Pinning a 1911 grip safety

mlebler

mlebler

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So I want to do this to my STI Spartan and here are the 3 questions I have:

1) Will it make my gun look different? (besides the grip safety being permanently "in")
2) Will a complete disassembly be harder?
3) How much should I expect to spend to get it done?!

Thanks in advanced for all the responses! :D
 
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No
No
Not much.... :)

I bought a 1911 that was allready pinned and the pin sticks out of the top of the mainspring housing(not visible when assembled) and holds the safety in place.
During assembly you just need to hold the grip safety down as you slide the mainspring housing up into place , and then the pin locks the safety in the engaged position.
Maybe there are otherways to do it but it looks pretty straight forward and all you need is a small hole drilled into the top of the mainspring housing and a small pin to put in the hole.
 
It should not affect the look of the gun, although it may complicate a complete tear down. I wouldn't think it would be expensive, but getting a quote from a pistol smith shouldn't be too tough.

I am curious why you wish to consider the alteration. It seems to me that the STI has a raised pad on the grip safety, so it shouldn't be the cause of a failure to fire. IMHO, such an alteration diminishes the piece.
 
I never understood why 1911 shooter did this and one fellow at my club told me because of a high grip. I have a high grip and it never effected the function of my Kimber.

coltfan is right, check with your club as they may shun on modifying safeties.
 
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When I am dry-firing my Spartan in my front room I constantly worry about the grip safety but out at the range when it's "serious bidness" I have never had a problem gripping the gun securely enough. I wouldn't pin it, but I may look into making it a little less obvious someday. There are methods for reducing the travel necessary to 'make' the safety from what I have read.
 
My stainless Series 80 came pinned, for what I do with it there's no reason for it. The trigger is very light and I'm actually thinking about unpinning it, guess what for....Safety
 
It really depends on the users hands and the mainspring housing shape combined with the profile of the beavertail....I've handled some 1911's with grip safety's that were harder to dissengage then others.
To me the question of why someone would pin the safety is pretty obvious, and if it works for that person great.
I don't see a pinned grip safety on a 1911 as being any more dangerous then any other non grip safetyed gun as long as the other safety is working and the shooter sticks with A.C.T.S. and P.R.O.V.E
If I was carrying cocked and locked I'd rather have the grip safety in case the main one is accidently dissengaged in the holster but at the range in Canada I don't have a problem with a pinned grip safety.
 
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Instead of pinning you can get the grip safety honed down so it comes off with a very short (negligable) movement -- I high grip mine in gloves and I find that sometimes coming from the holster under stress you can not get an ideal grip and the gun becomes a club until you reset your grip.
 
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