Well folks, I am sure you all know by now, that our friend Johnny (1911Tuner), is a genius, right? And most of you must have heard of his preference, for a very specific style of firing pin stop.
It's an EGW firing pin stop, with a square lower edge. Johnny uses them, with a very minor break there, just make that edge a bit round and you are done. Actually, here is Johnny's instructions on how to modify the stock EGW firing pin stop:
Start with a smooth mill file and cut a light 45 degree bevel on the corner. Be careful to keep it straight across. Just lightly break the corner. Use a file that's at least as wide as the stop.
I use the file for the next step, but the stone will work. Slower, but slow is good on your first one.
Shape the radius by swiping the beveled corner on the stone with a rocking motion...like you're trying to polish a radius that's already there. The main thing is to keep it straight arcoss to prevent side-loading the hammer pin.
For what it's worth...Using it with just the bevel will work, and EGW even suggests a bevel only...likely because it's easier to instruct the first-timer in establishing a bevel than in cutting a radius. All you really need is to remove the sharp corner. I do the radius because...well...that's the way John Moses did it.
Well folks, last Saturday, I got the chance to shoot two 1911s, same guns, side by side. Both were setup with what Johnny considers the perfect setup. Recoil springs were 16 lbs, new ones. Mainsprings were 23 lbs, new ones too. The ammo was the same 230 gr Fiocchi FMJ. The only difference between the two pistols was that the first one had a standard, rounded firing pin stop, while the second had the EGW one.
Well folks, I can tell you this: The difference in the way the gun recoils is more than obvious. It's amazing. With Tuner's firing pin stop, the gun made a small jump, perfectly upwards (not to the side) and was back on target in no time at all. The other gun was jumping up and to the right, much more than the Tuner's fp stop equipped one.
Now, I've tested several recoil reduction devices, such as Hartts, Recoil Reducer, Sprinco's etc. None of them show me this much recoil reduction. None! With most of these devices, I had to try hard to see any perceivable difference in recoil. The difference with this setup is obvious, from the first 2 rounds fired.
I asked two other experienced shooters, to compare the two guns. The first one's comment was "Wow!". The second one was "These two 1911s do not use the same ammo". Both are extremely familiar with the 1911.
Overall, we spend more than 100 rounds comparing the two pistols and we all agreed that this is indeed (and by far) the best setup we have ever tried on the 1911.
I just thought I should share this with you.
This is an edit to this post, to register the part numbers for this firing pin stop, from Brownells, just in case someone wants them.
#296-000-058 is for Series 70s style guns.
#296-100-001 is for Series 80 guns.
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