Many of us are fans of the venerable .45 automatic pistol, M1911A1. Here are some tips for making an already reliable gun even more reliable. In this case, I've started with a plain WW2 production, Government Issue model M1911A1. These tips also apply to the various .45 clones and to both commercial Colt Series 70 and Series 80 pistols.
Sights: The issue sights of the typical .45 are far to small for accurate shooting. [Believe it or not, those on its predecessor, the M1911 are even smaller!] At minimum, they need to be replaced with modern sights. My choice is the Millet white outline. Alternatively, you can get the ones from Trijicon that have the Tritium inserts of three dots for shooting in low light. Whatever you choose, the important thing is a good, bold sight picture from your selection.
Trigger Pull: There are two problems with issue .45 pistols: (1) the lousy triggers and (2) its horrible trigger pull. The military trigger is usually a stamping that is too short, a sloppy fit, and has far too much over-travel. The solution is to replace it with a match type trigger that has a set screw [for an over-travel stop], and a heavily grooved end for the trigger finger.
The second is to get a good trigger job. This is something best left to a gunsmith that understands the trigger mechanism of the M1911 series pistols. All the burrs need to be removed and the hammer and sear need to be refined. A good 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 pound trigger pull coupled with a correctly setup match trigger will do miracles for your shooting. Sometimes the firing pin interlock in the Colt Series 80 Government Models causes problems for trigger pull improvement. In this case, the parts that compose the interlock system can be removed and the trigger pull can be improved. Colt installed these parts as an attempt to provide itself some defense against product liability lawsuits. [Note: It is very important to get a gunsmith that understands the correct relationship between sear and hammer -- otherwise a botched trigger job can lead to a full-auto .45 pistol! This is extremely dangerous as well as illegal.]
Feeding: The barrel and frame feed ramps were designed for military-issue jacketed ball ammunition. The result is that the newer and more effective hollow-point rounds may not function and cause jams. The solution is to have a gunsmith polish the feed ramps so that the pistol can accomodate these cartridges. Some folks recommend "porting" the slide. Porting consists of removing part of the upper rear of the slide's ejection port so that brass is completely thrown out of the pistol. In my experience, it does not hurt, but I doesn't help much either. It is more cosmetic than anything. Far more effective is improving the ejector of the pistol.
Ejection: The thing that really improves the clearing of potential jams with any kind of .45 pistol is the fitting of a 'Commander/Combat Commander'-type ejector. The regular ejector is flat with a slight forward rake and sometimes lends itself to 'stovepipes' -- jams where the ejected case is caught between the slide and barrel. The solution is to install the 'Commander/Combat Commander'-type. This ejector has an extended finger that will positively eject a fired case or live round from the barrel as soon as it clears the chamber wall. With this type of ejector, ejection port jams will be a thing of the past.
Grips: The plastic or wood grips that come with the standard pistol range from merely bad to outright horrible. The solution is to replace them with the neoprene Pachmyer wrap around grips. There are others out there besides the Pachmyer that have finger grooves [such as Uncle Mike's], but I have never needed the grooved ones. The advantage of the neoprene grips is that they do not get slippery as your hand sweats. The neoprene seems to glue itself to your hand and enhances good shooting.
Magazines: Use magazines that work every time. If the feed lips get bent or worn, discard them or use them for informal occassions that do not require serious social encounters.
Other Things: I replaced the worn G.I. barrel with a G.I. chrome-lined barrel developed for the Vietnam war. This is a drop-in and should not require any fitting.
The sloppy barrel bushing was replaced by a National Match bushing. This tended to tighten things up somewhat and accuracy was improved. This part does require fitting to get the correct barrel-to-bushing clearance because it is purposely made oversize relative to the barrel.
My fingers are long enough to reach the thumb safety and slide lock. If yours are short or speed is required, you probably want to use the extended variety. If you have a Para Ordnance .45 with the double column magazine, the extended slide release and safety are mandatory.
One last thing about the Para Ordnance .45 large capacity pistols. The feeding of rounds from the magazine to the barrel is like that of the Browning P35 High Power and not the M1911. Your gunsmith has to know this in order to get the action tuning correct.
The only other addition that I would recommend for the pistol is a laser sight. Crimson Trace makes the best. It is unobtrusive and you can switch it off if you don't want to use it. The laser is located in the right grip along with the two lithium batteries and switches (pressure ON-OFF, and laser ON-OFF switch). The best way to zero the pistol is with an in-bore laser boresight and the laser in the grip. Set up a target at your normal engagement range, turn on the laser boresight, and adjust the windage and elevation set screws until the two red dots merge into one.
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