WB
I was 6 ft. from Alcorn when his 1911 blew a case
Monday, March 24, 2025, 08:34

He had a very expensive store bought and installed conversion. The case web blew, gasses came back along the slide rails to pepper his face which was protected by his shooting glasses. Gases also went down the mag well and destroyed the top two cartridges spilling out the powder and bullets. We cleaned up the gun and mag, Alcorn’s pants too. All was well, no lasting damage.

With an auto loader there are many things to consider. The chamber has to support the case web. It also has to stay locked until pressures are down. We “built” a Glock 21 with custom chamber on a conventional rifled barrel. Besides re-chambering the chamber throat was modified with a 1/2” freebore. Much like Weatherby rifles. The bullet travels forward to about .45 Schofield length before rifling is engaged and pressures are truly realized. That’s a big deal. Downstream I also went from a 17-18# recoil spring to a 26# heavy duty. Lastly on the end of the threaded barrel I used a special “chamber” muzzle brake to slow slide opening and jarring recoil effects. My friend (using a 1911 platform) decided on the same mods except he used a special three spring, special calibrated, captured recoil spring system. His 200 gr. Jacketed bullets reached 1400 fps. I was using special gas checked cast bullets to achieve the same. I did shoot 250’s and even 300 gr. at 1200 fps. But I’d not want to do it too much. All wear is greatly advanced with the heightened performance. I was able to duplicate the same level of performance with a 6” custom barreled Glock 20 in 10mm using custom cast loads in conventional rifling as well. Up to 230 gr. anyway.

In short. It’s a good way to blow your nose off. Even with a well designed “factory” kit. Some designs can let the sear go without being fully in battery. I chose the Glock as it has a whole munch less parts than the 1911. No link, pin, bushing, etc. The .45 Super loads with a little forethought would be a better place to start, IMO. Or just go straight to 10mm. BTW, semi-autos need semi-auto shaped bullets to perform best, I’ve found.