Remington R1 1911

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sobo4303

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Merry Christmas to ME! :) :D

My darling wife knew that she could not pick...so told me to go to store and get what I wanted - she would pay her share! What a sweetie!

Well, after fondling a new STI, a Ruger SR 1911, a R1 Enhanced and a Colt - I elected to purchase this model. The action was smooth, the trigger is ok, but could use some work, but feels and looks great. The biggest thing was how tight and smooth the action was, even compared to the brand new Colt. This one reminded me of my dad's old Colt - nice and tight, and smooth on the drawback and release.

I was concerned about the ol' saying that you get what you pay for, but honestly, this pistol seemed to me to be the best of the lot of all the other new ones I tried. The STI was a close second, mind you, but it did not have the dots on the sights - just straight black. Then I thought of my Norky M14 compared to an M1A I tried out, and I got the better deal with the Norc...I figure I just bought a spectacular 1911 - because it is what I wanted. Reputation is pretty good, with many excellent reviews.

I want it to go bang and shoot pie plates all day long. Will be taking it out to the range and seeing how she shoots.

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Sobo4303

Congrats on your R1! I really enjoy mine. It's a better gun than a NIB Colt Series '70 I traded off for a S&WM29 a while back. The Colt rattled and had a tooth gritting trigger pull. Remington done a good and the 'enhanced' models are even better. I like 'basic' in guns and the R1 offers it - sights, lowered/dimpled ejection port, mag well, long tang.

But - be aware of a problem I had with mine that I recently reported on the 'gunsmithing' column. After a dry-firing session, I locked back the slide and the firing pin retaining plate fell out and the firing pin was protruding well ahead of the breech face. The Series '80-type trigger pin allows the firing pin to be held captive if it travels far enough forward. It is designed this way to aid stripping of the firing pin and retaining plate.
That means that the firing pin spring was too weak to prevent this overtravel. I replaced it with a Colt spring that measured 3/16ths" longer. It has the side benefit of lessening the hammer impact, causing less disturbance to the sight picture.
The dummy rds I was using did not have a primer, or I would never have discovered the problem. I haven't fired the pistol since replacing the spring, but I believe things will be OK.
Remington is considering going to the Series '70-type trigger on future guns, the Series '80 being regarded as "an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem." Jeff Cooper would approve.
 
Sharps '63 said:
Sobo4303

Congrats on your R1! I really enjoy mine. It's a better gun than a NIB Colt Series '70 I traded off for a S&WM29 a while back. The Colt rattled and had a tooth gritting trigger pull. Remington done a good and the 'enhanced' models are even better. I like 'basic' in guns and the R1 offers it - sights, lowered/dimpled ejection port, mag well, long tang.

But - be aware of a problem I had with mine that I recently reported on the 'gunsmithing' column. After a dry-firing session, I locked back the slide and the firing pin retaining plate fell out and the firing pin was protruding well ahead of the breech face. The Series '80-type trigger pin allows the firing pin to be held captive if it travels far enough forward. It is designed this way to aid stripping of the firing pin and retaining plate.
That means that the firing pin spring was too weak to prevent this overtravel. I replaced it with a Colt spring that measured 3/16ths" longer. It has the side benefit of lessening the hammer impact, causing less disturbance to the sight picture.
The dummy rds I was using did not have a primer, or I would never have discovered the problem. I haven't fired the pistol since replacing the spring, but I believe things will be OK.
Remington is considering going to the Series '70-type trigger on future guns, the Series '80 being regarded as "an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem." Jeff Cooper would approve.
Click to expand...

That interesting, have you any pics as I'm ashamedly not as familiar with the inner workings of the firearm yet. Will be stripping it before going to the range but not that familiar with the model 70 versus the model 80. The thing is only two days old in my household. Which brings up another question. Lubrication of the slide. Light gun oil would seem to splatter all over, what about a light coating of the white lithium grease? Thinking M14 and the treatment I give all my revolvers where metal to metal contact is present.
 
You can Google a diagram of the Series '80 trigger linkage to better understand how it works. The idea was to make the 1911 fool proof in the event of a dropped gun. The original design could theoretically fire under some conditions with a round chambered. If John Browning and the US Army had thought that was necessary, it would have been incorporated in the original design specs along with the grip safety.

In a recent gun magazine dedicated to the 1911, the author showed up at Gun Site with a NIB Enhanced R1. He fired over 500 rds without cleaning or oiling, suffering no malfunctions during the course of fire.
I did much the same with mine, putting 200+ rds through it before I stripped it down. There was minimal wear evident. When I was dealing with the firing pin issue, I stripped it down again after another 200 +/- rds had been fired.
This time I checked for slide/frame fit and found a tight spot. I applied a little heavy gun oil and worked the slide back and forth on the frame, a minor lapping job, if you will.
I prefer to let my guns wear in as opposed to fixing what ain't broke.

BTW - the problem I had with my firing pin is not unheard of on 1911 forums. Lightweight titanium firing pins and/or heavier springs are recommended solutions.

The original design was intended to be a "mudder", able to eat a lot of crud without a bobble. The newer guns are all probably built with closer tolerances thanks to CNC machining and MIM of low stress parts. Most of us don't crawl in mud or get showered with dirt when using our toys, so closely fitted guns are not a problem.
 
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