Wild Bunch. Power factor we shoot in the .45 auto is about 160. Which compares to a factory .45 auto load that makes about 195 PF. So we shoot a light but not bullseye- target-light load. That is what "drives" your need for a 1911 recoil and main spring set. Several builders understand that the recoil spring and mainspring need to work as a balanced pair for best function and reliability. Both are fully active during the operation of the slide. The mainspring is not just "a hammer spring," it assists in taming part of the recoil of the slide. Keep them balanced with the mainspring three to five pounds heavier than the recoil spring. The 1911s coming from most makers today are sprung to handle that factory load 195 PF all day long, and run for 100 years (just about). And even shoot +P level loads. Colt uses (and has used) these spring weights with a simple single coil recoil and mainspring spring in a 5" 1911 in .45 auto for years: 16 pound recoil spring and a 23 pound mainspring. That gives long life and excellent function. But the slide can be a bear for some folks to retract, and to drop the slide release. The springs that I find are "strong enough" to let our lighter loads at 160 PF run reliably and without damage occurring to the gun and with easier racking and dropping of the slide, are: 14 to 15 pound recoil spring and 19 pound mainspring. With a broken-in smooth running gun, and a mainspring housing honed to remove any internal roughness. The Wilson guideline for checking that you have a proper weight of recoil and mainspring in the gun that I also follow is: Fire a magazine of the loads you will normally run. Mark where you were standing and where the center of the group of ejected brass fell. Measure that distance. If the distance the brass was tossed is less than about 5 feet, you have stronger springs than you need for that load. 5 to 10 feet - nice springs. More than 10 feet - weak springs that can be allowing damage to occur to the frame. Then check that well-manufactured rounds always fully feed from full magazines. Other problem areas (including ammo and mags) can affect that second check, but if the rest of the gun is running well, proper springs will never cause any problems feeding or ejecting. Trigger is driven by one leaf of the 3-legged sear spring. Try to just use a factory spring from a good maker - no bending or thinning. Then, when you replace THAT spring after 20,000 rounds or so, you can put a replacement in and be pretty certain it will still work. Firing pin spring is something I never tinker with by installing a non-factory weight spring. The 1911 hits a FP hard, no need to go to a light FP spring. And the factory spring seems to protect from unwanted firing of a dropped, off-thumb-safety gun. My advise - don't drop loaded 1911s! A spring that IS useful to swap with a lighter than factory part is the magazine release button spring. As often as we drop mags on the clock, you need to be 100% certain you get both good mag retention when shooting and fast reliable drops of mags when empty. Hope this helps. Just because a maker has specialty springs for special uses, you don't need to be buying them UNLESS YOU HAVE A WELL THOUGHT OUT REASON! good luck, GJ

I've found that, even with recent advances in metallurgy, tool steel ends up being more impact and wear resistant than even the "knife blade" stainless steels. Otherwise, die cutting and stamping tools would be made with stainless. Even my pocket knives are alloy steel rather than stainless. So, if you want to exact match an otherwise stainless gun, go stainless. Otherwise, the strongest blued steel part, bar stock or forged, is what I'd want. And the extractor in 1911? Only the rear end of it is visible to observers. So "optics" don't matter much at all on that part. good luck, GJ

From that serial number, and the fact it has the collet barrel bushing marks on the barrel (I'll bet it still has that collet bushing in it), I'd have thought it was built in 1974. My main match gun was, and has a serial that is about 850 lower than the one in the pics. Perhaps they were only cranking 200 guns a year in that Govt model back then. That's a nice gun. Wish I needed another. Mine still is going strong. Good luck with a sale! GJ

Found their guarantee statement: Hard to do better than that, unless you find one that says they will refund any match fees on the day it broke - in addition to a replacement part. 😄 GJ

I like the Wilson bulletproof extractor. Machined from s7 tool steel. Holds tension very well. Run that in my guns. Think they will replace it if you ever break it. Doubt you will. Worth the extra $5 or so. Such as: https://shopwilsoncombat.com/EXTRACTOR-80-SERIES-1911-45-ACP-BULLET-PROOF-BLUE/productinfo/415-80/ Make sure you at least get one with the Series 80 plunger retainer stud and at least forged or bar stock steel material. good luck, GJ

One does not win wars making inaccurate guns. I think we taught the British that in 1775-1781. Most pistols have more accuracy than their owners ever discover. good luck, GJ

