Need help with my new (to me) 1911

[ijosef]

First off I want to thank each and everyone who offered to help with my pistol. This is a great community with lots of folks willing to help. I do check the board periodically but with nothing new to report, I decided not to post any updates until now.

I feel like a fool for not having done a thorough inspection before laying down the cash. I could've sworn that the hammer cocked when I bought it, but according to the person who fixed it, that couldn't have been the case. Note to self: next time you buy a gun, check everything.

A coworker offered to take a look at it since he's a big 1911 buff and owns or has owned several. I've never done anything but a field strip on my 1911s before (never a detail), but that's what needed to be done. My coworker detail stripped the frame and as you guys suggested, the sear spring wasn't installed correctly. He also said the pin that held the ambi saftey on was too long, and he had no idea how it ever would've worked since the thing stuck out almost 1/8" inch too long and prevented the safety from working. He had an extra pin that fit so he swapped it in there. He also said the internals were coated and clogged with grease so he cleaned it up a bit and reassembled. From what he told me, someone had probably detail stripped the gun and didn't put it back together correctly. Now the pistol works fine. Woohoo!

[Stradawhovious]

Glad to hear it.

Range report next........

[Lunchbox]

Since you got it all worked out and nobody else has said it....

[Seismic Sam]

First off I want to thank each and everyone who offered to help with my pistol. This is a great community with lots of folks willing to help. I do check the board periodically but with nothing new to report, I decided not to post any updates until now.

I feel like a fool for not having done a thorough inspection before laying down the cash. I could've sworn that the hammer cocked when I bought it, but according to the person who fixed it, that couldn't have been the case. Note to self: next time you buy a gun, check everything.

I bet you haven't figured out how bad a mistake you could have really made, and were lucky to escape feeling like a fool. If you hadn't stripped the gun, but had instead taken it to a range, loaded the mag, inserted it in the gun and then racked the slide, the gun would almost certainly have slam fired and put a 45 caliber hole wherever the muzzle was pointed. Depending on your gun handling skills or lack thereof, somebody could have gotten seriously hurt. Not completely sure if a gun set up like that couldn't have gone full auto until the mag ran dry. Pleasant dreams, rookie....

[Stradawhovious]

I bet you haven't figured out how bad a mistake you could have really made, and were lucky to escape feeling like a fool. If you hadn't stripped the gun, but had instead taken it to a range, loaded the mag, inserted it in the gun and then racked the slide, the gun would almost certainly have slam fired and put a 45 caliber hole wherever the muzzle was pointed.

I'm not sure that the hammer riding the tail end of the slide into battery would have enough force on the firing pin to set of a round. In my mind's eye, the slide would have to be in battery BEFORE the hammer fell in order for the pin to be hit hard enough to send it forward with enough force to touch off the primer. That pin has to be hit squarely and pretty damn hard to do it's job.

I might be wrong though.

I often am.

[ijosef]

I bet you haven't figured out how bad a mistake you could have really made, and were lucky to escape feeling like a fool. If you hadn't stripped the gun, but had instead taken it to a range, loaded the mag, inserted it in the gun and then racked the slide, the gun would almost certainly have slam fired and put a 45 caliber hole wherever the muzzle was pointed. Depending on your gun handling skills or lack thereof, somebody could have gotten seriously hurt. Not completely sure if a gun set up like that couldn't have gone full auto until the mag ran dry. Pleasant dreams, rookie....

I didn't even think of that. I never take a gun to the range without getting familiar with it first, which includes a basic field strip and cleaning. I"ll get my camera out and take some pictures.

[Seismic Sam]

I'm not sure either Strad, but this is a pretty scary case where the hammer has ben totally disconnected from the grip safety AND the trigger AND the mechanism that keeps the hammer from falling until the slide is in battery. If that thing starts to cycle, it won't stop until the mag's dry. And there is the additional issue of the fact that the slide slamming into battery will create some forward G-forces on the firing pin, which by themselves are controlled by the firing pin spring, but if you combine that G-force with the hammer strike it might be enough to get the job done.

