ED BROWN 1911 DROP-IN MATCH BARRELS - ED BROWN 1911 45ACP GOVERNMENT BARREL

Brown makes excellent 1911 government barrels. I have installed several with very little fitting. Makes a nice upgrade to a standard 1911.

I liked how easy it was to get an extremely tight lockup with this barrel. This is the first one I have done and the results were great. The barrel comes with instructions on where to file to improve certain aspects of the fit. Took about 30 min to complete. Getting one big ragged hole at the range now.



I'm getting a second one for another 1911 of mine that would benefit from better fit.

This barrel kit has great drop in fit. I should have bought 3 more, I will wait until they are on sale again. Barrel is in a Regent 100 slide now on a Colt 1991 frame and the lock up is great. 5 rounds touching at 15 yards. No fitting of the barrel and no reliability issues. The barrel fits my SA Mil Spec perfectly, and is Les Baer tight in an Auto Ord and Colt MK4 series 70 waiting to be built.

This is my 1st barrel swap. Bushing is a nice fit, wasn't a complete drop in. almost thought the link might be to long but did some research and was able to fit the lower lug. No movement at all at full battery. Very happy with the fit and look, haven't taken it to the range yet

This was not a drop in barrel for my SR1911 CMD. It took some reading, video watching and careful measuring to make this fit correctly. I also had to use a reamer and go/no-go gauges to cut the chamber a little deeper for proper fit. My SR1911 CMD went from one of my worst shooting and least reliable, to one of my best shooting and very reliable. The improvement in accuracy is amazing and it eats all i feed it.All i can say is take your time, fit it right and the end results will be well worth your investment.

I installed this barrel on a WWII mixmaster. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily the installation went. The hood, lower lugs and link fit perfectly with no modification. I only had to remove a slight amount of metal from the sides of the upper barrel lugs. It then went right into a nice tight lock-up.The rear of the slide lined up perfectly flush with the frame. Firing pin imapct was almost dead center.



My advice is to be patient and go VERY slowly. I used 400 grit sandpaper glued to a narrow slice of popsicle stick to remove metal from the upper lugs. No need to pay $60 for a lug file.

Bought this barrel for my tired Kimber "Clack" Classic Model Custom. What an improvement. It required a little fitting in the hood and lower locking lugs, but I wanted it to. It is exceptional and lockup is superb. It took about 30 minutes to get this barrel running in my gun and it went from 3" groups at 25 yards to sub 2" from a rest. Instructions were straight forward and easy to understand. I would highly recommend this barrel to anyone looking to improve accuracy in their 1911.

Coupled this with a new STI GI slide to update my old VNam era US Army 1911A1. Minor fitting required as expected, but all can be accomplished easily with hand tools (locking lug channels, hood, bushing). Performance with 200gn & 230gn RN was exceptional, better than expected! Chamber throating is spot on for Lee 185gn and H&G 68 type SWC use; highly polished from factory. Group size improved to cloverleafs! Getting another for my 80 Series Colt SS slide to use on my 80 series based Clark Pin gun for standard/defensive mode.



Can't go wrong with these, especially at these outstanding prices!

I have installed three of these barrels and find them to be of very high quality and with fairly close tolerances. One RIA took the barrel with no fitting at all. I installed one in an AMT Hardballer and it required extensive fitting. I'm currently fitting one to another RIA, and it has been a pretty easy job.

Needed to update my old VietNam era US Govt Issue 1911A1 and a 2nd upper half of a SA based Clark PinGun so I picked up these barrels and the 1911 GI slides by STI on sale as well. Best decision I've made on parts purchase this year!! As stated in description & instructions with barrels, "minor fitting" required, but not a whole lot!. Hood lengths took maybe 6-10 LIGHT stokes with a file and the rear locking lugs channel ends lightly filed to extend a bit for a nice tight lockup :-)

This is the second Ed Brown Barrel I have used in a build (first was a commander barrel in a Caspian slide) And Like the first Ed Brown barrel I was very Happy with the result. Every 1911 is going to be a bit different as far as fit goes and as long as you realize that their might be some minor fitting involved you can't go wrong with this barrel. I used this one on an 1940's Remming Rand slide that I fit to a new Caspian frame. The barrel wound up having very tight lockup and has not had any feeding issues. It shot a very good group first time out. For the price you are not going to find a better barrel.



