Purchase Question

[Big K]

Time for a new piece, looking at the Springfield Armory Champion & Full Size in Stainless. Looking for owners recommendation's on these and ??? :confused:

thanks

[kryten]

I've owned both.

I had the Champion for about a year. It was reliable and accurate from day one, but just didn't keep me interested. I sold it to finance a NRM Colt. Disassembly was a bit of a pain because it had the captive recoil spring system and you need a little plastic clip to disassemble it. You can do it without the clip, but the clip makes it easier. IIRC, Wilson Combat makes a standard recoil set up for it, but it does take some fitting from what I've heard.

I got the full-size one a few months later. It had vertical stringing problems in addition to the break-in issues you typically see on many NIB 1911-style firearms these days. I sent it off to Springfield with a check for $700 and they sent me back a TRP (which I still have). The TRP package turned it into a more pleasant piece to own. I have no doubts that Springfield would have made my loaded run right, I just had the spare funds and a sudden desire for a TRP.

Both had very sharp edges (you could shave with the slide serrations on both of mine). The flats were semi-polished (i.e. not matte) which tends to show scratches more than I like. They also had hard-chromed carbon steel small parts instead of all stainless.

The nice thing about Springfield is that if there is something wrong, they will do whatever it takes to make you gun run right, including shipping both ways on their dime.

At that price point, I would also have a look at Kimber and the NRM Colts; however, I'm sure either the full-size or Champion would probably serve you well should you choose one or the other.

HTH.

[Big K]

thanks for the info.....

[Thompsongunner]

I bought a MIL SPEC in Stainless about a month ago. the only thing I have changed on it was putting a flat mainspring housing, a wilson spring kit and pachmyer grips on it. I have put around 400 rds through it and hasn't had 1 failure to feed or eject. The gun is sweet so far!

Would I buy another one? All I can say is so far so good!

Gunner

[Big K]

continued good luck

[Big K]

went for the Stainless Mil-Spec.....