1911 complete disassembly?

[Brass Fetcher]

I have a Kimber 1911 and two questions - thanks much in advance.

1. Are the parts on Kimber pistols interchangable with USGI parts?
2. Have/will you ever completely disassemble a 1911? How and why?

Thank you.


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"Special thanks goes out to John Browning" - Once I learned how to shoot it, I've found the 1911 to be the best handgun I have ever handled.

(Dynamic response, the 'shake' of the gun is different than Glock, which I learned to shoot a pistol with, so it took a loong time to appreciate this pistol and the BHP, etc.) IE POI/POA varied greatly from Glock.

 

[alamo]

2. Have/will you ever completely disassemble a 1911? How and why?

I completely disassembled the Ithaca 1911A1 that my father brought back from WWII. Nobody had done it in 60+ years and I wanted to make sure there was no unseen rust & give it a good cleaning. It's a fun thing to do also. Not something you'ld want to do all the time as it's not needed and you can wear the parts a bit if you do it frequently.

 

[AirForceShooter]

In theory all 1911 parts are interchangeable, in theory.
A full take apart maybe should be done once a year or when something breaks. It's not needed, really.

AFS

 

[Brass Fetcher]

alamo,

How did you do this? IE did you have a guide/video, etc. It seems like every nay-sayer implies that the world will implode if I try this - was it overly difficult?

Thank you,

JE223

 

[FTF]

If you plan on detail stripping a kimber... have you seen these?

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=102186

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=54649

There is another thread there for the ultras. I found them pretty useful for understanding the concepts of how a 1911 style handgun works. I assume they will aid in complete dissassembly, but you won't see me attempting it. I'm far from mechanically inclined and field stripping is just fine for me. I don't trust myself to do much more than field strip my 1,000$ pistol that I carry every day lol. After I put 5k rounds through it I'll eat the cost and send it back to Kimber for a once-over.

I have no idea if parts are interchangable. I'm sure Kimber would say no, but what's that worth I don't know.

 

[Brass Fetcher]

FTF,

+1 That's what I was looking for! THanks.

 

[alamo]

Illustrated instructions are must for mechanically challenged people like me. I used the ones on surplusrifle.com. There may be some differences with a Kimber.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/pistol1911/disassemble/index.asp


A parts guide is useful too - you should have one in your Kimber owner's manual. When I disassemble, I put the parts of various sections in baggies to keep them together, like the trigger group. I can't do it all in one day due to time constraints and it's easy to forget after a few days where a part goes.

Right now I"ve got various parts of a British Enfeild No.4 Mk.1 rifle in about 5 baggies. I took it apart 2 weeks ago and won't get around to cleaning it up till this weekend and then I'll reassemble later.

There's no substitutue for decent tools. I got some small screwdrivers and punches at the "Dollar Tree" store and some at Big Lots for cheap. The right tool makes the difference between a simple job and a struggle. Ask me how I know. I finally learned.

I was initially scared to death to disassemble beyond a field strip. I slowly did more and more and have learned to enjoy it. I've completely stripped to about every last part an M1 Garand, German Luger, Makarov, 1903A3 Springfield rifle, German WWII 98K rifle, Walther P-1 and some others. Again, I am mechanicially challenged. If I can do it, so can you. If you get stuck, just remember - it can be done and with patience so can you. Don't get in a big hurry.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

Honestly, I've wanted to take my kimber 1911 apart just for fun. I've had those same instuctions from the 1911 forum for a couple of weeks, but i wasn't sure how much of a hassle it would be....Would it be stupid just to take it apart without it needing to be taken apart?

 

[1911Tuner]

Strip

With a little practice, a true-to-original design 1911 pistol can be detail stripped in about 60 seconds and reassembled in just over two minutes...
including slide and frame, but not including the grip panels, starting with a completely assembled gun...using nothing more than the firing pin from an AR-15 or M-16.

A true-to-original pistol can be detail stripped and reassembled without tools in not much more time than it takes with the firing pin.

Colt Series 80 pistols come apart just about as fast as original design...but are a little more tedious in the reassembly.

Swartz-equipped pistols are about as fast for the frames, but the slide requires removing the rear sight in order to get at the firing pin spring and plunger. Slides equipped with external extractors require a punch to drive out the pin. One design uses a rear-mounted plunger to retain the external extractor...which is a two-piece affair, with a coil spring loading it. Have only seen/disassembled one of these.

