No Tool 1911 Detail Strip

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1911Tuner

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The Pistol, Caliber .45 M-1911 was designed from the outset to be a fighting man's tool. A pistol that not only worked, but lent itself to parts replacement in the field...in minutes, and without any special tools. John Browning designed such a pistol. A pistol that used its own parts as takedown tools. This applies to Series 70 and pre Series 70 type pistols only.

Field strip the pistol. Remove the thumb safety. Use the cross-pin to remove the mainspring housing. The slide is the hammer. A small piece of wood can be used to prevent marring the finish. Be careful to strike straight down on the cross-pin, or as closely as you can.

Use the cross-pin to remove the hammer pin, if necessary. Use the hammer strut push the sear/disconnector pin out.

Use the bent tab at the top of the left leg of the sear spring to turn the mag catch lock. That's what that little tab is for.

Use the hammer strut to push in on the firing pin so that the stop and pin can be removed. Use the firing pin to lever the extractor out. If the pin bends a little too much, use the hammer strut. NOTE: A Series 80 hammer strut is redesigned, and not shaped correctly for this operation.

The hammer strut or firing pin is your alignment tool for the sear/disconnector pin. The thumb safety cross-pin is the alignment tool for the hammer. One foot of the barrel bushing can be used to depress the thumb safety detent.

NOTE: Auto Ordnance pistols use a hammer strut that is too large
to use as a takedown/reassembly tool. At least the ones that I have handled do.

Now, I ask you...How cool is that?:cool:

Tuner
 
"Use the bent tab at the top of the left leg of the sear spring to turn the mag catch lock. That's what that little tab is for."

Not quite. The other side of the spring (the grip safety spring) is the one used for the magazine catch lock. The small tab is intended only to keep the spring in place on the sear and keep it from being put in wrong. It is too fragile to use on the catch lock and can be easily broken that way.

I have used many alignment pins (we used to call them "slave pins" but that now seems to be politically incorrect), but I have never used one in assembling the disconnector/sear; the parts are so simple to line up without one. You just put the sear on the disconnector then insert them as a unit.

Jim
 
Before I had punches I always used the firing pin to start the main spring housing pin out. Never thought about using one of the other pins. Good to know.

Which piece can I use on my hex head grip screws?:p
 
Originally posted by 1911Tuner:
Use the bent tab at the top of the left leg of the sear spring to turn the mag catch lock. That's what that little tab is for.
Click to expand...

The original 1911's did not have this tab on the sear spring. It was added, as Jim says, to simplify re-installation. Also the very first 1911's did not have a slotted screw for the mag catch but had a "dimpled" surface where the slot currently is. I have no idea how this was turned!

It is amazing how user friendly this almost 100 year old design is. Truly designed by a genius.
 
The Tab

Ya mean...That AIN'T what the tab's for??:uhoh: Ya mean Gunny was wrong?:what:

Kiddin'. Actually, I've used the tab and the grip safety leg to do it, and
find that the tab is a little less tedious...for me anyway. The Navy armorer
(my uncle) who infected me with the1911 tweakin' bug also used both methods, and didn't really have a preference.

On those hex head grip screws...keep a wrench in your pocket or
switch'em to standard. Note: Not all aftermarket slotted grip screws
will accept a case rim.

Happy New Year to all!

Tuner
 
1911 Tuner, Old Fuff, Jim Kennan...anyone?

I understand the tab. I was also told ( and shown) that in the event the grip became loose the 45 ACP shell casing would work., and the USGI mag itself as well. In the "heat of things" and not wanting to disassemble pistol...this design was thought of for the soldier, by JMB.

This 1911 design is so cool...built to be a tool unto itself, well thought out for the task intended indeed !

Clarification appreciated.
 
Another Point

In the event of a lost recoil spring plug, an empty case will work just fine.
Of course, if the pistol has a full length guide rod, no dice...:p

The more ya play with the thing, the better it gets!

The lanyard loop makes a dandy bottle opener, and if you run dry
of ammo and the bad guys are closin' in...it does a good job as
a skull pommel.

Seek...and you shall find.

Cheers!
Tuner
 
Thanks Tuner, I didn't think I had totally lost my mind. As I recall the grip screw had a wider gap...no I don't remember the spec's. FLGR...we won't go there again...we have already...mine don't have so I can use an empty case.:)

Yep I've zipped a few "soda's" opened with the laynard...sucks as a "church key" tho'. [ he he , that may date some of us, but ought to get a raised eyebrow from the whippersnappers]. Some "sodas" just satisfied at times better than others...:p

Yes quite a design indeed!
 
Suds Afield

dm said:

sucks as a "church key" tho'.

BUT...The sharp ends on the bottom of the barrel bushing would likely work in a pinch. Punch two holes close together, use the hammer spur to finish
it up, and Presto! Miller time. Ya think Ol' John Moses mighta tipped up a cool one after work?;)

All it takes is a little imagination...and yeah...:D You just put yourself
square in the middle of the boomers' generation.

Cheers!

