1911 - frame weight

[Brian James]

Over the summer I competed at a NRA 2700, where I noticed and then spoke at length with a shooter who placed weight attached to the front of his 1911 frame. Aprox weight would be 100-150grams. It attached directly below the barrel and its intended to reduce the barrel flip during rapid fire.

I’m curious to know how common frame weights are in NRA 2700s on 1911s as I am not exposed to high level NRA competitions that often. I understand and have shot other pistols with barrel weights and enjoy shooting nose heavy pistol.

Thank you in advance,

Brian

[Orpanaut]

I can't recall ever seeing a 1911 with weights attached to the frame at a Bullseye match.

On the other hand, it is common for Bullseye shooters to attach red dot sights to the slide or the frame of a 1911 "wad gun", and positioning a large sight (e.g., a 30mm Ultradot multi-dot) towards the front of the pistol can definitely give it a nose-heavy balance.

Bullseye shooters who prefer iron sights often use heavy sight ribs and/or long slide pistols (with the slide lengthened to match an extra-long 6" barrel) which are another way to give a 1911 a nose-heavy balance.

Lastly, the use of a full-length guide rod of steel or even tungsten will add a bit more mass to the front of a 1911 and is a common practice.

[shadow]

I have used a tungsten guide rod and plug. It works well in sustained. It brings the pistol back on taget. Get one that has been drilled horizontally for proper disassembly of the pistol. I believe that tungsten is too hard to drill afterwards.

[Freepistol]

That's the first time I remember hearing of a gun being "nose" heavy. I never heard of the muzzle being referred to as a "nose". Is that a common term that I've never noticed before?

I always hear of "nose heavy" aircraft.

Please don't take this as criticism, I'm just curious.
Ben

[Brian James]

No offense taken, I suspect your reference to a nose heavy aircraft is where I get it from.

Muzzle heavy would be more accurate.

Brian

[2650 Plus]

Brian, I shot one of the forward weighted 45 wad cutter guns for about two years. It functioned perfectly , recovered well and took very little getting used the changed ballance. I personally liked it better than a Bomar heavy slide I had been using before I got my hands on it. I could feel the double shuffel of the heavy slide as it moved to the rear and again as it went into battery. I went back to the Bomar when the adjuster was incorporated to center the firing pin strike on the primer. Also the heavy slide Bomar I ended up with shot smaller groups on the machine rest. The same gunsmith made both guns and I won a lot of matches with the pair.The added weight on the forward part of the reciever is easily mounted and can be removed if you dont like it. Good Shooting Bill Horton

[Brian James]

Bill,

Thank you for your response. do you recall how much weight you added or would advise adding to the frame?

Thank you,

Brian

[2650 Plus]

For Brian J. The weight I had added was 4 or 5 oz, I really can't remember which but over all it was about the same as the Bomar heavy slide. I was training hard at the time and the extra weight was no problem at all. Good Shooting Bill Horton