off center recoil spring hole in 1911 slide???

[SSN Vet]

studying up for a 1911 build/buy...

looking at a NIB NRM series 80 Colt Commander as my base platform...

read several posts on 1911forum.com, where people are complaigning about finding the hole in the receiver for the recoil spring being off center...

attached are some pics of a Colt I'm considering...

I'm not familiar enough with the 1911s to know for sure if this hole is off center or if the recoil spring plug has clearance in the hole to wiggle around some....

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

hmmm

hard to tell. in the first pics it looks like it may be off center, but it could just be the angle.

can you take a pic with the slide closed, straight on view? (make sure it's unloaded of course!)

 

[Runningman]

Looking at the 1st picture it does seem to have a problem. Judging by the material just beyond the sides of the barrel bushing 1/2 way down. Something is askew.

 

[Oro]

The dust hood in the frame appears to be finished just fine. The slightly off part appears to be the cheap spring cap. It will function fine with it, but I'd just replace the spring cap and move forward. If it's new gun, call Colt and have them mail you a new one after explaining the problem.

 

[weisse52]

Hard to say, I agree the dust cover does look fine. It looks good to me. The ones I have seen that have the issue are easy to see. And, Colt will fix the issue, if it is an issue.

 

[outerlimit]

It looks perfectly fine and centered to me. I don't see any problems. In the first picture, the gun may be pointed slightly to the observer's left, skewing the perception.

I really don't see anything out of the ordinary. The barrel bushing is pushed a little to the left, perhaps also altering the perception in the first pic. You can usually jiggle those left and right a bit when in place.

 

[Hacker15E]

Looks good to me.

The ones I've seen that are off center are VERY NOTICEABLE.

 

[JohnBT]

Looking at your first pic, the hole is centered BUT what they do all too frequently is polish the outside too much on one side. There was a thread on another forum in 2007 that quoted a phone call one member made to Colt. Seems like good polishers are hard to find.

So, looking at pic #1, they polished too much off the outside on the side the hand is on. That's why the bushing overhangs.

Or they didn't polish enough off of the other side. That's why the bushing doesn't overhang that side.

John

 

[makarovnik]

The end of the recoil spring plug is milled off center which shouldn't be a big deal. However it also looks like the slide is not milled symmetrically towards the bottom and that is not cool.

 

[Clarence]

It may be a little off-center. If it bothers you replace it.........it'll only cost a couple of bucks. Even if it is off-center, it won't hurt the gun.