1911 Question

G

Gunslick

New member
So I am 99% certain there is not a problem, I am just curious. I bet it has been doing this all along and I finally noticed it, shot today fires just fine, perfect in every way you would expect a 1911 to be. Anyways here is what I am curious about, so with the slide off only (slide is on it does not do this) if I cock the hammer to quarter cock it goes smooth and fine, to half cock it is smooth and fine, but in between half and full cock I can hear like a spring "twang" or something weird but don't feel no hangups or anything and it goes into full cock just fine and you have to be cocking the hammer very slowly to even notice it. With the slide on it does not do this, I am just curious. It functions 100%.

...it does have brand new Wolff mainspring 23lb and new recoil spring 16 lb also Wolff brand...

correction it does do it with the slide on and its like a very slight click in between half cock and full cock.

I think it could be the hammer strut in relation to the new Ed Brown pin/rebuild kit I recently installed. It's weird, if it is at half cocked position, I can go to full cock almost all the way and hear the audible click, let it back down to half cock and when I try to make the audible click happen again it wont do it, it just goes into full cock. So it will do it one time in between full cock and half cock and once i hear the "noise" and let it back down to half cock position, it will not do it again unless I drop the hammer all the way. Weird...and it does't do it all the time. I think it must be somewhere in the mainspring housing with the new stiffer spring. Most likely will go away once the new springs wear in a bit.
 
Maybe there is some interference between the hammer strut and the MSH or something like that. The only way to solve those problems is to start adding or removing parts. For example, strip the pistol, then put back the hammer (w/strut), and the MSH with its pin. Work the hammer. No hangups or noise? Add the safety and try again, and so forth.

The point is not that the slight noise or whatever will hurt something, but that it could be serious or become serious, so you want to know what the problem is if there is one.

Jim
 
Im on it.

Ripped it all down inspected everything. I am pretty sure it has to do with the relation of the main spring housing spring cup and hammer strut, the stock springfield one fits just fine inside the cup but it is a new Ed Brown spring cup. I should get an Ed Brown hammer strut and it will probably go away. Gonna run 500 rounds tomorrow and will report back. It is definatly not the sear or disco, it is in the MSH. It has got to be the strut to cup relation.

Figured it out.

I swapped the Ed brown spring cup and the bottom part that goes into the mainspring housing back to the springfield spring cup and bottom piece and the noise went away. I wonder if I got an Ed Brown hammer strut if I could reinstall the Ed Brown mainspring spring cup and bottom piece. (not sure the name of the bottom piece that goes in the MSH.)

My theory is that the Springfield hammer strut, at the end where it pushes down on the spring cup is of slightly different diameter or shape than the Ed Brown so now that the Springfield spring cup is back in mating with the springfield hammer strut the noise went away. I think with the Ed Brown spring cup the hammer strut was slightly shifting between half and full cock position. Ordered an Ed Brown hammer strut.
 
Nothing just wanted all ed brown internal parts. Going to run the Springfield spring cup for now. Is a 23lb Wolff mainspring to heavy. It feels tight but is brand new still. I know Wolff springs are stiff when new but I'm wondering if it will put too much stress on the internal parts or should it be okay? The issue I was having could have been a combo betemween the ed brown soaring cup with a Wolff 23lb cs spring and no ed brown hammer strut. Gonna shoot tomorrow.
 
as long as your having fun and learning something.

Im not a gunsmith so could be wrong but my understanding is a heavier mainspring is for shooting hotter loads? Nothing wrong with wanting Ed Brown parts but what are you wanting to accomplish by changing spring rates?
 
Are you aware that most 1911s don't have both a "quarter cock" and a half cock position? I think that's unique to Springfield. Why not get a proper hammer, one that doesn't have all those extraneous notches in it?
 
Was this a Springfield-Armory 1911 with an ILS (internal locking system) mainspring housing (MSH), but now with standard 1911 parts in that MSH? 'just curious.
 
It is a Springfield 1911a1 stainless but did not come with the ils. To those of you who DO NOT know...probably just me but now I do...even replacing pins and springs especially if using Wolff springs which are a lot stronger than other springs function test ur pistol like I just did. I had 2 ftf right off the bat because the new Wolff 16 lbs spring was outrunning the magazine spring. After 100 rounds it ran flawlessly so I shot 250 more flawless rounds. I do want to replace the hammer strut and try the ed brown MASH parts again but i may just leave it alone as is with the Wolff 23lb main spring. It has all ed brown pins and plunge spring and Wolff recoil spring and mainspring. Runs great now with some rounds through it. Even with new springs u gotta kinda start over and run some rounds before putting it into duty.

