The Springfield Armory Garrison 9mm

Mike D

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I found a blued Garrison the other day on Bud's site, had to have it. It will be delivered tomorrow. I'm going to try to take it to the range Friday. I let my brother talk me out of my other 9mm 1911, that one was a Dan Wesson, not complaints with that one, and now he swears by it. Hope the Springer turns out to be as reliable!!
 

philmo11

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Unfortunately mine was sent back to Springfield for issues… hope they get it worked out
Both my 9mm Garrisons had to go back. In a full size, 9mm can require some tuning to get them running reliable. Not a lot of room for error with those weak rounds. The 9mm Garrison has a very light recoil spring so things need to be pretty smooth inside for reliable chambering. Both came back within 2 weeks, both ran perfectly when I got them back.
 
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frankiestoys

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Mine actually ran fine , (well it's only got a few rounds through it ) but it wasn't fit together too well with overhang and excessive ware … did I mention it only has a few rounds ? Glad yours was fixed.8BBE10D0-1444-4B82-AC67-87B91031F237.jpeg6CF3FB2C-73C3-49A6-84F7-66E6E53E4D36.jpeg4F69B9B3-98B2-4BAF-B6A1-BCD434BDBFBA.jpegAD7B9756-A853-4FF7-B16A-9C0BC2CC31C2.jpeg
 

Bob Lee

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Mine actually ran fine , (well it's only got a few rounds through it ) but it wasn't fit together too well with overhang and excessive ware … did I mention it only has a few rounds ? Glad yours was fixed.View attachment 28333View attachment 28334View attachment 28335View attachment 28336
I'm sorry you got a bad one. Starting to think Springfield is trying to do too many things at once, maybe? Starting to sound like some other companies I know of. I own several Springfield 1911's, newest one is a couple years old now. All mil spec models, and all but one, are the old ones with the Springfield marque behind the ejection port. I may be wrong, but I think the older ones were made better, maybe? Could be just me, I have a thing for older guns in general. Regardless they all shoot far better than I seem to be capable of. I hope they treat you right, the one time I had to send one back, I was treated very well, however this was back in 2003, so no idea how they will treat you now.
 

frankiestoys

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I'm sorry you got a bad one. Starting to think Springfield is trying to do too many things at once, maybe? Starting to sound like some other companies I know of. I own several Springfield 1911's, newest one is a couple years old now. All mil spec models, and all but one, are the old ones with the Springfield marque behind the ejection port. I may be wrong, but I think the older ones were made better, maybe? Could be just me, I have a thing for older guns in general. Regardless they all shoot far better than I seem to be capable of. I hope they treat you right, the one time I had to send one back, I was treated very well, however this was back in 2003, so no idea how they will treat you now.
I'm a little disappointed…I've owned several Springfield 1911's and rifles have never had a problem. This gun is just out of spec …it's my own fault really I should have checked it better .I was a little dazzled with the blueing and I pasted by a few check points .Honestly I would rather see Springfield send me a new pistol,to fix this one will require it be refinished and refit . Less then a 100 rds and it's looks like it's been beating itself to death.
 

Ceapea

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Mine actually ran fine , (well it's only got a few rounds through it ) but it wasn't fit together too well with overhang and excessive ware … did I mention it only has a few rounds ? Glad yours was fixed.View attachment 28333View attachment 28334View attachment 28335View attachment 28336
They probably won't give you a detailed repair description, but I'd be interested in what is keeping the slide out of battery. I bought a 38 super barrel recently, and it "fit" right in to one of my 9mm 1911s. But after 35 rd (all the cases I had at the time), I noticed that my slide was ever so slightly out of battery. Between .010"-.015". Looks like your picture, but no as far out as yours. I need to get it to a smith for exact fitting.
 

mm1911

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Oct 9, 2018
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Hate you folks having some trouble, I know it's irritating, only pistol I've ever sent back was when Springfield had that recall on the XDS line, don't remember exactly what recall was for,10-12 years ago maybe but they fixed it in timely manner and sent a new extra mag back with it. I think we are so used to guns working(which they should)it's pretty shocking when they don't. Only other new pistol I've ever had trouble with was Remington double stack 1911, ambi safety would work loose but one of my best friends is a gunsmith that is really gifted on the 1911 platform and we(he)just did away with ambi safety and replaced with single safety on left side, as a right handed not big fan of ambi's, anyway didn't have to send back, probably voided warranty but not worried about that
 

Mike D

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Greenwood, Indiana
UPDATE; I took that brand new Garrison to the range, and had more failures than I could count:mad: I had a gunsmith buddy with me, and he had a 6 point list of problems, which covered about all of the pistol. Decided to send it back to Springfield instead of letting him do the fixing. It's been over a week since they received the gun, still no word back from them. He thinks they will replace the whole thing, I voted on repairs, we'll see who's right. It was probably a Friday afternoon build??
 

joepistol

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Every brand can market a firearm that has issues..despite any quality control they employ. The difference becomes how well the manufacturer stands behind their products, and if they correct any issues that arise. Customer support is like good insurance, you may never need it, but if you do, you're glad you have it.
 

philmo11

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UPDATE; I took that brand new Garrison to the range, and had more failures than I could count:mad: I had a gunsmith buddy with me, and he had a 6 point list of problems, which covered about all of the pistol. Decided to send it back to Springfield instead of letting him do the fixing. It's been over a week since they received the gun, still no word back from them. He thinks they will replace the whole thing, I voted on repairs, we'll see who's right. It was probably a Friday afternoon build??
If it a 9mm garrison then, yeah, I expect it to have issues out of the box. I have 2 in 9mm. Both went back. Both came back working perfectly. Send it back and let them fix it.

