do 1911's run dirty?

[zachkuby87]

so i got my first 1911 yesterday in a trade. i traded a marlin xl7 for a ria tactical straight up. the po said he gave it a good cleaning b4 he brought it to me i did a fast field strip everything looked clean and on the up and up. i went straight to the range and put a few hundred rounds through it and today i field stripped it and gave it a really good cleaning. it seemed really dirty compared to my other pistols is this normal? could this be an indication something may be wrong or am i just over thinking things? Im going to find a local 1911 guy and have it gone through and have him put some new sights on it and do some polishing but i just wanna make sure i didnt get a lemon.

 

[T1gger]

The gun's only going to get as dirty as the ammunition that you put through it. I buy damn near the cheapest ammo I can find (within reason of course), so I don't worry about that because I clean my guns after I shoot them.

1911's by and large are known to be finicky. A dirty 1911 will only exacerbate this. I personally stopped shooting them a while back because they no longer fit into my philosophy of gun use. However, I've seen videos of 1911's being put through some tough stuff and still running. Sturmgewehre on this forum has a YouTube channel where he does just that with his 1911. In one instance, he throws it in some mud and muck, in another he sprayed it down with degreaser; the gun ran flawlessly both times. He's even chambered empty brass from the magazine, and the gun still fed the brass.

Now, I've seen certain 1911's have issues with cycling even while clean (mainly Kimbers), and people tend to recommend that you keep a 1911 cleaner those most other guns out there. Let's face it, it isn't a Glock, XD, etc. where the tolerances are loose. 1911's are typically built for accuracy, which means the tolerances have to be tighter, which means you should keep it lubed to ensure proper functioning. Hope this helps.

 

[zachkuby87]

yeah i did notice as it got dirtier towards the end it was working a little harder to function properly. it didnt want to into battery a few time but i literally pushed it with my thumb and slid right in. im guessing it was due to the feed ramp being dirty i stuck a small cloth in there and wiped it off and it worked fine from there on out.

 

[BigJimP]

I keep all of my 1911's ( and other guns ) clean and lubed... but 1911's for a given type of ammo are not dirtier than other types of platforms.

Dirty - is a function of the ammo you're running... type of powder, how it burns, etc...

I've shot 1911's in 3 day class scenarios where we put close to 1,000 rounds thru our guns in half a day ...and I've never had an issue. But I keep them clean / and more on the wet than dry side...( and I use oil on the rails / not grease ).

 

[nate45]

300 rounds will tend to make one dirty.

You didn't mention whether you had any feeding or ejection problems.

If you didn't I wouldn't worry to much about it. Just clean it good after long range sessions and lightly grease the slide rails and all should be well.

 

[dsk]

TIGHTLY FITTED 1911s are by and large finicky. Pistols fit to looser military tolerances aren't. I have an older Series 80 with a slide fit so loose it rattles loudly. I've also run as many as 2,000 rounds through it without a proper cleaning, without any issues.

Today everybody expects a 1911 to be fitted like a Swiss watch, but then they all complain when the pistol proves tempermental with ammo, mags, or lack of cleaning. I just don't get it.

 

[Slamfire]

I shoot lots of LRN. That bullet lube vaporizes and condenses in the action. So, yes, my M1911's run dirty.

And at the end of the day, I clean them up.

I prefer oils as lubricants in the things, wipes up easier than greases.

 

[zachkuby87]

its was having feeding issues towards the end of a few hundred rounds and that thing is TIGHT i can shake it and there is 0 rattle to it at all. its a little different having only owned polymer pistols before but i must say i like it a lot. i was already saving for an s&w 1911 but the trade offer popped up and i took it. so far im very pleased with the decision. but thanks guys im just a noob to 1911's and wanted to make sure theres nothing wrong.. any mag recomendations? i almost forgot to mention this thing is accurate it shoots a little better than my xdm 45 not by a lot but.

 

[RickB]

1911s do need enough lubrication. I don't know that my gun is any dirtier or cleaner than any other, but I shoot 1000 rounds or more between field strip cleanings, and tear the gun down for a detail cleaning only once or twice a year. If the gun is built properly, it won't be "finicky"; in the original military tests, a pre-production gun went 6000 rounds without a malfunction or parts breakage. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that a modern "1911" is built to the original specs.

