Working the Para-Ordnance LDA Carry Companion, Part 2

In the last issue, I made a polite request that you do not fully disassemble an LDA as described in Part 1 of this article until you had read this month’s installment on reassembly. If you instead yielded to temptation, and ended up with parts all over your bench, you may be missing a few. This is why certain homo sapiens—better known to the gunsmithing community as "parts ferrets"—should be barred from your work area at all times. As long as you’re not missing the receiver, you’re in luck.

It’s the only restricted component on an LDA and the only one missing from Brownells list of Para-Ordnance pistol parts.

Check that; catalog #56 does not list a hammer assembly, though it probably will be included in future catalogs because Para-Ordnance is going to be offering the assembly as a unit. (Para-Ordnance’s customer-service phone number is This latest bit of info is provided just in case you knocked out the hammer pin during takedown, and you’re holding a handful of small items but are short a couple because a parts ferret did his dirty deed.

Warning has been fairly given about these evil doers, so let’s get on with reassembly of the pistol. I’ll expand on the subject of the hammer assembly toward the end of this discussion. The Slide Referring to the schematic in last month’s issue, you’ll begin with the extractor; in this case, the PXT.

Insert that assembled unit in its slide channel, making certain to align the slot in the extractor body with the slide’s firing-pin stop slot, but leaving the PXT about 1/16 inch to the rear of being fully seated. "Fully seated" means the back end of the PXT is flush with the back end of the slide. This will enable installation of the firing-pin safety spring (#37) and safety (#10). This simple task is made simpler with a dab of light grease.

The grease is applied to one end of the spring, the spring is placed in the safety plunger, and the two are installed simultaneously. Press down lightly on the plunger. At the same time, push the PXT fully forward. You may have to tap it flush with a wooden, plastic, or rawhide mallet. The PXT will now retain the safety plunger in the slide. Reassemble the firing pin to its spring. The small end of the spring

Figure 1. Reassembly of the Trigger Pin, Trigger, and Trigger-Return Spring goes on last to create the friction fit mentioned in Part 1. Depress the safety with a punch and insert the firing-pin assembly into its slide channel. Hold the safety down and use a second punch to push the firing-pin assembly fully forward. Release the safety, then the firing pin. The safety should hold it inside the slide, but that’s all that’s holding it.

Be careful not to jar it loose as you insert the firing-pin stop, rounded end first, into its slide slot. You may have to use a punch to align the PXT so it doesn’t interfere with the stop. Once the stop is completely seated, depress the safety. The back end of the firing pin will pop to the rear and stick out from the stop. The Receiver Check out Figure 1. The trigger (#51) is inserted downward through its opening in the receiver and held in place by its pin (#53).

The pin is partially installed through one side of the trigger leaving the center opening in the trigger clear for the trigger return spring (#54). Factory assemblers use a special tool to hold and position the spring for this next step. It’s pictured in Figure 2. I used a pair of paddle-end tweezers because I didn’t feel like making up the tool from sheet metal or plastic. A few words about the drawings in this article are appropriate here.

All were made available to us from our friends at Para-Ordnance—for which I thank them. The only way Figure 3. Reassembly of the Slide-Stop Plunger, Plunger Spring, and Slide-Lock Safety Figure 2. Reassembly of the Trigger Pin, Trigger, and Trigger-Return Spring some of them could have been duplicated would have been to cut a receiver in half and photograph it. And slicing up a brand-new pistol frame would not have been practical. Returning to Figure 2, when you position the spring, both its legs face downward.

The longer leg gets flexed forward into the receiver. The shorter leg flexes in the opposite direction and seats in the slot located at the upper rear of the trigger. When the trigger pin gets fully installed, it

should end up slightly recessed from both sides of the receiver. The trigger should pull and return smoothly and without hesitation. The slide-stop plunger (#50), plunger spring (#36) and slide-lock safety plunger (#44) are, hopefully, still an assembly. If not, assemble them as shown in Figure 3 and push them, rear to front, into their housing on the receiver’s left side.

If you have included the magazine-catch assembly in your premature disassembly of the pistol, insert the catch spring (#24) into its hole in the catch (#22). The end of the catch lock (#23), resembling a pin, fits in the center of the catch spring. Align the lug on the catch lock with its slot in the catch. A small screwdriver can be used to push the lug into the slot and compress the spring. Turn the lock a quarter turn counterclockwise, securing it in the catch. Install the Figure 4.

Hammer Assembly catch assembly in the receiver from the right until its left side protrudes from the left side of the receiver. Turn the catch lock a quarter turn clockwise to secure it. As promised earlier, it’s time to discuss the hammer assembly. This assembly is treated as a modular unit by the manufacturer. When damaged, it is replaced as a single component rather than replacing its parts. I’ve been told that considerable adjusting, precise inspection, and hand fitting of hammer assembly parts is required.

