.38 wadcutter 1911 w dot

I'm revisiting this issue and looking for any advice as to getting this thing to run with a dot. I have a case of Remington HBWC and it seems like a waste to not be shooting this thing. Whats working for everybody else? Its a Colt with the S&W barrel. May have been an MTU gun, Clark may have been involved somehow…. Its drilled for RRA rail but no luck with Matchdot II. Running 7lb recoil spring. 2.7gr WST is what my 52-2 likes, I'd really like to get it to run with that.

I have a Clark with a Clark rail and a Vortex Venom dot - that being the lightest one I can find. It runs reliably* on 2.9g WST. 

*Reliably in this case means "120 shots before it needs cleaning".

Try a 1" UD. Works on mine.8lb.spring if memory serves. 19lb mainspring. Mine also has the MTU barrel in it. 2.8 of. WST

Go with a faster powder to add a bit of snap to the recoil impulse. 

Play with some Bullseye loads, or even 700x

For my 1911 38spl with a full length rail- no traditional tubes worked (1" or 30mm) using 2.7 grains of Bullseye.  Ultradot LS works, but I do not like the asthetic or sight picture as it has to sit in front of the ejection port.  Currently I use a Holosun HS403B and am very happy.  I suspect that an aimpoint mico would also work fantastic while taking a bigger bite out of my wallet.

I put a Burris FastFire 3 reflex dot on my 52-2 primarily for the reason that I didn’t want to affect the functioning.  It’s mounted using a rear sight replacement mount and it works well.  

My 38 is running fine with 2.7 bullseye and an aimpoint 9000sc. I believe the recoil spring is 8lbs.

KBarth, that is a nice loooking 1911, who did the work.  A 1911 in 38 special is on my wish but don't need list.

Kbarth, True 38 AMU or converted for special?

I don't think I've seen a shooter actively shooting 38AMU loads/pistols. Always possible but not common. I would have considered chambering my almost finished custom 38sp in AMU if someone was making brass.

It was converted to special by the AMU