GSG 1911

[bigrod]

Just curious, where did you get yours. I went to Target Masters yesterday and the guy said he just sold one. I wanted to check it out in person. He didn't remember the selling price.

I just bought one of these. It was $399. I should have shopped around on price.

It looks awesome. The safety is lame and the trigger pull is a little rough. But it is supposed to be the same weight as a 1911 in .45 ACP. Plus some of the parts are compatible with other 1911's.

I can't wait to get it. Seems like it will be a lot of fun. Plus a lot cheaper to shoot then my .44 mag, .45 acp, and 9mm. And.... maybe, just maybe, I can get the old lady to finally try a pistol. All she shoots now is my 10/22 and is afraid of the Berretta. So hopefully this will be the 'gateway drug' (for lack of a better expression).

[nazs]

Just picked mine up from Turners. It was a quick and no hassle transaction. In and out in less than 20 minutes at lunch. Can't wait to take this to the range tonight!

[erik_26]

Just curious, where did you get yours. I went to Target Masters yesterday and the guy said he just sold one. I wanted to check it out in person. He didn't remember the selling price.

The Gun Exchange in San Jose. I bought the last one in the display case.

[bigrod]

City Arms in Pleasant Hill had one today for $399. I would've got it if it was closer to $350. I'll wait until the prices drop around here.

[BOBALOO]

Learning to Shoot

I took my wife to the range for the first time and we rented a Glock. I quickly decided she would never learn to shoot with a gun she's afraid of. So, I bought a Ruger 22/45. After she has some experience we'll step up to a larger caliber gun.

[Tzvia]

Woot that was fun.

Well, a mini review and observations after my first range trip.

puRe59- yea the slide rails on the frame are silvery after 350 rounds the first time out. I can also jam 11 rounds in but it does not feed the second round so I stopped jamming that last round in.

japbeercow- The slide on mine felt not so much a rough 'gritty' but but more a 1000 grit with oil feeling. That has past now that I have shot it and it is smoother.

Well, I shot it first at 7 yards to see how it prints. It came with the high front sight blade and shot about 2.5" low. I put the medium on using the supplied tiny hex wrench and it printed about 2" high with a 12 o'clock hold. With a 6 o'clock hold, it was 1/2 inch high. I shot some standard velocity CCI and Wolf target and they did not cycle. So I switched to a brick of Winchester Wildcat. (I also shot some Winchester 'High-Velocity' silver box but it would not eject). After a couple of FTEs it ran the next 200 rounds with no issues and printed sometimes slightly better, sometimes a little worse than the photo below. It tended to throw the first round high or low as well. Not bad really. I then ran 50 rounds of CCI Blazer flawlessly though it, but the groups were slightly larger than the Wildcat.
I then took it over to the steel targets for another 100 rounds of fun. The little tink sounds were very satisfying at the longer distances, 30+ yards (and yes I wear electronic muffs).

At about the half way point I did drop a few drops of oil on the rails through the ejection port.

Break-down for cleaning was a simple affair and while it was dirty, it wiped down quickly and the barrel came clean after a few patches. I used a little CLP and high-temp wheel bearing grease on the slide, as I had before shooting it. The slide rails are silvery now and it racks smoothly.

One negative- the magazine. While the gun handling mimics the ergonomics of the 1911, the magazine nubs that compress the spring are the worst of the 4 .22 handguns I own. You can see them below; a pain in the arce.

[erik_26]

Tzvia- Thanks for the mini review.

I can't wait to get mine, 4 more days.

[MaHoTex]

I get mine next Friday and I can not wait!

Sounds like a good shooter Tzvia and the target shows as much. What were the best shooting rounds of your trials?

[erik_26]

Got mine today.

First impressions.....

Well, I too can stuff an 11th round in the magazine it came with. I don't know what to do about this? The magazine came with the gun from the factory and was sold to me in California.

The gun feels great in my hands. It cycles flawlessly.

Now the not so good. Mine shoots high and to the right. It groups good... but still high and to the right. I have never had to adjust sights before on a pistol. So I am not sure if I should take it to someone or not? I had two other people shoot my gun and both shot the same as me, high and to the right.

I guess one thing I should take into consideration first is the trigger. It is a very heavy pull. It feels gritty too. So I guess I will need to give it a thorough bath first and see if I get on target.

I will also have to check on some website on how to improve the trigger.

Over all, I still love the gun. Fun to shoot.

[Tzvia]

I get mine next Friday and I can not wait!

Sounds like a good shooter Tzvia and the target shows as much. What were the best shooting rounds of your trials?

None of the standard velocity would cycle correctly- Wolf target, CCI standard and subsonic, Aguila target.

Of the 3 'high velocity' I shot, Winchester XPERT did not cycle one out of every 2 or 3. Winchester Wildcat shot the best consistently, with CCI Blazer almost as tight. Being that Blazer shoots well in my other .22s, I guess I will stick with it. I was out of Federal Bulk, but as my Sig does not feed the stuff, I don't feel like buying it.

(In case anyone was wondering what kind of group is covered by the gun in my photo, it's a group with my Sig Mosquito.)

[Tzvia]

Got mine today.

First impressions.....

Well, I too can stuff an 11th round in the magazine it came with. I don't know what to do about this? The magazine came with the gun from the factory and was sold to me in California.

The gun feels great in my hands. It cycles flawlessly.

Now the not so good. Mine shoots high and to the right. It groups good... but still high and to the right. I have never had to adjust sights before on a pistol. So I am not sure if I should take it to someone or not? I had two other people shoot my gun and both shot the same as me, high and to the right.

