How a 1911 thumb-safety works

[Rpenn57]

I don't own a 1911 but very interesting, Thanks.

[puma guy]

Very informative post, Andy. In the 1960's when I was old enough to own a pistol the cheapest and most common semi-auto was a surplus 1911 and a lot of guys at the range I used would "tune up" and/or change out trigger and safety parts to improve the pistols. I even tried it my self on my Norwegian 1911, but the sear wouldn't catch at all, so I put the old parts back. Most of time the results were similar to mine, but there were several instances that I witnessed where the pistols went full auto. The owner was less than pleased when he heard that sound. One full auto was was my cousin's who had honed the sear on his Remington Rand too much and it finally let loose. The interchangeability of AR parts may give some folks the false impression it's a simple task to alter weapons. As you point out it's a not that simple.

[Dadtodabone]

Good info, AndyC, thanks.

[goose]

Very nice info graphics. Thank you!

[flechero]

Andy,

Thanks for posting. I'm not brave enough to fit one- I only did the contouring of the paddles... there is a much bigger margin of error when shaping for comfort!

[RossA]

I once had a butcher "gunsmith" do a "trigger job" on a 1911 and I ended up full auto. Cost me even more to go to a real gunsmith and have it fixed.