Pre series 70 dropping hammer after releasing slide.

I have an accurized Colt 1911 that I got from my deceased frineds estate. The gun hasn't been shot since the 70's. I shot about 25 rounds and didn't notice anything. I was messing with it last night with the magazine out, When I locked the slide back and released it some of the time the hammer would drop also. It appeared to get caught by the "safety notch". This would occur not occur or very rarely with just pulling back the slide and releasing. It also occured alot less often if there was a magazine in the gun.
The trigger is probably in the 3lb range. Any suggestions and is this dangerous, The gun would not be used for self defense but just for fun shooting as its extremelyh accurate.
JR

Have your gunsmith repair or replace the FCG parts that are causing the problem-Sear and Hammer?

I guess I will have to locate a "competent" gunsmith in my area. I haven't used one in years and they aren't still in the biz. I guess they will have to redo the trigger job also.
JR

Trigger from side doesn't appear to be adjustable, or is it ? If it were an adjustable trigger you would back it off some IF you had tightened it. I suspct your sear needs to be recut. Also, the precision shooters that I hang with sometimes warn of dropping slide with finely cut sears just for the reason you've posted. ( Your not supposed to drop a 1911 slide down on an empty barrel. I won't tell anyone you've done that. ) Bulls eye shooters run an extremely crisp trigger and like a decent amount of back cut with the hammer notches rounded ever so slight. If you want to preserve a clean, crisp trigger find a smith that has a reputation for precision. One who has experience with pistols like yours. You don't find those guys in the yellow pages, they tend to hang around shooting events. There are a couple of good smiths that hang out in this forum, one of them is a motionator. I still think you got a once in a life time find in your pistols. Enjoy.

You are full of failure. You are taking a 1911 with a heavier slide then normal [raised sight rail] and very probably a [once] nice trigger job and doing about the worst thing someone can do, IE dropping the slide without a mag and round entering the chamber.

The gun isn't the problem, YOU are the problem.

Learn how to treat a 1911 and it'll take care of you. Never drop the slide on an empty chamber, either ride the slide forward in a controlled fashion, have it chamber a round or Hold the trigger back as you run the slide forward. Your friend is turning in his grave right now. Looks as if he was a VERY good friend and thought a great deal of you, learn how to take care of that fine piece of machinery in return..

Give me a break. I haven't shot a 1911 since the mid 70's and they were all stock. I carried revolvers most of my LE career. I also taught firearms instruction as part of my job. I was certified by the academy to teach Revolvers and later semi autos, They didn;t teach the correct handling of a bullseye 1911. My friend hardly shot since the 70's and I have never seen these guns before. I purchased 2 of them from his wife. This is the first I have heard about dropping the slide on a gun with no rounds. I was getting ready to leave on vacation and had the guns out to make sure they were unloaded and oiled before I left. Thats when I noticed the hammer falling on the one. I tried it several times to see what was happening. The only thing I usually do is dry fire some of my guns and I know that doesn't hurt them. The guns belong to me now and I plan on shooting them regularly not make safe queens out of them. I have enough of those. I have Sig , H&K and Kahr autos and never hard anything about dropping the slide on an empty chamber either.
JR

BTW there is a hole in the lower part of the trigger. Don't know if thats for adjustment or what.
AND I PROMISE NOT TO DROP THE SLIDE ON AN EMPTY CHAMBER SINCE I WAS EDUCATED THOUGH RUDELY

First I suspect the trigger is less then 3 lbs, the lighter the trigger the greater the possibility of it doing what you've described. Dropping the slide while empty is something to be generally avoided, though is necassary when doing a function test When doing a function test on a gun with a trigger job one should depress the trigger and hold it depressed while dropping the slide to avoid sear bounce and damage to the hammer/sear contact surfaces.

Now ................ remove the mainspring housing & grip safety. Bend the middle finger of the sear spring in slightly and reassemble. When you do the function check follow the above. If the hammer still follows then it needs to see a Smith.

Sorry if I came off a bit harshly but it sounded like a keepsake from a good friend and you were doing something that would destroy the pistol mechanically in pretty short order. A good hammer/sear job can last a long time but can also be destroyed in very short order. Once the edge is chipped or damaged it'll never be the same again without new parts and someone who knows what they are doing.

While it's of a type that doesn't get built much anymore [bullseye type] it's still a very nice 1911 and someone put some serious thought into who should get it.

Yes, hole in bottom of trigger should be for adjustment. A 1/64th Allen turns mine, though I'm suspect correct Allen to be metric. It wouldn't hurt a thing to back it off half a turn. Every time you post your pistols I have to cover my keyboard anticipating drool short circuiting it. My first 1911 was used for bulls eye, I was never able to appreciate what I had until landing in a group of precision shooters. ie. suggestion to find a group like that. I've never met a bulls eye shooter who wasn't nice enough to hang around for questions. It's all fun.

