1911 questions

B

Banzai

New member
How are barrels and bushings fitted? What makes them lock up?

What kind of rear sight cut do I have on my Springfield 1911A1? I want to replace the stock blade with a bo mar style adjustable, what is the best choice without requireing machining? Will it require a new front sight? How is that front thing held in?

Would putting in a new/aftermarket sear/hammer lighten up and smooth out the trigger pull? My stock parts are rough on the mating surfaces(have machining marks on 'em) but the trigger pull is nice and tight. I've noticed that the ones in the gun shop are all nice and smooth on the mating, engaging surfaces. Don't fix what ain't broke?

How is the side plunger and the ejector held on? How come nobody told me that that little plunger and spring were gonna come flying out and lose themselves in the carpet when I removed the safety?
redface.gif
(hours of grumbling fun looking for that!!) Was that one of my 1911 initiations?
smile.gif


How come I haven't gotten one of these cool guns before now? I love it, just don't really understand how everything is put/works together.

Thanks

Tom



------------------
A "Miss" is the ultimate overpenetration!
You can never be too rich, too skinny, or too well armed!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>How are barrels and bushings fitted? What makes them lock up?[/quote]

In the Springfield, they are most likely built to tolerances that require no fitting. There isn't enough space here to go over all the fitting required for a custom barrel. They "lock up" when the slide pushes the barrel forward and the slide stop lugs ride up over the slide stop pin, forcing the top locking lugs into the locking recesses in the top of the slide.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>What kind of rear sight cut do I have on my Springfield 1911A1? I want to replace the stock blade with a bo mar style adjustable, what is the best choice without requireing machining? Will it require a new front sight? How is that front thing held in?[/quote]

I believe the Springfield has a standard Mil-Spec sight cut in the rear. Any sight made to Mil-Spec will fit. A Bomar will require machining (as will a Novak type). The type of rear sight you select will determine the front blade height requirement. The existing front sight has a rectangular tenion that is staked into a rectangular hole in the slide. It can be seen from the inside when the slide is disassembled.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Would putting in a new/aftermarket sear/hammer lighten up and smooth out the trigger pull? My stock parts are rough on the mating surfaces(have machining marks on 'em) but the trigger pull is nice and tight. I've noticed that the ones in the gun shop are all nice and smooth on the mating, engaging surfaces. Don't fix what ain't broke?[/quote]

Changing to a premium grade sear and hammer will help. Changing and/or adjusting the sear spring and hammer (main) spring will help also. The existing sear and hammer might "shoot in" after a while if they aren't too awful right now.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>How is the side plunger and the ejector held on? How come nobody told me that that little plunger and spring were gonna come flying out and lose themselves in the carpet when I removed the safety?
redface.gif
(hours of grumbling fun looking for that!!) Was that one of my 1911 initiations?
smile.gif
[/quote]

The plunger tube has two little projections that go into the frame. They are staked on from the inside of the frame with a special tool. The ejector has a long projection up front and a shorter one in the rear that go down into holes in the top of the frame. A roll pin is inserted laterally thru the frame at the front of the forward projection to keep it in place. Yes, the temporary loss of the plungers and spring is an initiation that most of us have endured. To keep it from happening again, bend a little kink in the middle of the spring - just enough so you have to pull it out instead of letting it "launch".

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>How come I haven't gotten one of these cool guns before now? I love it, just don't really understand how everything is put/works together.[/quote]

If you got the 1911 first you might never realize how great it truely is. You already know enough to ask questions. The rest will come with time.

Mikey


[This message has been edited by Mikey (edited April 24, 2000).]
 
Banzai, I only disagree with Mikey on one item. Replacing the parts will not necessarily give you a smoother trigger pull. If you go with one of the expensive drop in trigger jobs maybe. Other than that, normal "trigger job" stoning will be required on almost all sears and hammers. If you decide to do anything like this I recommend you also replace the hammer and sear pins with oversize pins. Both Wilson and Marvel make them and they're available from Brownells. If you really want to understand the 1911 I recommend you get The 1911 Shop Manual by Jerry Kuhnhausen or Hallock's .45 Auto Handbook. Brownells sells both of these too. George
 
When I bought my Colt MKIV Series 80, the first thing I did was take it to the best gunsmith in the state of Nevada, J.J.

