New 1911 Mainspring Housing

[NOLAEMT]

So my last thread was more about springfield CS, so I thought I'd start a new thread about my new decision.

After a failure of some sort with the Springfield ILS that caused the gun to malfunction, and the hammer to fall to half cock when the trigger is pulled, I am in the market for a standard non-locking mainspring housing.

So my current choices are between and Ed Brown Chainlink, Snakeskin or a standard checkered MSH, and I was hoping all of you here could help. Right now I'm leaning toward the Chainlink

I especially would like comments from people who have used either of the Ed brown designs.

 

[Zerodefect]

I vote for the EB 25lpi checkered flat MSH.

 

[Jason_G]

I hate the look of a mismatched MSH and front strap. I'd get whatever looks the most like your front strap, personally. EB parts are solid parts IME.

Jason

 

[NOLAEMT]

I have a smooth frontstrap currently, so just about anything will fit in i think.

 

[Jason_G]

You don't want to hear what I think...

But it has chainlink and is bobbed...

I told you you wouldn't want to hear it


Jason

 

[rogerjames]

I just ordered the EB chainlink for my SA combat loaded. I wanted to get rid of the ILS and I personally find the chainlink to be a good looking design.

You don't have to replace the MSH to get rid of the ILS, but you will have to replace a few of the internals. I ordered new mainspring, mainspring cap, and mainspring retainer, all together were less than $10. The mainspring with ILS is 28lb, an I believe standard spring without ILS is 23lb

 

[CDW4ME]

After a failure of some sort with the Springfield ILS that caused the gun to malfunction, and the hammer to fall to half cock when the trigger is pulled, I am in the market for a standard non-locking mainspring housing.

Thank you!

I have been admanant about not having an internal lock on my guns, and that is support for my position.

I would go with something that matches the frontstrap, if the frontstrap is slick I guess it doesn't matter (I put skateboard tape on slick frontstrap).

I've got an Ed Brown Special Forces with the chainlink, I like the chainlink fine; but, I also like checkered just fine.

I do not like a plastic MSH of any pattern.

 

[Pict]

I have the flat (non-arched, I mean) snakeskin on mine, and it's pretty nice. Something that has always confused me about it is that the "scales" are cut in the wrong direction-- they're smooth going upwards, rough going downwards. Thus, recoil does not increase the friction.

 

[bdb benzino]

I put an Ed Brown chainlink msh in my Metro Arms 1911 and could not be more pleased. Not only did it fit tight without any fitting, but feels great and has good gripping ability while still being able to slide your palm up of for a fast draw. I do not think the checkered one will allow your palm to slide up as smoothly. YMMV.

 

[ppcgm]

Go with the checkered. It will stabilize the gun best in your hand.

 

[MCMXI]

I have EB chainlink MSHs in two EBs and a Kimber. I have a stainless steel EB 25lpi MSH with Maxi-Well in a Dan Wesson Valor (see photo). The EB 25lpi doesn't feel as aggressive as the 25lpi front strap checkering on the Valor, but I grit blasted and painted it with Cerakote and don't recall how it felt before that. Chainlink is "grippy" in the horizontal direction but smooth in the vertical direction which might be a good thing for CC. 25lpi can be "grippy" in both directions. I voted for chainlink because it looks great and it's functional. It provides grip in the right direction while decreasing the chance of the pistol getting hung up on clothing. Snakeskin is supposed to work in the same way.

 

[JROC]

I have a checked EB Maxi Well on my Colt CE, and I must say that I am just not impressed. In fact I feel it's a POS. Since buying it in February of this year I'm on my 3rd one. Every single one including my current one has gone to staining, corroding, and pitting and they start doing that withing a week or two of being on the gun. The MSH part is fine other than they usually come with some flattened checkering. The cast magwell piece is just poor quality in my experience though. The gun itself has no problem doing this just the EB piece I described. I keep it oiled good, I store it correctly but it doesn't matter as the ones I've received just go bad really quickly.

If you are just looking for a MSH it may be fine though.

 

[SSN Vet]

I put the 25 lip EB MSH on my Commander and like it a lot. Very sharp, and uniform checkering. Machining on outside is high quality. Apparently they didn't smooth out the spring tunnel though, as the MS is scuffing a little. Fix is easy enough though.... just wrap emery paper a round a slit in a thin dowel and run it up and down the tunnel while spinning on cordless drill. Start with 220 grit and go to 400.

 

[MCMXI]

I have a checked EB Maxi Well on my Colt CE, and I must say that I am just not impressed. In fact I feel it's a POS. Since buying it in February of this year I'm on my 3rd one. Every single one including my current one has gone to staining, corroding, and pitting and they start doing that withing a week or two of being on the gun. The MSH part is fine other than they usually come with some flattened checkering. The cast magwell piece is just poor quality in my experience though. The gun itself has no problem doing this just the EB piece I described. I keep it oiled good, I store it correctly but it doesn't matter as the ones I've received just go bad really quickly.

The problem does seem to be with the Maxi-Well and not the MSH. The stainless chainlink MSH in my Kimber Raptor is pristine but I know what you mean about the Maxi-Well showing signs of corrosion. I knew that I'd be painting the one in my Valor with Cerakote so I wasn't concerned about corrosion, but a friend bought the same parts as me and his Maxi-Well also showed signs of corrosion and pitting in just a few days. Something is definitely wrong with the stainless alloy used for the cast EB Maxi-Well but the MSHs are excellent. If the plan is to paint it then no problem, if not, I would suggest something from Wilson Combat or similar.

I recently painted a couple of stainless steel Smith and Alexander MSHs (one with lanyard loop) with integral mag wells for someone else's build and they were very well made. The stainless didn't appear to have any corrosion issues.