Officer Model Fixes

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Gunsmiths, whether they are true professionals with a shop and a storefront, a kitchen table tinkerer, or a machinist with spare time and materiel on their hands, are more often than not put in a position wherein they are solving a problem with a firearm, sometimes even more so than building new firearms, fitting barrels, and the like. There are two distinct paths that are taken to get to the bottom of an issue.

The first is "tribal knowledge" that is either passed from person to person or researching the issue and the second is by doing a lot of trial and error. This article pertains to a little bit of both. I recently had an issue when my Officer Model 1911 began causing nosedive failures to feed. It was a sudden and constant issue. I’d load a magazine, click it into place, draw the slide back, and let it slingshot forward.

Instead of the "clack!" one normally hears when a 1911 slide goes home, all I got was a dull "thunk" and the slide barely inched forward. Digging through my notes on the platform (after safely clearing the firearm, of course), I started going down the troubleshooting list of what could go wrong and what a possible fix might be. I started with the magazine. It was factory original with the pistol. I cycled it out of rotation, even though it didn’t seem like the spring was weakened from age and use.

I put it aside and supplied a fresh new magazine loaded with snap caps, however, I was met with the same issue of a "thunk" and minimal slide movement. So I cleared the firearm safely and disassembled it in the typical way. After triple checking to make sure it was empty of all ammunition, I retracted the slide until the witness hole in the guide rod was visible and slid a tiny hex key in there to capture the spring and plug.

I then retracted the slide a bit more until the takedown cutout was aligned with the pin and removed it. This allows the slide to come forward off of the frame. I immediately put the thumb safety on as I didn’t want to inadvertently trip the trigger and have the hammer slam into the frame and cause damage. At this point I had two evident tasks, checking the frame and the controls on it to see if something was binding and then checking the slide for anything that would cause a failure to feed.

I also immediately dug back into my notes and These area great addition that don’t add any bulk to the pistol, especially for those of us that don’t like changing our grip to send a slide back into battery after a magazine change. consulted some fellow 1911 owners to see if they had experienced the same problem. The frame only had the typical wear on the feed ramp integral to the frame and where the magazine had rubbed against the internal surfaces, nothing impeding the slide from going forward.

The overwhelming response from fellow 1911 shooters, which concurred with my notes, was that the recoil spring assembly was the culprit. When they sit under compression for extended periods of time as they do, they begin to take a set and weaken. I decided to give the pistol a slight overhaul to better suit it to carrying concealed, and this was the perfect opportunity to perform these upgrades along with replacing the worn recoil spring.

I purchased a bobbed hammer, solid stainless steel mainspring housing, and an extended slide stop from Fusion Firearms (FusionFirearms.com, of Venice, Florida. I also needed anew recoil spring assembly, so I went back to Fusion for a replacement assembly in the standard weight for a 45 ACP-chambered Officer Model. I had a spare new firing pin spring on hand and figured if I was going to have the slide out and apart, I might as well tackle replacing that spring as well.

Springs are cheap and you don’t want to be stuck in a sticky situation when they go bad. Now I needed to pull the slide apart. Kimber has embraced the

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Below it are the new recoil assembly, also from Fusion Firearms, and factory reverse spring plug. To remove that plate, simultaneously depress the firing pin itself and the firing pin stop in the underside of the slide. Removing this plate allows you to remove the extractor for inspection and allows you to remove the firing pin and spring. Series 80 setup in their pistols (at least on both of mine) and the takedown for the slide for service is a little more intricate than some others.

To do this I first depressed the firing pin stop in the underside and keep it depressed with a small punch to push in the firing pin and simultaneously slide the firing pin block down slightly while relieving pressure on the firing pin stop. I then worked the block out of its recess while keeping the slide pointed into a cardboard box so the pin and spring couldn’t take off across the room! There is a good chance the firing pin stop will keep the pin in its channel but one should never assume.

I also kept that pin recess pointed away from my eyes (over which I always have protection) and into something to catch it, should it take off. I cannot stress this enough. I have chased after my fair share of springs and components that have flown across the room and floor of my work area. I have even left a few small dents in the ceiling and walls, too. But I digress.

The firing pin and spring have remained captured, so I covered Far This must be depressed to allow the firing pin to travel either forward to detonate a cartridge or to the rear for removal. Shown are the pin with the new spring around it, ready to be seated back in its place in the slide.

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them with my hand and depressed the firing pin stop once again. With both parts freed up, I removed them and set them aside. Many 1911 shooters also like to take this opportunity to check their extractors for tension, tuning, and cleanliness of the channel. 1911 extractors are mostly held place by the firing pin block but they actuate by putting pressure on the wall of its channel to firmly grip the rim of the round being fed and extracted.

Should this channel get too dirty, it could impede operation by locking up any movement the extractor would need to properly function. Once I’d taken the firing pin block out, the extractor slid out with ease. I have now taken the slide apart far enough to inspect and clean as necessary. Reassembly is in the opposite order. I am of the school of thought that springs are cheap and easilyreplaced wear parts on firearms so I took this opportunity to change out the firing pin spring for anew one.

After inspecting the firing pin for any damage or deformities, I placed the new spring on and set it aside. I took the time to scrub the firing pin and extractor channels to make sure there were no foreign materials in them.

Once cleaned, I dabbed a cotton swab in quality gun oil and applied a thin coat to the two channels, being careful not to over-lubricate these areas as excess oil is known to retain powder residue and foreign materials like lint and dirt which would send me back to square one with any slide issues. Ire-inserted the extractor after checking it for proper tuning, then the firing pin and spring keeping the firing pin stop depressed to allow the pin and spring to fully reach "home" in their channel.