 

[T1gger]

I've always had really good luck with Wilson Combat mags, top notch stuff.

 

[C0untZer0]

1911 is type of semi auto that encompasses a whole family of guns

An M1911A1 is going to run dirty and still fire reliably. Is every other gun maker's version of 1911 going to do that?

Probably no.

 

[Kreyzhorse]

it seemed really dirty compared to my other pistols is this normal?

Shooting a lot of ammo through a gun tends to leave it dirty. To compound that, some ammo seems dirtier than others.

As far as mags go, Chip McCormick makes some great mags and won't break the bank.

 

[igousigloo]

On mine, the longer I clean them the less dirty they get. I guess I polish the pores. When I first start cleaning a new one it seems to get dirty fast but after awhile it stays cleaner a lot longer. Some of mine surprise me at how clean they are after a few hundred rounds.

 

[44 AMP]

A 1911 built to GI spec will run dirty. It will run clean. It will run wet, and it will run dry. It will run with an amazing amount of crap in it., But it won't do it on hollowpoints, or anything else that deviates from the feed profile of ball ammo.

To get it to that reliably its tougher, and you have to change some of the GI specs. But you can do it.

And they won't have "match" grade accuracy very often. But they will run, and be more than accurate enough for combat ranges.

You can make a 1911 pattern gun into a target grade gun. It can be very accurate. But when you do, it gets finicky.

Getting both in one gun is the toughest of tasks, and you can count on the fact that if the gun chokes even once on the cheapest out of spec ammo someone will get on the Internet and tell the whole world that the gun is worthless. Repeatedly.

And then someone will say "get a Glock"

 

[HKGuns]

Oh, they're the dirtiest sum-gun's you'll ever meet, especially after getting a good drink on..... I had to forcefully pull one out of a bar one night, he was pawing at the ladies like a fool. Dirty sum-gun......

 

[Walklightly]

You inspired me to shoot my new RIA 9mm and never clean it until it shows the signs.

Thanks

 

[Edward429451]

There's two types of 1911's. Combat and Target. The target guns can be finiky like stated. The combat guns can be id'd by the rattling slide and utter reliability.

You can get them to feed HP's by having the chamber relieved a little. Just don't toy with the fit and it will continue to work. The only problem I ever have with my loosey goosey Series 80 is Mags.

 

[Rugerismisticness]

Yes, 1911s will run extremely dirty, and often with no oil or abusive amounts of oil. This does make them more sluggish and wears them faster though.

 

[buckhorn_cortez]

If a 1911 is put together correctly, and lubed properly, it will run reliably. Loose, rattling slides are not a universal sign that the gun will run without problems - that only shows either a highly used and worn gun, or one that has not been fitted well.

You should be able to run a 1911 reliably for2-3K or more rounds without cleaning or lubing. I prefer grease on sliding parts, but a specific grease - SLiP 2000 EWL - as it is a synthetic grease that does not change viscosity when it gets cold. You also don't need a lot of it, only an extremely thin coating on the rails, barrel lugs, barrel bushing, and disconnector. Rack the slide 2-3 times after lubricating and wipe any excess off of the rear of the gun. Oil everything else.

My guns run clean, dirty, wet, cold, hot, dusty - doesn't matter. They run hollow points, round nose, flat nose - again - doesn't matter. You can have accurate, well fitted (tight?) 1911's that run reliably - I have five of them, all of them run, I don't think it's just a coincidence, that I'm "lucky," or that the guns are anything special.

They're just high quality guns that are fitted correctly, lubed properly, and have PM done as required to ensure reliable operation.

 

[ET.]

Loose, rattling slides are not a universal sign that the gun will run without problems - that only shows either a highly used and worn gun, or one that has not been fitted well.

The GI 1911s inherently have loose tolerances and therefore tend to have slides that wobble some what on their rails. That doesn't necessarily point to a worn out gun or a gun that was misfitted. The tight target guns that have no play in the slide will tend to get balky when dirty simply because there is no place for the dirt to get out of the way, therefore the gun starts to complain. Loose slides on GI 1911s are by design so the dirt can move out of the way, not by abuse. Yes, worn out GI 1911s have extreme wobble, but just because it exists, doesn't mean that the 1911 is worn out.