1911 Cleaning

[Tattoo]

Hey All,

I read an article on 1911 cleaning and it stated not to rotate the barel bushing in battery. It said to basically pull the slide back a little and then rotate the bushing to take the pressure off of the barrel ( I guess? ) It said if not you would degrade accuracy over time. But, how do you do this with a FL guide rod?

If you pull the slide back a little the FL rod is just expoased too................. Any help?

[burntcrispy]

Look at the left slide right in front of your slide stop. There is a little notch with a larger notch in front of that one. Now look at the right of your slide, you will see a little knob sticking out directly below the barrel that is exposed. That knob is a pin connected to your slide stop on the left of your slide. The object is to push on this knob which will push out your slide stop, thus freeing the slide from the lower frame of the pistol.

To do this:

1. Pull the slide back until the little notch on the left of the frame lines up directly with the rear of your slide stop.

2. Once these are aligned, push on the knob on the right of the frame (slide stop pin protruding out).

3. Now your slide stop should be moving out to the left. Pull it out. Once the slide stop is out, push the slide all the way forward and it should come free of the lower frame.

4. Now getting the guide rod to come out varies depending on which rod you have but it should be fairly straight forward.

For further takedown help you will need to describe your full length guide rod. Only after the guiderod is out will you be able to remove the bushing and barrel.

Do yourself a favor and get rid of the full length guide rod. In my experience they only complicate things and add no benefit whatsoever. I've got a standard guiderod in my 1911 and have shot over 10K rounds with only about 4 jams in that whole period!!! (all ammo related) The full length guide rod in a bushing barreled 1911 has no purpose other than to complicate the pistol. Sorry about the rant.

Hope this helps.

Edited October 28, 2007 by burntcrispy

[austinkroe]

FLGRs are just fine in a bushing barrel. I have one and I dont see how it complicates anything. Keep what you got and spend the money on ammo. Now to your real question.

There are two types of FLGRs one piece and two piece. The one piece will have a hole in it about an inch down so you can captivate the spring. (I use a paper clip with one end bent int a L shape) To take the gun apart with a one piece you would captivate the spring, remove the slide stop pin, take the upper assembly off of the gun, remove the GR and captivated spring from the underside (pull it out the back), and then move the barrel out of battery and twist the bushing.

However if you have a two piece FLGR then things are different. With a two piece you are essentially turning it into a GIGR for disassembly (dont shoot it with only the back half in the gun). A two piece will have a spot for an allen wrench in the front of it. What you will do here is to unscrew the front half of the GR and set it aside. Then you will take the gun out of battery enough to twist the bushing. The recoil spring and guide rod plug should come out at this point too (if not then your plug is also a reverse plug, I can explain more if that is actually what you have). Now the the bushing, plug, and spring are gone you can remove the slide stop pin and take the gun apart.

If you need more help I can post some pictures for you.

[b.s._nm]

I dont buy it!! If barrel and bushing are properly fit it should not be putting any real pressure on barrel. The 1911 is designed to rotate the bushing out of the way of the recoil plug so as to remove the plug. Dont try to remove the bushing from slide but just rotate to clear recoil plug. With recoil plug removed and spring tension off of recoil spring, now remove slide from frame, remove recoil spring from guide rod, remove guide rod, turn bushing other direction and remove from slide. The full length guide rod is designed to eliminate coil bind and keep spring compression in straight line with the rod. I have a full lenght rod in every full size 1911 I own and if it didn't have one I'll install one. Generally you should use a barrel bushing wrench but I will use the top of a ball point pen or something non maring to push recoil plug in to rotate bushing but beware spring tension will shoot plug across room if not careful. Hope that helps.

I am assuming a one piece guide rod. No hole to capture spring. Just remove reverse plug.

Bob

Edited October 28, 2007 by b.s._nm

[Kingman]

the fl versus non is all a matter of personal preference. If you like it use it if not then its whatever. I personally use all bull barrels and reverse plugs so therefore a full length guide rod is part of the equation.