 

[alamo]

I just looked over the surplusrifle.com instructions that I posted. I see that those are not quite a complete strip down. I took it down to every last part including a complete disassembly of the mainspring housing. I must have found other instructions to help with that.

The Kimber instructions that were posted have very nice detailed pictures that should really help. I think the extractor is different on new 1911s from the original like I have and the mainspring housing looks different from my recollection. I did mine over a year ago.

 

[jman74]

I'm no expert, but complete disassembly of a 70 series is pretty straight forward. more so than other pistols, i feel. Kimbers and others with firing pin blocks are be harder, but if you go slow and pay attention you should be good. Any machine becomes simple if you can step back and look at it a piece at a time. It might take a little time and and a little trial and error, but you'll get it.

 

[robctwo]

I started fooling around with these pistols last winter. I ended up reading all the threads in the gunsmithing section here, and other articles. I stripped my SA 1911 Loaded and replaced the mainspring housing, sear, disconector, hammer, recoil springs and grips. What fun. had it out to the range this last weekend shooting steel plates. Very nice shooter.

1911Tuner is the expert. I probably need another 1911 just for a practice gun to strip. They are like that.

 

[KC&97TA]

Honestly, I've wanted to take my kimber 1911 apart just for fun. I've had those same instuctions from the 1911 forum for a couple of weeks, but i wasn't sure how much of a hassle it would be....Would it be stupid just to take it apart without it needing to be taken apart?

I've stripped my Kimber once for a cleaning after it was out in the dust. I routinely strip my Springfields down. I leave the Kimber alone, more so because of warranty issues. Both my Springfields have been worked on a bit, My TLE has been worked on by KMI only, except for the GI Rod/Plug.

There are many things that affect the trigger and excessive dirt, brass, carbon are one of them, if it's nasty strip it down, but if it's just a range gun it's probly fine. Have to warn you, if there is still originial grease, CLP, heavy deposits of carbon/dirt, on the sear and bottom of the hammer, a light synthetic oil after cleaining will lower the weight of the trigger by a little bit. It's noticeable on a Kimber since it's a factory-custom, mine came down to below 4lbs from 4-1/4lbs.

 

[BigO01]

Here is an amateur video series that will help you with a Complete take down of a 1911

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzBYc5HrgvY&mode=related&search=

 

[daysleeprx]

Those videos are pretty nice...I couldn't even tell he was taking down an airsoft!

 

[1911Tuner]

Strip

JE...This may help. Go to the Consolidated Clinic sticky at the top of the gunsmithing page for Series 80 Colt. I'll write up instructions for the mainspring housing later. Gotta take a big ol' Colliedawg to the vet.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=56796

 

[Zach S]

I detail strip mine every 2000 rounds or so and clean it (brake cleaner is normally involed), but I mainly do it to look for worn parts. You've all heard the Mimber horror stories.

Its not that hard. After doing it, you'll think it was pretty simple.

Notes: All the pins slide into the left side of the frame. The hammer pin and sear pin are different sized, so you cant mix them up. It really doesnt matter which way the mainspring housing pin goes in, but I install (and remove) it in the same direction as the sear and hammerpins. A nail, with the rough edges polished smooth, can be your best friend when installing the sear pin.

One thing to really pay attn to is how it comes apart. If you're like me, and just take it apart to figure out how it goes back together, at least note how the sear spring is installed. Specificly the left ear of it. I cant tell you how it goes in, I just know "wrong" when I see it.

With a little practice, a true-to-original design 1911 pistol can be detail stripped in about 60 seconds and reassembled in just over two minutes...

Unless youre blindfolded. Figure at least an hour for that, 30 minutes of which is trying to get the sear pin though the sear and the disconnector...

Honestly, I've wanted to take my kimber 1911 apart just for fun. I've had those same instuctions from the 1911 forum for a couple of weeks, but i wasn't sure how much of a hassle it would be....Would it be stupid just to take it apart without it needing to be taken apart?

No it wouldnt be stupid to do it just for fun, but to be fair, I used to do that to my cars (and sometimes still do).

 

[Brass Fetcher]

Thanks guys for all the help. Looks like my weekend is being planned for me .