WE 1911 Mods

[Ammo]

Hi guys 'n' gals.

Need some advice on a WE 1911 and upgrades in regards to it. I have installed a PDI TB in there (6.01) and the Dyna piston head but the first stone I've hit in the road... after installing the dyna piston head it worked just perfect but after I installed the more powerful spring that came with the piston the gun wouldn't fire properly (vented gas after firing).

So my question is, does anyone know what the cause of this might be and how I can fix it? I'm starting to think that I need to upgrade some other parts so that it works better with the more powerful spring that came with the piston, like the uprated recoil and hammer spring?

Also, I would like to try and increase the fps on the pistol so can anyone make anymore recommendations on what I can add/change? I have already considered getting the following:

- uprated recoil & hammer spring
- nine ball hop rubber
- guarder/element reinforced loading nozzle

Can anyone make any other recommendations?

Cheers people.

[robharris21]

Re: WE 1911 Mods

maybe the new spring is to strong and the gun cant get the slide far enough back to reset the hammer which would be whythe gas just vents...

[dope_on_a_rope]

Re: WE 1911 Mods

The idea in the stronger spring, is to allow more gas down the barrel. The new spring, is clearly doing it's job too well. Go back to the old spring. WE's are pretty poor for getting a good blowback effect anyway, because of the weight of the slide, and the poor materials used in the hammer mech causing the hammer to ride up on the slide, and just the general poor quality of construction. The slide isn't even smooth.

A stronger hammer spring and recoil spring will only make things worse. The hammer spring, releases the valve on the mag. It only needs to be so strong to do that job, and the stronger it is after that, the harder it will be to recock after a shot has been fired. You only need to upgrade that spring if you're getting light striking issues with the gas you use. The symptoms of that are, reduced power for the first few shots of the new mag. If you start to get more power as you fire more shots, replace the hammer spring, if not, don't. And with the WE hammer spring being so strong in the first place, I doubt you need to touch it.
The recoil spring is much the same story. Makes it harder for the gun to cycle backwards. If you're gun is catching on something and wont return forwards every time, then it's worth thinking about. But generally, if that's happening, it's the symptom of another problem that can be fixed, without the loss of efficiency, and without reduced blowback.

The reinforced loading nozzle may not be a bad idea. Could be the internal shaping of that is better for the blowback than the standard WE ones. But I doubt it'll make much difference.

My suggestion, as always with WE guns, is leave it on the wall, or in a holster, and buy a practical plastic pistol for skirmishing with. I've had a fair few WE 1911s, and they're just a waste of time in an English climate.

[snuff]

Re: WE 1911 Mods

Hi guys 'n' gals.

Need some advice on a WE 1911 and upgrades in regards to it. I have installed a PDI TB in there (6.01) and the Dyna piston head but the first stone I've hit in the road... after installing the dyna piston head it worked just perfect but after I installed the more powerful spring that came with the piston the gun wouldn't fire properly (vented gas after firing).

So my question is, does anyone know what the cause of this might be and how I can fix it? I'm starting to think that I need to upgrade some other parts so that it works better with the more powerful spring that came with the piston, like the uprated recoil and hammer spring?

Also, I would like to try and increase the fps on the pistol so can anyone make anymore recommendations on what I can add/change? I have already considered getting the following:

- uprated recoil & hammer spring
- nine ball hop rubber
- guarder/element reinforced loading nozzle

Can anyone make any other recommendations?

Cheers people.

What was the FPS anyway,I thought it'd be close to 320 std?

[Ammo]

Re: WE 1911 Mods

Makes sense actually because after replacing the original spring back in there the gun cycled perfectly again. I wasn't sure what it might be though but after that - I'll leave well alone.

The power I'm currently getting from it is a little under 300fps - after having installed the TB barrel. Very nice kick and such but was just wondering if anymore upgrades to the internals might help at all in increasing that fps.

[Ammo]

Re: WE 1911 Mods

Had an additional question actually that I was wondering if anyone can answer... how easy is it to take a TM 1911 and add say all my WE 1911 parts to it? I know that the slide components are all interchagable so that part is great since my WE version has a lot of aftermarket parts in there (some of which I just ordered today and are compatable with the TM version).
How easy is it to get a silver metal version of the TM 1911? Or would one have to purchase the metal body kit as an after market part costing something rediculous? :-/

I have only been considering this after reading and hearing about how bad the WE is in comparison to the TM 1911. Although I've had no real problems with my WE's IF at some point something goes wrong I could opt to just put the upgrade parts into a TM instead (I've spent a LOT on everything I've done to these WE's).

[dope_on_a_rope]

Re: WE 1911 Mods

The spring does something very simple. Although, I'm not sure it utilizes the gas in the best possible manner.

What happens is, the gas flows from the mag into the blowback chamber, and down behind the BB. When the BB is still close to the blowback chamber, the pressure there, and the pressure of the small spring in question, is enough to keep the valve block in it's normal position, and the gas just escapes down the barrel. This is until the pressure is higher in the back half of the blowback chamber, the blowy-backy part, than in the barrel. Either because the BB has left, or because the BB is far enough down, and the spring is soft enough, to allow the valve block to move forward. Once the valve block has moved forward, all the effort of the gas still flooding into the chamber, goes to pushing the slide backwards.

If the spring is too strong, then there simply wont be a point where the pressure of the gas in the barrel end combined with the springs strength, will be low enough to shut the barrel off. All the energy that would be going into blowing the mech back doesn't.

That's why the spring is making the gun vent.

As for other parts that'll increase the FPS without bad things happening, you might want to try a nineball hop rubber. Should improve the airseal, and I don't think this'll have a negative effect on the blowback.

Edit: You could put a lot of the parts into a TM 1911, but the TM 1911 will be much better in plastic than in metal. Even if you do go TM and you want metal, it might be worse than your current WE, depending on how well it's been installed. Trust me on this one, it's not easy to properly install a metal kit to some guns. The TM 1911 has some easy kits to install and some hard kits, and to get any of them working nicely, can take a couple of days of fettling, for someone who knows what they're doing. If you're new to this game, I'd advise against metal kitting it yourself. Personally though, I wouldn't trust any shop to do it for me, and I'll only do it for myself, so I'm basically telling you not to bother getting a metal kit on a TM. I'd strongly advise plastic. All the parts will still be very helpful in a plastic 1911, and it'll make it a much better skirmish pistol than it could ever be with a metal kit. But should you need to ditch the WE as a practical side arm, getting a plastic TM 1911 and transferring parts across, is not a bad idea.