Springfield Ultra Compact

[CertifiedGunNut]

I have heard over the years on the internet that "any 1911 shorter than 5" is an unreliable piece of crap". I have heard stories that they ftf, fte, ftf and basically will not launch lead downrange reliably to save your life and not even the best gunsmith in the world can make one work reliably. Well, I am here to tell you that I picked up a Springfield Ultra Compact Officer length 1911 in January and since have put over 2000 rounds through it with not one, I repeat NOT ONE malfunction whatsoever.

I have shot factory loads from WWB, Wolf and Monarch. My own reloads using lead, FMJ and Berry's plated bullets. I have shot countless rounds of Remington Golden Saber which is my carry load. I also shot a box of ammo given to my by a friend which was mixed HP and ball ammo from different manufacturers and in different bullet weights figuring I would get a couple of malfunctions. I did not.

Now I do not know if the design using the ramped barrel is to be credited for this or maybe the dual captured recoil spring is the culprit or maybe I simply got lucky and got a good one. Whatever it is, it works and it works every time. So if you are wanting a smaller more carry-able and utterly reliable 1911 I say Go for it! My little Springfield Ultra Compact has been very good to me.

[Bawanna]

I've read the same stories you mention. I owned a Colt Officers ACP when they first hit the market and while I read how horrible they were and unreliable mine never missed a single beat. I didn't tweak anything, shot 1000's of rounds thru it with no spring replacement and zero issues.

I also have a 3" Para Companion, it also was and continues to be perfectly reliable and never boggles.

I think alot of the horror stories we hear are ancient history and somebody someplace has figured out how to make the mini 1911's run well.

I'm glad you like your Springfield. They make some really good stuff.
My son recently purchased a used V12 and it's just a sweet soft shooting 45. Great gun all around.

[O'Dell]

Don't believe everything you read, especially on the internet. I've had two 4.25 inch SIG's, a 3.5 inch SA Ultra Compact and a 3 inch STI, and none has ever given a problem. In fact the only 1911 I've ever had an issue with was a FS Colt in the seventies that required some tuning to be reliable with ball ammo.

[Canoe]

I guess most of you are youngsters compared to me. I have about 50 years shooting 1911's and most early attempts to make a short 1911 were not sucessful. Less weight in the slide just didn't allow for proper timing with recoil springs of the time. The first commercial short 1911 that really worked was the Detonics. They were the first to go with a captive recoil spring and the first to use the now popular coned barrel. I have a couple of the Seattle made Detonics, one with about 20K rounds through it. They were a well built hand assembled and tuned 1911 that set the mark for many of the compact 1911's that followed.

[Bill K]

I know of two folks who regularly carry 3" barreled Kimbers (not sure what models). I have to assume if there were any issues to start that those issues, if any, have been resolved and they now consider their guns reliable for carry.

[TheTman]

I've never heard that about compact 1911, but I never wanted a compact .45 so never researched the shorter barrel models. I wanted all the intimidation factor I could get with the full size one, back before I could CC. I could see how the short versions would have growing pains, but they must have got them worked out by now. Seems like there are plenty on the market. My friends Kimber Ultra Carry II 3.5" model seems to work well with about everything but Gold Dot bullets.

[wayneo1]

I agree 100% Gunnut, I have a 3" Smith and Wesson pro and not one failure. In fact I carry the smith in the cooler months love it.

[deadhead1971]

Have you changed out your recoil spring?

I think you lucked out..won life's lottery. Based on what I have read, talked to others about, and my own experiences, yours is the exception rather than the rule. In fact, I have NEVER had a malfunction free gun. Not one. My DPMS AR jammed but it was the magazine. My S&W .38 spl revolver jammed up in my CC class in 2002. My Kahr has had a few ftfs. My LCP has had a few ftfs.

....and my Kimber Ultra Raptor..(?).....go see my post and 5-Part video series here to see what "luck" I have had with it. I am at 600 rds.

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=94019

I am still in search of that perfect, 100% reliable, malfunction free gun. Oh, my brother in-law had a glock 36 that had failure to eject issues.

[bonjorno2]

I've owned 3 kimber ultra's 3" and never had a single problem with any of them!

