1911 slide and frame not matching

[emmie]

Buddy? brings me a orginal 1911 colt,in BAD,BAD shape. miss bushing- spring,bushing,guide. replaced missing parts from parts on hand,but slide is now 1/16 or so forward on frame. tryed different barrel and slide but still have problem.
what is causes of this and is it safe to shoot like this???
pistol has no finish,with a lot of light to medium pitting,but works in dry fire ,feeds and ejects with dummy loads.

thank you for your time--------

emmie

 

[rcmodel]

This condition is pretty common when building a gun from parts.
Generally, the rear frame/slide contour is shaped to match after all parts fitting is done on a new gun prior to bluing.

There are numerous things that can allow the slide to go forward past the rear of the frame on an old gun.

Foreword travel is stopped by a series of events culminating in the barrel lug cams contacting the slide stop pin after link-up & lock-up.

* A worn or undersized slide stop, and/or worn stop pin holes in the frame.
* Someone cut the barrel cams too far when fitting a new barrel.
* Excess vertical slop in the frame & slide rails allowing the barrel cams to ride up the pin.
* Worn or peened locking lugs in the slide or barrel.
* Mismatched frame & slide on a parts gun.

But:
If the disconnecter works in the slot in the slide as it should?
And all the safety checks pan out?

The gun should be safe to shoot, if not esthetically pleasing to look at..

rc

 

[Magnumite]

Alot of those old Colts have been fitted and "gunsmithed" to death. You might want to take a caliper and measure the vertical lower tangs of the lower locking lugs. These stop the forward movement of the barrel when they hit the stop pin. An absolute minimum thickness of those tangs would be .100" or they could shear off.

FWIW, I have an old 1911 made in 1918. It was armory rebuilt at the original Springfield Armory. The bulk of the pistol is original with some A1 upgrades (mainspring housing, and hammer only). Then on the civilian market it was hard chromed. Anyway, the slide on that pistol sits a little forward on the frame just in the rails. Where the back of the slide and upper most portion of the frame even with the top of the rails meet, it is fairly even.