1911 hammer drops when I take it off safety
I was trying my hand a gunsmithing with my old beater colt and installed an ambi safety and a extended slide release and now when i put it on safe i can pull the trigger and it clicks and then when i take it off of safe the hammer drops. this only happens when i pull the trigger with the gun on safe. what did i do wrong?
I can only tell you my 1911 did that till I replaced the safety (thumb safety). I assumed the tab sticking in on the inside was worn and did not sufficiently block the movement of the sear. Then pulling the trigger moved the sear just enough to release the hammer to the safety and then when the safety was moved to the "off" position the hammer dropped.
Did you also work on the sear/trigger mating surfaces?
Replacing a new ambidextrous safety would be expensive. Replacing the sear would be cheaper but still may not work if the issue is the safety not being made quite right.
You over cut the sear block on the new safety, it's trash now. Need to fit another new safety or return to the OEM part.
http://www.brazoscustom.com/magart/0601.htm
i was using an old ambi safety that was in a bag of parts that was given to me with the gun so im not out any money, next time ill let a gunsmith buddy of mine do it. i put the oem part back in and it works fine now.
Originally Posted By big_dipper:
i was using an old ambi safety that was in a bag of parts that was given to me with the gun so im not out any money, next time ill let a gunsmith buddy of mine do it. i put the oem part back in and it works fine now.
Up. The sear block on the ambi-safety was overcut for your sear.
On thumb safety's that have been overfit, they can have the the stubb welded back up and then refiled to fit.
Originally Posted By johnuf78:
On thumb safety's that have been overfit, they can have the the stubb welded back up and then refiled to fit.
When parts were hard to find this was worthwhile (and sometimes the only option).
New parts are available enough that I have not even heard of welding up in years.
Used to be done on barrel feet also.
I had the same problem on a series 70 Combat Commander.
I replaced the hammer, sear, disconnector, main spring and trigger spring.
They all came as a kit from Cylinder and Slide.
I used the original frame safety.
Problem solved, and I have a nice 4lb trigger pull now.
I think that the hammer/sear engagement was worn.
YMMV
Originally Posted By MickAr15:
I had the same problem on a series 70 Combat Commander.
I replaced the hammer, sear, disconnector, main spring and trigger spring.
They all came as a kit from Cylinder and Slide.
I used the original frame safety.
Problem solved, and I have a nice 4lb trigger pull now.
I think that the hammer/sear engagement was worn.
YMMV
You got lucky.
All that had to happen was a few thousandths of an inch of tolerance on the sear and the old thumb safety would not have worked.
Did you run ALL the safety checks?
Yes.
There is no problem with that safety.
The hammer and the sear were both badly worn.
And I don't think that I got "lucky".
I read as much as I could find at various sources about my problem.
I dis assembled the pistol to see what was worn or looked out of spec.
I've been shooting 1911's for 40 years and have been a machinist for 32.
I'm no novice when it comes to things that don't work right.
Originally Posted By MickAr15:
And I don't think that I got "lucky".
I read as much as I could find at various sources about my problem.
I dis assembled the pistol to see what was worn or looked out of spec.
I've been shooting 1911's for 40 years and have been a machinist for 32.
I'm no novice when it comes to things that don't work right.
Re using a thumb safety with a new sear is hit or miss, or lucky if they function correctly.
This is a [place that hand fitting is used to eliminate any tolerance stack.
Change anything and it may not work.
Frame hole tolerance, frame hole spacing, pin diameters, pin holes in the hammer and sear, hole location tolerance i the hammer and sear, mating part part dimensions, etc.
They all have to stack up correctly to allow a safety cut once to fit and work with a new part.
The full cock shelf on the hammer is right around 0.020 deep.
It does not take much of a gap in the sear-safety fit to let the hammer move on the sear enough to fall.
A few thou here, a few thou there, and it does not work correctly.
