Well, I finally did it. On the last day of the year I walked out of the Fort Worth Gun Show with the only Citadel in the whole place.

Last night I did a complete detail strip which looking back wasnt really too bad but it left me with 2 questions.

1. My 1911 is parked and EVERYTHING inside is parked as well. Would it make any noticible difference to remove the finish from the internal parts like the trigger bar, sear, disco, FP?

2. I watched a video on how to strip it all down and reassemble. One guy did what he called a "trigger group function check". In it he gripped the assembled frame with slide removed in a firing position and depressed both the grip safety and the trigger with the safety off and the hammer all the way forward. He then pushed on the disco and it gave a click. He then pulled it back to "half cock" where you could see the sear engage, and then with trigger still pulled he cocked the hammer all the way back to the rearward most position and it stayed back. When I do the same "test" the sear will engage at half cock but not at full- the hammer never gets "caught" it just falls. If im not holding down the trigger it engages in all positions normally. With the slide on and working it back and forth with the trigger depressed the hammer does NOT ride down and stays locked in the rearward most position as it should. I even hear the "click" of the reset when I let off. I tried searching everywhere for the same "trigger group function test" and could not come across anyone else who mentioned this process.

As I said, in fully reassembled mode it performs as it should- it just worries me a bit to see that his will do something mine seemingly will not. Thinking back on it, every other pistol or rifle with a hammer wont lock the trigger back either if ive got the trigger depressed and manually pull back the hammer. Am I being paranoid or do I need to tear it back down and look for something?

Answers to questions:
Assuming this is a new gun.

1. Well, you bought it and can take off the stuff on the inside.  I wouldn't.  I would just go shoot it, then decide to make mods.

2. I don't know about the trigger group function test.  This could be a series 70 or 80s difference. - Like I said, I don't know.  Check your grip safety.  With the gun UNLOADED check to see if you can pull the trigger with without the grip safety engaged.  If you can, send to service immediately.  Do it with both the thumb safety on and off as normal.  Check the safety with the thumb safety engaged and disengaged and the grip safety pushed in.   Make sure it works properly.   Then go shoot.

Good luck!

1. you could of assembled the gun incorrectly, check the sear spring area.
2.  you  may not be resting the disco. the disco is what allows the hammer to satay back when you have the trigger pulled to the rear and the slide cycles.  with out pushing down on the disco (or releasing the trigger) the hammer will not stay back when the trigger is pulled to the rear and the hammer is rotatted to the most rearward postion.

I would not worry about the finish inside the slide, I have bought pistols that were like that, one or two good days at the range and a good cleaning will take care of removing or fitting the moving parts together as long as you have it properly lubricated.  

As far as function testing, if you are not sure you have it together and functioning properly, I am sure a quick ride to your local gunsmith will be well worth the trip.  My local smith did such a check for me and did not charge me a thing, support your local experts.

Update:

It seems that the issue lies with the relationship between the thumb safety and the grip safety.
During reassembly last night I got the trigger group to pass the "test" by doing any of 3 things.

1. With grip safety removed
2. With grip safety in place and thumb safety assembly removed
3. With grip safety and thumb safties in place BUT with a slight gap on the southpaw side (were talking paper thin here)

If I push the safety "plate" in closer to the frame and get that little "snap" and try to function check I can feel the ears trying to catch but they just wont.
The disco makes a slightly smaller and less tactile "snap" when it fails the function test. Like it doesnt go down as far as it needs to no matter how hard I push on it.

I have to wonder: honestly how big of a deal is this. As said in my first post, I cant possibly get the hammer to follow even with the trigger depressed and the slide assembled and riding back and forth.

link

My sear, disco, and springs are all correctly installed according to this diagram.