[gyrfalcon]

Dang he fixed it, I was going to advise he upgrade to a Glock

[Rem700]

One more reason why on the first range trip its not a bad idea to load one round in the first mag 2rds in the 2mag 3rds in the thirdmag etc.
Until its verified that the firearm functions correctly.

[Seismic Sam]

One more reason why on the first range trip its not a bad idea to load one round in the first mag 2rds in the 2mag 3rds in the thirdmag etc.
Until its verified that the firearm functions correctly.

Very good advice!!!

[goett047]

One more reason why on the first range trip its not a bad idea to load one round in the first mag 2rds in the 2mag 3rds in the thirdmag etc.
Until its verified that the firearm functions correctly.

Always do this

[ijosef]

Dang he fixed it, I was going to advise he upgrade to a Glock

Well, I didn't fix it, someone else fixed it for me. I did get a kick out of the speculation that I had actually detail stripped it myself, couldn't put it back together, and either didn't know it or didn't want to own up to it. Trust me, if I tried to detail strip a 1911 for the first time, I'd be posting a thread on here asking "how do I put this thing back together?" I did find a lot of complete 1911 detail strip guides with pictorials on the web though. Still, the first time I do it I'll have someone with me who has done it before.

Anyway, pictures as asked...

[Rem700]

One more reason why on the first range trip its not a bad idea to load one round in the first mag 2rds in the 2mag 3rds in the thirdmag etc.
Until its verified that the firearm functions correctly.

Always do this

I always do with any new to me gun or anything that has had any work related to the fire control group.
I once upon a time installed a new grip safety on Series II Kimber all appeared to function correctly several weeks later dureing a range trip I found that the gun failed to fire (schwartz safety)even thou the hammer dropped fine, I had been carrying that nonfunctioning pistol for those 2 weeks
Bare minimum now I pencil check fireing pin function before heading to the range.

[sharpshot71]

I bet you haven't figured out how bad a mistake you could have really made, and were lucky to escape feeling like a fool. If you hadn't stripped the gun, but had instead taken it to a range, loaded the mag, inserted it in the gun and then racked the slide, the gun would almost certainly have slam fired and put a 45 caliber hole wherever the muzzle was pointed.

I'm not sure that the hammer riding the tail end of the slide into battery would have enough force on the firing pin to set of a round. In my mind's eye, the slide would have to be in battery BEFORE the hammer fell in order for the pin to be hit hard enough to send it forward with enough force to touch off the primer. That pin has to be hit squarely and pretty damn hard to do it's job.

I might be wrong though.

I often am.

I am not a 1911 expert by any means, I have never even fired one.
It would be really terrible from a design standpoint if it would fire and go full auto by having the sear not catch the hammer. It is very easy to imagine a number of scenerios where the sear might miss the hammer and the hammer would ride the slide forward. My guess is that it that scenerio was considered during the design of the guns.

[Seismic Sam]

I bet you haven't figured out how bad a mistake you could have really made, and were lucky to escape feeling like a fool. If you hadn't stripped the gun, but had instead taken it to a range, loaded the mag, inserted it in the gun and then racked the slide, the gun would almost certainly have slam fired and put a 45 caliber hole wherever the muzzle was pointed.

I'm not sure that the hammer riding the tail end of the slide into battery would have enough force on the firing pin to set of a round. In my mind's eye, the slide would have to be in battery BEFORE the hammer fell in order for the pin to be hit hard enough to send it forward with enough force to touch off the primer. That pin has to be hit squarely and pretty damn hard to do it's job.

I might be wrong though.

I often am.

I am not a 1911 expert by any means, I have never even fired one.
It would be really terrible from a design standpoint if it would fire and go full auto by having the sear not catch the hammer. It is very easy to imagine a number of scenerios where the sear might miss the hammer and the hammer would ride the slide forward. My guess is that it that scenerio was considered during the design of the guns.

Yes, you're right, but that consideration only applies to a CORRECTLY assembled gun. This gun was reassembled by an idiot who put the sear in wrong so it wasn't in contact with the hammer at all. And then he sold it to somebody who didn't check it out very well before he bought it. Design has nothing to do with this particular incident.