Modifying the 1911

[garand4life]

Does any one have any good recommendations or insight into how best I can modify the safety on a 1911 to make it a little more stout? My big concern has always been that the ambi-safety tends to disengage a little too easy. I am thinking about changing the ambi safety to a little more traditional style safety. All that aside what is the easiest way to "tighten up" an 1911 safety. On my M&P I managed to make it a little bit more pronounce but I have no idea where to start on a 1911. Thanks.

[TAB]

um why?

a 1911 will still not go bang with the safety off when the trigger is pulled.  you must also depress the grip safety.

  if you are really worried about it, get a holster with a strap that goes between hammer and the slide, so even if by some malfucntion the hammer fell the gun would still not go bang.


If you are freaked out by the safety off, do this.  Unload and clear the gun, place it cocked and unlocked in the holster, then wear it around the house for a few days. 

[garand4life]

Thanks TAB, I've carried the 1911 before with no problems but my only concern comes more from consistency. I just would like to ensure that if I go to the gun that I won't get any surprises. I guess I could be making something out of nothing though.... Followup question... How hard is it to change the hammer to a different style?

[TAB]

it depends, it might need some fitting, or it might be drop in.  Normally they are pretty close to drop in.

One thing I will warn about, if you are going from a spur to heavly skalontized kind, you might need to replace the hammer spring. as it does not have the mass any more.

if you are just worried about a little hammer bite, a file and some cold blue can take care of that in a few mins.

[garand4life]

The 1911 has a combat hammer much like a Beretta 92 and I want to put a, I believe "Commander" style like what you see on most every Kimber. From reading reviews on one of the Wilson MIM ones it seems that very little "gunsmithing" is needed if any at all. But getting into the gun and such I know nothing about.

[Sponsor]

[PegLeg45]

The hammer spring on a 1911 is over powered for what it needs in hammer speed and function. As long as you stick with a "standard" style hammer like a drop-in from someone like Chip McCormick, Ed Brown, et al, and stay away from super-light like titanium and such your stock hammer spring will be fine.

I've never been a fan of the ambi safety (unless one is a lefty and needs it) due to unintentional swipe-off of the safety. TAB is absolutely correct in his statement about the gun still being safe until gripped to fire, but I personally don't like the idea of the safety being inadvertently knocked to the off position without my knowledge. That being said, almost any aftermarket safety could be installed to both 'tighten' the fit and remove the ambi function.

JMHO, FWIW

[TAB]

I don't know about the wilson stuff, but I'd avoid MIM.  when done correctly its great, its just really easy to screw up.

[PegLeg45]

I don't know if it's MIM or not.......15 years ago I didn't check, but I built a 1911 for a good friend on a Springfield Armory frame and slide using all internal parts bought from Chip McCormick. The gun has well over 20,000 rounds through it since then and has been refinished twice due to surface wear and the parts have held up. My first 1911 build was on a 70 series Colt with the same McCormick parts and it has around 10,000 rounds through it with no problems.


However, if I were to build a gun from the frame up right now I'd order forged or machined bar-stock parts from Ed Brown, Cylinder & Slide, or other top names sold by Brownells or Midway. Mainly because, as TAB stated, MIM is easy to screw up the surface hardness if you have to file on it and can be prone to brittleness if it has porosity issues with a batch or run.

I believe someone on here posted a big name 1911 safety that had broken, but I can't remember the brand. I think it was Alf that posted it, but I'm not sure.

[Big Frank]

If you have a Dremel you can grind a small divot into the safety where the plunger contacts it. Some are already made that way.

[ellis4538]

 +1 with what jumbofrank said!  Might only have to deepen one that is there or add one.  If none exists center punch a starter hole.  Might even need a new plunger spring.


Richard

PS:  Might have to do the same thing with the slide release.