1911 .45 ACP Tips and Tricks

My tip, either stick to 7 round mags or spend a lot of money on the 8 rounders, they are finicky unless they’re expensive. At least that’s been my experience, with The 8’s you get what you pay for.

That screw in the magazine release is NOT a screw. It is a quarter turn fastener. Gently apply turning force while slowly pressing in the button. A tiny internal
tab will slide into a slot, locking the two sides together and the whole thing will slide out of the frame. At this point the assembly is under spring pressure.

aaaaa said:

Thanks for the info. I will check with the GS tomorrow. The guy who ordered the part is into 1911s and builds them. I think he understood I was looking for a drop in, and maybe that is not the case. If not, I will cancel. Not important enough to monkey with filing on the gun. I have a leather glove with no fingers that I wear and it handles the GI style fine. I actually had some reluctance as the beaver tail style will affect the GI look of the gun, so either way I am happy with it. Not even sure the image I posted is the one he ordered. It was a Wilson Combat.

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Avoid filing on the gun...if you must file, do that to the part you are installing. Opt for oversized parts that you can sand/file a tiny bit at a time and fit/function check. Filing on the frame or slide can be an expensive mistake.

GI mags wont have issues. Don't tune with idiotic Youtube advice. Get Jerry K books 1 and 2. Set extractor tension using real tools. Show range snobs and fops what you can do.
Remember a Corolla will always beat a Lambourghini on a long enough race

DR505 said:

Avoid filing on the gun...if you must file, do that to the part you are installing.

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So easy a monkey could do it…almost. If you have patience, understand after reading the prerequisite materials, and s small amount of skill with hand tools then a grip safety install is one of the more straightforward part replacements.


After choosing a radius, purchase the appropriate style beaver tail to match.


File down the fangs (tangs) to match the jig, stopping to test fit once close.


The remaining sides won’t match so prepare your files or Dremel (yes I said it) to blend.


You’ll see things start to take shape.








and begin to actually look better than the original.





Function check, sensitize to your liking (determine engagement/disengagement throw), and enjoy.


Armed with enough knowledge and desire you too can go semi-pro!

Another tip, if your 1911 didn’t read “Colt” on the side, get thee a Colt sear spring. Some of the best trigger tuning advice I ever took.

I didnt read through all 4 pages, so apologies if this was already mentioned, but Ive owned 1911s for 30 years and only recently found out you can remove the magazine springs by tilting the follower down and out....
Well, duh!

aaaaa said:

Thanks for the info. I will check with the GS tomorrow. The guy who ordered the part is into 1911s and builds them. I think he understood I was looking for a drop in, and maybe that is not the case. If not, I will cancel. Not important enough to monkey with filing on the gun. I have a leather glove with no fingers that I wear and it handles the GI style fine. I actually had some reluctance as the beaver tail style will affect the GI look of the gun, so either way I am happy with it. Not even sure the image I posted is the one he ordered. It was a Wilson Combat.

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Before trying to add a beavertail safety to a frame and slide designed for a GI safety and hammer, try changing the grips. A grip that fits your hand and allows greater control over the pistol can make a world of difference. The Wilson drop in beavertail and commander style hammer will not fit on the Tisas GI or Tanker pistols.

JTQ said:

There are a variety of different styles of beavertail grip safeties, and some minor difference in GI grip safeties. Beavertail difference range from sweep of the beavertail (how long it is) and what frame contour they are designed to fit. Not everybody's GI grip safety will fit other guns since there are so many makers and they all are a little different. As often said - there are no drop in parts on a 1911.

Common ones you may see other than a beavertail or GI, are two from Colt, the "Ducktail" and the "Rattail".

The ducktail is like a beavertail, but sweeps down rather than up. Colt used those for several years on their XSE models. You don't see those very much anymore.

The rattail is really just a modified GI grip safety that allows the use of a "Commander" style rowel hammer. This is also not common anymore.

