How do you prevent an idiot mark?

[GLOOB]

My friend just picked up a Gold Cup Trophy. And I'll be doing the maintenance on it. So I wondered the best way to put it back together without leaving a scratch.

My mechanically minded brain has decided that all I have to do is put the slide stop in position touching the frame, then push it up and AWAY from the frame to click it in place. Worked fine... once.

So how do you guys do it?

 

[ripp]

I use the tip of my lockblade to push back the detent-plunger and then slip the slide stop into the frame. No marks on the blueing, if you are careful, that is.

 

[AK103K]

The way I was taught, is to insert the slide stop into its hole, with the rear portion hanging down into the trigger guard. Once youre sure youve captured the link, lift up/out slightly on the stop as you rotate it upwards, so it doesnt touch the frame. Once you have it up to the plunger, drop it down onto it, get everything aligned, and then give it a firm push without hesitation.

 

[918v]

Get a Wilson bullet proof slide stop. It has a groove machined it the face that guides the slidestop into the frame while indexing off the spring-loaded plunger. It is sooo easy to insert.

 

[medalguy]

I'm with AK103K. That's how I was taught (old school) and I always do it that way. None of my guns have any marks.

 

[GLOOB]

^ So you guys position the slide stop over the pin and then push the stop straight in, rather than swinging it up? I wasn't sure it could pop in that way. It looks like the angled part of the slide stop is meant to be swung up to depress that little spring pin in the frame.

 

[AK103K]

The mark comes from sweeping the stop up to the pin and allowing it to drag on the frame. It has nothing to do with setting the stop.

If you dont allow the "drag" part, you dont get the "mark".

Once there, its not so much a straight push, as it is an angled, slightly upwards/inwards push.

 

[Shipwreck]

I have a $3000 gun 1911. Because I don't want to chance it, I use this:

http://1911-ispt.com/buy-now.shtml

I previously had an ed brwon 1911, and the slide stop went in very easily. But on my Custom Shop Springfield, that punger makes the slide stop VERY hard to get in. Every Springfield I have previously owned was the same way.

So, because I don't wanna screw up even 1 time - I now use that too (I put the link above).

I lay it on the frame, and then use a small screwdriver to push in the plunger while I seat the slide stop.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

It's not an idiot mark, it's a battle scar.

Thus spake the idiot who marked his 1911.

 

[rbernie]

AK103 nailed it. Having said that, I have been known to use a 1/16" brass punch on occasion to depress the plunger, for those pistols that proved reluctant to 'snap' the slide stop into place.

I think that most idiot marks come into being when folk try to snap the slide stop into place and have more pressure 'down' the frame instead of 'up' on a pistol that has a stout plunger - instead of snapping into place, the plunger skips down the frame and leaves the telltale mark.

 

[Sport45]

Yeah. Kind of like the first ding in a new vehicle. It's going to get dinged anyway, might as well be me that puts it there...

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Don't let an idiot touch it.

 

[BHP FAN]

most of my stuff is old mil-surp anyhow, so it's a ''non-issue''...

 

[KurtC]

I just put a piece of masking tape on the frame.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Same way AK103K describes it.

You don't need to "sweep" it up into position to push it past the plunger pin. Sweeping it up under can create that drag line.

Also, pushing it in at a downward angle and missing the notch will cause it to skip down the frame, creating more of a pronounced gouge than merely a drag line in the bluing.

Once you're sure you've caught the barrel link, leave enough space to rotate the slide stop into position without dragging the frame. Then firmly push it in. If it doesn't go in with a firm push, the tip bernie gave will work. Use a small punch to push the pin back into the plunger tube, and push the slide stop into it's place.

 

[Winkman822]

Just pop the slide stop in right over the plunger. Nothing to it. I only have one gun that makes that a little difficult and I find that pushing the plunger in slightly with a very small flathead screwdriver works perfectly fine.

 

[Red Cent]

Seems as though a piece of milk jug and scissors would work.

 

[SwampWolf]

I use a plastic-coated playing card inserted between the slide and the slide stop.

 

[Ed4032]

I have a $3000 gun 1911. Because I don't want to chance it, I use this:

http://1911-ispt.com/buy-now.shtml

I previously had an ed brwon 1911, and the slide stop went in very easily. But on my Custom Shop Springfield, that punger makes the slide stop VERY hard to get in. Every Springfield I have previously owned was the same way.

So, because I don't wanna screw up even 1 time - I now use that too (I put the link above).

I lay it on the frame, and then use a small screwdriver to push in the plunger while I seat the slide stop.

Yep these work great.

 

[Walkalong]

Some of it depends on the angle/smoothness of the piece of the slide catch where it contacts the plunger going in, and also the shape/smoothness of the plunger tip. If everything is just right, it pops in fairly easily.

Holding the plunger back works great for those that do not pop in easily.

 

[Jim Watson]

Agree with Walk.
There is a technique to it but if you have a gun out of a clone lab the slide stop may not have the right bevel and the plunger may not have the right radius and you just can't do it. A strip cut off last year's credit card will work to depress the plunger in such cases. My FLG has a little tool made for the purpose out of polished stainless with a locating notch in the end.

 

[dtalley]

What you are calling an idiot mark is what I was calling personalizing. But I guess now I shouldn't use that as my identifying mark. :-D

 

[hAkron]

I just line it up, push it in with a slight wiggle to get the nipple of the plunger spring out of the way. The only problem is that I figured out this technique long after I already scratched up the frame.