Springfield Test

Extractor Swap

Howdy C-5 Driver,

Not much trouble to get the old one out. Knock the pin out from left to right...so it only has to come out part-way...with a 1/16th punch. (.056 dia.)
The ejector is glued in with loc-tite...so you'll have to clamp it in a vise and pull straight out on the frame. Rocking it ever-so-gently lengthwise will
help...but be careful not to break the pins off in the frame.

The new one will need to have a notch filed in it for the pin to pass through.
That's the tricky part. Too low, and the ejector won't sit flush on the frame. Too high, and the pin won't go through it. I remove the finish,
put it in the frame, and use the steel punch to mark it. File the notch with a
round needle file. File a little and check it...file a little more and check it, until the pin will go through. Some aftermarket ejectors require filing on the butt-end to make them fit flush with the frame and slide at the back.
An extended ejector will probably need to be shortened a little at a time
on the nose for best function. You may kill the ejector on your first try.

Luck!

Tuner

Kart EZ-Fit

Howdy stinky,

You've discovered the difference between a true hard-fit barrel and what amounts to a semi drop-in fit. The Kart is a very good barrel, and depending on several tolerances, can give you a good, centered lockup,
or what you've gotten with yours. Most fall somewhere between the two extremes, and it's all related to different tolerances in different guns.

The Kart has extra meat in the slots between the lugs to let you file to
fit until you get a zero play vertical lockup...but as you said, in order to
center the barrel with the firing pin, you'd have to get the barrel higher in the slide. You can accomplish this in different ways.

One is to weld up the lower lug, and refit the barrel. The second is to
lower the frame rails, which would decrease the distance between the
centerline of the slidestop pin and the underside of the slide...and refit.
If you go this route, be prepared to adjust other things too...like the depth of the disconnector slot in the slide.

A hard-fit barrel has extra meat in the hood area...the lugs...and the lower lug is either oversized or semi-finished. When you adjust the lugs to get
the barrel centered up with the firing pin hole...assuming that the pin hole is located correctly...you can then use a dandy little tool called a lug cutter
that goes in the slidestop pin hole to cut the lower lug with the slide and barrel installed on the frame. Before this invention came along, it had to be done by hand, and it was a failry labor-intensive procedure. Then
the lower lug was finish lapped with a rod of the correct size to get the
lug standing evenly on the slidestop pin.

How important is the pin strike? As far as reliability goes...it's not all that
important. If it's very far off-center, it can affect reliability, but only because
the barrel isn't located correctly...not because of the off-center pin strike itself. The biggest factor is in the accuracy of the gun. An off-center pin strike doesn't provide consistent ignition of the primer, and that leads to
a variation in the flame front of the powder and inconsistent velocities.

So...accuracy is affected...but you probably won't see a practical difference
in an off-the-shelf pistol. Only when everything is brought to match-grade specs will it make a real difference. In a stock gun with your EZ-Fit barrel,
it might amount to an inch or so larger group size at 25 yards...or even less.

I have an early Series 80 Lightweight Commander. The gun has been dead reliable from Jump Street, and as accurate as I can prove without a
sandbag rest. The firing pin strike is off-center by about a third the diameter of the tip of the pin. Sure...I could weld up the lower lug and refit the barrel...but to what end? I can only shoot so well, and the gun isn't
a target pistol, and never will be. I can keep its shots inside the 8-ring
on a B-27 target at 15 yards without trying too hard. For what the gun is
intended for, that's all it needs to do...for me at least.

The hood to slide fit again is related to accuracy. The less the barrel will
rotate on firing, the more accurate it will be...but there's a limit as to how close it can fit and still allow for dirt and fouling before it becomes unreliable. I'm willing to give up an inch or two at 50 yards...where I'll never shoot the gun...for good reliability at the ranges that I WILL likely
have to use it, if the need ever arises.

The fit at the back of the hood to the slide also has a bearing on accuracy,
and it ties in with lug fit in the slide to limit fore and aft motion of the barrel.
Again...Tight wrings all the accuracy potential out of the gun that it will provide, but reliability often suffers when the gun gets dirty.

50-yard National match competitors accept frequent stripping and cleaning of their guns...sometimes as often as every 50 rounds...I don't accept it
because I consider all my pistols as defensive, or potentially defensive guns, so I like for things to be a little looser.