I'm not sure about a 6 point list of problems. Most of the problems I've seen with Springfield have to do with the engraving under the slide where the disconnector rides. 3 of 5 of mine needed that area smoothed out. That alone cured all of my Loaded 45 CA's problems. Both 9mm Garrisons needed it done. One Garrison went from 100% FTF to 1 in each mag just doing that. Figured that was an extractor adjustment. Nonetheless, I sent both back, both came back flawless.
 
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Mike D

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That's what I hope for.
BTW, here are some of his observations;
Issue Description
#1 Slide High Spots left and right inside Slide under Ejection Port
#2 Slide Stop Rubbing Grip Frame
#3 Crude Machine Marks of Grip Frame Rail cuts
#4 Extractor is proud by .046"
#5 Racking the slide there is a pronounced "Drag" at about 1.85" Just short of Full slide travel open.

Note: I can't help but think #1, #3, and #5 are all connected.
I also find somewhat interesting that the bottowm of the Bolt Face that rubs
on the crest of the hammer appears polished. My Emissary does not.
 

philmo11

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Aug 8, 2022
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116
That's what I hope for.
BTW, here are some of his observations;
Issue Description
#1 Slide High Spots left and right inside Slide under Ejection Port
#2 Slide Stop Rubbing Grip Frame
#3 Crude Machine Marks of Grip Frame Rail cuts
#4 Extractor is proud by .046"
#5 Racking the slide there is a pronounced "Drag" at about 1.85" Just short of Full slide travel open.

Note: I can't help but think #1, #3, and #5 are all connected.
I also find somewhat interesting that the bottowm of the Bolt Face that rubs
on the crest of the hammer appears polished. My Emissary does not.
I am assuming #1 is referring to the slide rails?

For 1, 3, 5, If I were to do it myself (which i am not advocating), I would lap the rails. I had a loaded that froze up out of the box just sitting at the table working the slide by had. This was after cleaning and oiling. I had to beat the slide forward with a rubber mallet to free it (My Dan Wesson did similar but not froze as hard). I ended up lapping the rails and it never did it again. The DW worked itself out during shooting. If its not binding solid, I should just shoot it. It'll smooth out, although, 9mm doesn't have a lot of poop in its drawers to work the slide so it might be necessary depending on how bad the drag is. The recoil springs are really light in those models and may be too much drag.

#4, I would not mess with until 1, 3, 5 and polishing up the slide bottom was done. If its still not extracting and ejecting consistently after that, then I would look at it. That shouldn't cause any chambering issues if there is too much clearance I would not imagine. I have a Kimber 10mm Raptor that I just received that had to have major adjustments to it. It had so much tension on it that you could not force a rim under the extractor. It still has about 2 feed issues a mag RD 1 & 8 but its far better than it was with no rounds feeding. It needs to go back to have Kimber look at it. I am not making any geometry changes. They will have to do that.
 

Mike D

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Greenwood, Indiana
Agree, that's why I decided to send it back to Springfield. The chambering issues were mostly failure to go into battery, due< I'm sure to the very rough slide travel. And, as you said, the extractor needs to wait till last. I'm sure, when they get done with it, it'll be a great 9mm. Although, HEAVY, by today's plastic standards. When it shot, it did so very well. Maybe in another week or so..........
 

philmo11

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Those shoot pretty awesome don't they. I turned my wife on to a 9mm Rapide (which she now claims). She loves it. I had her shoot the Garrison 9 and, while she admitted, it was easier to work with and shoot every bit as nicely, it's not as "pretty" as the Rapide Dawn. $800 difference in price I'd hope that was the case . She clepto'd my Dawn so I bough a Black Ice to replace it.

Anyway, that's off topic. The Garrison is every bit as easy to manipulate as the S&W 380 EZ. That's pretty dang easy to work with. And it shoots softer than any center fire I've had yet.
 

frankiestoys

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Jun 16, 2022
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Got mine back 2 weeks ago
7DBE319B-0A07-4617-A672-8B07C407489E.jpegthey reamed and polish the chamber re-cut and polish the barrel ramp to the extractor blend in the back of the frame and slide and refinish the slide
 

Mike D

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Greenwood, Indiana
How long did it take them to return the gun? I just realized that your gun and mine are only 249 guns apart, according to the s/n's. As my gunsmith friend suggested, they probably should have changed out some cutting tools earlier than they did.?? Ya never know.
 
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joepistol

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Well, it looks much improved, from what your latest pic shows. How's it look internally ?
and most importantly, how's it shoot now ?
 

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