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This is a Colt MK IV "Enhanced" Commander from back in the 90's. It came with one of the silly and very annoying, not to mention, painful to shoot with, "Ducktail" grip safetes. They really suck! It didnt take me long to take a file to it and it looks like this now....

9mmepiphany said:

Just curious if you have seen "that" part installed on an unmodified 1911 frame. You might take a close look at it before you pay for it. I've found that it leaves a lot of gaps and sharp edges exposed

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I have a Commander that I picked up used that came with what appears to be a Wilson "drop in" beavertail. It had very precise and sharp "points" on each corner of the beavertail, and a fairly large gap where it met up with the frame. Those gaps let the meat on my hand get in where the points would poke and scrape and were painful. I ended up taking a jeweler's file and some emery to them and rounded things off. Much better now.

You can see the difference in gap here too compared to Skylers pics and nice fitted job.




I dont really care about the beavertail, and what I like about it most is the bump pad on the bottom of it, as it makes disengaging the grip safety more positive with a high grip. Truth be told though, Im still looking for an original Colt in satin nickel at a reasonable price to replace the one thats on it now. I dont need the beavertail.

aaaaa said:

Wilson drop in will not fit any gun with a GI style hammer. Needs either a commander hammer or a bobbed hammer. Not going there. Already got a refund for the part. The guy who ordered it was not there but the person I talked to today knew instantly it would not fit. Well, I know who not to get advice from at this gun shop.

So the grip that fits my hand. That would be a fatter grip to widen the grip area of the gun?

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Only you can find out what fits your hand. Unfortunately that most often entails a box of shame to hold all the (grips, holsters, sights, pieces parts) that don't fit.

aaaaa said:

So I just ordered a better grip safety...

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Another tip, use the forum to your advantage, ask first.

"I have this GI style Tisas, I'm thinking of ordering this beavertail grip safety. Will this work with my gun's current configuration."

I started with what was truly the most inaccurate pistol I've ever seen (other than a Sundance). It also wasn't particularly reliable. Groups were around 5" at 15'. Yep, 5 yards, 5 inches. Jams were about 1 in 40 rounds. I bought this new from a respectable manufacturer. I know they probably would have fixed it for me, but I did this instead:

Hand fit barrel bushing.
Done with a file.

Lowered the frame at the barrel bed around 4/1000 using a socket of equal radius and sand paper. - this isn't usually needed but was in this case.

Switched to only using the John Browning design mags that are fairly hard to find. These work fine with hollowpoints in my case

Replaced the barrel link with one that was a slightly different dimension.

Switched to a flat bottom firing pin stop -Huge improvement if you don't mind the extra effort.

Dimpled the slidestop using the plunger tube as a guide and a long drill bit.

Hand made grips fitting to me. Not viable for everyone, but I did it with a handheld drill, a $12 drillbit kit, a vice, a rasp and sand paper. Wood stain and a scrap of wallnut from a construction site. You would need a table saw or similar to get it flat. You can also rasp it flat on the vice if no saw is available. It took about 4 hours to do both grips.

A correctly fit extractor. Not "tuned" but actually fit. There is a lot to that interface. The better Wilson, Ed Brown, C&S stuff is good, but it helps to double check.
Once fitted, set tension with a scale.
I use a fish scale, and a 45acp case without a primer and a notch from the hole to the end of the rim. A string through the primer hole, up the channel to scale with the slide mounted in a vice will get you the right amount of tension.
Shaking the slide until the case falls out at just the right feel (Much of the "idiotic Youtube advice I mentioned earlier) will only get you saying "Oh its this defective ammo..... again"

-no offense to those who've found success with this method. I have never seen it work. I have replicated it and found the method offers about 20% of the tension needed for reliable function.

remember the extractor does 4 things on a 1911:
Case extractor
Case feedguide -This syncs with GI mags
Slide speed reducer
Extraction path alignment

Its important to fit and tune an extractor.
Most 1911's are not "controlled feed". This is a common brag about the design. Its like war Mausers and Elephant guns. But its a lie.
Without GI mags, its not controlled feed. Without a proper extractor fit its also not.
I have seen empty cases ripped into maglips before from bad extractor setting. So buy the scale, and check every few thousand rounds. They are springs and they do change.


