My dad has an old AMT longslide that's been sitting in a cardboard box for the last 20 years or so. He pulled it out recently and found the firing pin jammed. After getting the whole thing apart, the firing pin and spring are rusted all to hell and there's some rust in the firing pin hole. I plan to replace the firing pin and spring, but is there anyway to go about removing some/all of the rust from the hole? I ran an oiled q-tip into the hole with a low speed drill for a minute and it seemed to do some good.
Also, all of the firing pins I've found have a groove cut near the tail end for the series 80 (I think) firing pin block. The pin that came out of the gun does not have the groove. Can I replace it with one of the grooved pins or is there a source for non-grooved pins?
Lastly, I am by no stretch a gunsmith or 1911 expert, but I would like to work my way up to at least a decent layman's knowledge of their inner workings. Can anyone recommend some good reading material?
Thanks,
Dave
A Ser. 80 firing pin will work just fine in a standard slide.
Just make sure you get one with the correct tip diameter, 9mm are smaller than the .45 ones
Thanks! I'm fairly certain its a .45 pin since that's what its chambered for, but I'll break out the calipers. Better safe than sorry. Do you know off hand what the diameter should be?
You can use a bronze bore brush to clean out the firing pin hole.
I don't have my .45 handy at the moment, but either a .22 or a .17 caliber brush will do.
Apply a slug of something like Kroil or CLP Breakfree into the hole and let soak over night. This will soften and loosen the rust.
After soaking, put the correct size brush in a drill, apply more solvent to the brush and run it in the hole at medium to slow speed, moving the brush in and out.
Flush with fresh fluid and dry with Q-tips.
By far and away the best source of information on the mechanics of the 1911 pistol is gunsmith Jerry Kuhnhausen's book "The Colt .45 Automatic: A Shop Manual, Volume One".
There is also a Volume Two, but it's more the actual blueprints of the individual parts and some advanced gunsmithing.
This manual was written as a training aid for the new gunsmiths Kuhnhausen trained for the industry and gun companies.
It covers EVERYTHING on how to gunsmith the 1911 pistols, and none of it is the usual reprints of the old Ordnance field manuals.
The book show how the 1911 works, how to totally disassemble, how to inspect parts, how to fit and install new parts, how to reassemble correctly, and how to trouble shoot advanced problems.
It's the best money a 1911 owner can spend.
If you ever sent a Colt 1911 pistol in to Colt for repairs, this is how the factory would repair it.
http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=13805/Product/JERRY-KUHNHAUSEN-THE-COLT-45-AUTOMATIC
Nightdriver, thanks for the measurements. Now I just need to find my calipers, I think they ended up at my folks place with my reloading gear.
dfariswheel, thanks for the info. I'll swing by my local shop and pick up a .17 brush. I'm thinking the frame may be stainless from the lack of rust anywhere else, so hopefully the hole is just crusty from the spring rusting and not too damaged. I'll be ordering that book this weekend with the new pin and spring too, I just need to put together a few other pieces I need to order and get it rolling. I was pretty surprised, Brownells isn't the first place I think of for great prices but they beat Amazon's price on the book by nearly $10.
