50,000 (now 88K) rounds and counting: Springfield Operator

[DirectTo]

Ned, could you speak to the cleaning schedule or the lubricants used? Thanks for the updates!

[JohnK84]

Ned, could you speak to the cleaning schedule or the lubricants used? Thanks for the updates!

I am pretty sure that earlier in the thread Ned indicated the operator owner doesn't have a preference on any kind of lubricants other than what was within arm's reach while performing maintenance. It is also my understanding that the gentleman runs his gun hard but does perform regular maintenance on it. Ned can correct me if I am wrong. I could be mixing this thread up with the high mileage Colt and also with some other high mileage threads

[Wildcat]

"In very-high-mileage 1911's I see pitting on the breechface in a circular pattern that matches the primer diameter. These are guns with tens of thousands of rounds through them. I take this to be flame cutting from primer leakage, would you agree? Is it priming compound doing it, or from powder ignition? I'm guessing the primer is the culprit since it seems like the primer ought to obturate once we have ignition. Agree?

Also, am I being accurate when I say priming compounds are brisant?

The mixtures that are used to make primers do contain some primary explosive that would be described as brisant, however, that quality alone is not what is leads to the pock marking that describes an arc the size of a primer.

In my experience, this comes from a primer cup failure somewhere along the area where the wall of the primer cup transitions into the flat face of the primer. A small hole forms in the primer cup in that radius and allows the escaping gas from the cartridge to exit the form of a tiny jet of flame, which mars the breech face.
Note that when a firing pin pierces a primer, the same type of jet can attack the firing pin.

Simply having loose primer pockets won't really focus the flame like the pin-hole failure and rarely results in damage to the gun.

The primer cup failure seems to be due to the construction of the brass used for the cups. The hardness of the brass used for the primer cup, or the quality of the base/wall transition can be factors.

Somewhere I have a couple of pictures from such failures.

[Ned Christiansen]

As to lube-- "anything". There is no need to wring hands over what brand, etc. My bottom line is "oily, 20-to-40-ish wt". Grease is thicker than need be, WD40 is thinner than optimal but if that's all you had.... they'll work for the moment. I know a lot of people want to tout ATF as the best lube ever, I disagree but it honestly is "good enough". There are so many kinds these days, as I recently found out when a hole rusted in my transmission pan and I had to have exactly, but I mean exactly, the right type. Some are pretty toxic smelling. I know some guys are concerned about lubing with products that will sling or vaporize into something you don't want to breath or get in your eyes or even have on your hands. I agree that we need to be careful these days with what we come into contact with. That's part of the reason I guess that whatever I'm using, I'm not using it liberally.

I've used creamy sunscreen (not the oily type) and Parkay to lube an AR during one training season, with 100% good results. Way sub-par of course but they got the job done.

As to the schedule of maintenance, "as needed, or more if you like doing it".

Wildcat, thanks for the primer info, I'm trying to learn why some pit and some don't, it seems to be not just about round count. But getting info on what kind of primers are used and/ or load intensity and/or brass type, that's rare.

[Wildcat]

PrimerIssue.png
Here you can see the primers have failed along the outside of the cup base.

[Ned Christiansen]

I have sure never seen nor heard of that (which means exactly nothing) I note that they appear to maybe all be from the same batch of factory ammo....?

[Wildcat]

I have sure never seen nor heard of that (which means exactly nothing) I note that they appear to maybe all be from the same batch of factory ammo....?

They were from a batch of handloaded ball ammo, 500 rds of mixed range brass. Winchester primers. What was curious was that only the R-P brass produced these failures.

As you say, uncommon.

Edited to add:
Further thought: The brisance of primers is what causes the depression in the breech face you captured in your photos. Its one reason that Smith & Wesson uses hardened firing pin bushings in their revolvers.

[JohnK84]

Just curious if that Springfield is still in service

[kaltblitz]

Same question. I drop into this forum occasionally just for updates.