10 Year Experienced Gunsmith.

included is a picture of the finished gun with is Cerakote Graphite Black. Picture of grouping is 8 rounds at 10 yards.

Ed Brown does it right every thing a good tight fit, needed a little fitting. After I fit it to my PT-1911 my groups at 15-yds went from 3" to 1" and at 50" yds can ring a 5" steel swinger plate every time off of a bench.

Want to thanks people at Brownells for carrying such a fine barrel from Ed Brown at a reasonable price

Pro: The overall quality of this barrel is very good. Mirror finish inside the barrel, and nicely finished exterior - couldn't ask for better quality on finish in addition, the barrel bushing is match fit and slightly tighter than what Wilson provides on their match grade gunsmith-fit barrels. Goog job Ed Brown!



Con: The hood length was too long so it will not lock up. Therefore it is not drop-in for Kimbers. It will requires several .001s filing to fit. The other issue I have with this barrel was the hood width is too small. It is no better than a Kimber factory barrel measuring at 0.423". The Kimber slide has a width of 0.440" so there is quite a lot of side to side wiggle with this barrel, and you can't fix that!. Storm Lake and even Remington drop-in barrels are much closer to a gunsmith fit with their hood width at 0.434" which I like. Storm lake has a perfect hood length with the Kimber while Remingtom barrel is a few thousandths too short. I wish Ed Brown would have made the width 0.01" wider.

I bought this barrel for my 1917 dated colt 45 ACP pistol and I am glad I did I plan on buying another for my other 45 I highly recommend this brand. I had to do a little fitting but it only took me about 30 minutes.

This is an excellent Barrel, Bushing, Link and pin set. The machine work is 1st class all the way and very little fitting is required to install this barrel on my Colt GM. You will need a set of needle files, and a permanent marker to determine where to remove what little metal needs to be removed for a super tight fit. If you are handy with hand tools you will have little problem fitting this barrel in a Colt. Some had said that the instructions are poor but I did not find that to be so, but if you have any questions just contact Ed Brown and they will help you out. I can't speak for other brands of 1911's but it only took me about 2 hours to install my barrel but I am very slow and careful. The quality of this barrel is the best I have ever seen and the sale price is half of what other brands cost. So if you want a super quality barrel this is it, and they make them right here in the USA in Brown's own shop! My gun ran 100 % with this barrel the first time out.

The barrel itself is a jewel of machining and easily rates 5 stars.



The instructions however are totally unsatisfactory and it was a disservice to have included them. The instructions are on a half sheet of paper, printed both sides, with half of one side disclaimers. No photos and the illustrations are line drawings that do not clearly illustrate the process. The text is not much better. A DVD detailing the fitting process is what this high a quality item deserves.

I rate myself average working on a 1911, but what came in this package is best handed to a gunsmith unless you get supplemental instruction. Count on buying a good DVD of the process of barrel fitting to fit this barrel.

I was disappointed that the chambering did not accept semi-wadcutters even though the enclosed instructions stated that it would. There is no problem chambering G.I. hardball. I had to have my gunsmith re-cut the forcing cone about .050" deeper to accept the cast H&G #68 SWC bullet. Other than that the barrel fitting was minor and worked well by following the instructions. Groups were the best of my (3) 1911's coming in at about 3" for 16 rounds at 25 yards. Groups improved after 300 rounds indicating that the lug fitting has to wear in.

