Posted: 7/8/2010 2:59:56 AM EDT
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Alright so I am posting this for my brother. He has a Smith & Wesson 1911 PD, the other day he set out on the simple task of putting on new hand grips... Here in the house hold we joke about him not knowing how to use power tools, well it turns out he should use hand tools either.
so here is what happened, when placing the new grip on and tightening down the final screw he over torques it and snaps the head off. Well my father and i told him to get the drill out and tap a small hole in the screw and drive it on through to get the broken screw piece out. For some reason even tho this is the SOP for broken screws he decides its not going to work and tries to remove the thread nut (thats the only thing i can think of to call it right now, you will see) because it swivels a little bit. so any hoot he does a real number on this piece. now is there a way to completely remove the piece and get a new one and fix this at home, or is the only option having a gun smith do it? now i know alot of you fancy yourselves gun smiths and could most likely do this at home, but i dont trust myself nor is there any way in hell i would let my brother attempt it (even tho its his gun, i wont let him ruin it further) so dont tell me its as simple as blah blah blah fancy tool blah... if it is actually a simple task i can do it, if it takes moderate skill the gun smith will be doing it. just wanted to run this by the experts before he has to pay an expert to do it. and for your viewing pleasure 
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| Take appropriate sized easy out, remove bushing, replace with new one. Beat brother vigorously. CAREFULLY install new bushing cleaning the threads first and placing a drop of blue locktite on the threads. Allow to set up and install grips. You do NOT have to torque the screws down like superman. |
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it called a grip bushing. I would "guess" it is red loctited in place. Heat the sob up untill you smell the loctite buring. A soldering gun , butane or propane tourch will work.
Warning those threads are xtra fine. Depending where you are in IA there may be a quailfied smith that can work on it. One comes to mind is Les Bear if he will touch it Miller Custom maybe another. If you guys are into USPSA or IDPA shooting as some of the guys they may now of a local smith that can do the work or to steer clear from. |
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Grip screw bushing to frame threads are 0.2360-60 (if S&W used the 'standard' 1911 threads).
If you stripped them out of the frame Brownells sells the oversize tap and bushings to replace them. Be sure to use a jig to start the tap straight, there is not a lot of metal to straighten out a crooked start and still leave any good threads. |
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Quoted:
Yep, not a huge disaster. Other than destroying bushings, how does your bro like his SW1911? he loves the gun, as do I. Over 2000+ rounds its had no issues, 1 or 2 failure to fire but that was probably a bad primer, and its very accurate. its the only 1911 i have shot so i cant really compare it to others, but its definitely a very solid gun. he has decided just to have a gun smith do the work (even tho this is within my skill level, but its his gun) just in case he ruined the threads and it has to be re tapped. thanks for the help everybody. |