at home 1911 work?

[Cpl_Peters]

anyone replace a sear or hammer or trigger or mainspring housing on thir 1911 themselves? how hard was it, would you recommend it? I want to trick out my gi but not sure where it will take me. definately dont want to fork out tons of cash to have a gunsmith do everything so if thats the case i may just keep it stock.

[leelaw]

Hammer, trigger and mainspring housing are easy.

If you replace the hammer, you may need to replace the grip safety (ie: if the hammer is an officer style) which will also require cutting a new radius on the rear of the frame.

ETA: noticed your signature. Check the Marketplace for a Sig P230 for $450... dunno if that'll work, or if you must have a 232.

[slick_711]

I've replaced just about everything on my or other 1911s. As long as you are familiar with the design and detail strip procedure it's not difficult to replace most parts. Some of the internals will require a bit of fitting, and some things require a lot of fitting or fitting in conjunction with other internal parts, stuff like that may be best left to a gunsmith (sear/disconnector/barrel/ejector/extractor). But there are kits of pre-fitted parts that will typically drop into a GI pistol. C&S makes great stuff in that respect.

Things like mainspring housings are an easy change. If you have a SA GI your mainspring assembly is not quite "stock" because of the ILS, but you don't have to make it stock to change it out. If you were to change your mainspring housing AND your trigger internals/mainspring you would need some extra little parts. The changes themselves are simple, don't let them scare you off.

The GIs shoot well out of the box though, you don't need to change anything. Just do whatever you like within your budget to make it your pistol if you feel it needs some work. Doing the work yourself will help you learn quite a bit about & better understand the function of the design anyway.

[FlyingPen]

Speaking of all this, anyone try the Wilson drop in checkered front strap?

[The SoCal Gunner]

Those are relatively easy to replace.

Go here for some animations on disassembly and reassembly.

http://www.m1911.org/ReassemblyAnimation.htm

And here for a youtube video of a guy showing in real life how to disassemble. He also has one for reassembly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEBrkF0sMgI

I'd also have your instruction manual handy for the parts diagram if you forget which way the sear faces and what not.

[slick_711]

Speaking of all this, anyone try the Wilson drop in checkered front strap?

I guess I'm a bit of a snob with my 1911s, so part of me thinks the concept is... well... hokey is the only word that comes to mind. The other part of me thinks that sounds like a very innovative and inexpensive way to add an expensive custom feature to your 1911. I have not actually tried them though, so my $0.02 is of no help to you sir.

[aplinker]

Couple of things...

I'm in total agreement with everyone here, most anything you can do yourself.

Mainspring housing is about the easiest thing to swap.

Also, you don't have to cut a radius for a new grip safety - Wilson makes a drop-in for GIs. I decided to go that route on a commander.

I will disagree with one thing on GIs out of the box... they don't run fine for me. NONE of them. I don't like getting hit in the forehead with brass. Ejection port cutting is #1 for me.

I've been cutting up my Commander lightweight recently and replacing parts. I'm not going to do the trigger job myself, though. A few other pretty mods and it'll be off for refinishing...

I guess I'm a bit of a snob with my 1911s, so part of me thinks the concept is... well... hokey is the only word that comes to mind. The other part of me thinks that sounds like a very innovative and inexpensive way to add an expensive custom feature to your 1911. I have not actually tried them though, so my $0.02 is of no help to you sir.

I'm so with you on that... I almost bought one just to see!

[FlyingPen]

Yeah, any photos of it installed would be great. I bought a Sig XO Stainless which is still in waiting period and I'm already shopping for grips and upgrades.

[aplinker]

Yeah, any photos of it installed would be great. I bought a Sig XO Stainless which is still in waiting period and I'm already shopping for grips and upgrades.

Grips? Sure. Upgrades? No.

Not necessary on that gun. Only thing you might want is a magwell, but....

I thought the fronstrap was already serrated?

[FlyingPen]

Grips? Sure. Upgrades? No.

Not necessary on that gun. Only thing you might want is a magwell, but....

I thought the fronstrap was already serrated?

Bud's got a few in for $600 delivered that come without night sights, wood grips, and front serrations.

I'm going to run a thousand rounds through it first (S&B) and see how it shoots before I actually buy anything or send it of for anything. I think mostly out of the box it's good to go. The trigger felt really good right out of the box.

[Bird of Fire]

I've installed a new hammer, sear, disconnector, trigger, and drop in beavertail safety, all from wilson combat.