P.S. as you probably know when tuning sear forks a little bending goes a long way.

Thanks, Here is the other one I have. They both seem to shoot extremely well but the first one has the best trigger. I met my friend in the early 90's. He didn't shoot much then but we both bought some nice guns. He died prematurely and I bought 7 of his handguns. Mostly the ones from the 70's that I had never seen since he wasn't a show n tell kind of guy.
JR

There are a few competent gunsmiths in your area.just gotta find them. Check with the shops in Columbia and see who they recommend. Charlotte,Asheville and Atlanta have a few as well. Theres a Bullseye guy in Greenville thats good too. If you dont have any luck, PM me and I will try and give you some contact info. CW

I am in Greenville area.
JR

Those are bullseye guns, and accuracy is all that matters with them.

They are NOT intended to be carried or used outside of a square range.
They are strictly target guns.

Stop dropping the slide without a loaded magazine.

You are very likely to have already damaged the seer and full cock notch.
When you jar the seer of the notch there is no clearance as the hammer rotates and drags on the seer.

Get ahold of the Greenville Gun Club and ask when the next bullseye match is. I cant for the life of me remember the names, but there are a couple of hobby bullseye Gunsmiths that go there and can help you. That bordered stippling looks vaguely familiar. Having lived there for over twenty years, I suspect your guns originated in the area. Chuck

I GOT IT...............THE FIRST TIME

JR

I'm still a little confused my self How does having a round in the chamber prevent damage? I'm sure I've dropped my slide empty a few times, seen countless others do it also. (not target guns, GI guns) I've looked at my sear and hammer, no visable damage.

Cartridge slows slide down and becomes a shock absorber. I ve made the mistake of dropping slide down on cartridge only to look around and see dismay on the faces of precision shooters around me. Thus the excitement over this thread. When I say dropping I mean from the slide stop lock. After much admonishment I was then counseled to release slide and allow a gentler fall. The reason being is sears for these guns are cut very fine with more back cut than usual. I guess the best way to describe is relate dropping a rock on a razor blade. My carry 45 gets the slide dropped from the slide stop all the time with a loaded round, sear isn't cut as fine..... Dropping a slide on an empty 45 is the hardest thing you can do to it. There is nothing there to absorb the impact. Keep dropping your slide on empty chamber and you'll start getting creep in your trigger.

ETA: A range instructor one time asked to see one of my 1911s I had just done. I dropped the magazine, locked slide. Showed him the empty chamber then handed it to him. He's a Glock guy and NRA instructer, but doesn't have the common sense God gave a mule. He looked at it and dropped the slide on empty chamber like it was his Glock. It was all I could do to keep a smile on my face.

When does the barrel and the 'slamming slide' come into direct contact with the sear hammer???

It doesn't, it jars the hammer off the sear due to bounce.

It's not recommended for several reasons, one, metal to metal slamming is like hitting an anvil with a hammer and nothing on the anvil, two if it follows the hammer is caught by the sear and that hurts the sear,. what's happening is trigger bounce, when the slide hits it causes the trigger to bounce and that releases the sear. Increasing the tension on the center leaf will help it resist.



LOG

As much as I have been chastised for dropping the slide how is one supposed to know unless they are around bullseye and or precision shooters. In LE instructor school I was taught to grab the slide and forcefully slam the slide to make sure it locked on the round. Nobody ever said anything about releasing on an empty chamber. Hopefully I learned before the guns were damaged severely. I only did it a few times after inspecting the guns.
JR

Probably no harm done, and hard dropping a slide is done for the purpose of checking hammer follow. So your doing it, and questioning it has alerted you that your gun could use some sear spring tuning.

LOG

The gun may very well have a ten lb recoil spring in it as well. Change it to a 16 lb stock spring if you are going to shoot normal loads, not bulls eye loads. I have a 60's Giles built gun that
is ever so similar to yours. You will never shoot a more accurate pistol if it's anything like mine.

Mybuddy told me he had a 45 that would shoot between and inch and inch and a half from a ransom rest at 50 yards, Since I know have both of them just need to find out which is the most acccurate. Don't have any bullseye ammo and haven't found his stash yet.
JR

Geez - not THIS again!

If you had a sub-4 pound trigger job done on a surface-hardened sear - (that is to say, a goverment surplus 1911, local "arms room" target build-up, any colt old enough to be built with WWII surplus sears or any gun fitted with a WWII or earlier sear in the course of being smithed) its very likely that the shallow surface hardening had been stoned/filed through on at least the sear (maybe the hammer hooks too), and dropping the slide in such manner would rapidly undo your expensive trigger job.

While dropping the slide on an empty chamber is not the best thing for it, it should'nt be near the issue with modern, good quality parts, like tool-steel sears, as it was up to the 60's....

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