1911 guide rod

[bigted]

I have a Springfield 1911 A1 with the two piece full length rod in it.

I hate the fact I need an Allen wrench to field trip.

Can I just remove the front half of the screw together rod and shoot it like that?

I do not see why not as the factory set up originally from colt didn't have the full length rod.

What advantage is the full length rod anyway?

[Dan Cash]

I feel your pain. After working with the 1911 since the mid 1960s on a daily basis, I can not find one real reason for the full length guide rod, Every full size 1911 I own has been stripped of the 2 piece and re equipped with a standard government guide rod.

Can you shoot the gun with only the rear portion of the 2 piece rod in place? Not sure what would happen as the spring could get hung on the blunt end of the rod. A mil spec guide rod won't break you up in business to buy unless it says Les Bear or Wilson.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Gee--put that way, I don't see why not. Try it for a round or two. The only thing that comes to my mind is that most of the short original equipment one piece rods are rounded on the front so as to allow the coils of the spring to pass over it, and the rear part of a two piece rod might be squared off on the front for a flush fit with the front half and might catch on the coils. But one or two experimental rounds shouldn't hurt much.

If you need an original part I might have one in the parts drawers--I'd have to look.

I've got a 1911 with a one piece full length rod, and can disassemble/reassemble without a tool (might need a barrel bushing wrench) and as I recall it took just a bit of hand filing and polishing to made it work properly. All my other 1911s use the original short style.

[Plate plinker]

You do not need the full length rod, but I wonder about the blunt end also damaging the spring. I would just buy a new rod they don't cost that much.

[Mk42gunner]

My Kimber got a Gov't surplus guide rod and plug the first time I field stripped it. It has worked fine for fifteen years now.

Robert

[Joni Lynn]

I switched a few of mine over to the original style shorty rod and cap (plug).
I have no liking for most flgr's if they hinder the take down process. (that's almost all of them)
I don't think I'd run the gun with just the front portion taken off due to the open end of the cap or plug. Look into Brownell's and buy a short rod and plug. Since you're paying the shipping anyway you might consider it money ahead in the long run to get more than one.

[Jupiter7]

All mine have been replace with standard GI setup. Can be ordered for like $10, problem solved.

[KYCaster]

Looks like I'm the odd man out here since I prefer the full length guide rod.

I'll happily swap a GI guide rod and plug for your Springfield parts.

Jerry

[apen]

Looks like I'm the odd man out here since I prefer the full length guide rod.

I'll happily swap a GI guide rod and plug for your Springfield parts.

Jerry

Why do you prefer it?

[GhostHawk]

Well I am new to 1911's, been shooting my SA for about a year. Saw that some put full length guide rods, but I felt no need to change mine.

As I understand it the guide rod should have little bearing on accuracy. Bushing I can see could put pressure on the barrel but the guide rod just keeps the spring straight so it can't bend into a horseshoe and jam up the works.

When in doubt I tend to trust Mr Browning. If he felt the need he would have made it that way.
You have to figure a lot of the aftermarket parts out there is just a way to make some money. Actual proof that a full length guide rod shaves X off your group seems to be lacking.

[Bigslug]

KyCaster has offered you a trade not to be passed up, but yeah, as stated Springfield will solve your problem for cheap. They install FLGR's because people THINK they give some benefit. On a truly sloppy gun, they might help the barrel return to a more consistent alignment with the sights from shot to shot, but in a case where the gun is decently fit to begin with. . .well. . .Les Baer's match pistols, arguably the most accurate 1911's made, use John Browning's standard recoil spring plunger.

The original blueprint is not one that needs a lot of messin' with.

[bigted]

no interest in getting rid of my parts ... thanks just the same. I would and prolly will get the colt style plug and rod for my springfield but will keep hold of the parts

[Bigslug]

no interest in getting rid of my parts ... thanks just the same. I would and prolly will get the colt style plug and rod for my springfield but will keep hold of the parts

Good idea! Put them on your wall in a shadow box next to a set of Series 80 trigger parts and a Sig/S&W external extractor and have the whole mess referred to by a fancy brass plaque that reads "First Commandment: Thou Shalt Not **** With Browning's Blueprints"

[Jupiter7]

Good idea! Put them on your wall in a shadow box next to a set of Series 80 trigger parts and a Sig/S&W external extractor and have the whole mess referred to by a fancy brass plaque that reads "First Commandment: Thou Shalt Not **** With Browning's Blueprints"

Don't forget Springfield's ILS in the mainspring housing. Maybe a Ruger transfer bar too...

[ole 5 hole group]

I'll just add this little tidbit - I don't think you'll find any 1911's on the line being used by any of our Service Team Members that have a full length rod guide installed. I would think that just means they have found no benefit to accuracy or reliability from using it. That's not saying there bad - just not needed to improve anything on a well made and set-up 1911.

[Char-Gar]

Yep, the original Colt style guide rod is the way to go. I bit on the FL guide rod stuff some years ago, but threw it in the trash in a couple of months. It was one of the notions to improve on John Browning's design that didn't have any basis in reality.

[Joni Lynn]

The old story of the spring kinking is a fable, there's not enough room for the spring to do much except go back and forth.
Mr Browning's design was pretty much fool proof. I figure anything short of the spring breaking into pieces and a 1911 would just continue to run.

[MtGun44]

Joni Lynn is absolutely right. Well said!

Bill

[John 242]

Some people, myself included, feel that a 1911 runs smoother with a full length guide rod. This is certainly a subjective claim.
FLGRs allow you to remove the slide assembly as a unit by simply pulling the slide stop. The spring remains captured in the slide, around the guide rod. If you occasionally run a .22 cal conversion, like I do, this is very helpful.
A tungsten guide rod can add a little weight to the front end of the pistol, although not much.
Disassembling a pistol with a (one piece) FLGR is not significantly more difficult than one without it.

There's always a lot of talk about not deviating from Browning's original design, but it was the US Army that drove the development of the pistol that became the 1911. Browning and Colt had to modify their original design, the 1902, over a period of nearly TEN YEARS, before the Army was satisfied with the resulting pistol. For good or bad, the 1911 was hugely a product of Browning giving the US Army what it wanted.
Is the 1911A1 an abomination?

In the end, it is the user that has to decide which features they feel they need in a 1911 type pistol.
I prefer sights that I can see (actually i prefer tritium night sights), a FLGR, beaver tail grip safety, checkered front strap, arched mainspring housing, long trigger, slightly beveled mag well, and (horror of all horrors!) an extended thumb safety and magazine release.

[.429&H110]

At the top of the page type into the search: full length guide rod am I crazy
and you could read for a day and not be finished.
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