Do you guys think it would be better to leave the pistol with the Wolff 23 lb main spring with the spring field spring cup (I would rather run the Ed Brown spring cup but I think I need the Ed Brown hammer strut to match the Ed Brown spring cup. This would make sense to me for I am sure their hammer struts are designed at the tip to fit their spring cups. My previous issues went away (from the beginning of the post) once I just reinstalled the Springfield spring cup. Now that I am home I reinstalled my Wolff 16 lb CS spring that has 1500 rounds or so on it for H/D purposes just in case the slide were to out run the magazine spring again...which I doubt it would becuase it only happened twice in 350 rounds but I will save the other newer Wolff 16lb spring for the range and break it in there. I think one more range trip will do it.

Do you guys think I am on the right track. I think with my smarts and my experience with the 1911 platform I am doing okay.

....was it wise to try and use the springfield hammer strut with the Ed Brown spring cup? Will the Ed Brown hammer strut work in my pistol? I just want to get the Ed Brown spring cup back in and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. If i have to use the hammer strut from EB I am okay with that. Thanks guys you have bee awesome in the help and support you have provided, thank you for your time.

Hey a quick question..I don't know if the Wolff 23lb spring would cause more wear on the sear since there is more tension on the hammer, I have been keeping it cocked a locked to get it to take a set and it has gotten a lot more softer which is good. I think Wolff springs are the best BUT for example their 16lb recoil spring feels like an 18 or 18.5 recoil spring until the Wolff takes a set.

Question is how long do you think the stock sear will last in a Springfield 1911A1 Stainless. It has at least 2000 rounds through it and I inspected it last night and it has been wearing evenly and very well. MIM now days is stronger than it gets credit for. How long do you think a Sear would last round count wise?
 
At the risk of some moderarator calling me a troll.
Gunslick,there are no spring cups in M1911 pistols,there is however a mainspring cap,the mainspring housing pin retainer fits in the lower end of the
mainspring.
 
Question is how long do you think the stock sear will last in a Springfield 1911A1 Stainless. It has at least 2000 rounds through it and I inspected it last night and it has been wearing evenly and very well. MIM now days is stronger than it gets credit for. How long do you think a Sear would last round count wise?
Click to expand...
Impossible to know. Each sear may not come from the same production run, metallurgy and heat treatment likely have more variation between manufactures. So, there are way too many factors to accurately predict round-count until failure. Such is the nature of any/all things made from steel and other metals.
 
Sorry, I don't have a round count but I have been shooting about half my weekly match and practice with 3.75 lb trigger job on SA MIM parts for several years.

We used to say that MIM was like electronics, if it got through a few months burn-in, it would run for a long time. Any failure would be early. If you have gone 2000 you are likely ok for 20000.
 
Cool thank you guys.

So I am just gonna keep the Ed Brown hammer strut around for a spare and continue to use the Springfield MSH cups (no it is not ILS). The rebuild kit came with an Ed Brown Mainspring but I found out it was 19lb I wanted the 23lb from Wolff. I didn't have that strange sound with the 19lb Ed Brown main spring so maybe once the Wolff mainspring is worn in a little bit and takes its set I will try the Ed Brown MSH parts again but for a while I will use the Springfield ones.

Important question to me; does it make sense to have a hammer strut of the same make/brand as the parts you have in the MSH, for example a Ed Brown hammer strut if using Ed Brown MSH parts (spring cup and bottom retainer piece)? As the gun sits now it has had my first Wolff recoil spring reinstalled which was a 16lb spring but barely had any rounds on it so when I put the brand new one in in conjunction with a Wolff 23 mainspring, the ammo I was shooting, Winchester white box 230 gr, the springs were too stiff and the slide was out running the magazine springs. Pretty sure I got this one right because after going back to my older Wolff recoil spring (the one that is broke in) it functioned just fine. It amazes me that even changing the mainspring and the recoil spring-well doesn't amaze me but is interesting I guess can cause a fail to feed because the slide has too much speed.
 
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