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So, I'm building a 1911...


Madhouse

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ss - thanks very much for the tips, I will certainly take the time to polish everything, now that I know

 

One issue I've had, is that when I put the hammer and hammer strut together with the roll pin, the hammer strut is tight as hell - I know it should dangle freely, but I have to manually move it.  Any guidance on that?

 

The mainspring was a bear to put in the housing!  I had to clamp the housing in my vise and ram the spring in with a screwdriver to get it deep enough to put the retaining pin in.

 

   Was the strut tight in the hammer before you put the pin in ?  Meaning , was it stiff going into the Hammer .If not, polish the pin & the Pin holes , as was said . You can pop it back out & see if the Pin binds in the strut pin hole or the Hammer Pin hole . I have seen them loose enough to fall out & I have seen them tight , you want the pin to be stiff in the hammer & the strut to pivot on it , if you know what I mean . The strut is less expensive than the Hammer , so it can be the ware component  .

  I put the pins in a drill press or a Battery operated dill mtr. can be used to polish them. You will have to use some kind of wrap around the pin , to protect the Pin from the chuck jaws . You don't have to worry about where the pin rests in the frame , but where it rides in its particular component .

 The Main spring should be stiff ,  but there are plenty of 1911 parts makers that have custom tuned spring sets available . You have to remember that you can get them too light & may not set off the primer , depending on brand . 

   There is also a break in period of all the parts & parts will smooth up a bit with the round count of the pistol.

  The extractor face & claw area can also be polished to ease feeding , not to mention the feed ramp , also the freed ramp can be opened up a little for better feeding of hollow point bullets. The list can go on & on.

   There are plenty of Videos out there on tuning 1911 pistols .

Edited by survivalshop
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I really appreciate all of the help so far fellas.  I watch countless videos on this as well, and have done almost everything so far based on those, since I came into this with very little 1911 inner-working knowledge.

 

I will try all of the input you've given me.

 

One more topic, if you don't mind - it seems to me that when I slide the mainspring housing in, the sear spring flattens out almost completely, and it doesn't even push the grip safety out.  Before the housing goes on, the grip safety has decent resistance, but once it's slid on, the grip safety just flops into it's resting place and is not pushed out.  Might I have to manually manipulate the tangs on that sear safety to defeat this?

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Thanks again Terry.

So I'm closer than I thought I was to done. I've got it essentially all together, but I'm having trouble with the fire control parts. The hammer doesn't seem to want to stay back (cocked).

  The flat spring ( Trigger spring )puts tension on the Sear & Trigger & Grip Safety , each has a finger on that flat spring . Are you sure the spring is in correctly ? The tab on the Grip Safety may be missing the spring leaf or finger .

  If the spring is not putting enough pressure on the sear , it will not catch the Hammer Sear.

 

  There's a lot more to building a 1911 then there is in building most AR's of any type . When you get to the part where you set up the Grip Safety & hand  Safety , pay very close attention to make sure they all work the way they are intended . When the Hand Safety is off  , the grip safety is very important & you seldom get lucky that it all works properly , they seem to always need fitting in some way . Your trigger pull can be effected by the way its set up , not to mention the Safety's working .

Edited by survivalshop
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Again, thanks very much for all of the input guys.  This is indeed more trying than building an AR, but I expected it to be and wanted the challenge.

 

Ok, so I've manipulated the right tang on the sear spring and it holds the grip safety out nicely now.  I'm actually able to cock the hammer (it does indeed stop at the first notch), and will lock back in full cocked position.  A pull of the trigger fires the pistol as it should.  But there are still a couple of things that need tweaking.

 

I had the pistol fully assembled, and racking the slide back cocks the pistol, but the slide only goes back barely enough to cock the hammer and does not go its full travel.  Obviously this is an issue, it seems to have a hard stop, at first I thought it was catching on the ejector, but it isn't.  I can't quite determine what is stopping the slide from travelling.

 

The other issue is, when I cock the pistol, the hammer comes back so far that it pushes down on the grip safety and depresses it.

 

The good news is, the pistol cocks fully, the trigger fires the pistol, and the thumb safety stops the pistol from firing.  I've just got to get the action working correctly, and get the hammer to not push the grip safety down.

 

I'm not getting frustrated, and I'm certainly not going to rush anything, I want this thing functioning completely safely before I test it with snap caps.

 

Then I might mail it off to Tom so his crazy ass can do the first live fire!   >:D

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Your second issue doesn't strike me as an issue, it is the case with both my 1911s, and my personal method for easing down the hammer one-handed...

Edit: Are you saying that having the hammer in the full-cocked position depresses the grip safety or are you referring to when the hammer is at the extreme rear of it's travel?

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The other issue is, when I cock the pistol, the hammer comes back so far that it pushes down on the grip safety and depresses it.

 

That is normal. If you assemble the pistol without the grip safety you can actually pull the hammer clear down between the tangs of the frame.

 

As for what is keeping your slide from coming all the way back, that is a puzzler. I don't think I've run across that before. If the hammer is cocking okay and not causing it then I would take a close look at the ejector. The only other thing that I can think of that might cause that is if your using the stock type recoil spring guide (the short type) and it's somehow catching on the slide.

Edited by 392heminut
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That is normal. If you assemble the pistol without the grip safety you can actually pull the hammer clear down between the tangs of the frame.

As for what is keeping your slide from coming all the way back, that is a puzzler. I don't think I've run across that before. If the hammer is cocking okay and not causing it then I would take a close look at the ejector. The only other thing that I can think of that might cause that is if your using the stock type recoil spring guide (the short type) and it's somehow catching on the slide.

That rings some bells in my memory, of a similar issue with one of my 1911s being difficult to reassemble. The short guideplug was shifting just a hair and binding with the spring against the slide and frame.

Can't remember any "trick", other than a very careful reassembly making sure that nothing shifted.

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Oh snap! I thought you had a beavertail grip safety which is already relieved for a Commander type hammer. You have a Commander hammer with a Govt. Model grip safety, those two parts were never made to work together without doing what you just did with your dremel tool! Now I know why your slide wouldn't go back! Pictures always help!

 

I like the frame, who's slide is that?

Edited by 392heminut
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This was a complete parts kit minus the frame. I actually don't know whose it is. It came bagged in plastic with literally zero documentation. I don't really care much about it, that's why it didn't bother me to tear that grip safety up with the dremel.

I see myself building much better equipment in the future, this was the practice piece.

I'm missing one plunger from the safety plunger tube assembly, that's why it's not put together and installed. I just ordered it and a staking tool from MidwayUSA.

I'm quite happy with this, it was a lot of fun to learn and work on it. I'm going to strip it completely back down and work on tuning some of the parts. I still think I can get the trigger to be smoother.

Again guys, thanks for all of the help with this!!

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