1911 Bull Barrel- the real advantage

[Maddawg46]

I just bought a SA Champion. It's got a bull barrel like the TarP and so e of the Kimbers I have seen. After seeing how it field strips..... I figure there must be some great reason they did away with the barrel bushing. It seems to be a pain in the *** to pull the slide off with that little spacer that goes on the guide rod.

Please tell me why this is better than the barrel bushing.

[geoint]

Im also curious about this. I absolutely hated field stripping my STI Spartan because of that. I eventually got used to it but I still prefer old school 1911s

[cindynles]

It gives you a little more weight up front to help control flip. I agree the bull barrel is a little more of a pain to disassemble. The solution to the take down issue is a Dawson Precision tool-less guide rod. It was worth every penny.

[krwada]

Dawson Precision tool-less guide rod

It gives you a little more weight up front to help control flip. I agree the bull barrel is a little more of a pain to disassemble. The solution to the take down issue is a Dawson Precision tool-less guide rod. It was worth every penny.

Yep +1000 for this thing. The Dawson Precision tool-less guide rod works great! Makes it a snap to field strip the M1911 bull barrel.

[ojisan]

The flared / wider at the muzzle end bull barrels came about when compensators were installed on race guns.
Flaring the muzzle end allowed deletion of the barrel bushing, allowing the rear face of the comp to fit right up against the front slide face.
It was also possible to leave the barrel at an even diameter and have the tapered part be part of the comp.
I don't see much advantage to this no bushing design on a non-comped gun.

[postal]

About as pointless and a PITA to deal with as a full length guide rod....

People think they look cool sticking out the muzzle end when the slide is back... until they have to disassemble the gun... and curse it to no end.

[RR.44]

My smith and my Citadel both have full length guide rods, I have no problem field stripping either one of them, it's all in the technique. BTW, Kimbers compact carry is known to be one of their more pleasant shooting and accurate gun.

[jyo]

OK, the real reason short-barrel (4" or less) 1911s have a bull barrel and no bushing is because when the barrel gets too short, the barrel bushing becomes too small and thin which leads to bushing breakage---the Colt Officers model 45 suffered from bushing breakage.
I have a 4" SA Champion "Loaded" stainless pistol with this set-up and no real issues...

[TurboChrisB]

The Dawson toolless guide rod makes field stripping my full rail TRP simple and fast.

[evlblkrfl]

Didnt realize people had such a difficult time taking down 1911s. I find the bull barrel model is easier to take apart. Maybe its just me??

[InGrAM]

It looks cool...

[Bob Hostetter]

On all 1911's it eliminates the tolerance stack where the muzzle of the barrel fits to the slide. A properly fit bull barrel will have .003-.005" between the barrel and the slide. On a bushing gun you will have .003-.005 between the barrel and the bushing and the additional clearances between the bushing and the slide. The bull barrel set up provides a potential increase in mechanical accuracy.

It allows you to move the point of balance forward towards the muzzle with the additional thickness in the barrel walls.

It eliminates the issues with trying to fit a durable bushing into the short slide guns.

It adds additional weight to the reciprocating mass slowing the cycle rate down and providing for slightly less felt recoil.

It is easier and simplier to build, which means it is cheaper to build.