Milestone: Disassembled and Reassembled my first 1911

Yup, had the You Tube video right in front of me, pausing it every few seconds to catch up. The whole time thinking; why did I start this!
 
I have only gone as far as changing a weak mainspring, when something else goes wrong I will venture further. The multi purpose flat-spring caused a bit of grief but I figured it out when it didn't work properly after putting it all back together. The replacement spring had to be cut down quite a bit also...way too stiff.
 
stralia, I had the same experience. I actually chuckled at your response because it was nice to know I was not the only one.

I also pull the firing pin and the extractor when I clean as I find the extractor and the channel it lives in gets quite dirty even after a couple range trips.
 
Whenever I pull a gun apart and think im getting in over my head I just stop and think "some jackass dumber then me can do it why cant I"
 
stralia said:
Yup, had the You Tube video right in front of me, pausing it every few seconds to catch up. The whole time thinking; why did I start this!
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who has done this ! I'm so thankful that there are some useful folk on there that produce good videos on disassembly and assembly for the majority of the handguns I own. The only crappy part is wading through a few videos of poorly done ones with phones ringing, tv playing in the background, or kids screaming. I'm at my workbench with minuscule parts in hand yelling at someone to shut-up on my laptop. GF always comes over and wonders what's wrong
 
haha, have SO been there!

i picked up that app for the ipad, gun disassembly.
its pretty cool.
shows you step by step.

once i got the field cleaning down i gave it a few years, then went into the all out, right down to every last spring take down.
that was a nail biter!

ive since done that a couple times and now do it on all my new ones.

i think im almost cocky enough to consider replacing parts for after market ones...... almost.
 
Try a National Match Gold Cup series 80 with the extra spring and lever on the sear. I lost the spring when I took the sear out. I ordered three more springs because I knew I was going to lose another one trying to reassemble the gun. Took me a week to figure out how it went together since I could not find a picture on how to reassemble the sear. Needless to say I have never disassembled it again.

Figures now I find a picture. http://www.m1911.org/technic16.htm
 
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Lol. I couldn't figure out the mag release. The whole thing is really easy and doesn't require tools if you have a spent casing. I don't know why people complain. After doing it a few times it seems much easier than many other guns once you understand the process.
 
Skinny 1950 said:
I have only gone as far as changing a weak mainspring, when something else goes wrong I will venture further. The multi purpose flat-spring caused a bit of grief but I figured it out when it didn't work properly after putting it all back together. The replacement spring had to be cut down quite a bit also...way too stiff.
Click to expand...

If you are just pulling the MSH, put an elastic around the grip safety to hold the sear spring in place.
 
It was a learning experience for both of us! The helpfulness of YouTube knows no bounds.

I found it really interesting, since I know the bare minimum of how a 1911 functions and once you start to pull it apart it makes so much more sense.
 
I've watched the videos and I've got two very good books on firearms disassembly, but it's a learning experience every time for me.

I have an R1 that has little to no slack to the trigger before let off. Nice crisp pull, but if I don't make a point of fully releasing the trigger, two fast aimed shots or a double tap are impossible.
I swapped both the trigger and the three pronged spring from my other R1 and the problem persisted. Still haven't solved it. In the process, I got more experience disassembling and reassembling than I wanted, but now I feel reasonably competent. A few more hundred times and I'll have it down to a science .....

Would I tear down my Series '70 Gold Cup? Not a chance! If it ain't broke .....
 
I never had a problem taking things apart....its proper re-assembly were I get snagged! Be careful you don't scratch the frame with the take-down lever;)
 
First time is nerve wrecking but like all skills pretty easy after a while once you learn all the trick. Lots of great utube vids out there on how to hold the spring back for the safety and '80 series locks.
 
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