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

Interesting.  I never knew it was Max Atchisson who patented it.  I assume it's the same Max Atchisson who did the .22 conversions and the AA-12 shotgun.
The weight resembles a bow stabilizer.

I would not own a 1911 with out it.

Quoted from Barry in IN

Interesting.  I never knew it was Max Atchisson who patented it.  I assume it's the same Max Atchisson who did the .22 conversions and the AA-12 shotgun.
The weight resembles a bow stabilizer.

Yes, that is the same Max Atchisson.  There was an article in "Handguns '94" showing some of his other customized handguns.  One was a .380 High Standard Model G converted into a match pistol.  Another was a .22 LR S&W Model 41 converted for .32 S&W Long wadcutters.

have a Para that came with the full lenght and have also but in a standard length, to be honest can see no difference.

I just recently removed a FLGR from a Kimber Gold Match II Target.  I see no difference.

you won't see the difference until its to late.

Here is something I have wanted to do to mine:

I have a 2pc FLGR and rerquires a hex wrench to field strip. I think this is BS. I have been looking at the cap (tube) and come to the realization that if the rim the recoil spring sits on were moved about 1/16" back, then I could make or buy a new FLGR trimmed to the length of the slide.

Does anybody know how close the spring is to full coil bind with the slide all the way back? The only reasonable way I can think of checking is to turn a couple of thin bushings to stack on the guide rod and check the slide to see if it still cycles all the way back. If it is really close, it might even be worth trying to souce another spring with fewer turns or a smaller section. I just really can't stand having to break out a tool to take the gun down, and getting into the habit of only making the 2pc rod "finfer tight" is probably the worst plan of all.

I am kinda surprised that this solution does not exist already though? Or does it, and I just haven't heard about it? Thoughts?

In terms of how close the spring is to full compression/coil bind when the side is all the way back I can say that I think an 18 pound Wolff spring for a five inch gun is pretty close.  I lost a spring cleaning once and only had a spring from a six inch long slide for a replacment.  I cut the spring down from the unfuished end that insersts into the guide road plug.  I cut it just a coil a few coils too long and the gun would not cycle.  Removing just a couple of coils so that the cut spring was really close to the stock lenght for the 5 inch was needed.  So a couple of coils seemed to really matter.  I think that the stock spring is really close to full compression during cycling.  

Yeah that's my concern- I'm going to put this on my to-do list and see if I can come up with a solution. That is the actual spring rate, 18lbs? That sounds pretty stiff. I'm assuming that the manufacturesrs changew the spring rate by number of turns so they can use the same spring wire? Then they should change in length too, but the stiffer ones should be shorter compressed. that is, if I remember my engineering 101 ha ha,