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I recently ordered one of these as a gun to shoot ESP(Enhanced service pistol) in IDPA, and also to take advantage of the super-cheap 9mm ball currently on the market.
After hearing about the various improvements to the "Loaded" SA line, I was tempted. I paid my $$$, and the gun arrived today.
THE FINISH
The Stainless (Only way 9mm's come AFAIK)
Adjustable sight gun came out of the box with a crisp satin finish and a much better carry bevel than previous razor-like SA's.
More attention needs to be placed on areas like the underside of the slide, ejection port, and rear of slide, but hey, thats what I pay you guys for. Nice work on the rollmarks. The serial# is dot-matrix, but with improved aesthetics over others I have seen.
THE PARTS
Several parts are actually chrome plated non-stainless steel (extractor, ejector,slide lock, mag catch, bushing, grip screws, pins, stock bushings, hammer, mainspring housing), while some are blued (sear, disconnect,sear spring, MSH plungers).
The thumb safety and grip safety are brushed and bead blasted stainless, respectively.
The firing pin is Titanium to pass the CA drop tests.
THE BARREL
A ramped, Storm Lake Barrel is installed.
The barrel is nicely crowned. This barrel does not appear to have been fitted at all, and the lower lugs bear unevenly on the slide lock pin, however there is zero up and down play when in battery. Shooting will tell the true tale.
The barrel to bushing fit is poor (loose). This could certainly be improved
SIGHTS
LPA Bo-maresque adjustable is bevelled well enough for range-work. The front is a dovetailed ramp (new for 2001). A very nice job was done on this, and while too thick for precision shooting, is a much nicer setup than the old swaged- in sight. it uses a solid pin, as opposed to the Novak-style roll pin to secure it in the dovetail.
SLIDE/FRAME fit is snug and extremely smooth.
A minimum of machine marks present, with some evidence of fitting.
The trigger broke at 8 very crisp pounds of pressure.A bit of spring tweaking and de-burring has reduced this to a very shootable 4.5 lbs. Good enough for government work.
The full length guide rod is stainless and a quality part, as opposed to the old blued "Loaded" rods in last years guns.
The safety snicks on and off with perfect tension. The gun feeds various bullet shapes well by hand. I will shoot it tomorrow and give you all an update.
Overall I am very pleased with my purchase.
It will make a nice project gun, as all the major parts seem to be of high overall finish and quality.
The fit and finish is more consistent than many Springfields I have handed in recent months.
I smell a 9x23 in my future, based on this platform.
After playing with it a bit more, I determined that the disconnector was hanging slightly inside the mag well and causing some friction. I swapped out the part with a spare GI and all is well. Just picking nits.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Anthony Lombardo on 2001-04-27 00:37 ]</font>
After hearing about the various improvements to the "Loaded" SA line, I was tempted. I paid my $$$, and the gun arrived today.
THE FINISH
The Stainless (Only way 9mm's come AFAIK)
Adjustable sight gun came out of the box with a crisp satin finish and a much better carry bevel than previous razor-like SA's.
More attention needs to be placed on areas like the underside of the slide, ejection port, and rear of slide, but hey, thats what I pay you guys for. Nice work on the rollmarks. The serial# is dot-matrix, but with improved aesthetics over others I have seen.
THE PARTS
Several parts are actually chrome plated non-stainless steel (extractor, ejector,slide lock, mag catch, bushing, grip screws, pins, stock bushings, hammer, mainspring housing), while some are blued (sear, disconnect,sear spring, MSH plungers).
The thumb safety and grip safety are brushed and bead blasted stainless, respectively.
The firing pin is Titanium to pass the CA drop tests.
THE BARREL
A ramped, Storm Lake Barrel is installed.
The barrel is nicely crowned. This barrel does not appear to have been fitted at all, and the lower lugs bear unevenly on the slide lock pin, however there is zero up and down play when in battery. Shooting will tell the true tale.
The barrel to bushing fit is poor (loose). This could certainly be improved
SIGHTS
LPA Bo-maresque adjustable is bevelled well enough for range-work. The front is a dovetailed ramp (new for 2001). A very nice job was done on this, and while too thick for precision shooting, is a much nicer setup than the old swaged- in sight. it uses a solid pin, as opposed to the Novak-style roll pin to secure it in the dovetail.
SLIDE/FRAME fit is snug and extremely smooth.
A minimum of machine marks present, with some evidence of fitting.
The trigger broke at 8 very crisp pounds of pressure.A bit of spring tweaking and de-burring has reduced this to a very shootable 4.5 lbs. Good enough for government work.
The full length guide rod is stainless and a quality part, as opposed to the old blued "Loaded" rods in last years guns.
The safety snicks on and off with perfect tension. The gun feeds various bullet shapes well by hand. I will shoot it tomorrow and give you all an update.
Overall I am very pleased with my purchase.
It will make a nice project gun, as all the major parts seem to be of high overall finish and quality.
The fit and finish is more consistent than many Springfields I have handed in recent months.
I smell a 9x23 in my future, based on this platform.
After playing with it a bit more, I determined that the disconnector was hanging slightly inside the mag well and causing some friction. I swapped out the part with a spare GI and all is well. Just picking nits.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Anthony Lombardo on 2001-04-27 00:37 ]</font>
