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Adjusting my 1911

3K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  RustyIron 
#1 ·
I'm really pleased with the way my "Brand X" 1911 is coming along. I bought it years ago with the intent of "doing something" with it, but I shot it a few times and set it aside.

But recently I've been reenergized about 1911's, so I pulled it out of the safe and threw some money at it. In another post I talked about replacing the GI sights with Truglo's. That issue is now sorted out, and it's WAY better than original.

I've never "worked on" a 1911 because it seemed intimidating. But the Brand X needed an ambidextrous safety, so it only made sense to work on the trigger, as well.

The safety was an eBay special, and is pretty simple. It needed a little filing and cold-blue, but now it's working as intended. For me, a 1911 requires a high grip with the thumb over the safety. That's fine, but this safety has a sharp corner. It might be an irritant. Only extensive shooting will tell. That's ok; the UPS dude dropped off a thousand rounds of .45 on the front porch today.

The trigger on this gun was originally about 6 pounds 5 ounces. That's just not right. So I took everything apart and polished everything that needed polishing, including the sear and the hammer. That got me a pound. But I wanted more.

So I started playing with the spring, according to recommendations I found on the interweb. Specifically, the bloke recommended a trigger pull of 8 ounces for the disconnector, and a total of 16 ounces for the disconnector and sear. I went a bit heavier, because his goal was a little lower than my own. The result was a trigger pull of 4 pounds 5 ounces. That's what I was shooting for.

There is about 0.040" of take-up, a clean break, and a maybe 0.050" over travel. This is just my guess, as I'm not measuring it. The trigger has some up/down movement that you wouldn't expect in a high-zoot gun, but it's not terrible.

So the bottom line is that the gun now meets my expectations. Maybe I'd like a different safety, and it could really benefit from a different grip safety, maybe with some extra beavertail.

But this is just a "play" gun. It's better now that it ever was, so I'll shoot it for now, and maybe someday in the future throw some more money at it.
 

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#6 ·
When you're as good a husband as Mr. Iron, you get a lot of latitude. I'll start another thread shortly and share another picture with you. Timid husbands might wet their pants. Be warned.

The following pictures are for Mr. AZ--a semi-finished gun.

The eBay ambidextrous safety was ok, but the edges and serrations were sharp, there was a pointy corner, and they were freakishly long. So tonight I took them to the bench grinder and shorted them up about a quarter inch. Then I filed them down to get rid of the edges and provide a more pleasing shape. Then came the emery cloth, and then the buffing wheel. I also polished the detent surface. Everything is much better now.

The grip safety isn't quite right for a high grip, so I'll see what's available that will work with this hammer.
 

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#8 ·
Enablers all of you!

Nice work Rusty! You guys are making me braver all the time.
I would like to add a ambi safety to my Eclipse 10 someday but first I think I will buy an Ed brown sear jig with stones and a shim. I have six 1911's now and I have watched the videos on how to do triggers I think I can handle it I also want to get that plastic pistol block or whatever it is called so disassembly and reassembly is easier. I have most of the punches and drifts already maybe all of them not sure I bought a set for building AR's a while back. Not trying to hijack your thread Rusty I am just easily excited when it comes to talking firearms! Especially 1911's!
 
#11 ·
Nice work Rusty! You guys are making me braver all the time.
I would like to add a ambi safety to my Eclipse 10 someday but first I think I will buy an Ed brown sear jig with stones and a shim. I have six 1911's now and I have watched the videos on how to do triggers I think I can handle it I also want to get that plastic pistol block or whatever it is called so disassembly and reassembly is easier. I have most of the punches and drifts already maybe all of them not sure I bought a set for building AR's a while back. Not trying to hijack your thread Rusty I am just easily excited when it comes to talking firearms! Especially 1911's!
Tom, it's called an armorer's block and they do make working on a gun a lot easier. I have a Wheelers Universal Block, you can find them on Ebay for around $20.00.
 
#9 ·
Do it, Tom.

I was apprehensive about the 1911's because... well... because that's the way I've always felt since I was a kid. Before yesterday, I never took one completely apart. Today I still can't do it blindfolded... or even fast for that matter. But it's simpler than you might think.

Aside from one pin, the sear, and the disconnect, it's completely a no-brainer. The only part that was confusing was the disconnector and the sear, so I took a picture before pulling it apart.

Putting it together was easy, but I had to do it a couple times. One time I forgot that the grip safety goes in with the regular safety. Another time I got the spring in a little bit crooked. Another time I wasn't sure the trigger was in right, so I took it apart again just to be sure. It's no big deal because do-overs are allowed, and each time you get smarter.

