1911 Grip Safety - Adventures with Bondo

[alfsauve]

A competitor this weekend was having an issue with the grip safety on his 1911 not engaging.    He found a couple of rubber bands and was able to use those to hold the safety in place. 

FYI:   In USPSA you can disable the grip safety, in IDPA you can't. 

If you're never going to shoot IDPA then you pin it down and done.  But if you want it operational for IDPA or just for everyday use, then besides rubber bands, what are the options to make it more reliable.   I've learned, by barreling down the wrong path, that first you step back and think to your self, "Self.  I can't be the first person to have gone here."  So what solutions do the gun makers and 3rd party parts makers have for this?  More importantly, WWJCD^*? 

Now my inclination is to raise the height of the grip safety back strap so that it will engage even if you not tightly holding the gun, or if there's a slight gap in your grip at the time.  Yeah, I know, proper grip would solve this, but sometimes in the heat of competition, or maybe even SD, your grip might not be all letter perfect.

Wait.  Let me take a picture and show you what I'm thinking.

OH DUH.

My Wilson Combat replacement grip safety already has a raised portion.   See the original grip safety and the new one on the 1911. 



 
I don't know why that wasn't obvious to me when I installed it.   But then I was more concerned with the new hammer and the tang portion that I really didn't notice.  I mean I take my 1911 out and shoot it once or twice a year.  Did an indoor IDPA last month with it, but it never occurred to me that the problem was fixed, more or less.

What if I make it even higher for more reliability?   At what point does it become too high that it's uncomfortable to hold and shoot? 

And this is were Bondo comes in.  I wanted to raise my mag release on my P365 for use in competition.  I didn't like the 3rd part mag releases, they weren't really high enough.  IDPA allows the rear of the release to be as high a 0.2" above the frame.  The factory stock release is closer to 0.05".  I solved the problem by using Bondo (or JB Weld, etc).   I put a piece of heat shrink tubing around the mag release, having first degreased and roughed up the surface of the release.  Then tamped Bond in the little cavity formed by the heat shrink and let it cure.  Carefully, using a file, shaped it until it fit and was just at the IDPA max height.   Here are two pictures of the rough shaped and the finished product.

 

Notice the CT competition holster has a notch to accommodate high mag releases.  For EDC I switch back to a standard mag release.

SO

Why not do the same with the 1911 grip safety.  First step will be to use stick on "bumpers" or rubber feet to determine if it's effective and how high I can go before it become counter productive.   Then figure out how to make a mold or form to hold the Bondo. 

Stay tuned for latest updates.



^* What Would Jeff Cooper Do

[tombogan03884]

I really can't tell from the pictures, but I think they come in different heights.

https://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=grip+safety

If not I think you would get better results with JB weld .

[TAB]

They make gripe safety that have a bump on them.  They are very cheap and easy to install. 

Personally, I would check to make sure the safety is actually functioning properly.

[alfsauve]

They make gripe safety that have a bump on them.  They are very cheap and easy to install. 

Yes, see below

Personally, I would check to make sure the safety is actually functioning properly.

I always try to gripe safely.      When I had the slide milled for the Dawson sights the gunsmith checked it out.    Also see below

I really can't tell from the pictures, but I think they come in different heights.

https://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=grip+safety

If not I think you would get better results with JB weld .

Everybody's hand is different.  Mine seems to be slightly more hollow just below the base of the thumb than some peoples.  To wit I always had trouble engaging the original, flat grip safety.   Even with the raised Wilson Combat model it's not 100%.  Granted through practice I could make it pretty reliable.  BUT, in competition and especially in a SD situation, fine motor skills and reasoning can be impaired.  I believe I'd as likely to  Tap-Rack if the gun doesn't fire as I am to check my grip.   Also note that with a really high grip you're pushing up on the tang which has the opposite affect of pushing in on the grip safety. 

Yes there are flat grips and raised ones available.  I already have a raised one.  As I've said, for my hand, I'm not sure the available raised ones are enough.   Nobody lists this in their specs, so I'm not wasting money buying a bunch of different ones in hopes one is higher than the other.

I measured the height of my grip safeties at the bottom.   

Flat, original grip	0.337
Wilson Combat	0.408
delta	~0.071"

Raised not quite a tenth of an inch.  I put various pads on the back and at least from drawing from a holster and dry firing I think an additional tenth of an inch would make it almost fool proof without being uncomfortable or impeding my grip.   Here's a 1/10" pad that I experimented with.




I'm also thinking the contour could be more gradual which would fill some of the space in my hand.  All along I had been thinking about doing this using heat shrink tubing as the "form" like I did with the mag release.  Now I thinking, because I want a contour, not just a higher pad, I'll clamp plastic on either side of the safety.  Contour the plastic, then fill it level with JB Weld.   The Weld will adhere to the plastic, but can be sacrificed when the Weld is set.

Yes, I actually used JB Weld, mainly because that's what HD has.  But Bondo made a neater sounding title.

[tombogan03884]

  But Bondo made a neater sounding title.

  

[Sponsor]

[les snyder]

I started shooting 3 gun seriously around 1995 after attending my first North Carolina Tactical 3 gun Match put on by Kyle Lamb at Fayetteville... prior to that time my 1911's grip safeties were defeated by grinding off the arm that blocks the trigger bow.... after that first real 'tactical match' that included a lot of on the ground, under real cars, and Cooper tunnel stages, and match requirements that the pistol had to be worn at all times, I re-activated grip safeties by installing the "memory bump" style on the single stack and changed to a SERPA retention holster... I built a wide body from a Para Ordnance gunsmith kit and Caspian bar stock slide and encountered a problem... even without the grips I could not reliably depress the memory groove grip safety... enter some Devcon stainless steel plastic putty... about an inch of it above the memory bump and a little contour with a popsicle stick... it has been on the gun since then, but was retired from 3 gun in 2005 after a properly fitted link broke at Ft Benning... Glock platform since then

[alfsauve]

Project completed, except for maybe pretty-ing up the paint job on the JB Weld.  Here's pictures of the jig for applying the JBW.   After debating how to best make the form I just went with two side pieces of plastic.  JBW doesn't stick to plastic very well so this was ideal.   

First I roughed up the metal surface with some sand paper.  Then I cleaned the safety with 1-shot, then with a degreaser that and finally with some Xylol.  The plastic sides are held on with a hand clamp.  Applied the JBW with a popsicle stick.   Put it under a 25W incandescent spot light for heat and let it cure for 24+ hours.










Then the process of rough shaping.




And after some time and various sandpapers and files I came up with a rough shape.   I knew it was bigger than I really wanted and would probably hurt my hand when firing.   It was about 0.2" higher than the Wilson started out.





It also wasn't contoured enough and yes there was some discomfort in the web of the hand.   So more filing and I finally settled on an added height of 0.125" or 0.533" total height as measured at the bottom.  You know it's there, but not uncomfortable to shoot.  Almost impossible to hold the gun and not dis-engage the safety.

My efforts and re-blueing the steel part and painting the JBW are somewhat amateurish.  Maybe I'll work on the paint job a little.  A little usage/wear will help it look better I'm sure.  I'm thinking in Jan/Feb of taking it to Steel Challenge Single Stack.  Maybe an IDPA indoor league soon.

[Rastus]

What?  No Dremel tool?

 

[alfsauve]

Rats!   I knew I had forgotten something.   

Actually I did use the Dremel, just a touch, with the rough shaping early on.  JBW is easy to shape so I didn't need the high powered help.