Happiness is a new gun 2

[BirdsThaWord]

I was all set to say go with the 9 until I saw the word sissified. Stick with the 45. I'll know more hopefully when I light off this Officer MRI. Hope it's manageable. Pray it's manageable. I've pretty much carried commanders all day for years. Occasionally carry a 5''er but while I love it, the extra length is a little uncomfy being a full time sitter. The slightly shorter commander rides nice, and I suspect the Officer will ride even nicer.
For some reason I carried my 365 for awhile and of course it's way shorter and rides high but the commander just felt better on the hip.
I too wear em all day every day. I climb out of bed into the chair, gun goes on the hip, goes off when I get back in the bed. Last couple days I probably should have took it off shoveling a couple yards of gravel (not fun) and next day moving a couple cords of wood. All the bending and reaching in the chair, the arm rest beat the gun and my bowie knife (left side) into my side until I was bruised. But I'll be ok, its supposed to be comforting not comfortable.
I'm back to kind of leaning towards the 9 for you. Incidently the 9 mags still fit nice in the 45 mag pouch so that has to be worth something.

My lower back hurts just reading what you were doing. I have so much trouble doing stuff like that anymore. My yard used to be so much nicer and had new plants going in every year. Now stuff languishes, or I pay the neighbors kid. I still get some stuff done, but pay for it for a week or weeks.

[dao]

I'd say try the 9 Ken. Like Bird days, you have plenty of .45's, so why not? While I've never been recoil sensitive, and my favorite caliber for decades was .40S&W, since starting to shoot .45 several years back I've come to learn that there are other choices besides my favorite. Then as I aged I realized that range trips were starting to become uncomfortable shooting larger calibers out of smaller and lighter guns. Then when I got a 9mm 1911 I realized that I could shoot more without feeling like I'd had enough.

I hear you on the used gun issue too. And in addition if we fit our own parts we should always, always thoroughly check them for proper and safe functionality before putting live ammo in them. Today in fact I replaced the beavertail on my RIA below because it was deactivating with just the slightest pressure on it. Not a big deal when there are two other safeties, counting your finger, but it is better to be safe than sorry, no pun intended.

I also installed the EGW HD thumb safety. It does not exactly match their picture for thickness of the lever, but it's probably within their tolerances for that spec. Still, I like it better than the WC I had on it. At this point I'm no longer sure though that Dan Wesson is using EGW thumb safeties, as the safeties on my DW's have all been thicker than this one. Took me awhile to get this one, and the beavertail fitted properly. The RIA frame is just not as nice as the Tisas frames seem to be. And the tolerances seem to be much higher than what I've seen on all other makes of 1911s I've had the chance to own and take apart.
Now, all that being said, this little guy now wears more aftermarket parts than original. I've put a lot of money into it after paying that bargain price for it. But.... based on how it soaked up the recoil of the 9mm rounds I've put through it, it has been a joy to shoot.

I was telling Bird in a PM that I'm really hoping that Tisas will start producing an all steel 9mm Officer size 1911. I would really like to own something of better quality. DW made the PM-C in 9mm but they have a 4.25" barrel, and since buying my Colt MKIV Officer's (OACP), I've come to realize that just as in Sig's I like shorter barrels best.

[BirdsThaWord]

Did the EGW fit pretty easy? At least in that pick, it looks thick like I like them.

[JohnR]

So I bought a new .45. And I’m not thrilled with it

I wanted the M&P45 with the new 2.0 flat face trigger, but the only .45 variant they make has a threaded barrel, tall 3-dot sights, and optics cut. No biggie, the upcharge isn’t much.

I loved that trigger in the Shield Plus, so I had high hopes. But this has the absolute worst trigger I’ve ever felt. It redefines gritty. It’s like dragging a suitcase over a gravel road.

