full length guide rod

[lorren68]

Hi I am new to the forum and I have a question about guide rods My SA GI has the normal guide rod and I was wondering what a full length guidrod does and what would it take to change and what if any benefits would I see

[Joni Lynn]

You will have less money afterwards and a gun that is harder to take apart. However they do look cool.

[milquebon]

Lorren: If I understand correctly, a full length guide rod is meant to provide a longer guide (hence the name) for the recoil spring. It does this by keeping the spring in a straighter configuration during recoil as the spring is compressed. For example, attempt to squeeze a 3 or 4 inch long spring between your thumb and forefinger (warn anyone standing nearby) and you will find it tends to curve and want to shoot out of your hand. I have used both in my limited experience over the past couple of months and find that i tend to agree with Joni concerning the "harder to disassemble" part, as well as not noticing any real prformance boosts. I am inclined to think that they are meant for extreme duty competition more often than not. Hopefully this helps rather than just murking up the waters. Welcome to the forum, I am fairly new myself and have enjoyed reading and learning so much from the kind folks here. Enjoy

[lorren68]

Thanks Joni for the answer I was hoping to get some strait forward answers to my questions here

[Joni Lynn]

Well, in the slide the spring has very little of its length that isn't either over the guide rod or inside the recoil spring plug. It really doesn't have anywhere to go and as such can't do too much kinking. The full length guide rod will of course add a small amount of forward weight and possibly keep the spring from rubbing it's sides, aside from that I don't see much advantage. The one full length guide rod I like is the Dawson tool-less guide rod. I can now take my gun apart and never have to mess with the spring. Oh....welcome to the forum!!!:):)

[stans]

I have an old army mixmaster 1911-a1 with the standard guide rod and plug, it works perfect. I have a kimber gold match stainless with the full length rod (factory item) and it works perfect. I have a colt delta elite stainless, i did put a full length rod in this one and prefer the full length rod with the heavier springs required by the 10mm caliber, just insurance against spring binding and kinking. I have a home built commander that chokes on a short guide rod and works flawlessly with a flgr, but it's an auto ordnance receiver and that may be the problem. So it depends upon what the gun prefers and the use of the gun. If it runs perfect with a short rod, save your money for ammo.