[500KV]

I am still in search of that perfect, 100% reliable, malfunction free gun.

Here's that perfect, 100% reliable, malfunction free gun your looking for. :yo:

http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab225/500KV_album/Mak.jpg

[jlottmc]

I have to say that yes back in the day, the short 1911's were a crap shoot. Them days are gone, and it is a popular platform. Personally, I don't care for anything shorter than a commander length, but that just be me.

[CJB]

Well... not too long of a story, but, I had a decent enough working relationship with Irving Stone (and this dates me a bit), that I got heads up on two upcoming Colt models when Bar-Sto provided Colt with barrels for the same. One was the Delta Elite 10mm, in a time when the only 10mm ammo was imported by Norma, and head stamped "10mm Bren". Loading dies were marked the same, and only available from Huntington on special order. I still got some of that brass here someplace. The other Colt prototype, the first one actually, was the Officers ACP. I got word that Bar-Sto had some funky barrels and a few were left over. After some short conversation, some checking my parts on hand... and a whopping $75 on my credit card, he sent me one. The result - an Officer's ACP made from a Combat Commander. Had no bushing. Had a flanged mainspring plug of my own creation - not too unlike the current Clark one. Ended up putting a Millet dual-crimp sight on the front. And it shot damn well with the regular Commander spring.

That gun is roaming Oklahoma with some fat pig gal named Jenna, my good friend Bob "Pop-Tart" P's ex-wife, who stole it in a nasty divorce. I gave it to Bob as a going away gift when he moved back to Ok.

Whats left of the gun, resides on my keychain to this day:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/bandersnatchreverb/IMG_53951.jpg Thats the piece I cut off the front of the Commander, with a hacksaw, over at Andre's office/shop. After a while, I ended up taking a bit more off with the surface grinder at my other buddy Ed's shop. All the cleanup was done by hand, except the neat little bevel on the inside of the barrel opening - which I got done with a carbide burr (a huge one) over at Kenny J's shop. So... all my friends helped me build a Bar-Sto barrel'd Officer's, before Colt even had theirs out!~

A side note - back cover of the American Rifleman about two months later, showed a Commander, a hacksaw and file, and parts cut off. And it showed "shavings" from the surgery. I laughed my ass off, since I already knew that the "shavings" didn't look a damn thing like what was in the picture - which was essentially some swarf and what looked like brown sugar and cinnamon.

Anyway, there ya go. All Officer's ACP models have been totally reliable for me, when shot with good ammo. So far I've had the one I built, a very early blued Colt (hadda get it just to compare), a stainless one of my own creation, a Colt stainless, and a Springfield Compact (which is just under 4", a bit longer than the OACP).

(addition)
It showed in the picture! The sharp eyed of you might see that there is a slot on the part cut off. Thats where Andre (aka Handy Andy) "tested" the hacksaw to see if the blade was sharp enough to cut the slide. It was, except for the two flame hardened spots where the recoil spring part meets the slide proper. Those spots were a @#$@#$ to saw thru.

[CertifiedGunNut]

Don't believe everything you read, especially on the internet. I've had two 4.25 inch SIG's, a 3.5 inch SA Ultra Compact and a 3 inch STI, and none has ever given a problem. In fact the only 1911 I've ever had an issue with was a FS Colt in the seventies that required some tuning to be reliable with ball ammo.

My next purchase is going to be the SIG Compact. I have the full size GSR that I picked up when they first came out and it has been awesome and accurate, I carry it regularly. I had a colt 1991A1 which was reliable but I could not stand the billboard rollmark on the side, sold it. I am definatly loving my little Springer..It's a keeper. I use Chip McCormick 7 rounders in the gun and carry a McCormick 10 rounder as spare. 18 rounds of .45 ACP should suffice for anything I may encounter in my life.

[CertifiedGunNut]

Have you changed out your recoil spring?

I think you lucked out..won life's lottery. Based on what I have read, talked to others about, and my own experiences, yours is the exception rather than the rule. In fact, I have NEVER had a malfunction free gun. Not one. My DPMS AR jammed but it was the magazine. My S&W .38 spl revolver jammed up in my CC class in 2002. My Kahr has had a few ftfs. My LCP has had a few ftfs.