Been smithin' longer than I have been alive, asked him to smooth out all the rough edges,make sure all the moving parts were tuned to work together smoothly, replaced the
factory trigger with one that had a titainam bow and magnesuim boot, installed millet adj. sights, and replaced the grip safety with an extended tail for added comfort.
biggrin.gif


the 1911 is so easy to custom tailor to your personal style is why the 1911 is so popular a handgun.

------------------
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, becuse the whole body of the people are armed"
Alexander Hamilton
 
No disagreement here - I respectfully defer to the gentleman from Kentucky.

I should have stated previously that my experience with trigger (actually hammer/sear/spring) jobs is rather limited. Of the five I've done, all but one have been accomplished with Wilson Ultra-Light or Commander hammers, Wilson "bulletproof" springs and Wilson A-2 sears. Those turned in 3.5 to 4 pound pulls with no creep and required no further work (just dropped 'em in). The fifth was an STI hammer and sear with a Clark spring. That one needed some final stoning and spring adjustment.

My only Springfield had a God-awful trigger from the factory. Baling wire and an 8 penny nail would have probably been an improvement.

Mikey
 
The problem with the 1911 is that it was a squad pistol for 10 men to ready aim fire for use against hash crazed huks in the phillipines.

They were not concerned with the rapid firing we do today. As such, your gun will jam when you panic and try to rapid fire; rapid fire is when you pull on the trigger a second time within a second of the first trigger pull. It only takes one round to jam.

You can be rest assured that when you need the gun and you panic into rapid fire mode only your first round will be valid. You will not be able to send a second round until you change your behaviour. It is as simple as that.



------------------
 
While the 1911 pistol was spawned from the Phillipine Insurrection it was never designed as a volley fire weapon. It was to replace the weak .38 cal pistol carried by the US Armed Forces at the time. It is true that the natives would bind themselves, drug up and the lack of knock down power in the .38 would not stop them. I spent 12 years in the Marines and the 1911A1s that I fired while a club member never failed to function no matter how dirty they were. I have seen a few that had damaged magazines or broken firing pins, etc but never knew one to jam due to rapid or "panic" fire. The simple fact is that the 1911 will shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger. George
 
What'd he say? "The problem with the 1911 is that it was a squad pistol for 10 men to ready aim fire ..."?!! All at once?!!
 
Um, HID, last weekend I took my Springfield V10 out and dumped 12 shots in 10 seconds, including the mag change. No failures. Did it again. No failures.

Now, you were saying...?
 
HHHHmmmm......HID, you mean that's why so many people have been loosing all those shooting competitions with 1911 style pistols? Man, and here I thought that it was just poor marksmanship, not the bad gun design!!
I'll just have to settle for this thing. Can't wait for it to jam so that I can be upset with it! Then again, in the 2 weeks that I've owned it, I've only been able to put 500 rounds through it. Still waiting!!!
Tell ya what, you shoot what you want, the rest of us will keep our 45's!! :)

Tom


------------------
A "Miss" is the ultimate overpenetration!
You can never be too rich, too skinny, or too well armed!
 
I think that boy has been smokin' something extra special! I've never heard anyone state that the 1911 is prone to jamming with rapid fire, and I've been known to empty a magazine pretty fast a time or two. :) I have no idea where that comment comes from, but IMO it has absolutely no validity.
 
"lol" yea, I not sure what 10 men squads have to do with rapid fire, but my Colt MKIV Series 80 has only jammed due to my inexperence loading my own light loads :o in the
5 or so years I have had it.

------------------
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword, becuse the whole body of the people are armed"
Alexander Hamilton
 
Well, at least HID didn't suggest surrendering your "old" guns to the police like he did on another thread.

Still, he has a bit of a point. It has been proven that a revolver can be fired faster than an auto pistol, since the shooter makes the revolver work while the pistol has to work in its own time. The same is true of a pump shotgun versus an autoloader, especially an auto of the old long recoil type. The absolute limit probably was McGivern with 5 revolver shots in 2/5 second; that is faster than a 1911 type pistol will work.

But this is assuming the revolver or pump gun is in the hands of an expert with lots of practice. Normal folk (like most of us) can't work the trigger fast enough.

Still, there is no way to "jam" the pistol by pulling the trigger too fast. Pulling the trigger before the gun is back in battery will simply not fire the gun and the shooter will have to release the trigger and try again.

Jim

[This message has been edited by Jim Keenan (edited April 27, 2000).]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top