My 1911 died today

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esheato

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Well....the day has finally come.

I noticed a crack in the dust cover of my favorite 1911 today. I guess it's time to finally retire her. She's been a faithful and wonderful part of my life for the last few years. Feeding her several thousand rounds every month has certainly taken its toll on her cast Essex frame.

But I'm moving on to better and more expensive things...:p

The big question is what to buy when I need durability, reliability and parts that never break. It needs to work every single time...no matter what. I need a magwell and ambi safeties for my silly left hand. I also want adjustable BOMAR sights. I can do without front cocking serrations and MIM parts. Money isn't really much of an problem...but I need the gun soon. IDPA season is upon us and I need to get her up to speed fairly quickly.

I was looking at Baer and Brown and they look nice but I haven't shot many of them. I'm staying away from Wilson because I think they're overpriced. Hmm..Springfield Legend series are pretty darn nice.

What else is available?

Ed
 
I'd like the Colts except for the horribly limp looking grip safety. I don't know why they can't get that right.

SA PRO is nice, but for that much change, I can get a Baer or better.

Kimber? Ehh..I've already got one on CCW duty...don't need another.

While I can appreciate guns that have some holster wear on them...I tend to wear finishes thin in no time. :) I need something classy yet tough. (and preferably not to slick)

Ed
 
No. It's a small crack. Oddly enough, one side of the dust cover is significantly thinner than the other. The crack occurred....on the thin side. I thought about having it welded up, but I figure that the steel would harden across the weld and allow the adjacent softer steel to then break. Am I off my rocker in assuming this?

Pictures are forthcoming...my host is down as I'm writing this.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Ed
 
How about using your current upper with a new Caspian frame? While Caspian frames are also cast, Caspian says very few, if any, come back with cracks.

Alternatively, you can have a smith build you an all-new gun on a Caspian frame and slide to your specifications for less than the cost of a new Wilson or Baer. While it is being built, you can shoot the pistol you currently have.
 
Hardening around the weld

I'm no gunsmith, but I do some metal work (machining and heat treat). It may be possible for a welder to weld the dust cover and anneal it so it won't be brittle. My experience is with much larger pieces of steel (forgings I mill go about a ton), but we do this for power transmission stuff. Has to be hard, yet not brittle.
 
Cracked

It's not dead. It's just wounded. If the frame is machined rather than cast, here's what you can do:

Use a punch to lightly mark the terminus of the crack. Use a tiny drill at high speed to drill a tiny hole, using the punch mark as a centering guide. I've check-drilled those cracks and continued using the gun for years and thousands of rounds. The crack rarely restarts on a machined frame. I've heard of it, but never personally seen one pick up on the other side of the hole except with a cast frame...and even then it lasted for another 15,000 rounds or so.

If the hole bothers you, have it tigged...along with the crack...and refinish.
 
Last edited:
I'm a moron...

I never thought of stop-drilling it. I should have, given I used to do sheet metal work, too. I must be gettin' dumber as I age. Kinda scary, as I'm not that old.
 
esheato said:
Pictures are forthcoming...my host is down as I'm writing this. Ed
Click to expand...

Yes, please post pictures when you can. I'm not familiar with the nomenclature. What is the dust cover?
 
Although I don't own one (and if you can't fix the one you have like Tuner suggests) the STI guns seem to hold up to a pretty high round count. You might want to give them a look.
 
the STI guns seem to hold up to a pretty high round count
Click to expand...
I don't own any either... but a shooting aquaintance has over 150,000 through each of his: one in .45 and one in .38 Super I believe.
 
How Many?

Black Majik said:
Hey Ed,

Just for reference sake, how many rounds through the gun before the crack?


Also regarding the PRO, I find it up to par or nicer than some of the semi-custom guns.
Click to expand...


Depends on a few things...

