Soooo series 80 parts

C

Catchabullet

New member
Excuse the rambling...but interesting fact, I bought two extra series 80 plunger levers from cylinder and slide.. noticed the new levers were a wee bit thicker and had no N mark designating national match. Emailed them asking if the part was manufactured by them or if Colt is omitting the N. Well before receiving a reply, I tried to install one and realized the thickness (.55 of an inch) was different from my TiN coated N lever and my 1 lever (both were around .40 of an inch).....So I decided to file it down with a diamond file then touch it up with a 10,000 grit stone until it fit nicely. It fits nicely now...

After this I check my email and have a reply from C&S. The levers they have on sale at this moment are made in house by them. They are machined from bar stock. This is due to series 80 parts being difficult to acquire from Colt. Assuming covid caused production delays [emoji2371].... I followed that email up with notifying them of the disparities between parts width and asked if they were going to make the other series 80 actuator out of bar stock bc I'd purchase it as well for piece of mind as bar stock is superior to the stamped variety.

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Pardon my ignorance of series 80 parts nomenclature is the "plunger lever" one of the parts in the firing pin block group?
 
44 AMP said:
Pardon my ignorance of series 80 parts nomenclature is the "plunger lever" one of the parts in the firing pin block group?
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The part in the middle, with the number "3" on it.
 

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Thank you for the explanation, I was curious, I thought I knew what you were talking about, but wanted to be sure. None of my 1911s has (or will have) those parts. :rolleyes:
 
Not sure that a part actuating a four-ounce spring needs to me made of extremely strong materials, but a source for properly-dimensioned S80 bits can't be a bad thing. ;)
 
RickB said:
Not sure that a part actuating a four-ounce spring needs to me made of extremely strong materials, but a source for properly-dimensioned S80 bits can't be a bad thing. ;)
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You are correct, it's overkill... But I'm OCD. I mean everything else is bar stock now so might as well [emoji13]

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I doubt very much that Cylinder & Slide's Series 80 levers are machined from bar stock, and the C&S web site does not claim that they are.

Those levers are simply not a shape that can be economically produced by machining from bar stock. You would have to start with a length of round, square, or rectangular stock large enough to cover the entire cross-section of the lever, then carve the bar to shape, them EDM wire cut it to thickness.

I'm sure C&S has their levers made by stamping, just like Colt and everyone else. The difference (of there is one) is in the amount of work they put in after stamping to ensure dimensional accuracy.
 
I didn't think I had to post the email but here we go.

Per Them, it is such.
 

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Those levers are simply not a shape that can be economically produced by machining from bar stock.
I'm sure C&S has their levers made by stamping, just like Colt and everyone else.
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Per Them, it is such.
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Aguila is correct, but since stamping...or blanking...is a machine operation, technically they're "machined" parts. They're just not milled.
 
1911Tuner said:
Aguila is correct, but since stamping...or blanking...is a machine operation, technically they're "machined" parts. They're just not milled.
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Hmm why would they specify it's made of bar stock steel n the email I posted if he's correct?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

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Catchabullet, Interesting. I've attended some Colt O-frame classes and acquired a few internal parts along the way, including a couple factory N plunger levers. I miked them and found them to be .058". Came across one of those shims used to convert a S80 gun to S70. The shim miked .055"...
 
[emoji2371] that was per stock Colt parts that came with the firearm and also TiN parts from C&S...

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I doubt very much that Cylinder & Slide's Series 80 levers are machined from bar stock
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I concur after working in a machine shop.

Hmm why would they specify it's made of bar stock steel n the email I posted if he's correct?
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I'll throw this into the mix. Perhaps the person responding to your email is just a receptionist and has no knowledge of how and what parts are made of. Series 80 parts, the levers have to be stamped for cost effect. You wouldn't want to pay the price needed to machine the levers from bar stock. I couldn't imagine how you could fixture bar stock to machine those levers
 
Don P said:
I concur after working in a machine shop.







I'll throw this into the mix. Perhaps the person responding to your email is just a receptionist and has no knowledge of how and what parts are made of. Series 80 parts, the levers have to be stamped for cost effect. You wouldn't want to pay the price needed to machine the levers from bar stock. I couldn't imagine how you could fixture bar stock to machine those levers
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I'll accept that response even though it was the technical email address.

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A little more info. To machine the levers from bar stock regardless of the stock shape you would have to be able to hold the bar stock while machining the levers from start to finish without it moving and I see no way to hold the lever to complete the process
 
I have reached out to Bill Laughridge, the owner of C&S, and asked him how they make them. I may not receive an answer. His initial response just said that he started making them to National Match specs because Colt's machinery couldn't hold specified dimensions. He didn't provide any information on how he makes them. I have requested clarification.

If anyone has a C&S part, it's easy to see if it was stamped. When a part is stamped, the perimeter corners/edges on the "upper" side are slightly rounded off, and the corresponding corners/edges on the lower surface are sharp and probably protrude just a tiny bit beyond the surface plane.

The closest part I can think of that might be claimed to be machined from "bar stock" is Colt's 1911 hammers. For their hammers, they start with a "bar" that has been extruded to the outer shape of the hammer. These extrusions are, IIRC, 20 feet long (might be only ten feet). The extrusions are then put into a machine that cuts them to the thickness of a hammer using EDM wire cutting -- like the slicer in the corner deli slicing salami. Then the hammers are put into a jig and the holes are drilled.

I can't imaging that process working for parts as thin as the Series 80 levers.
 
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