Getting Rid of My 1911

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CornCod

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I have owned a 1911 for well over 20 years. Its a hoot to shoot and super-accurate. However, every time I field strip the thing and attempt to reassemble it the reassembly turns into a farce. I can never get the slide stop through the pistol into the barrel link. I eventually get it but only after hours of yelling, cussing, swearing and aggravating my wife. This evening after a couple of hours, I just gave up and put it in a box. I will pay a gunsmith to put it together and sell the thing ASAP. No complaint to the late Mr. Browning, he eventually refined his theories and invented with Mr. Saive, the Hi-Power, which takes me all of 5 seconds to reassemble.

Ruger finally straightened out its iconic .22 this year. The only reason I keep my Ruger Mark II is because I give it a WD-40 bath and dry it off and its works fine. However the Mk II isn't a self-defense gun and the 1911 is and self-defense guns should be field stripped and cleaned frequently.

Farewell 1911, I just don't need the aggravation and a potential heart attack at age 57! Its a fine gun for the mechanically inclined, but not for me.
 
CornCod said:
I have owned a 1911 for well over 20 years. Its a hoot to shoot and super-accurate. However, every time I field strip the thing and attempt to reassemble it the reassembly turns into a farce. I can never get the slide stop through the pistol into the barrel link. I eventually get it but only after hours of yelling, cussing, swearing and aggravating my wife. This evening after a couple of hours, I just gave up and put it in a box. I will pay a gunsmith to put it together and sell the thing ASAP....
Click to expand...
Sounds to me like a wise move, CornCod.
 
Your pistol, your money, but you don't have a pistol problem, you have an operator problem. If you just like closely enough to figure out what's going on, you'll be able to reassemble easily. There's only 5 moving parts in that interaction (slide, frame, barrel, link, pin), and you can touch 4 of them.

Same for the Ruger MkII. Anyone who can read English can reassemble that pistol the first time by following the directions. The problems only start when someone decides they shouldn't have to actually follow the directions.
 
I never have trouble field stripping either a 1911 or Ruger MK....Both are easy if you learn a little about them and how they work.
 
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edwardware said:
Your pistol, your money, but you don't have a pistol problem, you have an operator problem. If you just like closely enough to figure out what's going on, you'll be able to reassemble easily. There's only 5 moving parts in that interaction (slide, frame, barrel, link, pin), and you can touch 4 of them.

Same for the Ruger MkII. Anyone who can read English can reassemble that pistol the first time by following the directions. The problems only start when someone decides they shouldn't have to actually follow the directions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was with you till you mentioned the Ruger. I will never take my 22/45 apart again, it's a crap design and that's why they redesigned it.
 
CornCod said:
I have owned a 1911 for well over 20 years. Its a hoot to shoot and super-accurate. However, every time I field strip the thing and attempt to reassemble it the reassembly turns into a farce. I can never get the slide stop through the pistol into the barrel link. I eventually get it but only after hours of yelling, cussing, swearing and aggravating my wife. This evening after a couple of hours, I just gave up and put it in a box. I will pay a gunsmith to put it together and sell the thing ASAP. No complaint to the late Mr. Browning, he eventually refined his theories and invented with Mr. Saive, the Hi-Power, which takes me all of 5 seconds to reassemble.

Ruger finally straightened out its iconic .22 this year. The only reason I keep my Ruger Mark II is because I give it a WD-40 bath and dry it off and its works fine. However the Mk II isn't a self-defense gun and the 1911 is and self-defense guns should be field stripped and cleaned frequently.

Farewell 1911, I just don't need the aggravation and a potential heart attack at age 57! Its a fine gun for the mechanically inclined, but not for me.
Click to expand...

I had the same frustration for several years, until I got a CZ-75B, and my lightbulb went on, that it was the same motion.

On the 1911, tip the link forward and put the slide on, then you might have wiggle the pistol a bit to line the link up with the hole. Put the stud on the end of the slide stop through the hole and link. Swing the slide stop up, and push.
 
ColtPythonElite: "I never have trouble field stripping either a 1911 or Ruger MK ..."
I have a 1911A1 clone and a Ruger MkII both and I too have no problem stripping them. Nope. None at all. Uh. Reassembly, though, is another story at times.

CornCod please reconsider: challenges like the reassembly process of the 1911 and MkII make us stronger in the long run.

When I reassemble my 1911 I use my reading glasses, work on a table with good light and align the link using a bamboo skewer* before pushing the link pin through.
The MkII gets disassembled, cleaned, reassembled once a year and I make a point of reviewing the manual every time. Otherwise, I lock the bolt open, swab the inside of the reciever, bolt face and breech face with Q-Tip and Hoppes No 9, do something else, come back, loosen the crud with a bamboo skewer,* wipe it all out with Q-Tips and patches, and put a drop of decent gun oil on either side of the rear of the bolt before closing.

Cooldill: Sounds like a loose nut behind the trigger problem to me.

When I have problems with a gun. that is usually the reason too. Aint we all guilty one time or the other?
_____________________
* (I advocate bamboo kebob skewers, carve point on one end and wedge on the other, for picking and scraping crud out of corners of receivers and off bolt and breech faces. The Regimental Surgeon had his stiff wire brush for everything; I have bamboo skewers.)
 
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Do the CZ-75 and its clones reassemble the same way? I heard, perhaps wrongly, they were internally mostly like a Hi-Power. I was hoping that I might replace my 1911 with some kind of .45 CZ clone.
 
CornCod said:
Do the CZ-75 and its clones reassemble the same way?
Click to expand...

The CZ-75 doesn't have the hinged barrel link or the barrel bushing. To dissemble the CZ, pull slide slightly out of battery, and push the slide stop pin out to the left. Remove slide forward off frame, remove recoil spring from slide, remove barrel from slide.
 
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