[Tattoo]

Hey thanks for the input everyone.

I should have been more specific. I have a one piece FL Rod, but I don't think it has a hole. I need to look now.........

I agree with B.S. NM that I thought, and this is how I have been doing it, that you just take it apart like a normal .45

I just push down on the FL guide plug and twist the barrel bushing over to relief tension and then pull the plug out... etc.

I have been using a tiny flat screwdriver to push the FL guide rod plug down low enough to rotate the barrel bushing.

But, I read this article written by a 1911 Gunsmith.... Something Rogers, that said to not take it apart w/ tension on the barrel.

Basically it was bad on the barrel/bushing match-up and would degrade accuracy over time.

Anyway, You can't push the FL plug down w/ the slide slightly back because the FL rod sticks out too and is in the way.

I don't have a bushing wrench, but my concern was screwing up the accuracy of the pistol and it shoots really well now.

[b.s._nm]

Your on the right track. Continue as you have been but lose the screwdriver as it will put small marks or dings on the front of the reverse plug which will eventually show up as scores on the guide rod. I like the top of a bic pen which is plastic and wont leave marks. Bushing wrench is not needed. If the bushing was so tight on the barrel that you would hurt it by turning it to remove the reverse plug (zero clearance) it would destroy itself from just shooting the pistol. This clearance is important to accuracy but some clearance is needed. You should however push the barrel forward and out of battery before removing bushing from slide. A very well fit bushing will be almost impossible to remove with the barrel in lockup and that is where you will do un-need damage.

Take care. Keep the right side UP!!!!

Bob

[Tattoo]

Your on the right track. Continue as you have been but lose the screwdriver as it will put small marks or dings on the front of the reverse plug which will eventually show up as scores on the guide rod. I like the top of a bic pen which is plastic and wont leave marks. Bushing wrench is not needed. If the bushing was so tight on the barrel that you would hurt it by turning it to remove the reverse plug (zero clearance) it would destroy itself from just shooting the pistol. This clearance is important to accuracy but some clearance is needed. You should however push the barrel forward and out of battery before removing bushing from slide. A very well fit bushing will be almost impossible to remove with the barrel in lockup and that is where you will do un-need damage.

Take care. Keep the right side UP!!!!

Bob

Thanks for the advise Bob, I don't know if the screwriver will score the FL rod because the plug has a ridge up taller against the FL rod and

the screwdriver is actually touching the lower part of the plug. But, I do like your plastic idea better. I will switch over to make sure I

don't slip w/ the screwdriver and screw something up. BTW I just checked and my FL one piece rod does not have a takedown hole.

I don't know what kind it is, but I thought it was Wilson. Its like 4 years old.

Anyway, thanks alot.

T

[Canuck-IL]

If barrel and bushing are properly fit it should not be putting any real pressure on barrel.

Nope! The bushing is a tight friction fit with clearance at two places to avoid springing. Twisting the bushing with the gun in battery will necessarily wear the nice tight fit you worked, or paid, to achieve.

The bushing IS designed to rotate out of the way of the plug - but that design was for a combat loose, mass production gun.

It's no big deal to remove the bushing when it's not in battery, so why not do it and contribute to the longevity of the gun's accuracy?

/Bryan

Edited October 29, 2007 by Canuck-IL

[mpeltier]

Well if it degrades sccuracy my well used 1st generation kimber hasn't got that memo yet. At over 25,000 rounds it still shoots 1 1/4" 25yd groups all day. And I have always taken it appart by turning the bushing as stated above. I believe the barrel will wear out elsewhere from shooting, before you wear it out by conventional dissassembly. The gunsmith in question was probably refering to a completely hand fit uber high end custom pistol and not a factory mass produced variety???? It may be that there would be a degrading of accuracy in those types of guns, but is there any loss of acceptable accuracy? I.E. maybee my gun originaly shot 1 1/8" groups.

[Canuck-IL]

Bullseye guns specifically...but that's almost irrelevant - why add any wear that you don't need to when disassembly out of battery is so simple?

/B