I saw online a 1911 Comp that was just a bushing, with the comp, all one piece... install would be an easy fitting if that. How well does this work as a method? I know it may change the slide weight (depending on material, is material important?) and the ramafications that may have, but I am not worried about that.
What other methods are there? That Bushing seems like a quick and dirty way to do it, but I would think has some draw backs...
The bushing comp is indeed quick and dirty. Also, IMO, not very effective.
Comps work in 2 ways. First, they add weight to the barrel. This slows the speed of the slide down.
Second, the ports direct gas upwards. This removes the weight of the powder from the recoil equation, and also provides a jet thrust pushing the barrel down, thus reducing muzzle jump. To the small degree that some of the gas is re-directed backwards, it also pulls the barrel forward.
Usually, the barrel is threaded, and the comp is screwed onto it. I have a barrel with an integral comp, but have not used it in a long time.
A bull barrel will also reduce recoil, but not as much as the comp.
There are four common ways to put a compensator on a 1911:
1. Cone-style compensator. A regular bushing-style barrel is threaded and a comp with an integral cone is screwed on. The cone provides the lockup surface, eliminating the bushing. The cone must be fitted to the slide. A reverse recoil spring plug is required.
2. Threaded bull barrel. A bull barrel with a ~.5" threaded extension is installed, and a comp is screwed on. Again, the bushing is eliminated and a reverse plug is required.
3. Relieved bushing comp. An extended (again ~.5") bushing barrel is fit, and a comp is relieved to clear the bushing and screwed on. This is the only method that retains the bushing and utilizes a standard spring plug. It is also probably the least common of these 4 methods.
4. STI Trubor. STI manufactures a one-piece bull barrel and compensator machined from the same piece of barstock. Again, the bushing is eliminated and a reverse plug is required.
Machining the plug tunnel for a reverse plug is the only permanent modification, and doesn't interfere with a regular plug. There's nothing that would prevent you from re-installing your original non-comped barrel. The exception is if you used method #1 on your original barrel, in which case you'd need a new barrel to go back to a non-comped configuration.
The bushing-as-comp that you saw would be only marginally effective. A comp works by directing gases upwards and by gases pushing forward on the vertical baffle walls. The bushing-as-comp doesn't achieve a tight gas seal since it's inside diameter is the outside diameter of a bushing barrel instead of the bullet, and it's so thin that it doesn't have much surface area for gases to push against.
I tried the bushing comp that looks like a tube attached to a regular bushing and there are slots cut into the tube, it didn't help one bit. The looser fit of the inside diameter did seem to decrease accuracy a little, so I guess it did do something, just not something I wanted it to do.