[The Real Hawkeye]

Not happy with the looks of the one that came on my Colt WWII Repro. Would like to replace it with one that looks more authentic.

Also, who (if anyone) makes a high quality repro slide stop? I guess these two questions could be asked this way too: Who's making the slide stop and thumb safety for the Colt WWI Repro? Those look very authentic to me.

Also, would Colt sell me one of each so that I can park them and then have them installed on my WWII Repro?

[GreenFurniture]

Try John Mansen Co.

[Onmilo]

Colt produces the 1911 safety and slide stop in house.
As for getting them to sell you the parts,,,,,,,,
Possible but don't be disappointed if the answer is "send your pistol back and we will replace the parts if necessary."
A better option may be trying to special order the parts through a Colt authorized parts house such as Brownells.
http://www.brownells.com

[DnPRK]

You can occasionally find new old stock safeties on eBay. I bought one for a Remington Rand a few months ago.

[soutex50]

I bought one from a guy using Reddogalaskan or something like that...just serach 1911 parts, he'll be there

[BBBBill]

...I bought one from a guy using Reddogalaskan or something like that...
Oh no!!!!!: :eek:

[Jamie B]

I too am looking for such a safety.
Nothing on Brownells, or on Ebay.

Any other suggestions?

Rrgards!

Jamie

[soutex50]

BBBBill,

something, we should know?:uhoh: Pls share, I buy from the guy all the time:eek:

[Bladeandbarrel]

Browse gunshows until you find an original WW1 part and then send it to "Rons gun shop" or Bill Adair for the carbonia blue if needed. The part Colt uses now is a real POS and I had one that would never work properly from the start. It was replaced with a WW1 era part and looked and worked better!

[Magnumite]

I'd stay away from reddogalaskan. Not even close to good stuff. soutex50, this isn't an insult to your purchase, nothing personal.

Something I have noticed, for me, I can get a higher grip and positive grip safety disengagement when using a thumb over safety hold when using the WWI configuration thumb safety.

[BBBBill]

...BBBBill,something, we should know? Pls share, I buy from the guy all the time...

... I'd stay away from reddogalaskan. Not even close to good stuff. soutex50, this isn't an insult to your purchase, nothing personal...

My experience, too. Fortunately for me, it was a friend who bought from him. It was substandard stuff. "Colt" mags that were not Colt, etc. Poorly made from poor material. Chinese?? Who knows... There are many posts here and on other forums about him. Do a search for Reddogxxalaskan.

[1911Tuner]

The Alaskan Red Dog bites...

[SACOLT]

I think you can get the GI looking safety from Auto Ordnance.

[Jamie B]

SACOLT -

You are right! $13.00. Thanks.

Here is the link:

http://www.tommygunshop.com/cgi-bin/parts.asp

Regards!

Jamie

[soutex50]

Thanks fellas, I usually buy stuff from the guy and never got around to using it.....good thing somebody said something. as for me being insulted, not a chance.....rather someone tell me i'm buying junk than find out the hard way.

[Bill Hale]

I don't think the link to a safety was an old style. It looked like a later commercial. I think this is what a government model should look like. I'm no expert, so if I'm wrong just send a horse laugh my way and drive on.
http://seekblue.com/pics/1942navy.left.jpg

[DogBonz]

I know that they make a bunch of old style parts from high quality billet.

[The Real Hawkeye]

I contacted EGW, and I couldn't get a straight answer on whether they make them, but he wanted to sell me some old ones he had on hand. I asked to see a picture, and he never responded.

[The Real Hawkeye]

Bill, yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

[Old Fuff]

When all the combat shooters (self appointed) started changing over to Cooper style safety locks with an extended thumb piece, gunsmiths acquired a ton of the old safeties. You can usually find them at gun shows for between $10 and $20 dollars. I passed at least a half-dozen this past weekend. Gunsmiths that work on 1911 platform pistols often have some in their odds & ends box.

[DnPRK]

no text
http://cgi.ebay.com/Colt-1911-Grip-Safety-Thumb-Safety-and-Main-Spring_W0QQitemZ150081044773QQihZ005QQcategoryZ73947QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item150081044773

[1911Tuner]

Old Fuff wrote:

>You can usually find them at gun shows for between $10 and $20 dollars. I passed at least a half-dozen this past weekend. Gunsmiths that work on 1911 platform pistols often have some in their odds & ends box.<
***********

And you didn't get'em for me????

I've deployed the A-10s with orders to take no prisoners...

[RogersPrecision]

I'm not sure where Old Fuff is located, but the A10's put on some great shows on the Barry Goldwater range!
'GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR' Those 30mm's sound like a pig grunting.

[mrmeval]

Carries Norinco parts, the safety is GI style.
http://www.marstar.ca/colt1911S.htm

[1911Tuner]

Chuck wrote:


>I'm not sure where Old Fuff is located, but....'GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR' Those 30mm's sound like a pig grunting.<
*****************

He's in a cave somewhere in outer Arizonia...and when he hears them ol pigs grunt, he'll dig in deeper. Just call him Fuffama Bin Hidin'.:D

The very idear! Seen real USGI parts and didn't even git me none of'em.:cuss:

[Old Fuff]

The very idear! Seen real USGI parts and didn't even git me none of'em.

Oh it's worse then you know... :uhoh:

Suposedly a lot of stuff on the table (and he had a lot of it) was surplus from a USMC base next door in California. The only way I could get near him was to yell FIRE!! to clear out the other lookers. :evil:

I did grab two extractors, but suffered grevious wounds in the process. One should never reach for such stuff with their bare hands... Also an ejector, even though it appeared to be used. At $12.00 I took a chance because it appeared to be O.K. The hall was unheated, and indoors it was close to, or maybe below freezing. Thus impaired I overlooked the safety locks, but he had them.