Sounds like you did not slide the stop all the way up to get a solid click of the FP popping back into the hole of the stop - that pop is what locks the stop in place. Since your failure occurred on first attempt at a shot after "lubing the FP" you probably nudged the stop enough to prevent the seating of the FP into the stop when you stuck that oil syringe in the hole, then pulled it back out. I would not lube a FP unless I took it all apart and cleaned the FP, bore and spring first. And, on reassembly, eyeball the end of the FP to make sure it has popped up - if not, the hammer will never touch it and you get continuous failures to fire. Glad you learned a bunch. It's well worth knowing how to do a deep disassembly on a 1911 - it will save you trips to a smith when you need to replace a 1911 part that really only takes a few minutes. Also glad your loads now work! shoot fast, and good luck, GJ

The firing pin stop needs to ft pretty snugly in the extractor and slide slot. Slightly oversize (thickness and width) firing pin stops are available from the higher end 1911 parts shops. These need to be fitted to give a real snug fit. I doubt that you lost the stop because a FP spring was weak. It's just that the stop is loose in the slide and extractor. This can let the extractor twist ("clock") and start giving feed and extraction failures if the fit is bad enough that a lot of clocking happens. Your stop fell out with the impact of the slide going to battery. Bad news when that happens. Check yours for any wiggle with the FP and spring removed. Replace if you find wiggle. And just to be detailed about the check, check the slot in the rear of slide that it's not damaged/chipped out. good luck, GJ

If you believe you NEED a shock buffer because you see impact problems with frame, you need to raise your spring tensions to handle the recoil. Or back off those +P+ rounds. If you want a buffer because you drank the KoolAid and believe it makes the gun shoot easier, just stop. For Wild Bunch especially, there is no need to shoot loads that are damaging the gun. A 160 or so Power Factor WB load is way below what even standard factory loads run. 1911 was not designed to use shock buffs and sticking them in creates a pending disaster when you least need it. good luck, GJ

If you ever want to remove them - high-quality rubber cement. If not, I use contact cement for such materials, where one is one rigid and one flexible. good luck, GJ

Never have gotten very "wound up" about concerns over the firing pin spring strength. 😉 Get a quality one and it will run longer than the other springs you put in the gun. Sure would not pay through the nose for a different spring than most good makers supply. The FP spring really only gets troublesome for two things. Too light, and a dropped gun with live round in chamber and no FP interlock might have a very small chance of firing. Too heavy, and in an especially light-mainspring gun, you might have primers fail to fire. But I've not seen that. Usually just the FP bore needs to be cleaned out when FTF happens. good luck, GJ

Easiest first step might just to be to get a new thumb safety and replace the factory one. The engagement surfaces on the thumb safety are an intricate shape and can be worn or damaged without giving a hint to the operator. I found that out on my Colt, attempting to make my own extended lever on the safety way back when extended safeties first showed up. After fiddling with trying to figure out how I had made it fail to hold, I just replaced it with a new thumb safety. The recoil, MAINspring and firing pin springs are pretty heavy from the factory in many 1911s. Even the 3-leg sear/trigger spring can be heavy. Replacing those is part of the work in tuning the 1911 for action sports like WB. For the 150-160 Power Factor loads, I like a 15# recoil spring, 19# mainspring, and a high-end sear spring (those can be lightened to ease off the trigger pull with judicious bending) in my Colt 1911s. I also install a lighter mag release button spring. Honing the mainspring housing spring bore with a Flexihone (Brownells has them in the right size) usually helps that lighter mainspring run without dragging in it's channel. Try to lighten the recoil spring weight in concert with lightening the mainspring, since they work real well when they provide somewhat balanced amounts of combined spring forces storing and releasing the energy of a recoil cycle. You will need the thumb safety to work to pass a major match inspection of the safety. But, of course, we never use it "in action" in WB. I have not done the shim-plate trick to eliminate the firing pin lock. Make sure that the plate is not interfering with normal travel of other fire control parts, which might put extreme pressure on the thumb safety causing it rapid wear or deformation. Look for new wear on either the plate or any part that can contact it - bright metal areas might give you a clue as to the root cause of the safety failing. good luck, GJ

Doesn't go to slide lock when last round is fired? Typically, ammo is too weak or something in the conversion kit is too tight a fit or too heavy a spring, to let the slide be pushed back far enough to trip the slide lock. What brands of ammo have you tried? .22 conversion kits have a long history of being very finicky. A good target pistol gunsmith would be the best solution I can recommend. good luck, GJ