I guess one thing I should take into consideration first is the trigger. It is a very heavy pull. It feels gritty too. So I guess I will need to give it a thorough bath first and see if I get on target.

I will also have to check on some website on how to improve the trigger.

Over all, I still love the gun. Fun to shoot.

erik- mine shot low and slightly right- and had the high front sight post installed. Take a look- it comes with 3 front sight blades and a tiny hex wrench to remove and install the others. If it has the medium or low blade installed, swap it out for the high blade. Be careful not to over-tighten the little screw on the front sight as it's only plastic. As for wind-age, loosen the rear sight and move it opposite the direction of error (left) a tiny amount and then re-tighten.

As for the trigger, I cleaned my gun and lubed the trigger bow before shooting, using some gun oil and a little synthetic wheel bearing grease (great stuff, under 10 bucks for a tub that will last many years). The grease also smoothed the slide. It's not a target trigger, but as I shot mine it smoothed a bit and became quite easy to manage, not really gritty at all.

[MaHoTex]

Like Erik, I picked mine up today as well. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make the range trip until tomorrow.

This is my first 1911 design, so here are my thoughts/first impressions as I was messing around with it.

As I take it out of the plastic box, I notice it feels heavy for a 22; Solid and substantial, unline the mosquito my wife has. Very nice looking pistol of metal and wood. Very nice!

Decided to take it apart and clean and inspect it, but I have never taken apart a 1911 before. Browse manual and follow the first few steps: Slide back a bit, remove slide release, remove barrel pin, unscrew hex screw on opposite site. So far so good... Next, remove slide... hmmm... It says to push it forward, but it just won't go... Little extra force and finally got it. Cool, nothing broken or scratched. Spring and guide come out, clean it, apply some grease, inspect barrel. Sweet! More grease and put it all back together by reversing the steps of takedown.

I figured out how people get the idiot mark and will try to avoid the same badge of honor, though I am sure it is just a matter of time.

I am excited to take it out to the range and see how it shoots tomorrow and will check back in after I get back!

Edit: I pulled it back out of the box to see about the 11 round thing. I can easily put 11 rounds in the magazine without even forcing the round in. Looks like the magazine move a little more beyond that, though, round #12 isn't going to happen.

[erik_26]

Like Erik, I picked mine up today as well. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make the range trip until tomorrow.

This is my first 1911 design, so here are my thoughts/first impressions as I was messing around with it.

Same here. I have shot a few 1911's but never owned or stripped or cleaned one.

As I take it out of the plastic box, I notice it feels heavy for a 22; Solid and substantial, unline the mosquito my wife has. Very nice looking pistol of metal and wood. Very nice!

It is a very solid gun. From what I understand, a few of the parts are interchangeable with other 1911's.

Decided to take it apart and clean and inspect it, but I have never taken apart a 1911 before. Browse manual and follow the first few steps: Slide back a bit, remove slide release, remove barrel pin, unscrew hex screw on opposite site. So far so good... Next, remove slide... hmmm... It says to push it forward, but it just won't go... Little extra force and finally got it. Cool, nothing broken or scratched. Spring and guide come out, clean it, apply some grease, inspect barrel. Sweet! More grease and put it all back together by reversing the steps of takedown.

I figured out how people get the idiot mark and will try to avoid the same badge of honor, though I am sure it is just a matter of time.

I am paranoid about the idiot mark. I have heard of it as well. I will be watching lots of videos on this.

I am excited to take it out to the range and see how it shoots tomorrow and will check back in after I get back!

You will have tons of fun.

Edit: I pulled it back out of the box to see about the 11 round thing. I can easily put 11 rounds in the magazine without even forcing the round in. Looks like the magazine move a little more beyond that, though, round #12 isn't going to happen.

This seems to be very common.

[erik_26]

erik- mine shot low and slightly right- and had the high front sight post installed. Take a look- it comes with 3 front sight blades and a tiny hex wrench to remove and install the others. If it has the medium or low blade installed, swap it out for the high blade. Be careful not to over-tighten the little screw on the front sight as it's only plastic. As for wind-age, loosen the rear sight and move it opposite the direction of error (left) a tiny amount and then re-tighten.

As for the trigger, I cleaned my gun and lubed the trigger bow before shooting, using some gun oil and a little synthetic wheel bearing grease (great stuff, under 10 bucks for a tub that will last many years). The grease also smoothed the slide. It's not a target trigger, but as I shot mine it smoothed a bit and became quite easy to manage, not really gritty at all.

I will be giving this a try. I think I will see if a good bath helps smooth out the trigger. I would hate to make an adjustment and find out the heavy trigger pull was the problem.

Thanks for the tips.

[erik_26]

None of the standard velocity would cycle correctly- Wolf target, CCI standard and subsonic, Aguila target.

Of the 3 'high velocity' I shot, Winchester XPERT did not cycle one out of every 2 or 3. Winchester Wildcat shot the best consistently, with CCI Blazer almost as tight. Being that Blazer shoots well in my other .22s, I guess I will stick with it. I was out of Federal Bulk, but as my Sig does not feed the stuff, I don't feel like buying it.

(In case anyone was wondering what kind of group is covered by the gun in my photo, it's a group with my Sig Mosquito.)

I was shooting CCI today without one single issue. I had ZERO fail to feed, ZERO ejection, ZERO fail to fire issues. It was flawless.