Everything is pretty simple.The hammer ...well it dropped in after I got a new hammer strut pin/strut. Mine was pressed in, and those parts cost me about 5 dollars more.

The wilson combat drop in beavertail/grip safety required minor filing. The sides were a tick too tight for my frame, 20 minutes of work, and it went in. Then it would grab the trigger bow. Hard to explain, but when depressed, the trigger refused to reset. Another 20 minutes of filing and was back in business.

Trigger - dropped in. You *might* have to file the tops of the trigger if it drags excessively on your frame, or *gently* bend the trigger bows if it drags on the inside of your frame too much.

Disconnecter popped in. No problems.

The sear was a bit trickier. Safety wouldn't just flick on/off like it used to, more like *grunt....wait...wait...come on...aaaaaaah* on/off. Hit the sear/safety engagement area with a file, polished it up with some sandpaper, worked just fine. Always take a file to the cheaper part. Afterwards do a safety check to ensure that the safety does in fact work, and you're in like flint.

A main spring housing is (or should be) cake. It should already come preassembled, so it should just slide right into place.

The hardest thing IMO is learning to GO SLOW. Always remember to file the cheapest part, and you can't put the metal back, no matter how hard you try. Trust me. I've eaten a part or two being lazy and not reassembling the firearm after a few passes with the file, only to find out that the grip safety no longer prevents the trigger from letting the hammer drop. Live and learn. It was only a 20$ mistake, but still. The most time consuming aspect is never the actual grinding, but the putting it all back together, and seeing if it works part. But hey look at the bright side - you'll get awfully good at it.

[The SoCal Gunner]

I actually don't like front grip checkering or serrations on a 1911. They are pretty rough on the hands and make it uncomfortable to shoot. I don't mind rubber though like Hogues or preferably Pachmayrs.

I'll get into fitting my own parts eventually after I pick up the proper tools and jigs.

Bird of Fire - was your gun stock when you had trouble disengaging the safety? I have a Springfield that is stock and the safety takes quite a bit of energy to disengage.

[Bird of Fire]

I actually don't like front grip checkering or serrations on a 1911. They are pretty rough on the hands and make it uncomfortable to shoot. I don't mind rubber though like Hogues or preferably Pachmayrs.

I'll get into fitting my own parts eventually after I pick up the proper tools and jigs.

Bird of Fire - was your gun stock when you had trouble disengaging the safety? I have a Springfield that is stock and the safety takes quite a bit of energy to disengage.

No it was the wilson combat sear that did me in. Stock my Rock Island would flick on and off like a light switch with about as much effort, but still positive in regards to engagement. Once I put that part in I had to break out the file to put it back how I liked it. Drop in...hah! One size fits all...hah! Then again coming from the world of old cars the "Drop In" moniker should denote that you will spend at least 3-4 trips to the store to get all the things you forgot, and the other parts to make it fit like it was supposed to.

[JMB1911]

I will disagree with one thing on GIs out of the box... they don't run fine for me. NONE of them. I don't like getting hit in the forehead with brass. Ejection port cutting is #1 for me.

Agreed. I had a S.A. GI that I worked on extensively. First was the mainspring housing. SA has this ILS which required replacing the tall mainspring cap with a standard one. Replacing the mainspring with a Wolff 19 lb lightened the trigger pull a tad. Next was the extractor. I tuned a Wilson bullet proof one which cured the FTEs. I later replaced the hammer, sear, disconnector, and sear spring with a Nowlin trigger job kit from Brownells. I also replaced the trigger with a Wilson unit. Luckily, I didn't have to do any fitting. The parts were well matched and dropped right in. I ended up with a trigger pull of 4.5 lbs with less creep and grit. Ejected brass was getting battered (e.g: not good for reloading) due to the small ejection port. I found a bandaid fix by replacing the 16 lb recoil spring with an 18.5 lb one and brass didn't get too dinged up after that and my GI now goes back to full battery every time. By the way, Brownells gives excellent instructions on the 1911 in their website.

[dgey]

wilson combat front serrations kit..., I have one because my Kimber CDP II has this and I really like it. The Wilson Combat offering isn't the same.. You can tell the difference. For me, the piece moved around a little... regarding replacing parts, DIY. Just go to brownells.com and look at the videos about the pieces you want to change. Remember, work on the cheaper part... because it is cheaper to replace in case you fubar it...