Springfield 1911 broken slide stop question

[trigger753]

I have a Springfield Armory GI 45 (Stainless Steel) that has broken it's second slide stop. Both failed at about 1200 rounds. Springfield sent me a replacement for the first one. When the replacement slide stop broke today I noticed it's not stainless steel inside but a porous metal. Both broke in the same place right at the pin on the outside of the slide. Does anyone know if this is a common problem? I have only used WWB, no heavy loads other than a couple magazines of Golden Saber. I ordered a stainless steel one made by Wilson today. I hope that fixes the problem. Any Advice?
Thanks

 

[Whirlwind06]

The factory ones are more then likely MIM parts. The Wilson one should fix the problem.

 

[MICHAEL T]

I have heard of other Springers doing the same. Its a mim part and ... Wilson will solve your troubles. I would find out what else is MIM and chamge them out also.

 

[ugaarguy]

I've not heard of Springfield Armory 1911s breaking slide stops without abuse. Breaking two slidestops makes me think that may not be the issue. I wonder if the slide stop hole in the frame is out of round (not perfectly circular), if one or both of the frame holes are drilled slightly off axis from where they should be, or drilled at a slight angle rather than squared (perpendicular) to the frame. Any of those could put undue stress on the slide stop causing it to break.

I'm not an expert, but I'll try to get a couple very knowledgeable folks to weigh in on this.

 

[1911Tuner]

Stop

Broke...where? Crosspin or the lug?

 

[trigger753]

If your looking at the slide stop when it's installed, it broke a 1/16 of an inch past where the cross pin goes through. On the flat part.
Thanks

 

[Old Fuff]

Well it's sort of stainless steel. They make it out of (stainless) powdered metal mixed with a binder, put this in a mold and heat it until the binder fuses with the metal, but short of melting the metal - if you can understand all of this. Anyway, this is why the inside looked "porous" to you. They buy the slide stops from an outside vendor and I wonder if they got a bad lot. Two identical failurers at the same round count is unusal, but if this is happening we should hear from more people then just you.

I'm not sure if Wilson is getting machined from bar stock, investment cast, or MIM slide stops. That's something I'll have to look into, as one day it's one thing, and the next something different. I seem to remember we got another report concerning a broken slide stop the other day, but I don't remember the details. There was another one similar to what you describe, but that was way back, and on a Kimber.

At this point I don't think the ammunition was at fault. The part(s) itself is suspect.

 

[ugaarguy]

Wilson lists three slide stops. The "Bullet Proof" looks to be the one to get.
http://www.wilsoncombat.com/a_slide_releases_bp.asp
http://www.wilsoncombat.com/index_1911_part_acc.htm

 

[HSMITH]

Something more menacing is going on for it to break 2 slide stops in 2400 rounds. I could chalk one up to MIM but not two, Springfield slide stops are better than that.

Can you post a picture of the broken slide stop, I am not able to picture where the 'flat part' is.

I would not just put a stronger slide stop in it without KNOWING everything is OK, the cost of broken parts could be a lot higher if you do.

 

[Old Fuff]

It is quite possible that two slide stops could fail, if they both came from a defective lot made by the same vendor. Springfield Armory makes nothing. All of the parts are brought in from the outside. The only way to be sure these parts are good would be to run non-destructive tests on all of them, and more on samples picked at random. No manufacturer or part supplier that I know of does that. Throughout the industry bad lots of whatever sometimes get through undetected. That's why you see recalls.

 

[Gordon]

Or put in that unbreakable Wilson slide stop (or a real GI one) and find out what is wrong by what else breaks

 

[Geno]

ugaarguy +1

ugaarguy +1

Doc2005

 

[1911Tuner]

Stop

Ain't nothin' under the sun that can't be broke...but it's a fact that machined steel parts break less frequently than MIM or castings. That said...The Brown Hardcore slidestop...a casting...has proven to be a good one thus far with the two that I've been tryin' to break for tens of thousands of rounds in
a pair of my beaters.

FWIW...Springfield's OEM slidestops are dead ringers for the Hardcore...and I agree with HSMITH...They're usually better than that. Odd for a stop to break where described unless there's a defect in the steel.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Come on now, everyone knows that Kimber is the only one with mim parts

Get a Wilson bullet proof stop and press on.

 

[HSMITH]

Fuff, while I concede that the parts could have come from the same lot and both could have been defective I certainly doubt the odds of that. 'Just in time' manufacturing has almost eliminated large quantities of parts on hand, and I doubt Springfield is bringing in more than a two week supply of slide stops at a time. It just isn't cost effective do do so. I'll bet lunch that by the time this gun went through the distribution channels and arrived in the hands of the customer that the supply of slide stops at Springfield was exhuasted and a new shipment arrived. I would double down on a slice of pie that the supply had been exhuasted and replaced more than once.

I absolutely would check the timing of that barrel in that gun before substituting another stronger part to 'fix' the problem.

 

[Jim Watson]

Standard grade Springfields are made by Imbel in Brazil. They don't say if they are vertically integrated and make all their own parts, although Taurus advertises that. Who knows where they get their mung metal parts.
An unwillingness to scrap an expensive mould even though it is turning out bad parts seems likely. (A brand of high-MIM guns was known for a good while for not slide stopping on empty, probably due to a short slide stop lug, probably because they had figured the shrinkage wrong on a complicated shape.)

To break two slide stops out on the lever, not the pin, is going to take either a bad batch of slide stops or some very serious misalignment of parts.

 

[trigger753]

Here is an update. I took it to the local pistol smith this morning along with the broken slide stop. His conclusion was a defect in the part. There was also a discoloration in the metal at point it failed. It failed at a bubble in the seam where it was cast. He put in a replacement and test fired for function. He found nothing wrong with the alignment, diameter of the hole or the link pin. He also said the higher end SA 45s used a milled steel slide stop not a cast part.
Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it.