Posted: 7/24/2012 5:00:17 AM EDT
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So I got my first 1911 about a year ago (Colt 1991 series 80). I recently decided that I was going to customize it with a beavertail, hammer, trigger, sear spring and extended slide catch. I looked up instructions online for complete dissasembly and began the teardown. Everything was going well until I got to the main spring housing. I did not read ahead that if you remove the MSH before the grip safety, you have to hold the grip safety down until you have the external safety removed. I pulled off the MSH and created a jam. Now I cannot re-install the MSH, nor can I remove any more parts. Any suggestions on how to clear this jam? Would this have broken anything?
Thanks, -Drew |
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You need to make sure the hammer strut is in the mainspring cup before pushing it all the way up. Hammer strut just needs to be in the correct location and the hammer needs to be down resting on the fp. Also check that the sear spring is resting in the correct position both on the frame and on the sear and trigger and grip safety.
I've never held the grip safety down while removing the thumb safety. |
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Thanks for the reply. I did attempt to re-install the MSH making sure the strut was in the cup and it sill will not slide all the way into place. It stops about a quarte inch short and will not move any further. My sear spring also came loose in the process and I cannot see inside to make sure it is correctly possitioned. Any other ideas to try?
Thanks |
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Flip up the grips safety and look to make sure of sear spring placement.
You should be able to look up into the sear spring area and see if it is resting correctly. Id double check the sear spring is resting in the frame notch and the fingers are in the correct location. Also the grip safety need to be pushed in against the frame while installing the MSH. removing the MSH first only helps for getting the grip safety off. Seating the MSH your usually fighting a 23LB mainspring. I've pulled 1911s apart in several different combinations. I always pulled the MSH just before removing the grip safety. As the MSH keeps the GS from swinging out. All other steps in breaking down a 1911 I've done in what ever order I wanted. You did not break your 1911, something is just not sitting where it needs to be. Never pull out the hammer and try to reassemble the 1911. When everything is sitting the way it should every part just about slides together or requires some slight thumb pressure. |
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You're going to need to finish stripping the gun before you can put it back together. Getting the sear spring up into proper place behind the installed grip safety is not going to happen.
Pull the sear spring out. Then move the hammer to the cocked position and remove the thumb safety. This will probably take some wiggling of the safety and possibly the hammer before the safety will come out. The safety should be halfway between off and on before it will come out of the frame. Then you should be able to remove the hammer & sear pins and proceed from there. |
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Quoted:
I'm probably stating the obvious here but... Keep in mind that when everything is positioned correctly it will still take about 20 lbs force to compress the mainspring as you slide the MSH into place. Que? Compress against what? If the hammer is all the way forward, with the slide removed, there is no compression at all. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm probably stating the obvious here but... Keep in mind that when everything is positioned correctly it will still take about 20 lbs force to compress the mainspring as you slide the MSH into place. Que? Compress against what? If the hammer is all the way forward, with the slide removed, there is no compression at all. Yes there is. Push the butt of the mainspring housing down onto the table edge as you slide the pin in with your third hand. That 1/4" you mention is about where the spring kicks in. |
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If it takes 20 lbs of force your hammer strut is a way to long. At most I ever had to apply was some slight thumb pressure to line up the MSH hole. My colt rail gun takes a bit of detemination to get that pin lined up. I have to lean into that spring pretty hard. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm probably stating the obvious here but... Keep in mind that when everything is positioned correctly it will still take about 20 lbs force to compress the mainspring as you slide the MSH into place. Que? Compress against what? If the hammer is all the way forward, with the slide removed, there is no compression at all. Yes there is. Push the butt of the mainspring housing down onto the table edge as you slide the pin in with your third hand. That 1/4" you mention is about where the spring kicks in. Then the hammer is not down as far as it can go. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm probably stating the obvious here but... Keep in mind that when everything is positioned correctly it will still take about 20 lbs force to compress the mainspring as you slide the MSH into place. Que? Compress against what? If the hammer is all the way forward, with the slide removed, there is no compression at all. Yes there is. Push the butt of the mainspring housing down onto the table edge as you slide the pin in with your third hand. That 1/4" you mention is about where the spring kicks in. Then the hammer is not down as far as it can go. Yep, I'm going to have to eat my words here.  I took mine apart to check. If I do it with the slide in place I've got to compress the spring to get the MSH in place. If I remove the slide no compression required.
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So it turns out the problem was a rookie working on his 1911. I was trying to push the thumb safety up too far. Once I found out that you barely have to push it up to slide it out, it was smooth sailing. I fitted my Caspian trigger which only took some very light sanding and I still have a WC beaver tail, WC extended slide release, WC hammer and new CS sear spring to install. Now to figure out how to get the series 80 parts all back in the right way.
Thank you all for your help! -Drew |
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Quoted:
So it turns out the problem was a rookie working on his 1911. I was trying to push the thumb safety up too far. Once I found out that you barely have to push it up to slide it out, it was smooth sailing. I fitted my Caspian trigger which only took some very light sanding and I still have a WC beaver tail, WC extended slide release, WC hammer and new CS sear spring to install. Now to figure out how to get the series 80 parts all back in the right way. Thank you all for your help! -Drew Just keep on going at it and learning from the process. I'm a 1911 FNG as well and the satisfaction I get from tinkering with my Kimber and RIA is so gratifying. Something I never felt when I worked on my USP. Good luck with your project sir! |
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Don't worry about it very much!
Remember, the 1911 was designed in the early 1900s and "perfected" in 1911. It was designed so that people of the time could disassemble it without much in the way of book learning. You can't break it (though admittedly the S80 components are a wild card...) Remember, literally millions of GIs have been issued this weapon, and none of them managed to break it irreparably in a way that couldn't be fixed with some simple hand tools or very minor parts replacement (like springs, or detents that fly away). You won't be ruining it anytime soon. Fiddle with it until it becomes second nature, you'll be glad you did. Some guns, detail stripping down to removing sears, etc is a royal PITA. A 1911, it's a pleasure. I honestly don't detail strip my 1911s after range outings strictly because it takes another 15-20 minutes or so to disassemble, clean, wipe, and reassemble. That time spent is cutting into beer time, and we can't have that 
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| FYI; you can put a rubber band around the grip safety to hold the sear spring in place when removing the mainspring housing only. This prevents what happened to you - the sear spring jumped out of its notch, which prevented you from reinstalling the MSH. Otherwise, if you're going to do a complete strip, you don't have to hold down the grip safety. Its important to do things in the right order. |