I took the mag safety out of the wife's hipower, all went well, but it seems a pin that goes across thru the frame rail back by the hammer was driven out by concussion when i drove the other pins out. No problem, I tapped the pin back in place. But now the slide will only go on just far enough so I can't quite get the safety to engage the first mark. Where did I go wrong, and what's my problem here?

RESOLUTION: Turned out to be a burr on the frame rail. Gunsmith polished it down, works perfectly now. Don't know why it waited until I took the mag safety out to manifest itself to the point it wouldn't work. But it works now. Pistol has had maybe 2k rounds through it ever, never any problems before this. Just glad it's fixed now.







The moment it starts binding... if i force it, i can get the slide to go all the way back. Recoil spring isn't even strong enough to bring it all the way back forward:

Check the recoil spring guide.
It it's upside down you'll have problems.

Is the pin protruding into the slide channel?

Is the mag removed from the frame?

Hmmm everything looks to be in the right place. That's a tough one.

The gap between the sear and frame seems a little larger then mine. Does it wiggle at all? Should be super tight against the frame. My slide doesn't have that big hole in the back like yours, maybe it's catching on something. I'd punch that pin back out and see if anything is bent and realign. Also check the bottom of the mag well to make sure the circle indent is aligned.

That seems unlikely. Tiny little trigger pin and even then it have very little torque point to impact the frame. Grab a beer, take it all apart and put it back together. I've found the dumbest little things I've forgotten by doing that.

Yep, in fact I took the bbl and recoil spring assembly out to try to isolate a problem. Even took the trigger assembly out in case I put it in back wrong, neither of these helped. I broke down and took it to the local smith. I'll let you know what he finds.

resolution from gunsmith in OP.