Vintage 1911A1 & Modern Ammo

[pboccia]

Good morning all. First time posting here so please forgive me if I muck something up. I have what i hope is a simple question, but you never know:

I inherited my father's Model 1911A1 that he carried with him all through WW2. He always took good care of it but never shot it much after the war. Do you think there would be any problems with using modern ammo in a pistol of that vintage? I don't know whether the ammo today might be loaded to too high a pressure for the barrel or whether there might be some other concern. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[rklessdriver]

There won't be any barrel problems with you shooting standard pressure 45ACp out of your fathers M1911A1. The common 230gr FMJ Winchester, Federal or Remington ammo you can buy from Wal-Mart will work fine. It's not loaded any hotter than the military ammo of the 1940's.

I want to warn you about shooting your fathers pistol. Orginal M1911A1's in good condition are VERY valuable today. Prices range from $800- to tens of thousands of dollars - depending on condition and manufacture. Also all WWII vintage M1911's had "spot" heat treating.... first only the front of the slide and breech face, but around 1944 they started heat treating the slide stop area as well.... None of these military slides are not as strong as a modern mfgr'd fully heat treated slide (which started post war for military issue M1911 replacement parts).

What I'm tell you is that it won't hurt to shoot it every once and a while.... On your dads B-day or VE/VJ day take it out and shoot a few mags thru it to commerate the event..... However prolonged shooting (like a self defense gun) will eventually crack the slide. Also with the value so high on nice orginal condition guns, every shot you take with it is wearing it, taking away value and every shot could be the potential one that destroys it's value forever.

Will

[Chasbo00]

Good info in above post. I'll echo that If you decide to shoot it, you should use standard pressure (not +P) full metal jacket 230 grain ammo. That ammo is what this pistol was designed to shoot. Hollow point ammo, besides being more expensive, may not feed properly in this old 1911 pistol.

[M1A4ME]

Wow, never heard that about the slides. I used to shoot my old 1911 (made in 1917 but the serial number) with hardball quite a bit. Great old gun. Wish I had more history on it. I stopped shooting mine when I got my Combat Commander in about 1981. Wow, that was awhile back. Time flies.

[pboccia]

Good morning,

Thank you for the input, gents. Rkless, I had thought about using it as a defense piece but I think now that I'll find something else and preserve the value and memories of this one. I understand Rock Island Armory 1911's are good if you don't want to spend a fortune.

I'm also attaching some pix of my father's .45 in case you're curious. The sort of odd mottling on the slide is from the egg-crate foam case I keep it in impressing itself on the thin lubricant, I think. From what I've been able to find online, judging by the serial number it was made by Ithica in 1943:

[Atamisk]

If that's gun porn It's full-frontal Double-D gold. Great piece.

Also, I CC my RIA 1911-A1 Every day, They're fantastic guns for the price. I've had well over 250 rds through it since February and I've not had a single jam that wasn't my fault.

[Rich]

You are fortunate to have such a nice piece of American history. Thanks for sharing and treat her well.

[pboccia]

Thanks guys. I appreciate your comments. She gets treated with kid gloves...well not exactly kid gloves but I take good care of her - They aren't making any more like this. I will have to look up the RIA makes, though. I understand they're as close to the WW2 makes as you can get without going back in time to get one.