Tuner
 
If one looks closely at the standard grip screws in a Colt dating from World War Two forward they will find that the slot is way too wide for most screwdrivers and radiused at the bottom. This is so the tab at the front of the magazine base will fit, and the magazine can be used as sort of a wrench to remove or tighten the screws. Earlier grip screws had narrow slots that were flat-bottomed and intended to be removed with a conventional screwdriver. The hex-headed kind look cool to some, but they can’t be tightened or removed unless one has a hex-key handy. For this reason I avoid them.

Colt and G.I. grips have a half-moon cut at the bottom/rear corner to expose the mainspring housing pin. Some aftermarket grips eliminate this and cover the pin. Thus the grips must be removed first before the pin can be driven out. This may be O.K. on toys but not on a practical weapon. If your grips don’t have this cut-out either modify the grips or replace them.

I have used the little tab on the sear leg of the three-prong spring to remove the magazine latch, but only with great care. So far I’ve had no problems with this.

If necessary, the firing pin can be used as a slave-pin to center the sear and disconector before replacing the sear pin. The same can be done with the hammer, although I usually don’t find it to be necessary.

In an emergency an empty .45 cartridge case can be used as a temporary recoil spring plug. It works much better then having nothing. (Ah, but Tuner beat me to this).
 
Old Fuff, Tuner,

Thanks for sharing, I really appreciate the sharing you, Mr. Kennan and others share, on the 1911 platform and others as well. I get chided because I like the simple original designs. Designed for a reason, and for a time shooters learned to shoot, depended on the simple to keep the gun running...can't always run to the smith.

Yep, I'm a '55 model Tuner...not wanting to take a 1911 apart to get a church key, I used the yellow handled Case Trapper...a fella wasn't dressed without a knife ya know? :)
 
Speakin' of Designed-in Tools

Just want to take this off topic for a bit...Ever wonder why the M-1 Garand and M-14 rifles have such wide front sights? While it's true that a thick,
square post works well in close action, the sight could have been quite
a bit narrower, and hence a little more precise at longer ranges...

If you'll check it out, that front sight subtends the average man from
armpit to armpit at about 250 meters, and shoulder to shoulder at 300.
Coincidentally, both rifles were prescribed a 250-meter Battlesight Zero.
While the maximum effective range of the rifle was set at 460 meters, studies conducted after the Korean War determined that an infantryman
wasn't likely to shoot at an enemy soldier much beyond 300 yards.

Since the battlesight zero enables a rifleman to hit from 15 feet out to
250 meters with a center hold...is it a coincidence that the front sight
tells him when the enemy is within his maximum point blank range,
or was John Garand simply being insightful when he designed the
front sight?:scrutiny:

----------------------------

sm, I gotcha by 3 years or so. If ya ask me, we grew up in the last of the good old days. Things were simpler then. Most people around here couldn't even tell ya where their house keys were, 'cause they didn't
lock their doors. No real need to.

Okay...I'm all done with my tangent now...Back to your regularly scheduled program

Cheers!
 
1911 Tuner ..... had never even considered that Garrand foresight deal ..... I guess it is about as close as one can get with iron sights to something like MilDot in a scope!

Intentional or not ..... simple but effective.
sm, I gotcha by 3 years or so
Click to expand...
hahaha! And with all that wisdom Tuner ...... here was I puttin you as old as me, or more!!!:)
 
Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine

P95Carry said:

hahaha! And with all that wisdom Tuner ...... here was I puttin you as old as me, or more!!!

Goin' on 90 here...heh. I took a few short cuts along the way. The ol' man
was a toolmaker turned design engineer...His brother was a retired Navy armorer. Guns were a tradition in the family, and with those two at the helm, it was only natural that I got drawn into it.

Then there was that extended summer camp with Uncle Sam's Misguided Children, and the colorful visit to Disneyland, East...but that's a whole
'nother story.;)

Can I get a HOOAH?
 
Hi, Old Fuff,

Using the magazine base tab for the grip screws sounds like a great idea, but it was not done. I can't find any magazines that have a tab base thin enough to be used on the grip screws, nor can I find any difference between the screw slot width of early guns and WWII or later guns, or any slot that is radiused. Kuhnhausen gives the slot spec as .034"+.010, and all I checked (including a Norinco) are within that spec. The tool that can be used on grip screws is the right tab on the magazine follower, but it is easily bent, so you really can't tighten the screws with it. The same is true of a cartridge case. (It might be noted that the GI tool for the M1911 has a pin punch and a screwdriver blade.)

Actually, one of the advantages of the grip screw bushing system is that a missing grip screw won't cause the grip to shift, and the grip will stay in place without any screws if necessary.

Hi, Cactus,

The "dimple" type mag catch lock doesn't turn. The whole magazine catch is pushed out from the left and turned 180 degrees to remove. The dimple is to allow the lock to be depressed during reassembly. I recommend not removing that type of magazine catch unless absolutely necessary as it will almost always mar the edge of the magazine catch hole.

Jim
 
Tooner/Keenan/Fluff

All we need to know now is... what the company you three brains are forming will be called? T-K-F, or K-F-T, or K-T-F, or F-K-T, or F-T-K, or ...
 
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