New 1911... Sig GSR Revolution

[AZRedhawk44]

I wanted a new 1911 to replace my Charles Daly... I was a bit concerned over its long term reliability due to the extensive use of cast components in it.  It fed and fired fine, but I wanted a truly reliable carry 1911.

I was looking at Springfield Armory.  I have an M1A from them I am happy with, as well as an XD9.  I decided to see what SA's competitors are doing, and started to look at the Sig series of 1911's.  I had heard about the bumps in the early GSR's, but also that Sig had re-designed the product and brought all tooling in-house (some used to be done by Caspian), re-branded the product as the GSR Revolution, and had been running strong for over a year with a much improved track record.

I rented a GSR Revolution XO model and it shot and functioned wonderfully.  I decided I liked the pistol, so I looked at what was in the case.

They had a whole bunch of the Revolutions in there, and the one I ultimately liked best was a GSR Revolution "Ricochet" model, black nitron slide and grey frame.  What set it apart from the rest of the crowd was the lack of stipling on the front of the grip... I didn't like that on the XO.  Just feels better smooth to me.

I bought the Ricohet on February 14th.  It came with 2 ACT mags, 8rd, stamped "Novak" on them.  I also had 3 Wilson Combat magazines that function wonderfully in my Daly 1911.

I didn't get to shoot it until that Friday, February 16th.  My ammunition for the day?  100 rounds of Winchester White Box from walmart, 100 rounds of re-loaded 230gr ball using 4.6gr Titegroup and Berry's plated bullets, 50 rounds of Magtech 230gr ball, and 50 rounds of re-loaded 200gr Hornady XTP (can't remember the powder charge... it was around 5.0gr IIRC but don't quote me).

Regardless of the ammunition or magazines used, any of the ball ammunition gave about a 60% reliability rate when feeding.  I could not get through an entire magazine without at least 2 jams.  The feed ramp was too steep, and the bullet nose would smash against the top of the chamber.  There were also horrible horizontal gashes in the brass from where the slide would try to ram the brass home, but couldn't overcome the obstruction at the feed ramp.  Several bullets were actually seated into the brass deeper by this process.  The XTP hollowpoints obviously functioned even worse... about a 20% feed reliability rate.

I left the gun with the gunsmith under the understanding that this was warranty work on a new gun.  I also requested an ambidextrous safety to be installed since I was a lefty.

Got my Sig back yesterday.

I had short notice... I was planning on shooting my redhawk that evening anyways and I was on my way to the range, and I noticed I had voicemail on my phone.  Turns out my gun was done.

I picked it up and inspected the work.  I'm not really happy with it.  "Cleaning and polishing the feed ramp and chamber" basically means that the gunsmith took a dremel to the feed ramp and made an uneven smooth patch about 1/16 of an inch wide on the frame's feed ramp.  There wasn't anything wrong with the barrel and I didn't ask for the chamber to be polished.  I could do that with my own dremel (I could also hack at the feed ramp on my own).

They wanted to charge me $85 for that dubious service.  We had an argument about that.  I won, on the basis I bought the gun at that store and it was a lemon they were fixing.

They then charged me $57 for the Ed Brown ambidextrous safety which seemed steep but I looked it up today and it is in the ballpark... and $65 to install it.

Not happy with this gunsmith at all.

Took the gun out on the range to see if his dremel work was acceptable.  I bought one box of Magtech 45acp 230gr FMJ ammo since I didn't have any .45 with me.  I got 1 fail to feed with a horizontal gash in the brass similar to the first symptoms, and 49 rounds fed and fired fine.

I have 200 rounds of new WWB and 200 handloads that I will try to run through it this weekend or next week... if they all go fine I can excuse the 1 misfeed.

I am so disappointed with the gunsmith at Scottsdale Gun Club.  I had held them in very high regard since they are a Class III dealer and also do a lot of custom work on AR's and 1911's... but they did a piss-poor ramp job on my Sig.  I can't recommend them to anyone.

[Manedwolf]

So you bought a brand-new gun, and it doesn't work out of the box till you pay a lot for a smith to "make it right"?

I never will understand that. If I bought one and it didn't work right the first time, it'd go back to the store and factory, I'd want another or a full refund.

IMO, try the Taurus PT1911.

[The Rabbi]

You can make any 1911 both more accurate and more reliable. 
By trading it for a SIG P220! 

[MechAg94]

I am kind of surprised the gun did not go back to Sig. 

[SpookyPistolero]

I am also a little confused on that point, is there a reason it went to the smith instead of to Sig?

Either way, sorry to hear about your circumstance. Try a Springfield next time! Haha, just kidding. But seriously, Springfield.

[Gewehr98]

How much was that Sig GSR?