If your goal is to set up an accurate pistol, I'd suggest getting both of
Jerry Kuhnhausen's shop manuals. Read them carefully, and study the
drawings. An understanding will come to you after about the third trip through the books. I finally got around to ordering the books, and was
righteously impressed by his knowledge on the subject.

Luck!

Tuner

re:

Howdy WA,

Slurry is a pasty mix of J&B Bore Cleaner and CP Breakfree...or any teflon-based oil. Put a teaspoonful of bore cleaner in a small cup and add oil to it a little at a time, and mix it well. Keep adding oil until you get a paste that will just start to sag off the end of a screwdriver, but not thin enough to drip. Let it stand open overnight, and re-stir it before use.

Coat everything that makes contact and hand-cycle the gun 50 times.
Add a little more to the really tight areas, and cycle it another 100 times.
Add more, and cycle it another 50-100 times. Rinse it out with carburetor cleaner, and allow to air-dry for 20-30 minutes. Oil and reassemble.
Smoooooooooth!

MGW makes two different bushings...One is a drop-in and one is a hard-fit bushing. The drop-in is cut to max OD specs and minumum ID. They'll drop in most slides with little fitting, if any. If it's a little tight in the slide, use straight J&B for a finishing lap. You'll probably need a bushing wrench
for the job. Don't use a plastic wrench if you borrow one...Use a good
wrench, and be careful of the finish on the end of the slide...The bore cleaner isn't aggressive, but 25 or 30 turns with pressure on the wrench will polish the bluing right off. If it's stainless, it'll polish it nice and shiny.

Brownells has the bushings in blue or stainless. Make sure you get the dtop-in part number, or you'll get one that needs quite a bit of fitting...and
sandpaper is NOT the way to do it.

Why do you want to replace the barrel?

Bushing Wrench, et al

Howdy WA,

MGW's drop-in bushings are cut to maximum spec diameter...about .699-.700 inch. if your slide is at or near minimum...say about .699-.701, the
bushing will be too tight to turn with your fingers, and you'll have to use the J&B to lap it to fit. When the bore cleaner goes into the slide bore, the bushing will be even tighter, and you'll need the wrench to turn it back and forth to lap it in. If your slide bore is about .703 inch, the bushing will drop
in and give a decent fit with very little slop. I think I've got a spare wrench that you can borrow if you need it to fit the bushing. Once it's fitted, you can turn it with your fingers.

Now for the barrel...

I think that you're gettin' ready to spend money that you don't need to spend unless your gun has 25 or 30 thousand jacketed bullets through it..or a hundred + thousand lead bullets. The finish wear on the hood is because the slide is rubbing it off as it goes past, and won't hurt a thing.
You can get some cold blue and touch it up from time to time if it's an issue.

The rifling in a .45 AP barrel is pretty shallow, so it may look like it's worn when compared to some other calibers...but it's probably okay. I have
several beaters that are approaching 50,000 rounds each, with about a fourth of those being jacketed hardball equivalent reloads, and the rest lead bullets. A few of my range guns are well past the 50k mark, and all still shoot fine. Accuracy has degraded a little...but not to the point that it
makes a practical difference...at least not in my hands. They'll still hit 10-inch discs on the falling plate machine at 50 yards if I do my part in slow-fire practice.

If you decide to rebarrel the gun...I've give ya 50 bucks for your old one.
I'll use it for a softball gun that I'm buildin' up for my lady love. She likes 1911s, but hardball is a bit rough on her hand. It oughta be good for another hundred thousand rounds if I keep the pressures and velocities low.

Hope this helps...Luck to ya, mah fren!

Tuner

MGW

T'anks for da link, KidColt.

Not to be confused with EGW...Evolution Gun Works...who makes and markets a fine line of stuff in their own right. One of the best little
tricks is their oversized firing pin stop that comes with a square bottom
that lets the smith fine-tune the radius to suit him. I use a lotta those stops. FWIW, the radius on current factory pistols is a modification of the original design, and negates a lot of the mainspring's influence on slide timing and velocity. The original .078 radius delays the slide's initial movement, and thus delays the barrel unlock and linkdown a small amount. This also has the effect of bleeding off a little of the slide's momentum in recoil and allows the use of a lighter recoil spring without
increasing slide to frame impact. Neat!

Salute to MGW and EGW! May you both live long and prosper.