Confused! Springfield 1911 problems?

9

9teen11

Inactive
Ok, I completeley disassembled my pistol (Springfield 1911) the other day. I bought it this winter as my first pistol and haven't had a great deal of time to learn the gun in and out. WEll disassembly and reassembly took close to two hours. I didn't really get a good handle on the hammer and connecting parts. I followed directions that i got off the internet. The problem I noticed at the range today before shooting was that the hammer didn't hold in the cocked position once when i tested the guns function prior to shooting. It could be pulled all the way back but it failed to hold the cocked position and released automatically. I tried cautiously to put a clip through the gun(prolly not a great idea but i hadn't a clue what was going to happen). The gun fired fine the first two rounds, then the third fourth and fifth went off by themselves(very scary). I can only assume that the hammer wasn't held in cocked position and followed the slide back to the next round.

I am very interested in any help that you can give me on what i may have done wrong in the reassembly of the pistol. I have learned one lesson from this: Do not even attempt to fire a pistol when in doubt of its ability to function properly.

Thanks in advance!
 
And what did we learn from this?

It sounds like the sear spring is not seated correctly. The NRA publishes a great $5 booklet on dissassembly and reassembly of the 1911.

Take the mainspring housing off and try assembling it again, paying attention to the function of the parts. Try putting the sear and disconnector in as a unit, with a slave pin made from a length of spray can plastic tubing.

Good luck, and don't go back to the range 'til it's fixed.

Ledbetter
 
Agreed, you did something bad in the sear dept. Learn these checks, and DO NOT FIRE the gun if it fails.

- Drop the slide, if the hammer follows its bad. In your case its probably the spring, also results from worn hammer/sear engagement surfaces and/or idiots with tools, attacking those same surfaces in a misguided quest for a "trigger job"

-Cock the hammer and pull the trigger without engaging the grip safety, gun should not fire. Release trigger and push grip safety, gun should not fire.


-Cock hammer, engage thumb safety, pull trigger. Gun should not fire. Pull trigger hard, release then disengage thumb safety while holding gun with a normal firing grip(grip safety depressed). Gun should not fire.

-Dry fire and maintain trigger fully to the rear while racking slide, hammer should stay cocked. If not, disconnector is not functional.

Test any modifications or new guns with 1 round in mag, working up by ones to a full mag. Saves you the trouble of having to control a full auto 1911. If at any time the gun does something like double, do not shoot it again until the cause is determined and corrected.

Question because I've never tried, is it possible to get the gun back together with the sear assy in backwards?
 
Baggie gun

We used to see this a lot at the gunshop. We called it the Baggy Gun syndrome back in the day. Guys would read articles in magazines and books and they just had to take the sideplate off their wheelgun or detail strip their auto pistol. When following directions written by a gunsmith for a gun that did not have minor manufacturing differences from standard. best bet is to just field strip it when fixed and let the detail stripping be done by an armorer or gunsmith,
 
1. I assume the sear/disconnector/hammer are installed correctly? (curved portion of the sear facing forward in gun with the disconnector inside it ,with the flat pad on the disconnector facing forward)

2. The sear spring rests on the bottom of the sear/disconnector assembly(rear side, not in front), hammer strut rests centered on top of the sear spring, and slide up the mainspring housing. The mainspring housing pin is only installed/removed with the hammer down(forward/uncocked).

The best book on the function of the .45(IMO) is
THE COLT .45 AUTOMATIC by Jerry Kuhnhausen(I think Brownells carries it)

When you get good at it a 1911A1 should take less than 3min. to strip bare and reassemble.
 
At least you are alive to ask!

Let me 2nd the "welcome to the obsession of 1911"! As Ledbetter said "what did you learn"? My rule is, if it has to be forced, dont! If it doesn't function the way it should when dry fired, DON'T!!!!! I will never forget going to an auction locally, because of a Remington .308 that was listed. I got there early, when they set it out I got permission to check it. The bolt was locked in place and after fiddling for a while I was convinced someone had reassembled it wrong. I talked to the auctioneers and told them about it. about 30 minutes later I came back to the area just in time to see a "good-ole-boy" forcing the bolt open, once open he had to force it closed. I couldn't beleive it. I checked a couple of weeks later with the "winner" of the auction and he had to spend some big bucks to get the repairs done. Lesson, don't force it. Since you are new to the 1911 when you disassemble the sear see if you can see any obvious signs of damage if not, reassemble and dry fire for function. There are lots of parts sources out there if you need them. If it's still not right, find a competent gunsmith and let him or her (love you too Tamera) and let them check it out. It is always ok to admit you might have screwed up or that you don't know everything! It's usually the one's who won't who don't live to tell! There are all kinds of free resources on the internet for assembly and disassembly so go at it and enjoy!:D Sh*t happens to everyone. Our club had an experienced shooter at an IDPA match last week that must have done the same thing, after the first round the gun went full auto!! The look on the Safty officer's face was priceless!
 
THanks guys! I went throught the assembly process again and tested. IT is working flawlessly now. I appreciate the help. BTW i am shooting in my IPSC match next sunday. should be a fun experience. I am not really sure about the qualifying requirements and all but I am ready to start a serious hobby out of this. Thanks again Scott Dawson
 
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