I was wondering about what can happen if there's a mechanical failure of the cocked and locked 1911 since I knew very little about the internals.
I posted this thread asking about it and decided that it'd be as good a time as any to just take one apart and examine the trigger group.
I managed to experience first hand some failures immediately upon reassembling the trigger components. I got them all back in there correctly just fine but what happened is that the sear/trigger/disconnector/grip safety leaf spring got bent a little upon disassembly. When I put it back together I didn't know how the fingers of the spring were supposed to look and it was not providing enough tension on neither the sear nor disconnector.
I had the hammer follow upon the first racking of the slide (unloaded of course). The sear wasn't locking on the hammer notches because it didn't have enough spring tension to push it into it's hammer latching position. I took it apart again and bent the spring a little. Good... now I have half cock and full cock back. But I noticed that the trigger has to be pulled twice if the gun is in certain positions. I figured disconnector (based on what I was seeing). So back apart again and bent the disconnector tab on the spring and now it works as it's supposed to again and with plenty of pressure on the disconnector as I push down on it from above.
So I've learned a little both by reading and by seeing.
This has given me a little concern that at some point as that leaf spring wears it's very possible for these two issues to repeat unexpectedly. Of course if the rules are followed (never point the muzzle at anything you don't intent to shoot) it should be safe from a personel standpoint, but it could be a bit painful if you were say a floor joist below the round being chambered and of course in the event that there's a magazine in there (likely) this could turn into a few more unplanned holes in the floor. Is this spring something that should routinely be checked?
But, for the good, it doesn't look like a 1911's hammer can drop with the safety on unless that sear pin breaks or comes out (possible but unlikely), the sear itself breaks (possible), or both hammer notches break (highly unlikely for both to break). So the chances are not very good. I wonder about parts quality of these components in say a RIA, Tisas, Girsan, or Taurus. Really, I suppose even the high dollar 1911's could potentially have faulty parts.
I posted this thread asking about it and decided that it'd be as good a time as any to just take one apart and examine the trigger group.
I managed to experience first hand some failures immediately upon reassembling the trigger components. I got them all back in there correctly just fine but what happened is that the sear/trigger/disconnector/grip safety leaf spring got bent a little upon disassembly. When I put it back together I didn't know how the fingers of the spring were supposed to look and it was not providing enough tension on neither the sear nor disconnector.
I had the hammer follow upon the first racking of the slide (unloaded of course). The sear wasn't locking on the hammer notches because it didn't have enough spring tension to push it into it's hammer latching position. I took it apart again and bent the spring a little. Good... now I have half cock and full cock back. But I noticed that the trigger has to be pulled twice if the gun is in certain positions. I figured disconnector (based on what I was seeing). So back apart again and bent the disconnector tab on the spring and now it works as it's supposed to again and with plenty of pressure on the disconnector as I push down on it from above.
So I've learned a little both by reading and by seeing.
This has given me a little concern that at some point as that leaf spring wears it's very possible for these two issues to repeat unexpectedly. Of course if the rules are followed (never point the muzzle at anything you don't intent to shoot) it should be safe from a personel standpoint, but it could be a bit painful if you were say a floor joist below the round being chambered and of course in the event that there's a magazine in there (likely) this could turn into a few more unplanned holes in the floor. Is this spring something that should routinely be checked?
But, for the good, it doesn't look like a 1911's hammer can drop with the safety on unless that sear pin breaks or comes out (possible but unlikely), the sear itself breaks (possible), or both hammer notches break (highly unlikely for both to break). So the chances are not very good. I wonder about parts quality of these components in say a RIA, Tisas, Girsan, or Taurus. Really, I suppose even the high dollar 1911's could potentially have faulty parts.
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