Great barrel nice crown no play in link bottom lug fit snug in para frame barrels exact size as colt except a little on bottom lug and top lugs arnt as deep chamber area was fater and hood was exact as colt bottom needed a little taken off for slide stop for slid to come all the way back and top lugs thined on sides wish top lugs were deeper and were colt lugs are even ed browns rear lug is shallower then front hood could be a hundreths longer and a lot wider bushing is super tight you need a bushing wrench to install an I took a little off its lug too paint it with sharpie and put on to see were its rubing an file repeat tell its as tight or loose as you like

I bought this barrel to put into an ATI GI enhanced 1911 and I absolutely love it. It did require a good amount of fitting, but the end result was a barrel that is far more accurate than I ever will be. Between the ultra-tight frame to slide fit of the ATI 1911 and this match barrel my little commander is now my favorite pistol that I own.



To the other reviewers who (correctly) commented that the chamber is unfinished, that is correct. It is within SAAMI specs but is on the low end of the tolerance scale. Initially mine wouldn't feed more than 2 rounds in a row of lead round nose rounds until I used a finish reamer from Brownells to open it up and now it feeds absolutely everything flawlessly. It just took a few turns of the finish reamer using a hand-turn tap handle and VOILA!

I had an old caspian 1911 that I decided to try to upgrade. It had become inaccurate but the trigger was great. I put he Ed brown barrel in with little effort. I made minnor adjustment to the lugs and it know shoots 1/2 groups off hand at 25 yd. I will buy another one as soon as I can. Great job Ed brown!!

I didn't expect so much fitting, but the end result was worth it. If you don't know a lot about the 1911 be prepared to learn!

I bought a Commander length barrel for my Ruger SR1911 CMD. The barrel is very nicely finished in contrast with the stock Ruger barrel, which was extremely rough with visible machining marks.

The barrel is exactly as advertised. It "may" drop in. Mine did not, though it was close. Ed includes an excellent set of directions of where to look for points that may cause binding. I used a set of calipers and did careful comparison measurements between the Ed Brown barrel and the stock Ruger before I removed a grain of metal.

I highly recommend you do not attempt to fit it yourself unless you have good skill and familiarity with calipers and hand files or you can potentially botch the barrel. You will own your pistol for years and shoot thousands of rounds out of it. Take your time and do it right or pay a professional to do it for you if not sure. It will be money well spent.

I "blackened" the barrel with aerosol bullet mold release agent which dries a flat, dull grey and showed me exactly where the barrel was rubbing during lockup. Dressed off those areas microscopic amounts at a time and rechecked fit frequently. Soon it locked up smoothly and is tighter than the original Ruger barrel.

A good product I am definitely pleased with.

As it says some filing was needed for my rock island 2011 but the lock up is great bushing is a bit tight but doesn't hang but it took the gun from a 2' pattern @ 20 yards to a 1' pattern @ 60 yards free hand I'm tickled. Had to file bushing to slide, rear lugs to slide and a lil off rear hood all in all about a half hour. Directions that came with the barrel where spot on and very simple. I'm no gunsmith but very good with my hands and have a strong mech background

I was hoping to refresh a 28 year old Colt Government model with this "drop-in" It would take serious machine work on the slide just to get the barrel bushing in.Unfortunately this is going back.The barrel and bushing both look very well made, they just don't fit.

the barrell was nice looking but after installing it in the gun which wasn't bad, then to find out the chamber was unfinsished i then called the gun techs with littel to no help. ed brown stated to simply send it back and they would finsh the job as if all we have to do is there quality control i'll be using the 100 percent sadisfaction policy.

I installed this barrel in a SA A1 , some fitting was needed as it states in the description, not recommended for someone looking for a straight drop in replacement , barrel hood and lugs (top and bottom) needed fitting,bushing fits very tight. First time to the range was simply amazing 15 yds 1/4" groups, I will be ordering another for my other 1911

Fits perfectly my Kimber classic custom (first generation)and my Taurus PT 1911. No fitting required. At 20 yards I shoot 2 inch groups off hand, no support. I already put around 5000 rounds on one barrell, stills shoots like the first time.

