1911 Safety Issue

[beginner shooter]

Heres my problem. On my 1911 when I engage the thumb safety then depress the grip safety (basically hold the gun) and press the trigger the hammer inches foward about 1/16 of an inch. If from there I disengage the thumb safety the hammer will fall without pressing the trigger at all. Ive tried to diagnose why it does this but still cant find why short of maybe the thumb safety being too worn to completely disengage block the sear from being pushed. Anyone else have any ideas here? I would like to get this fixed before the match on Sunday.

-Mike

[RussB]

The boss on the thumb safety needs to be welded up and re-fit, or replaced altogether. Note that the T-S MUST be fit properly. No Bubba-smithing!

[cheers623]

+1 on the post above. Thumb safety sear-stop tab is probably worn or fitted to a different sear and then dropped in to the pistol. That or the sear is different than the original part in the gun. Thumb safeties AND sears are NOT drop-in parts. Check these parts to determine.

Good luck,

cheers623

DVC

[RussB]

Also note that all the gun's components should be checked for function, not just the thumb safety

[beginner shooter]

Whenever I take my guns apart to clean them I always check each components function as I re-assemble the gun. I got as far as getting the safety back in when I noticed this problem and until solved will not re-assemble the pistol.

[beginner shooter]

So I called my local smith and am going to be bringing the gun by his house after work today. He also has a pretty huge supply of parts at his place so Im sure we'll get this thing sorted out.

[Bob DuBois]

You did the right thing, hope our up and running soon.

[G-ManBart]

He can probably peen it a little to take up the space between the safety and the sear and have you back in business without even buying a new part. R,

[beginner shooter]

Update:

Just got back from my smith and boy howdy the kindness of people in the shooting world never cease to amaze me. He ended up putting a new safety in the gun and he even showed me how to do it. Basically involves some grinding/filing and a TON of checking for fit in between grinding sessions. He also put in a brand new Chip McCormick hammer and a set of Wilson Combat oversize hammer and sear pins. Now everything on the gun has no play in it and the best part (aside from the education of course) is he said I can pay him next Friday when I get paid. Truly upstanding people in the shooting world and my smith is another fine example.

P.S. Thanks to you guys for telling me to have a smith look at it. If I hadn't done this its likely I would have messed something up way worse than it started out.

-Mike

[RussB]

Great story!

Glad your gun is all squared away

[Neil E.]

Well.... How did you do at the match??

[xinnix]

Thank you for this post. I have a Les Baer and I love the look of a Colt thumb safety. I was hoping it was an Item I could just drop in. I was going to try it for the $30.00. I could of ended up damaging my new Les Baer sear or thinking it was working and ended up shooting myself or someone else.

I need to put that thought out of my mind. I did see a post where someone shortened the safety on their 1911. That may be the way to go is modify the safety I have. The problem is my gun is blued not S.S.

Thanks again for the post. It is worth reading all of these old post.