I believe you will get a MUCH more accurate list of the Modern features that good shooters look for in a Modern gun if you wait for a good Modern category shooter to chime in. I've shot Traditional with a Colt Government Series 70 for all my time in Wild Bunch. But I'd start with at least considering: * highest possible performance/reliability from magazines (not just sticking with maker's magazines without trying others) * fully adjustable rear sights * front slide serrations (in addition to those on rear of slide) * front grip frame and trigger guard checkering (checkering can really be any style, too) * relieved/lowered ejection port * beavertail grip safety * beveled magazine well * extended length mag release button and slide release, if you find that helps your speed (since we never have to engage the thumb safety, it matters little if it is upgraded) * full length recoil spring guide, if you like those * match trigger * no firing pin interlock safety It's always good to take a look at some of the higher end models from Wilson, Baer, Kimber, etc. to see the common "upgraded features" the market is making available today. And to get out to local matches and ask in person. good luck, GJ

What category do you intend to shoot (Traditional - one handed, or Modern - two handed)? Gotta decide that before ANYTHING else, because you may get a gun that won't fit in the category without a lot of work (even more cost and time delay). If you can't answer that, and even if you can, go out to matches and try guns out. Buying just because something caught your eye may work for plinking type shooting (nothing on the line), but it is usually less than a good choice when jumping into the game where you will want to do as well as you can compared to other shooters in your category. That Ruger 1911 Standard is a modern gun (to Wild Bunch rules) because of the rear sight (even though it is a non-adjustable sight system), but with very few of the allowed modern upgrades. If you are prone to want to try all the bells and whistles for your guns, you would be starting very low on the ladder and have to spend bunches to upgrade that model. That Ruger is kind of in-between categories - illegal for Traditional and not capable enough to keep up with some of the top Modern shooters without a lot of work. Then you ask about a "used" but didn't tell us a used what, and in what kind of condition. Again, those things matter. A used Colt or a used RIA - there would be almost no comparison because the Colt is likely twice the shooter's gun than the RIA. Sounds like you really need more experience with what you want to do in WB and what gun you really want, before plunking down ANY money. Get out to a local match - they should be starting up soon even if they did not run this winter. I buy with intent and plan, rather than just because something might be on the shelf. I rarely have enjoyed guns that were "in stock" or on the used gun rack, and really enjoy something ordered that met my expectations all the way around, or a used gun that the original owner wanted to sell face-to-face to upgrade to something newer. good luck, GJ

I'd not even replace a firing pin on fear of failure unless you have no suitable backup. With that condition on the Model 12, that gun probably has not been shot enough to weaken the factory pin. Besides, you have your backup - take it to bigger matches every time! Pros and Cons - in my experience Model 12s are on average about 30 years newer than US made 97s. They have better tuned trigger systems and feed mechanisms. Better steel, especially compared to what Norinco used. MUCH better parts availability, but even with 12s, those may have to be used parts. 97s are loose guns, and like to be run REAL hard. For me, that lets me run a 97 faster than I can a 12, and faster than most folks can run a 12. I find I bind the feed system on a 12 when I try to go real fast - on both my 12s that were last worked on by two of the most knowledgeable 12 smiths working in 2009.. Few gunsmiths still know how to repair/tune a 97 properly. But then few gunsmiths know how to work on a 12 properly too. Parts fall off of lots of the Chinese guns if screws are not kept tight, and loctited in some cases. Parts for either Winchesters or Chinese guns are hard to come by. I made a carrier pin for my main IAC 97 last week, because I didn't want to search for what could have been a long time for one. Either one can be learned and kept running with a suitable amount of work. Strategy to buy Let me suggest something to think about. Since you have a 97, try shooting it. If it works well enough for local matches, shoot it for the next 9 months. At end of next waterfowl season in your area, and if you are still gung-ho-Marine over Wild Bunch, go buy the 12 if still there or another one that may have caught your eye. I'd almost bet used shotgun prices will be same or lower at that time. In fact, if that M12 is still there, offer $500 this time. As many Model 12s as are out in gun safes, 50 other elderly shotgun shooter's guns will probably enter the market within 25 miles of you over the next year. It's not a hard gun to find if you need one on short notice and work at it. Likewise, if you have a 97 failure that can't be fixed quickly, go find a 12 to try. I like both 12s and 97s. I LOVE 3 of my 97s. And hate two (a worn out Winchester, and an early Norinco with white wood stocks and lots of problems). One of the best recommendations - locate a real good gunsmith who knows how to work your selected shotgun over, and buy him a nice Christmas present every year from here on out! good luck, GJ