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Tools required for 1911


sketch

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Sucks that I got to this thread so late. You should have put red Loctite in the pin holes in the frame before putting the plunger tube on the frame and staking the pins! The red Loctite fills up any voids or slop between the staking pins and the frame so the tube can't move. The reason the pins shear off is because of recoil forces causing the tube to move and the red Loctite stops that. Those itty bitty front sight blades that Colt put on the old models? They sheared off for the same reason, even though there was very little mass to them. Back before the dovetailed front sights got popular we used to stake them on and I always filled the sight channel with red Loctite before staking the sight on. I never had a front sight or plunger tube that I did come loose. Same thing with those grip bushings, they are supposed to be staked after screwing them into the grip frame. Always put red Loctite on the threads and then stake them. DON'T put any kind of Loctite on the grip screws themselves. I can usually get the bushings off the grip screws when they come out like that and use them over again. I hold the threaded part of the bushing with the tip of the jaws on a pair of pliers and back the grip screw out with a screwdriver or allen wrench. A little work with a three cornered needle file and some careful attention starting them back straight into the grip frame usually works. If some dumbass put some kind of thread locker on the grips screws all bets are off though. BTW, there is a special tool for staking the grip screw bushings too, it's almost impossible to properly stake them without it.

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Another thing I forgot to mention is that I use a ball cutter in a dremel tool to bevel the holes for the plunger tube pins on the inside of the frame. It only takes just a little bevel and gives the pins something to swage into when you stake them. When the plunger tube gets loose it's usually because the staked pins had no place to flare into when they were staked and this solves that issue. I've actually removed plunger tubes that were loose and beveled the inside of the hole and reinstalled the same tube with the Loctite and restaking and had them work just fine after that.

Edited by 392heminut
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Finished the rebuild and  it looks better than recived! Haha ill refer to more experienced brothers but i feel good about it! Had to drill out one grip screw just to free up the grip. I had some stain left over from a deck that matched perfectly and cleaned up some wear. Thanks for your help!

image.jpg

Edited by sketch
I see i should blue the slide stop marks but it might sell for less if I don't ?
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 Nice job .

I don't normally re-stake the Plunger tube or the Grip Screw bushings , I replace with a new part & as said , use red loc tite . Grip screw Bushings are notorious for stripping out & just spinning  on 1911's .  Just think , with out the Grip screw bushings , you would be welding (or trying to weld ) up Frames , to re-thread .

Edited by survivalshop
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Thanks to this group of builders i would not have had the confidence to even entertain such a problem nor had i herd of it! But as many times proven ask the question and .308 will have the answer or many! You guys rock!!

I did not stake the the bushings but did locktite (red) if they are a problem later i will definitely do as larry suggest and buy the tool!

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here is a staking tool from Midway for around $30. You will still need a  Dremel 1/8" ball cutter (I used a dental burr) a small close fitting drill bit to closely fit inside the tube, and some red loctite. I rednecked a tool back in the 70 when I worked on these old 1911 pistols, I used a steel BB epoxyed to the jaw of a big set of Visegrips, held it over an anvil and smacked it with a hammer, didn't have loctite,  used a piece of drill rod inside the tube but it worked but it was kind of a snakey gilfkk operation.

411680592.jpg

Edited by mrmackc
Corrected to visegrips
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  • 4 weeks later...

She's cursed fellas! One of the new wilson grip screws has sheared off! Im going in again but oh... Now i have loctited the bushing so now im going for just the shered off part with grips mounted! Ive done this on my mx bike a few times so no worries...

side note im adding a rubber washer when i fiix the broken screw so recoile will ( hopefully) not loosen the wood grips? Was hoping the wood  grips would go away but not my rig?

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  • 2 weeks later...
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