Them A-10's come in to visit and gas up about 4 miles from where I sit. Neat aircraft, but when the come in for a landing or takeoff they go over the highway, and if you happen to be there at the time they will scare the... :what: out of you. I keep having to clean up the car seat... :D

[lindermant]

try here: http://www.amherst-depot.com/gunparts.45.htm

they don't have pics for every item; call them to see if what they stock is what you're looking for...

[1911Tuner]

Fuff...The A-10s will be comin' in for a strafing run sometime today. And here all this time I thought you was lookin' out for me...

waaaaaaaaa

[Old Fuff]

Now wait a minute.... :eek:

I froze my tail off getting the little bit I did. Risk my life just getting near that table...

Maybe we could work a deal. Your Smith & Wesson's for a few of these super-valuable 1911 parts... :evil:

[1911Tuner]

The pigs should be approaching in attack formation by now...

A word on the "USGI" safety on ebay...It may be the real deal, and it may not. Kahr Auto Ordnance is using cast replicas of that safety on some of their basic GI clones. Hard to tell until ya flip if over and see if there's a parting line or machine marks. Caveat Emptor.

http://www.tommygun.com/ao_front_pi.html

[Bill Hale]

fwiw: I spoke to Auto Ordnance today about their 1911A1 thumb safety. The person I talked to said they have gone to all series 80 style safeties on all their models and for parts sales. Seems odd, but I guess their employees know what they are talking about...
Bill

[1911Tuner]

Quote:

>fwiw: I spoke to Auto Ordnance today about their 1911A1 thumb safety. The person I talked to said they have gone to all series 80 style safeties on all their models and for parts sales. Seems odd, but I guess their employees know what they are talking about...<
************

I wouldn't bet on it. There's no basic design difference between Series 80, Series 70, and pre-Series 70. They'll all interchange. The S-80 grip safeties are slightly different. Maybe that's what they meant...

[Bill Hale]

I asked Auto Ord. about the style, as in appearance. They may not have understood what I was asking.
Like "The Real Hawkeye" I like the look of the old G.I. safety.
What I'd really like is to find or make an ambidextrous version of the old G.I. style. Sorry world, I'm left-handed.
I wonder if one of those wide "tactical" :eek: safeties could be modified to look like one? May be another project to add to the list.:rolleyes:
Bill

[tmaca]

But I hadda put in my 2 cents worth about that reddogalaskan guy. I have no idea if his stuff is any good for the modern, more accurized 1911s, but for a real military gun, which, admittedly, has looser tolerances (which is why it's so dependable even when it's dirty), his stuff seems to work fine, including a barrel that's had about a zillion rounds put through it by now.

[Magnumite]

I shaped a commercial thumb safety to close to early 1911 configuration on my last build. I have a real GI one I am sandbagging for a future build.

I've swept the bottom up some to blend with the EB grip safety. The paddle itself it shaped to my liking, you can see it is not as rounded as the real early GI. Pardon the dog hair...the doggie likes to help.

[Drail]

About 15 minutes work with a file and you can make a GI style from a modern Colt safety like Magnumite shows. I made a couple after getting tired of looking for the old GI parts. And the doggies do like to help - especially in the kitchen.

[Magnumite]

"And the doggies do like to help - especially in the kitchen"

Yes, they do. Never a dull moment, that's for sure.

[tmaca]

I just noticed that nobody has mentioned this. The folks that first brought us the Thompson .45 subgun, Auto Ordnance-Thompson, have a really nice, about as identical to a WWII 1911 as you can get, .45ACP now.

When they were owned by Numrich they put put some pretty crappy stuff. Some think they just got components from Numrich and then assembled them, without much concern for fit and what not.

Since Kahr took over, they seem to have gone back to basics, putting out a really nice and reliable 1911 .45 ACP which is a dead ringer for the WWII GI gun, except they're using the post-WWII thumb safety.

Besides the outstanding reviews the new 1911 has gotten from testers, I compared mine with a Numrich era A.O. 1911, and, even visually, they're two different guns. The Numrich version is slimmer, and just looks less military overall. One of the easiest ways to tell immediately if it's one of the ones made under Numrich or one of the new ones is that the Numrich 1911s have slanted grooves on the slide, while the new ones have the original 1911 vertical ones. Also, the new one has the lanyard loop in the right place, on the bottom of the butt behind the mag well, instead of on the mainspring housing.

I haven't had a bit of trouble with mine, and the only problem I could find in any of the reviews was that one reviewer ran into some occasional feeding problems with JHPs when using the factory magazine, but using normal 1911 mags cured that.

The earliest test and review I could find of A.O's current 1911 used a straight from the factory gun in 2007. Anything made from then on will be the good one. But although Kahr bought the company in the late '90s, the Numrich version apparently kept being made for some period of time, and I have no idea when they actually changed over to the new pistol. I do know that there are still Numrich A.O. 1911s in some gunstores, so you have to be careful about which one you're buying.

Another good thing about this pistol is its price. I saw where the '07 was quoted at about $425, but they've raised it some since. I'm guessing they sort of low balled the price at first to overcome the lousy rep A.O. developed under Numrich. But I was still able to get one for just over $500 a year ago. This thing is absolutely the closest to an original military 1911 that I've seen in any from the factory 1911 nowadays.