Even law-enforcement armorers who are well schooled in the LDA are not authorized to replace hammer-assembly components. However, they are cleared to reassemble existing parts into a complete assembly. With that in mind, I’m going to assume that your hammer assembly has come totally apart and tell you how to put those same parts back together Figure 5. Hammer and Return Spring Insert the hammer strut into the cam and secure it with the hammer strut pin. Take care here.

When you drive in the pin, support the cam to avoid crushing it. Now install the hammer-return spring into the center of the hammer as shown in Figure 5. The short leg of the spring has to be trapped in the space at the rear of the hammer. correctly. Orient the parts as shown in Figure 4. I know you’re working with a spurless hammer, but position it the same way as the one in the drawing. Now put your dexterity gloves on.

The downward-extending leg of the hammer-return spring must be positioned forward of the hammer-strut Figure 6. Reassembly of the Hammer Assembly, Firing-Pin Safety-Plunger Lever, Drawbar, and Hammer

Figure 7. Reassembly of the Drawbar pin in the cam. Slip the straddle over the hammer. Insert the cam, strut attached, into the opening in the center of the hammer. Align all parts and lock them together with the hammer-assembly pin, making sure the pin’s flared end is seated in the chamfered side of the hammer. The pin shouldn’t protrude in either direction. Hold the hammer assembly as in Figure 6, and work from the left side of the receiver. Install the assembly through the grip-safety opening.

Move the assembly upward to align the hammer and receiver-pin holes. Insert the hammer pin (#18) just far enough to hold the hammer in place. Prevent the pin from falling out as you maneuver the receiver over to its right side. Now, holding the drawbar as in Figure 7, pull the hammer rearward if necessary to insert the drawbar down into the receiver just forward of the hammer. Pull the trigger sufficiently and spear the drawbar on its trigger Figure 8. Reassembly of the Firing-Pin Safety-Plunger Lever stud.

Figure 8 shows you how to orient the firing-pin safety-plunger lever to the receiver. It is installed downward between the right side of the hammer and the left side of the drawbar. When the hole in the lever lines up with the hammer-pin hole in the receiver’s right side, push in the hammer pin until it’s fully seated. Pivot the hammer strut and hammer-return spring to the rear, and insert an empty magazine This will keep those parts from enterin the magazine well during the next step in reassembly.

Hold the sear as in Figure 9, push it upward into place, and lift th leg of the hammer-return spring onto the groove in the left rear of the sear. Install a 3/32-inch-diameter slave pin, right to left, through the sear-pin hole to temporarily retain the sear. Back the slave pin out slightly left to right. How much is "slightly"? Enough to allow the curved arm of the grip-safety lever, which is being held pointed upward between two of your fingers, to slip int the left of the sear.

Push the slave pin right to left to hold the sear and lever in position, then insert the non-flared end of the sear pin in the left side of th receiver and push out the slave pin. Use a punch to carefully nudge the sear pin about 1/4 inch into the receive from right to left. This is done to move the sear and safety lever to the left side of the receiver. Hold the drawbar platform angled-side up, round-end down, and install it to the right side of the sear.

The top of the platform should rest immediately under the rear end of the drawbar. Then you can push the sear pin back in to hold everything in position. If you have disassembled the mainspring housing, put it back together as you would the housing from an M1911 and set it aside. When you return to th receiver, you’ll have to keep it facing right-side up. Otherwise, the sear and hammer pins could fall out. Remove the empty magazine.

Position the drawbar-platform spring (#59) on its stud on the right side of the searspring. Pivot the hammer strut out of the way, and insert the sear spring into the receiver with the drawbar spring to the right. Move the sear spring upward. The drawbar spring has to slip over the bottom stud on the drawbar platform. The tab at the bottom of the sear spring fits into the horizontal slot at the lower end of the receiver, and th grip-safety lever is engaged in the notch in the long leg of the sear spring.

Hold the sear spring in place with a finger, and partially install the mainspring housing to temporarily secure it. The end of the hammer strut is placed in its

detent in the mainspring cap, and the bottom of the housing is pressed down very firmly on your bench. This action forces the housing up into the grip frame, and you start in the round end of the housing pin from right to left. You can tap it the rest of the way in from there with a non-marring mallet. Figure 10 shows how to position the "lollipop," or safety-lock lever. Slide it into its recess in the right rear of the receiver until its hole lines up with the slide-lock safety hole.

Align the same hole in the grip safety and install a slave pin. Keep the receiver facing left side up. Look into the slide-lock safety cutout to be sure the bottom corner of the straddle is forward and upward. If it isn’t, move it into that position with a small tool. Push out the slave pin with the pin section of the slide-lock safety, and maneuver the safety by wiggling it into contact with the safety-lock plunger.

Press the plunger into its housing with a small screwdriver blade to allow the safety to be fully depressed. It may be necessary to pull the hammer to the rear and/or reach into the receiver with a dental pick to pull the straddle up and to the rear in order to snap the safety down completely. Problems and Solutions No Primer Hit. This could be caused by a broken or worn firing-pin tip, an obstructed firing-pin channel in the slide, or perhaps the firing-pin safety plunger isn’t disengaging.

Replace the firing pin, clean the channel, and replace the drawbar