Joining the first-timers' club

[AndyJay]

Howdy all,

Bought a GI model about a week ago and finally got to the range today to check it out. I was a little worried about the recoil, having only fired .22, .38Spec., and 9x18mm with any regularity. After three or four rounds, I hardly noticed it, and my skinny little arthritic wrist isn't complaining any yet. :-) I think I've suddenly become a .45 fan.

I've got some flinching problems to overcome (I see a lot of dry-firing in my immediate future); I guess I'm having a noise reaction-- I can see why they're called "old loudmouth." My biggest accuracy problem, though, is with the sights-- what on earth were they thinking? I'm going to paint the front sight and see how much that helps... but something tells me my slide is going to be taking a little trip to Novak someday.

No jams, no malfunctions, and it shoots straight when I can accidentally line up the invisible sights (and not jerk the muzzle down). I'm really pleased with the gun overall, and am looking forward to fiddling with it bit by bit. Seems like an excellent value for the price.

I'm glad this site is here, and have already learned quite a bit from it-- my thanks to all you old hands out there!

Andy

[Rich-D]

I suggest a good set of Ear Protectors. Also have a friend load the gun for you, In a series with and without a chambered round. When you drop the hammer on an empty chamber you and he or her can observe your reaction.

[AndyJay]

Thanks, Rich; the Mystery Round suggestion is a good one. Maybe slipping one of those dry-fire fake cartridges into the mix would be instructive as well.

I'm using decent (26db) ear protection, which I foolishly neglected to mention; but it's still louder than I expected. :-) Too many years of .22s I reckon.

Thanks,

Andy

[Tom]

Welcome to the Forum, Andy. Post a picture of your new baby when you get the chance. We'd all like to see.

[AndyJay]

Thanks for the welcome, Tom. I thought about taking a photo, but I'm pretty sure everybody knows what it looks like. :-) Once it's no longer stock, I'll be glad to do a little show'n'tell.

A.

[chrisloie]

Welcome to the club! You'll surely frequent this site, as I did. All the the guys here are so generous with suggestions and Ideas.. post some pics of your baby...

stay safe and enjoy your shooting!

[John]

Thanks for the welcome, Tom. I thought about taking a photo, but I'm pretty sure everybody knows what it looks like. :-)

That's a lame excuse for not posting a picture. You know that Gunny will come after you soon if you do not. While we may indeed know how a stock Springer GI looks like, we also want to ... grade your photography skills, LoRL :) :D

[robk]

just a suggestion. i also had problems with the sights and for about 50 bucks you should be able to get a nice set of combat 3 dot sights added to your gi model. depending on if they need to do any work to fit the sights. put a set on my ria gi and immediately found a new life with my 45acp. well worth the money to get them put on
rob k

[eldomatic]

Hiya AndyJay!

I'm also a relatively new GI45 owner and one of the first things I did was change the sights. Springfield will send you combat sights for a Mil Spec that will fit your GI $28.95 shipped. Buy a staking tool for the front sight from Brownells and, with a Dremel and instructions you can find here or at Blindhogg (http://www.blindhogg.com/gunsmith/stakedfs.html), you can do the job yourself.

Another approach is to install a Yost-Bonitz Retro rear sight and a Kings #104 front sight, which is what I did...

http://elliottco.home.comcast.net/images_2A/GI45Sights.jpg

[AndyJay]

That's a lame excuse for not posting a picture. You know that Gunny will come after you soon if you do not. While we may indeed know how a stock Springer GI looks like, we also want to ... grade your photography skills, LoRL :) :D

Okay, okay, okay, here's (http://snufftalk.org/g2.jpg) a picture. It's 1600x1200, so give it a minute. :-) I don't have a way to resize it, thus the link.

[BobOsten]

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for sharing. Bob O

[OD*]

Welcome to M1911.ORG. http://forum.m1911.org/images/icons/icon14.gif

[AndyJay]

Thanks for the welcomes and the sights advice, y'all. I'm hoping I can get away with replacing only the rear one, since the front one is apparently a toughie. It doesn't have to be completely targetized-- if I can reliably hit a 2" circle at 10 yards I'll be happy, as I'm mostly gonna use the thing for IDPA, not the Olympics. ;-)

Andy