The value of full-length guide rods for the M1911 is often disputed. Ever wonder who was the first to offer one commercially? The earliest one I've seen advertised goes back to the early 1960s. The marketer was the prolific inventor Max Atchisson. You'll note from the patent that there were two variants: one was conventional while the other extended beyond the muzzle. You'll even note that Atchisson made some of the same claims for the guide rod that we still see today like smoother cycling and eliminating kinking of the recoil spring.

US Patent #3,122,061 - Recoil Spring Guide and Muzzle Weight

I have both full length and the short version. I personally haven't had a problem with either. I'll leave what came with each 1911 alone. Both work just fine as far as I can See.

Same here. I especially like the two-piece FLGRs, which seem to me to offer the best of both worlds.

I don't understand all the hate for FLGRs. Maybe it's a subjective/taste thing, like my dislike for forward grippy-grooves and three silly lint-collecting holes in triggers.

I'm still waiting for the MIM parts to fail on my Kimbers.

Thanksa Daniel...

My first recollection was from Jim Clark in the early 80s and even though I worked with Bullseye guns in the period of the patent's issue I'm pretty sure I never saw one.

The Full Length Guide does change the manual of arms for field strip and maintenance. Back as far as 1973 some AMU guys experimented with them. I note the two pieces constitute a full length guide once combined. Dagnabbit! I can't find my detailed take down manual...I leave it at the computer for reference when these things come up...humm can't find my latest copy of Florida Firearms either....

Geoff
Who better spend the first day of 2010 cleaning up the office and guy room...and shred my New Year's resolutions for the last 10 years...

Very interesting, as always, Daniel!

Some do but not all.

The only one I have that is a PITA Is the 4" barrel. Having to put in the little hook thing through the guide rod. I guess it's really not that bad but still a PITA.

The better designed ones dont make any significant change to disassembly other than making the spring plug a bit harder to depress. I have absolutely no use for a FLGR personally and have strong preference for a standard setup on all my 1911's. One thing for sure, they're not a hindrance to functioning at all and back in my IPSC days, all my pistols had them, including the Harrts Recoil Reducer verison that honest to goodness worked.

Correct. And if even that is a problem, you can depress the plug with the front of a magazine floorplate, provided you don't have a rubber "bumper" on it. (Behold, again, the genius of John Moses Browning!)

Date: Late 70s-early 80s
Location: Backroom of a Custom 1911 Shop
Time: Late in the evening

Custom Gunsmith #1, " We need to find a way to soak these Noobs for some more cash!"
Custom Gunsmith #2, "I know, any ideas."
Custom Gunsmith #1," Yeah, got one I been thinking about."
#2, "Well?"
#1, "How's this for a part, A Full-length Guide-Rod!"
#2, "What's the hook?"
#1," You're gonna like this! Keeps the Recoil spring from kinking and adds rigidity to increase accuracy."
#2," Wait a minute, the dust-cover and the front of the frame keep that from happening. You're only talking about two inches of compressed spring. Besides, it floats under the barrel, how's that add rigidity?"
#1," We'll drill a hole through the plug and add enough rod to stick out. There's your illusion of rigidiy, as for the spring support, those rubes don't understand that. They'll never figure it out."
#2," Brilliant!! How much can we soak em for?"
#1," I figure we can add at least $125.00 to the cost with this."
#2," Sounds good, let's do it!"


FLGRs are made to do one thing, seperate a gunowner from more of his cash.

I don't own any solid-gold ones.

Snake, both Wilson Combat and I believe, Springfield Armory were charging that when they first came out. The part about them seperating a gunowner from his money came from El-Jefe.

I've got two of them in one of the parts bins, haven't been able to bring myself to sell one to anybody.

The only guide rods that I remember being anywhere in the ball park of those prices were the Harrts and Wilson Combat's extra wide tungsten model with a proprietary recoil spring.