The firing pin block was started back into its recess, making sure to align the extractor’s cutout with the block as I started it in. I then depressed both the firing pin stop and the firing pin itself to allow the block to slide back into place. Once I was satisfied everything was back together properly, I went back to the recoil assembly that started this whole adventure.

I removed the existing recoil assembly and replaced it with the new set of parts from Fusion, then topped it off with the factory reverse recoil spring plug. Next, I fed it back into its place in the slide. I then set the entire slide assembly aside for now. Far My pin punch is pointing out the thumb safety plunger that must be kept in the frame for proper function of the safety. This will be pushed back into place with a small screwdriver covered in tape.

The new bobbed hammer gets rid of the protruding spur on the hammer while still retaining the necessary mass to get the firing pin to reliably detonate primers. It also looks great when you are done shooting and the hammer is down on an empty chamber as its geometry follows the existing lines of the rear of the slide with no spur sticking out. Best part is it allows use of the factory grip safety as there is an abundance of clearance and no need to fit another grip safety’s pawl.

It was a "win-win" situation for me. To do the hammer replacement, I first must removed the mainspring housing by removing the grip panels and placing the pistol on its right side on a soft bench block. This allows use of a pin punch to push the mainspring retaining pin out. The mainspring and housing are under considerable spring pressure, so I upended the pistol and pressed the mainspring on my bench block to allow my punch to be removed. Easing

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Once I was satisfied, I upended the pistol and pressed on that housing to get the punch loose and started the pin back into place. Laying the pistol back on its right side, I was able to drive the pin home with my brass hammer. Two audible clicks, I’d say that is a success! the pistol up to take spring pressure off, I cocked the hammer to help with the removal of the mainspring housing, then slid it right off without issue.

Fusion Firearms sold me the aforementioned parts as "drop-in ready" and they were true to their advertising. After taking the time to remove the old mainspring housing, which included the mainspring, mainspring plunger, and capture pin in the factory plastic part, I moved all of the internals into the new mainspring housing, slid it partially up into its slots, and then began work on the hammer replacement.

The sear spring had come loose, as it does with most 1911 pistols that have been stripped down for whatever reason. Pointing the frame down, I slid the sear spring back into place and started pressing the mainspring housing up slightly to capture the sear spring in place. I was sure not to fully seat the mainspring housing as this impedes the replacement of the hammer by putting spring pressure on the hammer strut and pinching the hammer pin in place. Next for removal was the thumb safety.

On models with a single lever, this is easily achieved by gently wiggling the safety between the "on" and "off" positions while gently lifting up on the part. The safety plunger may or may not try to abscond at this point and I had to make sure I didn’t lose it! That’s it for models like mine, with ambidextrous units first needing to have the left side removed as mentioned.

I then swung the right side lever up off of the retaining boss on the right side of the frame and then slid it out of the right side of the frame. This allows removal of the grip safety and will also expose the hammer pin, so I removed the grip safety and set it aside. The hammer pin only goes into the frame one way, so that it is captured by the existence of the thumb safety, but in this case it extends past the right side of the frame to provide the pin for the right side thumb safety’s attachment.

I gently slid the pin out of the left side of the frame, allowing the hammer to be removed and carefully set the remainder of my frame aside. Using a bench block to support the hammer, I drove out the hinge pin that captures the hammer strut. Once the hammer strut pin was driven out, the strut was free and I placed it next to the bench block. I set the original hammer aside for my parts bin and placed the new hammer on the bench block and started the strut pin back into the hole.

Placing the strut back in its position and double checking to make sure the strut arced rearward (towards the shooter), I used a brass hammer to drive the pin back into place. This hammer and strut can now be checked for proper function (it should swing freely), placed back into the frame, and the pin seated to keep it in place. At this point, I started to reassemble the frame. Bringing the frame to level allowed the hammer strut to fall freely into place against the sear spring.

I gently placed the grip safety back into place and captured the grip safety by placing the thumb safety parts back into place in reverse order from when I took everything apart. Using a small flat blade screwdriver with some tape around the tip, I depressed the thumb safety plunger and seated the thumb safety back in place. Now comes the interesting part of seating the mainspring housing and starting the retaining pin.

I made sure the hammer strut was lined up with the mainspring plunger and rested the new solid stainless mainspring housing on my bench block. I gently pressed the frame down onto the housing until I could get the pin started in its recess to keep everything in place. I then placed the frame on its side on the bench block and drove the mainspring pin flush with the frame. I checked the new hammer

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for function and two "clicks" on the sear. Perfect engagement! I then checked function on the thumb safety levers and they effortlessly clicked into place in both the "on" and "off" positions. I left it in the "on" position to finish up my work. I reattached the grip panels using some new screws that I found on sale at Brownells, added the slide assembly back to the top of the frame, clicked the slide release into place (being careful NOT to "idiot scratch" the frame), and loaded a magazine with snap caps.

After three magazines full of snap caps that reliably fed, took a firing pin strike, and ejected, I was satisfied that my work was complete. Solving the problem was almost as much fun as actually shooting the pistol, and allowed me to go from the terrible pun of, "What seems to be the problem, Officer?" to having a reliably functioning carry pistol again.

I have recently started selling my old and spare parts to Numrich as this is away for other gunsmiths to be able to obtain parts I don’t want or need and it puts a little spare cash in the fund for my new parts. Thanks for reading, and I hope that this helps you, should you have a similar issue cross your bench. I’d like to give a special "Thank you" to Fusion Firearms of Venice, Florida and Brownells.

AG I made this from scrap lying on my bench, even including a polymer tip for when I really want to take it easy on something. Every good machinist or gunsmith should have at least a few brass hammers in their toolboxes. This thing is worth ten times its weight in gold. American Gunsmith Reader Services 1.