This quote from Browns web site sums it up. "We have also cut the dimensions to max tolerance on the outside of the barrel. This means less fitting work for you, and more accuracy." In my experience they tend to require more fitting on cheaper guns like taurus,rock islands, etc. Seem to fit very snug with less work in springers and colts. Their instructions are very good though. And the accuracy difference is unbelievable!

I tried to fit this barrel to a my Taurus PT 1911 cal 45./ 5 inch. Lower locking lugs are not to spec. for a Taurus PT 1911. My gunsmith looked it over and will do the work but it will cost. Don't mind the extra cost so much as being lead to believe this was a no brainer and anyone could do it. To quote Ed Brown" The Drop-In Match Grade Barrel is intended for sale to pistol smiths to save them time while doing rebuilds, or offering a closer fitted barrel than what most factories supply." We strongly recommend for the safe operation of this product that the installation be checked by a professional pistol smith."

The one star is not given to the product, rather to the way it is represented. on the web sight and the review claiming that it dropped right in the Taurus.

No Nickname if I say it I standby it with my own name.

With minimun filing I had this barrel installed and fitted in 45 minutes. Ed Brown does it right and it is a very accurate match barrel.

BOUGHT IT FOR A COLT COMBAT ELITE. THE GROUPS ARE CLOSER APPROX 1 1/2 FREE HAND. VERY GOOD QUALITY, WORTH THE MONEY. THE ONLY REASON I GAVE IT 4 STARS IS THE FITTING. HAD TO FIT THE HOOD AND UPPER LUGS, NOW IT HAS A VERY NICE LOCK UP.

This barrel is very easy to install but may require a bit of fitting to get it to lock up. The barrel is made to maximum tolerances so that minimal amount of fitting is required. I had to work the upper lugs to get full lock-up and also relieve the barrel bushing to prevent barrel springing. Material removal was minimal and went smoothly. The barrel shoots like a lazer, very accurate in my Springfield Mil-Spec.

When receiving the Ed Brown Match Barrel I was impressed with the overall quality. I'll be using the barrel at short range so I choose the Drop in Barrel. When trying to install it in Colt Series 70 I needed to do fitting in the chamber housing area and much work for correct lock up. I have'nt shot it yet but fell it will shot great. I do question Ed Brown's advertising Drop-in Barrel

USED THESE MATCHED SETS ON TWO CASPIAN BUILDS... AMAZING ACCURACY... LOCKS UP TIGHT. OVERSIZED TO INSURE A PERFECT CUSTOM FIT TO YOU SLIDE. DID NOT HAVE TO TOUCH THE RAMP FEEDS RN AND HP 230 GRN LIKE A SEWING MACHINE. IF YOU WANT TO WAKE UP A TIRED GUN DROP THIS IN!

When I ordered the Ed Brown "Drop in" match barrel kit, I figured I'd have to do some fitting but I was really surprised. It dropped in and fits like it was made for my Taurus PT 1911. I haven't shot it yet but the fit is superb. Very nice lock up and
tight but not too tight to where it binds.
I'm very pleased so far. Can't wait til the weather clears a bit so I can get out and shoot it.

I installed this barrel on a kimber, perfect fitting. My gun shoots better with this barrel. Highly recommended. I have shot over 5000 rounds with this barrel, it still shoots as good as new.

A little fitting was required but was well worth it when I got to the range. More accurate than my Kimber barrel.

Excellent quality and appearance. Dimensionally perfect, match bushing fit right into Colt slide snugly with no fitting of the O.D. Lots of fitting required of the rear barrel groove to center the firing pin and achieve correct lock-up. Not at all a drop-in fit. Be sure to buy the Kart Barrel Lug File, you will need it...

I installed this barrel into a Rock Island and alot of fitting was required around chamber housing area. The end result is that I noticed tighter grouping and alot tighter lock up. I recomend letting a gunsmith with experience to install.