Zerodefect
member
After 2000 flawless rounds I decided to detail stip and fix a few things.
Mostly the grip safety and the thumb saftey to make draws quicker and more reliable. I know many 1911 shooters have problems with the grip safety on factory guns if they rush thier grip on a draw.
I stoned this edge down until the grip safety was "sensitized to my likeing".
You can shine a light into the top of the 1911 and see your grip safety engagement like so:
Only the leaf spring, trigger, mag release, msh (loose), and gripsafety are in the frame. Keep in mind that once fully assembled, your setting may be a hair more aggressive than when the frame is half assembled.
About 3 hours. 1/16" less travel required to actuate the GS. Feels alot nicer. Still plenty more to go, but I'm going to play it safe. Now it feels better than any GS I've tried. I think the Ed Brown safety this in mind when it was designed. It still blocks the trigger with alot of material even after I stoned it down. Maybe it's pivot point is improved, quicker? I was expecting to have to cut it down alot more to get the improvement I did. Very, very nice suprize.
Also I noticed most 1911's have a big thumb safety that requires your thumb to point too far up to get over them. That reduces your grip sometimes. And in my case the thumb safety would impact the web of my hand during recoil and leave a nice red mark.
Like this:
(Ok my thumb is a bit exagerated so you get the idea)
So I trimmed the trailing edge of the safety down. It was symetrical front and rear. Now it's tapered. (this was a pain, billet steel is insane tough to cut even with a dremel, by far the strongest thumb safety I've ever seen)
Now my grip is a more agressive forward, high tang grip. My thumb is still over the safety, but at less of an angle, and my grip on the grip safety is dramaticly better. Much more comfortable as well:
Those two mods made the gun much easier to draw without worrying about not actuating the grip safety. Much more reliable to draw and shoot from the retension position.
As long as I had the frame detail stripped I figured I'd clean up any edges I found and take some small parts pics.
The pins, MSH, and plunger appear to be Ed Brown parts. Not sure about the sear, hammer, disco?
The hammer and sear have nice perfectly even wear on each side. I stoned smooth thier sides so the slide smoother together but left the working edges alone. Those were allready perfect.
(With my Kimber CDP I had to completly recut the Kimber parts in an Ed Brown jig to get them safe/correct, so not needing to work the DW parts is a nice touch)
Thick arse bushing. No way thats breaking and sending my recoil plunger down range.
No barrel lug contact marks on the slide stop pin when in battery. Not sure why this is a big deal? Reliability? Accuracy? My Kimber contacts the lugs, as do alot of other 1911's.
Some minor marks under the pin from contact at full recoil. Every 1911 I've seen has these.
Just have to remember: Thumb safety is the 1st thing out, and last thing in. It's ok to assemble the 1911 with the thumb safety in like this to keep you r parts from falling out while you get the MSH on.
All rebuilt and pretty with Sarges fullsize, regular thickness grips and Ed brown SS bushings and screws:
Note that the grips cover the MSH pin. Very nice, very comfortable.
Made a new holster. OWB for Rifle shoots, training, 4 wheeling, etc. etc. where concealment isn't the first priority. Usually I use Crossbreed holsters for concealment.
Next time I'll use a thicker .110 Kydex and make some steel belt loops. I covered the trigger hole completely to keep dirt out. The full back holds the safety on, but deosn't slow reholstering. (took a while to ge that molded right.
Hopefully I'll have a range report this week. I reset my rear sight, it was a little left. Very easy to adjust. The setscrew is all that keeps it from sliding around, kinda loose compared to my Glock or Kimber which have thier sights hammered in tight.
Mostly the grip safety and the thumb saftey to make draws quicker and more reliable. I know many 1911 shooters have problems with the grip safety on factory guns if they rush thier grip on a draw.
I stoned this edge down until the grip safety was "sensitized to my likeing".
You can shine a light into the top of the 1911 and see your grip safety engagement like so:
Only the leaf spring, trigger, mag release, msh (loose), and gripsafety are in the frame. Keep in mind that once fully assembled, your setting may be a hair more aggressive than when the frame is half assembled.
About 3 hours. 1/16" less travel required to actuate the GS. Feels alot nicer. Still plenty more to go, but I'm going to play it safe. Now it feels better than any GS I've tried. I think the Ed Brown safety this in mind when it was designed. It still blocks the trigger with alot of material even after I stoned it down. Maybe it's pivot point is improved, quicker? I was expecting to have to cut it down alot more to get the improvement I did. Very, very nice suprize.
Also I noticed most 1911's have a big thumb safety that requires your thumb to point too far up to get over them. That reduces your grip sometimes. And in my case the thumb safety would impact the web of my hand during recoil and leave a nice red mark.
Like this:
(Ok my thumb is a bit exagerated so you get the idea)
So I trimmed the trailing edge of the safety down. It was symetrical front and rear. Now it's tapered. (this was a pain, billet steel is insane tough to cut even with a dremel, by far the strongest thumb safety I've ever seen)
Now my grip is a more agressive forward, high tang grip. My thumb is still over the safety, but at less of an angle, and my grip on the grip safety is dramaticly better. Much more comfortable as well:
Those two mods made the gun much easier to draw without worrying about not actuating the grip safety. Much more reliable to draw and shoot from the retension position.
As long as I had the frame detail stripped I figured I'd clean up any edges I found and take some small parts pics.
The pins, MSH, and plunger appear to be Ed Brown parts. Not sure about the sear, hammer, disco?
The hammer and sear have nice perfectly even wear on each side. I stoned smooth thier sides so the slide smoother together but left the working edges alone. Those were allready perfect.
(With my Kimber CDP I had to completly recut the Kimber parts in an Ed Brown jig to get them safe/correct, so not needing to work the DW parts is a nice touch)
Thick arse bushing. No way thats breaking and sending my recoil plunger down range.
No barrel lug contact marks on the slide stop pin when in battery. Not sure why this is a big deal? Reliability? Accuracy? My Kimber contacts the lugs, as do alot of other 1911's.
Some minor marks under the pin from contact at full recoil. Every 1911 I've seen has these.
Just have to remember: Thumb safety is the 1st thing out, and last thing in. It's ok to assemble the 1911 with the thumb safety in like this to keep you r parts from falling out while you get the MSH on.
All rebuilt and pretty with Sarges fullsize, regular thickness grips and Ed brown SS bushings and screws:
Note that the grips cover the MSH pin. Very nice, very comfortable.
Made a new holster. OWB for Rifle shoots, training, 4 wheeling, etc. etc. where concealment isn't the first priority. Usually I use Crossbreed holsters for concealment.
Next time I'll use a thicker .110 Kydex and make some steel belt loops. I covered the trigger hole completely to keep dirt out. The full back holds the safety on, but deosn't slow reholstering. (took a while to ge that molded right.
Hopefully I'll have a range report this week. I reset my rear sight, it was a little left. Very easy to adjust. The setscrew is all that keeps it from sliding around, kinda loose compared to my Glock or Kimber which have thier sights hammered in tight.
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