1911 Mainspring - PLUS a whole bunch of knowledge from 1911Tuner

Tim

Tim

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I did a complete teardown of my 1911 this weekend. The roll pin that secures the spring inside my mainspring housing went into orbit, so I just reassembled without it. Function check is good to go.

Am I running any risk by not having that pin in place? Other than shooting my eye out when I forget about it the next I do a detail strip 5-10 years from now?
 
There's no roll pins in any of mine.
The little pin you stick in through the back to retain the spring during take down?
That doesn't matter at all, for anything.
 
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I think that pin limits the mainspring travel, without it I’d be concerned about extra wear on the hammer strut and hammer pivot pin.

That said, BOG is right, see what 1911tuner has to say about it.
 
Beef15 said:
There's no roll pins in any of mine.
The little pin you stick in through the back to retain the spring during take down?
That doesn't matter at all, for anything.
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I just assumed it was a roll pin...my spring went ballistic and I never found a pin for the hole. It may not have even had one; perhaps I was supposed to stick a temporary "pin" there just for assembly/disassembly?
 
Tim said:
Am I running any risk by not having that pin in place?
Click to expand...

No. The only problem that it'll cause is when you remove the mainspring housing and reassemble it...and you've already worked through that.

You can order new retaining pins for cheap. Brownells has'em.
 
Tim said:
I just assumed it was a roll pin...my spring went ballistic and I never found a pin for the hole. It may not have even had one; perhaps I was supposed to stick a temporary "pin" there just for assembly/disassembly?
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As long as we're talking about the hole near the top in the back of the MSH that is all it is for, keeping the pieces together when the MSH is removed. The pin vaguely resembles a rivet/golf tee/nail. It should not be in place when assembled for use.

Sent from my SM-G360V using Tapatalk
 
John Travis said:
Huh?

I think you're confusing the new Springfield ILS system with the original design. As per the original, the pin should remain in place, and is only removed when removing the mainspring for replacement or cleaning.
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Well I'll be, I see the inside is relieved for the head.

Guess that's what I get for just putting things together so they work. Always thought that pin was pretty useless, still seems like it... Am I missing some function?

ETA my only factory gun did have ILS.
 
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Ok so now I'm worried I've been missing something in my maintenance schedule. Other than the joy of taking something apart (which I fully understand), is disassembling the MSH needed as part of a detail strip and cleaning? I've always assumed the only time I would need to disassemble it would be to replace/upgrade the spring.
 
John Travis said:
No. It doesn't need to be disassembled except to change springs, or if the gun happens to fall into a mudhole.
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JT, I totally agree but you have to admit that sometimes it's fun to sit there and look at the "subject" lying in front of you with no 2 pieces touching!! Somewhat therapeutic....

That's how I taught myself to disassemble, reassemble and understand a 1911, take it totally apart and put it back together, again and again until finally there's no left over parts and it works as intended. Not everyone in my day had a 1911 Tuner that lived just down the road.... Kids today got it easy....
 
Bailey Boat said:
JT, I totally agree but you have to admit that sometimes it's fun to sit there and look at the "subject" lying in front of you with no 2 pieces touching!! Somewhat therapeutic....

That's how I taught myself to disassemble, reassemble and understand a 1911, take it totally apart and put it back together, again and again until finally there's no left over parts and it works as intended. Not everyone in my day had a 1911 Tuner that lived just down the road.... Kids today got it easy....
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That's how I got into this mess. I had a nice clean workbench with nothing to do, so I thought I'd take something apart to see if I could lose a spring or 2.
 
Tim said:
That's how I got into this mess. I had a nice clean workbench with nothing to do, so I thought I'd take something apart to see if I could lose a spring or 2.
Click to expand...

Nice to see that you were successful..... How about I send you a box of gallon zip lock bags for Christmas???
 
Tim said:
That's how I got into this mess. I had a nice clean workbench with nothing to do, so I thought I'd take something apart to see if I could lose a spring or 2.
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Totally agree with both of you I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a need versus a just for fun. The first thing I do with a new gun even before I shoot it is to take it apart. Usually just field strip it a few times and make sure I can do that without having to refer to a book or YouTube. Once I'm comfortable with that then I start pushing out the little pins and springs to see if I can get myself in trouble. One thing I've learned is it's a lot easier to diagnose a issue you may have with a gun if you know how all the parts fit together.
 
OP - my guess is you did not lose that pin - it was never in there to begin with. Is this a gun you got 2nd hand?

Someone has to intentionally remove that pin with a small pin punch while pressing the spring down into the mainspring housing with another punch or some such. At least, that's my experience with them. They don't come out accidentally. I'd bet someone before you lost the pin.
 
notso556 said:
OP - my guess is you did not lose that pin - it was never in there to begin with. Is this a gun you got 2nd hand?

Someone has to intentionally remove that pin with a small pin punch while pressing the spring down into the mainspring housing with another punch or some such. At least, that's my experience with them. They don't come out accidentally. I'd bet someone before you lost the pin.
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Nope, I'm the only/first owner. I have had it for ~10 years, maybe I've done this before in a drunken stupor and just don't recall. not likely, since I haven't been drunk since Kim H took me to that tent and..... #metoo
 
John Travis said:
Wonder what they'd say if they saw one come apart without tools aside from what ol' Mose gave'em. ;)
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I recall you had a good post demonstrating that.
 
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John Travis said:
I did, but I haven't gotten permission to post it here. Some of the new members may like to see it done.

Pending.
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Here's the green light John. Thanks in advance for posting.

 
John Travis said:
This link takes you to Hunter's gun review, rangehot.com

Sometimes the video starts about 15 seconds in, so you may need to back it up to the beginning.

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FAKE, FALSE POST!!! I watched that, in FULL screen for the entire 4:53 and didn't see a single coffee cup!!! I don't know who that could be but it ain't JT....
 
You sir, can post whatever you'd like to post. Your wealth of knowledge is always welcomed and always appreciated.
 
I updated the thread title....THANKS! for being willing to share these!
 
Just wanted to add ...in case anybody wants to try the no-spring thing...it requires a full length guide rod system. The original "stub" type spring guide will get canted and tie the gun up, and possibly do some damage.

And make sure that the bushing is centered before pulling the trigger.
 
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