....and my Kimber Ultra Raptor..(?).....go see my post and 5-Part video series here to see what "luck" I have had with it. I am at 600 rds.

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=94019

I am still in search of that perfect, 100% reliable, malfunction free gun. Oh, my brother in-law had a glock 36 that had failure to eject issues.


Remind me not to buy a gun from you Deadhead ;) Sounds like you have gotten a few lemons in the past. Most of my many guns have been reliable. My 2 exceptions were Ruger LCP one round out of every mag would not feed with three mags I tried, Taurus 85 was out of time sent it back came back out of time the opposite way. Sold both.

[Bawanna]

Remind me not to buy a gun from you Deadhead ;) Sounds like you have gotten a few lemons in the past. Most of my many guns have been reliable. My 2 exceptions were Ruger LCP one round out of every mag would not feed with three mags I tried, Taurus 85 was out of time sent it back came back out of time the opposite way. Sold both.

I'll double plus one on that. I've never had a lemon gun yet. Never sold one because it had issues of any kind. I've sold a few that just didn't end up fitting me or working right for me but none for reliability issues.
My PM45 probably gave me the most grief getting right but it wasn't anything I consider major either. And part of it could easily have been me or reloads so I'm giving it a clean bill of health from day one too.
Now cars is a different ball game, I've had more than my fair share of lemons in that department.

[O'Dell]

Have you changed out your recoil spring?

I think you lucked out..won life's lottery. Based on what I have read, talked to others about, and my own experiences, yours is the exception rather than the rule. In fact, I have NEVER had a malfunction free gun. Not one. My DPMS AR jammed but it was the magazine. My S&W .38 spl revolver jammed up in my CC class in 2002. My Kahr has had a few ftfs. My LCP has had a few ftfs.

....and my Kimber Ultra Raptor..(?).....go see my post and 5-Part video series here to see what "luck" I have had with it. I am at 600 rds.

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=94019

I am still in search of that perfect, 100% reliable, malfunction free gun. Oh, my brother in-law had a glock 36 that had failure to eject issues.

Sorry about your problems, but I don't think we've been lucky - it's more a case of you being unlucky, or making poor choices.

I have owned dozens of pistols, maybe in the hundreds now, over the last 45 years. I can count on one hand the ones that were unreliable. They were 2 Tauruses, a Browning HP, a KT PF9, and a Colt 1911 that wouldn't shoot HP. Of course it wasn't designed to do so. I currently have twelve active pistols, and of those the only one that ever had so much as a hiccup is the PM9. Early on, it would not always lock back the slide after the final round. I determined it was due to weak bulk ammo, and it cleared up after 200 rounds anyway when the gun loosened up.

In February, I had nine pistols stolen. None of those pistols had ever failed.

Brand name and models of these twenty-one pistols are available upon request.

[deadhead1971]

I have been sittin' here waiting for someone to challenge my assertion that a revolver jammed up. In my case, the piece under the barrel that you push to pop the cylinder out came loose (it tightens on) and it prevented the cylinder from turning when pulling the trigger. The trigger would lock half-way because the cylinder would not turn.

Anyway, let's clarify the terms. My Kahr is now reliable, but it did have at least one malfunction early on. My LCP is reliable but I did have some issues early on. My Kimber is still under review but it appears to like ball ammo once the slide stop was replaced. So all that I have are reliable now but I can't claim that they have been 100% malfunction free...never 1 hiccup.

But anyway, we are talking about a 3" 1911, and I think it is "luck" to have one with 2,000 rds, including hollow point rds, with 0 malfunctions of any kind. That is just not the norm taking in all my research and my personal experiences. Sure, I think my Kimber is going to be reliable with ball ammo. The reason I rolled the dice on a 3" 1911 was because some folks were having good luck with them.

[CertifiedGunNut]

I stand corrected and will now consider myself "Lucky" and Happy :)

[deadhead1971]

I dunno. I had good luck last night with my Kimber..another 149 flawless ball rounds...

I think you might be lucky if yours digests hollow points flawlessly.