The cool thing is the more you work on it, the more you understand, and the more ideas you have for making it better.

And if you goof it all up, you can always take the bag of parts to the gunsmith.

Rob
 

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#10 ·
Thank you for the encouragement. It is more a matter of putting together a comprehensive list of the tools I need to order I also need to order some specialty tools for cleaning and servicing my two non Kimber rifles I recently have purchased. Also found out I need a lee factory crimp die or two for .308 and .556 Not to mention my larger due bills start in October and do not stop until December tenth I believe. You know truck reg. truck ins. home ins. property taxes. On top of all that I must be ready to take advantage of any deals I find on firearms cause here in the Golden State you never know when or if the next deal will come along. I think I am finally winded. Thanks for listening!
 
#13 ·
On top of all that I must be ready to take advantage of any deals I find on firearms cause here in the Golden State you never know when or if the next deal will come along.
Your only concerns right now should be how many rounds you need between now and the day you die, and how many rounds you can pile up before the floor collapses.
 
#14 · (Edited)
More 1911 tune-up

Ideas for this project keep popping into my head, and with each one, the gun gets better and better.

A minor glitch developed after I played with the sear spring. When the hammer was down and I released my grip before releasing the trigger, the trigger stayed back. That's only a minor thing, as I knew the cause and could investigate at any time.

A bigger glitch was the function of the grip safety. When I choked up with a high grip, unless I was holding the gun perfectly, the safety might not release. Hmph. I didn't know the answer to that one until I started looking at it.

Upon examination, it became clear. There's a tang that prevents trigger movement until the safety rotates it out of the way. File conservatively on it, and less movement will be required. So file I did. And it was better.

If a little is better, a lot must be best, right? So I kept filing... until the grip safety didn't work any more.

Shucks.

But... there's another tab that controls out far OUT the grip safety can move. So file on that a bit. Now the grip safety sits out substantially more than it did originally, AND it allows firing with only a little bit of movement. And the polishing that was done on the parts will now allow the trigger to return properly regardless of whether the grip safety is activated.

Polish some more, parkerize, assemble, test.

Right now, the trigger doesn't "feel" as good as my Kimber. The take-up is the same. The Rock Island has a cleaner break with less pressure, but the Kimber has less over travel. It's the overtravel that makes the Kimber feel "custom." It would only be "playing," but I think I can drill and tap the trigger for a set screw, and when I'm done, the Rock will be a better trigger than the Kimber.

The only remaining irritant is the thumb safety. It sticks out far and doesn't bring joy to my thumb. Because of the layout, it will never be as good as the Kimber. Maybe with a little more reshaping, it will be tolerable.

But that's a project for another day.
 
#16 ·
This afternoon I finished the project. The plan was to reshape the thumb safeties even more, to make them more friendly to my delicate hands. The originals were freakishly long, squared off, and were specially designed to maximize the pain inflicted by sharp edges, corners, and serrations. They were just plain stupid. Attached is a picture of the finished product.

I ground them down substantially more, then finished them with hand files and emery cloth. Part of the challenge is to get each side alike. You can't really see both sides at once, but if the gun was asymmetrical, it would bug me.

Polishing was completed to match the rest of the gun, and then the parts were reparkerized. I slapped the gun back together, and basked in the comfort of the ergonomically friendly thumb safeties. Life was good.

Then I used the slide release to drop the slide on an empty magazine. Slam! And the hammer follows the slide all the way to the half-cock notch. :confused: Sure enough, the symptom was repeatable. What a bummer.

The sear spring was right where I wanted it, so the problem must have been in the hammer/sear. Apparently I was a little too bold earlier. So I cut the hammer notch a little deeper and reassembled. No more hammer-follow, but now there was a notch in the trigger pull, and it's back up to six pounds. :mad:

So it's back to the drawing board. I decided to touch up the depth of the notch, all the surfaces involved, and the sear. The gun wasn't hand-finished to begin with, so it makes sense to touch-up everything involved, together, at one time. The lesson here is to do it right the first time, and not be so lazy.

There are really more steps than I'm telling you, many more times assembling, disassembling, lining up the parts, and walking back and forth to the vise. The benefit of all this is that I'm becoming pretty good at taking apart and reassembling 1911's, and I'm figuring out the subtleties of how the parts all work together.

Finally, I got everything working reliably, and the trigger was breaking with no creep at a consistent four pounds, two ounces. Any deviation is smaller than I can measure with a hand-operated scale.

To summarize, the GI Rock Island is now sporting sights that I can see, a comfortable ambidextrous safety, the grip safety works nicely, and the trigger is sweeter than my Kimber from the Custom Shop.
 

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