The end result is a pistol that is accurate enough to shoot beer cans at 50 yards repeatably -I know, I've won bets at longer ranges (62 yards is my record for a 1st try)

Malfunctions are gone. No parts breakages, or unusual wear. Its ability to keep running no matter how dirty makes glock guys stare. It gets so dirty in a single sessions that cakes of soot break of and hit you.

The steps to fitting these parts and critical dimensions can be found in the jerry K 1911 books I mentioned earlier,

The most expensive tool I have ever used on a 1911 is a $60 general purpose vise.

I've fixed a few 1911's, and have gotten to know them well. Most of my experience comes from fixing this one, and knowing when to walk away on another one.

The best advice for a malfunctioning 1911 is get a protractor and a spec sheet. I learned a lot trying to fix a pistol that just didn't work. Eventually I did just that, and found the frame was so bad that it would never be fixed. Some guy bought it as a wallhanger, but i blew a lot of time and some money trying fixes.

Hope this helps someone.

some oddities I forgot to mention.
If for some reason you loose your spring plug, which does does happen, a 45 acp case will work to get it back together. I don't recommend shooting it, you'll loose the spring if the bushing clocks.
I've seen a few shoot down range. The springs can be found, but the plug shoots about 50 feet.

The magazine foot can be used as a barrel bushing wrench.

You can avoid the idiot scratch by pushing the slide stop straight down over the pawl. If this is difficult the magazine can be held and the bottom used.

The design allows hear total takedown without tools.
Some people even remove the grips with the sear. I wouldn't but if they're loose, you can at least tighten them enough to stay on with it.
The welded mags can be disassembled with the firing pin.

The firing pin spring can be used to clean out the extractor channel. The magazine floor can be used to push the mainspring pin on the bottom back in.

aaaaa said:

Wilson drop in will not fit any gun with a GI style hammer. Needs either a commander hammer or a bobbed hammer. Not going there. Already got a refund for the part. The guy who ordered it was not there but the person I talked to today knew instantly it would not fit. Well, I know who not to get advice from at this gun shop.

So the grip that fits my hand. That would be a fatter grip to widen the grip area of the gun?

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Try a set of Houge grips with the palmswell in them. Made a difference for me.

JTQ said:

The logic difference would be the volume of powder residue that accumulates in the firing pin and extractor channel is significantly greater than what will accumulate anywhere in the frame.

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Well, the logic behind detail stripping and cleaning your 1911 is the same, whether we are talking about the slide or the frame - the purpose is to keep your firearm functioning properly.

Of course powder residue accumulates in different places, and will have different effects, depending on which part we are talking about. Powder residue that accumulates in the extractor channel doesn't do much harm as long as you keep the underside of the extractor hook clean. On the other hand, powder residue that accumulates in the trigger channel will start to add friction and have a negative effect on the trigger pull and potentially completely bind up the trigger.

DeepSouth said:

My tip, either stick to 7 round mags or spend a lot of money on the 8 rounders, they are finicky unless they’re expensive. At least that’s been my experience, with The 8’s you get what you pay for.

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My son in law was in a unit that had 1911s when in the sand box. Given the almost unlimited funds that the unit had, they choose to buy the most problematic mags I have ever worked with, namely shooting star 8 rounders. I have never had an issue with any 7 round mag be it WWII surplus or Wilson 47.

jaysouth said:

My son in law was in a unit that had 1911s when in the sand box. Given the almost unlimited funds that the unit had, they choose to buy the most problematic mags I have ever worked with, namely shooting star 8 rounders. I have never had an issue with any 7 round mag be it WWII surplus or Wilson 47.

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Same here, I’ve never had an issue with any 7 round mags, no matter how old or cheap. But I’ve had problems with most 8 rounders, only exceptions being some (not all) of the Wilson Combats, and Chip McCormick’s.