[Rosco Benson]

Your new pistol was almost certainly fired a magazine or so at the factory, as a function test. If it hiccupped during the test, it was probably fired a bit more after whatever fix or adjustment needed was performed.

The ammo used has a bearing on how quickly the pistol gets dirty. Lead-bulleted ammo will dirty the entire mechanism more quickly than will jacketed ammo. There will even be differences in the dirtiness of various brands of jacketed ammo...the Russian Wolf ammo being particularly sooty.

Another aspect of how quickly a pistol gets dirty is how it is lubed. If every component in the pistol is liberally coated with oil, that oil will catch more of the ash, primer grit, burnt bullet lube, and other trash than if the pistol were less oily. This is not to say that one should run one's pistol dry, only that one should lube it where the lube provides slickness for parts in contact with one another and not just paint on the oil indisciminantly.

That said, don't worry overly much about keeping your 1911 spotlessly clean. Most of them will function well with an increible amount of black goo oozing out of them.

Rosco

 

[fugedaboudit]

Thanks Roscoe

Can you tell me if the Armscor 230gr FMJ ammo i've got is a good practice round? It seems to be pretty accurite, can't really say if it's clean because I'm just starting to shoot and have nothing to compare to. In fact, can you give me some rec's on clean and accurite(and cheap)practice ammo?

BTW, I just ordered a package of the new Cor-Bon Powrball 165gr+P 1225 fps. This is a real breakthrough it seems to me, and one of those times when people say "now why didn't I think of that"? It will definately feed in guns that feed ball with no problems while at the same time give reliable expansion and stopping power. I don't want to sound like a Cor-Bon shill but this idea seems to be a stroke of genius IMHO.

 

[Rosco Benson]

I'm not sure what sort of shooting you are practicing, but for practical shooting any ammo that will function the pistol, recoil similarly to one's "business" ammo, and which will stay in about 4" at 25 yards is perfectly adequate.

Cor-Bon and other makers turn out some interesting specialty ammo and much of this ammo helps make minor caliber pistols useful as serious weapons. Of course, one of the best things about the .45ACP is that it is pretty effective no matter which load is chosen.

Rosco

 

[bountyhunter]

My new Para arrived with lead fouling embedded into the barrel grooves (I NEVER shoot lead!). And they used some strange kind of grease in the gun that coagulates and balls up when I spray it with gun cleaner. I've got about 1000 rounds through it and I'm still finding that crap.

 

[RANash]

I bought a bunch of that Armscor junk (four boxes) and it was really inconsistent on accuracy. For cheap plinking and practise ammo, I really like Speer/CCI Lawman 230 gr. FMJ. When there's a sale, you can get it for just above the price of the junk ammo. Also S&B, Finocchi (I may have spelled that wrong), Winchester (white box), PMB, and Federal's American Eagle in the red box (you'll have to find a sale on it) are all good.

Junk ammo to avoid:

American ammo (not Federal's American Eagle, but the junk that comes in the really flimsy plastic package): this is some of the worst junk out there.

Wolf: This stuff wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have steel cases. The cases are coated with laquer to prevent them from rusting, and it puts the case just slightly out of spec. Then, the laquer starts to melt when the gun gets hot and gets sticky. After a couple boxes, it starts my Kimber jamming. Of course, there are others here who have had good success with it, so you might too. But I won't use it anymore.

Armscor: For the above reason.

Of course, all this is just my opinion based on my experience. YMMV.

 

[sousana]

After I purchase a gun I always field strip it down to all it's basic parts and give each an thorough cleaning before re-assembly. After that, my 1911's have gone up to 3700 rounds without a full cleaning and as much as 1000 rounds without cleaning at all.