I bought 4 Norinco 1911s for $219.95 before they were banned.  One became my IPSC/USPSA gun, one went to my now ex-wife, one went to my now ex-father-in-law, and the fourth went to the gunsmith as payment for the IPSC conversions on the first gun.  Gun #1 was a full-house conversion, Kart NM barrel, etc. The other Norks ran straight out of the box, with no hiccups, stumbles, or burps.  They didn't need a break-in period, feed ramp smoothing, or anything like that.  Granted, these were reverse-engineered copies of the WWII M1911A1s left for the Chinese after that conflict, but the steel was good, there was no Series-80 monkey business, and they went "bang" every time - just like the Remington-Rand, Singer, Colt, and Ithaca guns they were reverse-engineered from.

For the money spent, I'd tell Sig to go over that GSR with a fine-toothed comb, especially when better-functioning guns can be had for less. 

[mtnbkr]

Now Gewehr, you KNOW those Norks are junk guns made from pot metal by slave labor.  There's no way they can be that good and any work you put into them is just polishing a turd.

If I ever found a Nork for less than $350, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Chris

[HankB]

And yet ANOTHER satisfied SIG customer!

Funny how SO MANY 1911s need work in order to work.

EXCEPT the ones that the gun rags test - funny how those are almost invariably flawless . . . with the conclusion of the mazine article placed pretty close to an ad for the gun. An ad the manufacturer paid for. Hmmmm . . .

And it's not just the clones - I had a Colt Mk IV Series 70 Jammamatic that was unfixable, at least by what Colt's laughably called "warranty service."

[SpookyPistolero]

And yet ANOTHER satisfied SIG customer!

Funny how SO MANY 1911s need work in order to work.

EXCEPT the ones that the gun rags test - funny how those are almost invariably flawless . . . with the conclusion of the mazine article placed pretty close to an ad for the gun. An ad the manufacturer paid for. Hmmmm . . .

And it's not just the clones - I had a Colt Mk IV Series 70 Jammamatic that was unfixable, at least by what Colt's laughably called "warranty service."

You know, I could likely take a stock Glock and 'customize' it with all sorts of purty and tactical parts, like magazine wells and lighter triggers and titanium parts, and if it started jamming, no one would call the Glock platform a crappy design or consistently inconsistent.  They'd say, 'Way to go dumbass, you fouled up a good thing..'  And they'd be right.

But when manufacturers takes JMB's wonderfully simplistic and reliable design and consistently upgrades it and uses nothing but parts and steel types that weren't specified in the original plans, it's the fault of the 1911 platform, of it's design. What a crock.

Keep it simple, stupid.

[Manedwolf]

And yet ANOTHER satisfied SIG customer!

Funny how SO MANY 1911s need work in order to work.

EXCEPT the ones that the gun rags test - funny how those are almost invariably flawless . . . with the conclusion of the mazine article placed pretty close to an ad for the gun. An ad the manufacturer paid for. Hmmmm . . .

And it's not just the clones - I had a Colt Mk IV Series 70 Jammamatic that was unfixable, at least by what Colt's laughably called "warranty service."

You know, I could likely take a stock Glock and 'customize' it with all sorts of purty and tactical parts, like magazine wells and lighter triggers and titanium parts, and if it started jamming, no one would call the Glock platform a crappy design or consistently inconsistent.  They'd say, 'Way to go dumbass, you fouled up a good thing..'  And they'd be right.

But when manufacturers takes JMB's wonderfully simplistic and reliable design and consistently upgrades it and uses nothing but parts and steel types that weren't specified in the original plans, it's the fault of the 1911 platform, of it's design. What a crock.

Keep it simple, stupid.

This would be why I recommended the Taurus 1911. It has all the racegun features people like to put on themselves, the cutout trigger, the heinie sights, the "I spent a lot of money" hammer, but it COMES like that from the factory, tested and with a lifetime warranty that the thing will work.

[Gewehr98]

It never ceases to amaze me.  The plain-vanilla, JMB-designed Colt 1911 and 1911A1 were just fine as issued.  I carried one on active duty for a few years, and the old rattletrap never failed to go "bang" when I needed it to.

You start tightening things to get Bullseye-style groups out of it, then yes, it'll start protesting.  Add bells and whistles like guide rods and ambi safeties, then yes, you've added more things to go wrong. KISS is very much a principle to follow with the 1911.  S&W needs to remember that with respect to their revolver locks, too.

Kimber decided it needed an external extractor.  Gawd knows why, the original extractor when done properly of spring steel worked for damned near a century.  Maybe Kimber found another way to incorporate MIM parts?

If I had the money, I'd have bought all the Nork 1911s I could afford.  Heck, I wish I could get back the ones my ex-wife and ex-father-in-law have, I'm down to just one.