Frequency of fresh recoil springs. Clearance between the top of the dust cover and the bottom of the slide rails. Dust cover on a slight angle toward the front...or not. Cast frame or machined steel.

The clearance and angle...or lack of same has a lot to do with it...probably more than any of the others. When the slide hits the frame at full travel, the thin dust cover flexes and whips...just a little. If it makes contact during that flex...which is repeated over and over with each round fired...it places stresses at the junction of the dust cover and the frame rails. There's also a
corner there. Sharp, square corners promote stress risers...which lead to cracks.

Clearance should be about .008-.010 inch at the front of the cover with the slide fully rearward, and it needs to rake toward the front of the dust cover on about a one degree angle.

All the ones that I had to crack there have been high-mileage guns.
My early 1991A1 Colt cracked just recently...after about 125,000 rounds or so. Proper clearance and geometry won't absolutely prevent it, but does prolong it for a long time. Same goes for 2,000-2500 round recoil spring changes. Overly heavy recoil springs don't help much, and generally cause problems in other areas. Shock buffs will help, but the clearance still needs to be there. The good news is that, with a machined frame, the cracks rarely ever travel beyond a certain point after the stress riser demon's sacrifice has been fulfilled. Check-drilling the crack is mostly for added insurance and prolonged service life. I have one Colt WW2 GI frame that cracked in the early 80s and has been in hard use ever since...now on its third slide...and the cracks haven't recurred.
 
"now on its third slide"

Tuner: Your tough on slides. ;)

My dust cover cracked on a Colt frame about 5,000 rounds ago. I haven't had it "drilled" because I assumed the crack stopped when it reached the thicker part of the dust cover...Is that correct?

That dust cover is, on mine anyway, a pretty thin piece of metal. Methinks they should make it a bit thicker and radius the corners. See, I'm learning...kinda! :)
 
Slides

45auto said:
"now on its third slide"

Tuner: Your tough on slides. ;)

My dust cover cracked on a Colt frame about 5,000 rounds ago. I haven't had it "drilled" because I assumed the crack stopped when it reached the thicker part of the dust cover...Is that correct?

That dust cover is, on mine anyway, a pretty thin piece of metal. Methinks they should make it a bit thicker and radius the corners. See, I'm learning...kinda! :)
Click to expand...

You betcha I am.:D The first one was the original. Broke about 6 years ago
right after the barrel broke in two just forward of the third lug. The second was an Essex casting. Cracked adjacent to the rear of the ejection port, right side. Roundcount...about 15,000. It's now wearing another Essex
slide, but I'm contemplating a mid-production 91A1 Colt slide that I picked up on the sly.

The crack usually stops on its own as it hits the thicker steel...but it might not. I've known it to go either way. The crack will continue in cast frames, although slowly...but they will keep on goin.' Even check-drilled, they'll sometimes start up again on the other side of the hole.
 
Okay, thanks.

Maybe I'll have it drilled or just keep an eye on it and see what happens.

I didn't think cast slides would be a problem on a low pressure round like the 45?
 
.45

45auto said:
Okay, thanks.

Maybe I'll have it drilled or just keep an eye on it and see what happens.

I didn't think cast slides would be a problem on a low pressure round like the 45?
Click to expand...

It ain't the pressure so much as it is impact. Impact when the locking lugs slam together when there's a lot of fore/aft slop in the barrel fit and...to a lesser degree...impact when it slaps the frame. When the slide cracks at the front of the port adjacent to the first locking lug...it's the lug slap-seating impact. Rear port crack indicates slide to frame impact induced. A fairly tight barrel fit will help a lot by reducing lug slap. Changing recoil springs regularly will help with slide/frame impact. Using a firing pin stop with a small radius also reduces slide velocity in recoil, and will work to reduce slide to frame impact too.
 
esheato said:
I'd like the Colts except for the horribly limp looking grip safety. I don't know why they can't get that right.
Click to expand...

I always thought they were the ones that did get grip safeties right.
 
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