1911 L10 Tuning Gurus, Stop In!

[Brandon Breeze]

So, I was thinking to myself the other day, Man, why don't I shoot in a division where I have to reload every 2 seconds!

I'm going to get my Springfield TRP Operator cut for an optic and run it in Limited 10 sometime in the near future. This one is .45 ACP

IIRC it comes with an 18.5lb recoil spring & 23lb mainspring. As a result it's a bit oversprung for competition.

Kicking around going lighter as I will just be using target/practice type ammo. Nothing overly light, still Major PF.

Based on what I've been reading many folks recommend going to 14lb recoil spring & 18lb mainspring, with some folks going even lighter.

What are you running for your LO 1911, what would be your starting point and how would you recommend "tuning" it with these springs.

Any other helpful info feel free to share!

PFA TIA

 

[Funjeff]

Have you considered keeping that rare TRP unmolested and getting a newer optic cut Springer. Those TRPs are getting hard to replace.

 

[Brandon Breeze]

Have you considered keeping that rare TRP unmolested and getting a newer optic cut Springer. Those TRPs are getting hard to replace.

AFAIK the newer optic cut TRP's are not on roster, so the off roster tax will be heavy and a lot more than having this one optic cut. I never plan to sell it, so the value is somewhat of a moot point.

 

[FriedChickies]

So, I was thinking to myself the other day, Man, why don't I shoot in a division where I have to reload every 2 seconds!

I'm going to get my Springfield TRP Operator cut for an optic and run it in Limited 10 sometime in the near future. This one is .45 ACP

IIRC it comes with an 18.5lb recoil spring & 23lb mainspring. As a result it's a bit oversprung for competition.

Kicking around going lighter as I will just be using target/practice type ammo. Nothing overly light, still Major PF.

Based on what I've been reading many folks recommend going to 14lb recoil spring & 18lb mainspring, with some folks going even lighter.

What are you running for your LO 1911, what would be your starting point and how would you recommend "tuning" it with these springs.

Any other helpful info feel free to share!

PFA TIA

View attachment 234456

Nothing to add, just wanted to say that L10 Major and Limited are both divisions that also interest me, especially in the world dominated by Shadow 2s and flashy 2011s!

 

[Brandon Breeze]

Nothing to add, just wanted to say that L10 Major and Limited are both divisions that also interest me, especially in the world dominated by Shadow 2s and flashy 2011s!

I just want the ability to get a bunch of extra reps in for different divisions on a similar platform, honestly. I think having to stage plan for a reload every 2 seconds would help me out for planning stages and picking them apart better too. Shooting Open there are many stages I can get through without even changing a mag and all others are essentially one mag change.

2011 Comp for Open
2011 Non-Comp for LO
1911 Optic for L10 Major
1911 plain Jane for Single Stack Major
If someone would make some 170mm 1911 mags I would shoot it in Limited too . Think about something like that weird quad stack Surefire AR mag. Single/Double stack 1911 mag FTW.

This way I can jump around, get in a ton of reps and keep the platform consistent.

Funny thing is for GPA, these would all simply fall under Full Size Optic, one division, like it should be. Let folks shoot whatever they want, then the skill is far more important than the platform.

 

[RustVendor]

I run a 19lb main spring in a 9mm, I don't believe there is a big difference between cartridges for the main spring as I've heard of people using light main springs in 45 acp. It will give you a bit lighter trigger pull weight, but go too light and you could get light strikes. The recoil spring is fairly straighforward to tune, just go shoot some relatively fast doubles with your normal grip, if you are naturally landing a bit high on the 2nd shot go up in weight, if you are landing low go down in weight. It's really that simple. While you are at it you could also install a sear and hammer if you want a next level trigger, theres the atlas Perfect Match kit or some others that have pre-tuned sear/hammer combos. My atlas perfect match kit was drop in and only needed sear spring tuning but no manipulation of sear and hammer relationship.

 

[Hit Factor]

1911 Optic for L10 Major
1911 plain Jane for Single Stack Major

Why not switch these so you can keep your TRP in original condition? If you’re going to mill a 1911 slide for an optic, why not do it to your Plain Jane? Or just load your Limited Optics mags to 10 rounds (11 for your make ready mag) and shoot your current Limited Optics gun for Limited 10. You don’t need major scoring to win in Limited 10, since you’ll probably be the only one shooting in it.

These are my Single Stack guns:



I could never bring myself to having them milled for an optic. The most I’ve done is add fiber optic front sights and extended mag release buttons to them. I never changed the main springs, but I dropped the recoil springs to 14 lbs. I feel at a slight disadvantage shooting .45 in Single Stack major instead of .40, but it’s a lot of fun in small matches.

 

[RedHemi]

Buy an optic ready slide and keep the original one original.

 

[Brandon Breeze]

Why not switch these so you can keep your TRP in original condition? If you’re going to mill a 1911 slide for an optic, why not do it to your Plain Jane? Or just load your mags to 10 rounds (11 for your make ready mag) and shoot your current Limited Optics gun for Limited 10. You don’t need major scoring to win in Limited 10, since you’ll probably be the only one shooting in it.

