[crashm1]

Who builds an ambi safety and slide stops for 1911s out of regular old stainless steel. I need a couple of them for a Kimber Compact II (which oddly enough doesn't have the external ejector) and a Colt Commander. Speaking of the Commander I think the previous owner may have butchered the feedramp or the link is too long or both. It doesn't like anything but FMJ and has the occasional FTF or fails to return to battery with that. The throat of the barrel appears to overhang the feedramp slightly. If I install the 5" barrel from my SA there is considerably less overhang but it's still there.
The other thing is I wasn't paying enough attention when I traded some cash and an old WWII German .32acp for it and didn't notice it was a parts gun, the slide is Colt but the frame is an Essex and may be a fullsize frame. My Father has a welding and machine shop so major repairs can probably be done if neccessary.

[Azrael256]

Get on Brownell's website and poke around. EGW, Nowlin, Brown, C&S, or somebody like that will have what you want, and they're reputable.

Could you maybe post a picture of the ramp? Overhang is somewhat unusual unless somebody has bubba'd the gun. Also, a commander slide won't fit on a government frame without some work. It requires a bit of machining, so check to see if the rails, dust cover, and recoil spring guide rod areas have been machined shorter. A difference in the texture and quality of the finish is a giveaway.

[1911Tuner]

Howdy crash.

The MIM debate rages on. Some like it...Some hate it...Some don't give it a thought.

Nobody that I know of makes an aftermarket ambi safety from machined steel.

Although I'm not a great fan of MIM...and don't want it (certain parts) in a carry gun...most of the concerns are unwarranted. If the part is made of good MIM, it's actually pretty good stuff...but the problem is in not being able to tell which is good and which isn't until something lets go.

Early Kimbers had good MIM parts. MIM that comes in factory Colts also seems to be of good quality. I have a brace of range beaters that have gone many tens of thousands of rounds on the original MIM sears and disconnects
without a problem. I've also seen it break like a dry twig in January.

Some parts are well-suited to MIM, and others aren't. Your thumb safety
sorta falls in-between, with the bias toward suitable. If it's good MIM, it could well last forever. One advantage is that a bad part will usually fail early in its life. If it holds up for 500-1,000 rounds or cycles, it'll probably last for 50,000.

Thumb safeties, slide stops, mainspring housings, and grip safeties fall into the "Okay for MIM" category. Sears and disconnects...not so okay unless the material is of high quality. Hammers, hammer struts, firing pin stops, firing pins, extractors...no. Anything that comes under impact shock or repeated high stress is something that I'm not comfortable with, except on a range-only gun...and I'd prefer machined steel even for that application.

[crashm1]

Azrael,
I will post pictures tonight once I figure out how to work the downloading part of our new camera. Heres what makes me think it is a full size frame: The dust cover extends past the arced area where the bushing sits in the slide which is not the case on either my SA or the Kimber.
Tuner,
The Kimber may become a carry gun, the hybrid I would just like to have feed and return to battery correctly. On the plus side I get to practice malfunction drills pretty regularly. Here's another question; Is it possible to remove the firing pin blocker on the Kimber or will that keep the gun from going bang.

[1911Tuner]

>Is it possible to remove the firing pin blocker on the Kimber or will that keep the gun from going bang.<
***********************

Yes, but it's ill-advised to do so.

[crashm1]

Well I'm still working on posting pics. My wifes computer is above my head and that's where the camera stuff is. Hopefully tonight.

[mattk]

I am pretty Ed Brown safeties are not MIM.
My Kimber Pro in 9mm is a carry of somewhat odd setup. I put in Nowlin tool steel sear disconnect and hammer and replaced the ambi safety with an Ed Brown Wide safety.

[1911Tuner]

Quote:

>I am pretty Ed Brown safeties are not MIM.<
*********************

Correct. They're investment cast.

[HSMITH]

SVI makes barstock thumb safeties for doublestacks in singleside and ambi both. You might want to call them and see if they make one for singlestacks......

[Azrael256]

The safety should be the same for either stack. The only differences are the mags, grips, grip bushings, mag catch, and trigger stirrup.

[HSMITH]

Azrael, you may well be correct but I didn't know that to be true so I didn't post it as such.

It's late or I would dig out an STI and a Colt and see how it fits..

[DBR]

About a year ago STI quoted me around $90.00 for a Thumb safety. Ed Brown thumb safeties are the best generally available reasonably priced safeties. They are investment cast and very high quality. They can be peened to make small corrections in engagement. They are not brittle and they can be reshaped to almost GI shape.