1911 mags fit loosely
Hi,
I recently purchased a custom 1911 with and essex frame and colt 80 series slide assembly. I have tried mil, wilson combat, chuck mccormick, and colt mags in the weapon and they all have about an 8th of an inch play when the mag's locked. I switched the mag catch to one that was out of a brand new para and it did the same thing. Any help or advice would b greatly appreciated!!!
Thanx,
Dmac
I recently purchased a custom 1911 with and essex frame and colt 80 series slide assembly. I have tried mil, wilson combat, chuck mccormick, and colt mags in the weapon and they all have about an 8th of an inch play when the mag's locked. I switched the mag catch to one that was out of a brand new para and it did the same thing. Any help or advice would b greatly appreciated!!!
Thanx,
Dmac
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That is one of the problems with ESSEX frames you might get a good one and then get one with every pin hole Mag-wellor other machineing operation misplaced within the SPECIFICATION OF A 1911 FRAME. Sorry but most likely why they went out of Business. I used to buy 3 at a time to build match pistols on and then send the out of spec one back. used to be 10% and later got as high as 75% bad ones. Caspian frames are very good and they sell some Blemish one at Camp Perry for very good prices. 0 -
The Essex frame is out of spec, just like Perry said. Scrap it or pawn it off on some poor sucker, and get a Caspian or Fusion [;)] 0 -
Does the gun feed out of a sloppy magazine?
EGW makes a magazine catch that will gain you back part of that slop.
http://shootersconnectionstore.com/EGW-1911-High-Magazine-Catch-HD-P1357.aspx
I agree, 20 thou might not be enough to matter.
JP used to offer a +.050 but I don't see it on their www - they still have instructions for it, though - but that still might not be enough.
I have read of magazine catches being welded up for a higher lip which would be limited only by the diameter of the hole. But that would be expensive to salvage an Essex that probably cost about $40 to start with.
You might talk to Virgil Tripp. He will provide magazines with notches specific to the STI Trojan, he might cut some for the Essex.0 -
Dwildside,
Re: quote:Originally posted by Dwildside68
recently purchased a custom 1911 with essex frame and colt 80 series slide assembly. I have tried mil, wilson combat, chuck mccormick, and colt mags in the weapon and they all have about an 8th of an inch play when the mag's locked. I switched the mag catch to one that was out of a brand new para and it did the same thing.
Believe that you have picked-up one of my old rigs here!
The symptoms are indentical. Sold it in mid-'80's @ GWF in Pomona ....0 -
Folks like dcs and b04 selling their problems to "some poor sucker" are the reason I don't buy second hand without a testfire or a 100% money back guarantee. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Hawk Carse
Folks like dcs and b04 selling their problems to "some poor sucker" are the reason I don't buy second hand without a testfire or a 100% money back guarantee.
I wouldn't have bought the trash in the first place [^]
That kind of problem is easy to catch.
After building 1911,s I know Essex frames are mostly out of spec.0 -
I think you have the answer, your frame is out of spec.
As to fixing it, you've got a few options, probably none of which are completely satisfactory:
a. Replace Essex frame with better one and sell crappy frame to partially offset cost.
b. Sell entire gun to next sucker; move on to something else.
c. Have mag release hole welded off then re-drilled to spec.
d. Have custom magazine catch fabricated to compensate for out-of-spec hole.
"c" may not be cost effective; don't know. It also may detract from the guns appearance a bit depending on how its done and finished afterwards.
"d" has a sort of appeal, but again, I don't know how easy or cost effective it might be to do this.
Edit, I just saw Hawk's post above. I don't think another 0.02" is going to solve the problem entirely but for only $30, its a pretty low-cost thing to try. Here it is from the manufacturer direct:
http://www.egwguns.com/mag-catches-mag-catch-locks/egw-hd-higher-mag-catch/
Just swapping out the mag catch should be trivial; I think all you need is a small screwdriver.
Another thing you could do is either create or locate out-of-spec mags to go with your out of spec frame, but personally, I don't find that solution particularly appealing either.0 -
Thanx for all ur help guys. The whole problem was i saw the pistol right before it was set to go off auction and didn't take the time to check it out. I'll know better nxt time lol. I got it off a guy n tx so i don't know if it would've been ur rig or not lol, nethings possible. I'll try that mag release and just hope it fixes it!!! Thanx again!!!!! 0
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