These are my Single Stack guns:

I could never bring myself to having them milled for an optic. The most I’ve done is add extended mag release buttons to them. I never changed the main springs, but I dropped the recoil springs to 14 lbs. I feel at a slight disadvantage shooting .45 in Single Stack major instead of .40, but it’s a lot of fun in small matches.

Current LO is a G34, likely switching to the 2k11 when it gets on roster (soon ). Wanted to go with the 1911 in .45 to have some fun shooting Major without having to max out and beyond 9mm (and of course the extra points for non-alpha hits).

I can't shoot the TRP in Single Stack because mine has the Bull Barrel, and IIRC you have to have a barrel bushing for Single Stack.

My current potential for Single Stack is a bone stock Norinco 1911A1. Easy to slap on a magwell and go shoot Single Stack, but for L10 I would want to put a lot more work into it. There is a small, but dedicated group of L10 folks at the local clubs, some of them are competitive, so it wouldn't exactly be a walk in the park, especially since I'm not used to so many mag changes.

Buy an optic ready slide and keep the original one original.

1911's aren't like a Glock where you can easily mix & match parts and often require fitting. Plus an additional slide would likely cost nearly as much as simply buying an entire used 1911, so might as well do that.

 

[Gawernator]

New competition gun

 

[Brandon Breeze]

New competition gun

Curious what this has to do with Recoil & mainsprings for a 1911 in the Limited 10 division of USPSA.

 

[Hit Factor]

Curious what this has to do with Recoil & mainsprings for a 1911 in the Limited 10 division of USPSA.

I took it as a “get good with what ya got” proposition. And I do think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.

 

[Brandon Breeze]

I took it as a “get good with what ya got” proposition. And I do think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.

I don't think that was it at all.

If I were "getting good with what I got" I would have to go to every single match available within 200 miles and it would still take me a very long time to shoot each piece that I own a single time in a match. This is why I'm setting certain tools up very specifically for specific divisions. Bringing the right tool for the job is also important. Having similarly setup pistols for different divisions makes sense since it will require very little adjustment to move back and forth between them if/when I want to compared to having completely different platforms for each division.

 

[Gawernator]

Curious what this has to do with Recoil & mainsprings for a 1911 in the Limited 10 division of USPSA.

I took it as a “get good with what ya got” proposition. And I do think there’s a lot of wisdom in that.

I was just joking lmao because he said he doesn’t like HK. And I don’t think people use micro guns for competitions but idk

 

[Brandon Breeze]

I was just joking lmao because he said he doesn’t like HK. And I don’t think people use micro guns for competitions but idk

Micro guns are a lot more popular in IDPA & GPA since they actually have Divisions for them whereas USPSA does not. Sure you can use your Micro Compact, but your Micro will be competing with full sized pews. Not a big deal if your skills are there, but for most folks every advantage you can get is a win.

There are plenty of folks that could run at GM levels with a hipoint (providing it worked) or even Micro pistols, but that's going to be very few and far between.

 

[Brandon Breeze]

Update here, she's got an optic now.

Starting off with 16lb recoil spring & 21lb mainspring.

Will be using factory loads to kick it off, then may develop a custom load for L10 and this setup.

Doing some dry fire, I have an all new level of respect for the Single Stack & L10 guys shooting 1911's. You have to really nail those reloads otherwise it can go bad really quickly.

As a result, it made reloading with the 2011 feel like magic

I'll probably shoot this one just on classifiers before shooting it in an entire match.

 

[Hit Factor]

Update here, she's got an optic now.

Starting off with 16lb recoil spring & 21lb mainspring.

Will be using factory loads to kick it off, then may develop a custom load for L10 and this setup.

Doing some dry fire, I have an all new level of respect for the Single Stack & L10 guys shooting 1911's. You have to really nail those reloads otherwise it can go bad really quickly.

As a result, it made reloading with the 2011 feel like magic

I'll probably shoot this one just on classifiers before shooting it in an entire match.

View attachment 240750

 

[RedHemi]

View attachment 240760

I think it looks good. Whomever did the optic mounting did a good job. And like they say "Too each their own"

 

[Brandon Breeze]

I think it looks good. Whomever did the optic mounting did a good job. And like they "Too each their own"

Yeah, this was done by a machinist who used to work for Limcat before they moved out of CA, he still does work for them, so he has a pretty good idea what he's doing. Likely having him do one of my Beretta's next, also for an L10 build most likely.

I think it looks like it came from the factory this way and have zero regrets. If it came down to it, this would be one of the last firearms I would ever sell, so it only truly matters to me

 

[Sloat]

Starting off with 16lb recoil spring & 21lb mainspring.
Will be using factory loads to kick it off, then may develop a custom load for L10 and this setup.

I actually have this exact gun and thought process - couldn't use it for SS because of bull barrel, so L10 major seems like the only division if I wanted to mess around with it. Please keep updated on springs/etc. for where you end up, I'd love to tune mine a bit too.