1911 mainspring housing...?

[mpthole]

What to do?

I have a Sprinfield Armory 1911 (made in 1988) that I'm looking to sell. But, before I do I want to get your thoughts on whether or not I should swap out the mainspring housing. Currently installed on it is a smooth, flat housing that I traded the original arched housing for. The smooth, flat one came off an original 1913(?) era 1911 Colt - not an A1 model. So, I'm assuming its all steel and pretty good quality since its lasted this long.

My thought is that I would take the serrated, flat mainspring housing out of my RIA and put it in the SA; and then keep the smooth, flat one for the RIA.

Is there any advantage to the steel vs MIM (I'm assuming the RIA's mainspring housing is MIM) when it comes to the mainspring housing?

As far as looks go, I don't really care what they look like since the RIA is becoming a "franken-gun" anyway.

Thoughts?

 

[1911Tuner]

MSH

Howdy,

The RIA mainspring housing is probably a casting, and as long as it's
in-spec, it should be as good as a steel one. Colt has been using
injection molded plastic mainspring housings for years without
any issues that I'm aware of.

Now then... If you'd like to have an arched housing to go back on that
Springer and leave the matched finish Housing that came on the RIA
in place...I'll *ahem* buy that old, ugly, slick Colt mainspring housing
from ya, and throw in an arched plastic Colt housing to sweeten the deal.

I've never had a problem with a Masen housing...even though Masen
parts have been of questionable quality over the years. You can order
flat or arched...blue or stainless checkered or serrated Masen housings from Brownells for about 18 bucks a copy.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[mpthole]

OhhhHHH! I see how you are.

You see though... I kind of like the old Colt one myself. So if I can get a "cheap" replacement for $18 out of Brownells, I think I'll be doing just that - and save the Colt for something special later on.

So far the RIA seems to be in-spec just fine and running pretty well (although I did have a few failures tonight... I just figure its dirty. I didn't have any failures in the match last night when it was clean). That King's drop in you told me about is sure ugly enough, but it cures the bloody-hand syndrome very well, so I'm keeping it in for now. Someday I'll have enough gumption to fit a proper grip safety and commander hammer; but for now the butt-ugly King's will have to do.

Thanks Johnny!

 

[1911Tuner]

re:

OhhhHHH! I see how you are.

Well...Can't blame a guy fer tryin"...

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