I polished the striker disconnect plunger, which had machining marks, but that didn’t help. With the slide off, the trigger is butter smooth, so it’s in the slide somewhere. The firing pin seems seems to move fairly smoothly when pushed by hand, just not when the trigger pushes it.

But it’s nice and accurate, and reliable, so there’s that. And it’s a .45.

[dao]

I'm sure you'll get it dialed in John. From what I've heard the 2.0 trigger is much better than the previous gen's.

The EGW thumb safety was not easy to fit. For the life of me I could not get it to move down far enough to allow the plunger to hit the detent hole. So I elongated the hole a bit. It goes on and off positively but I would have like to have it snick up to the on position a little more firmly. Going off is nice and firm. I believe this is due to the RIA frame. I did not have as much trouble getting the WC thumb safety fitted, with it I wasn't entirely happy with the less than stellar positive snick in flipping it on either. This one is more positive than that, it's just not as hard to activate as I would like. This is not the only issue I've found with this frame. The MSH to grip safety interface has been a challenge too. I ended up having to use a Chen magwell that is drilled for a Dan Wesson compact. The pin hole is a tad lower than non-DW magwells, meaning that the magwell sits higher in the frame and required me to have to remove material from the bottom of the beavertail. And of the four different magwells that i tried on this gun this DW model fit the best. But you know Bird, I suspect you may not face these same challenges with yours. I think that because of what I perceive to be RIA's high tolerances your frame might be much different than mine. Still, all in all with everything now installed it looks good, and if it functions reliably I will be happy with it. Very happy in fact.

[BirdsThaWord]

So I bought a new .45. And I’m not thrilled with it

I wanted the M&P45 with the new 2.0 flat face trigger, but the only .45 variant they make has a threaded barrel, tall 3-dot sights, and optics cut. No biggie, the upcharge isn’t much.

I loved that trigger in the Shield Plus, so I had high hopes. But this has the absolute worst trigger I’ve ever felt. It redefines gritty. It’s like dragging a suitcase over a gravel road.

I polished the striker disconnect plunger, which had machining marks, but that didn’t help. With the slide off, the trigger is butter smooth, so it’s in the slide somewhere. The firing pin seems seems to move fairly smoothly when pushed by hand, just not when the trigger pushes it.

But it’s nice and accurate, and reliable, so there’s that. And it’s a .45.

Well dang it all man! That’s not good. I honestly have not had any M&P (I’ve had a few) where I felt that bad about the trigger. Hoping it smooths out for you in time. May just be a bur!

[BirdsThaWord]

Yer scarin me man! I like simple and easy! Lol! Well, we both bought these things to learn on, so even if I have to deal with what you have, I’ll be more knowledgable for going through it. Hoping to only buy parts once though. Nothing irks me more than having to buy the same part a 2nd or 3rd time to get it right.
Worked on mines frame finish a bit tonight. Messed with a little acid in a weakened, table top setting, but results were less than desired. So, neutralized everything and began masking it for electro etching. Hoping to do that this weekend.

[dao]

To be fair, I could have left the first replacement parts in it, with no ill effects. But caution and an unhealthy sense of wanting it to look just so made me swap out the two safeties. The learning is a cheap price if all it costs is a relatively inexpensive piece. I would not be suprised to hear your fitting goes much different than mine given my suspicions on the frames' tolerances.

I'm looking forward to see what you come up with on your project. Knowing you it will be fantastic!

[dao]

Anyone here have any experience with Girsan guns? They have a new model out, MC1911 SC Untouchable. It comes in 9mm and .45, has a 3.4" barrel, and is all steel. And they're cheap, cheaper than RIA. I just don't know if I want to take a chance on another cheap one. Looks nice though.

On their site they are described as First in price, product range, and warranty. They come in government, commander, and officer size. And in four different color combos. But at less than $400 for the Officer, how good can they be?

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1037321179

[JohnR]

I once had a Girsan GI style 1911 that was totally reliable. That's my only experience with Girsan.