Sloppy 1911 Beavertail

[Ravager95]

I got a 1911 Colt Rail Gun not too long ago, and the grip safety on that thing rattles. Every step I take i sound like a damn cat with a bell around its neck and its actually gotten to the point where i don't carry it simply because of that rattle. I did some research online and most seemed to think it was from the far right pin on the Sear spring being too low and just to pull it up some to make it tighter. That didn't help. So since I had planned to replace the cheap colt plastic mainspring housing with a S&A Magwell, I swapped out the Sear Spring for an Ed Brown while i had it apart. Well after some minor adjustments the new sear spring kept it from rattling up and down, but left and right it still wobbles ridiculously. Whoever cut this beavertail needs be fired, the tolerances are just awful.

At first I was going to cut a small piece of heavy duty plastic from a 1911 magazine package i had, but decided that superglue or epoxying a piece of plastic to it would probably be a bad idea.

Then i started searching for shims to even it out, no luck, so i settled on an entirely new grip safety.

Now i need advice on a new Grip safety, I was searching through Brownells and came across
https://www.brownells.com/handgun-p...nsmith-beavertail-grip-safety-prod112501.aspx

Thats a "gunsmith" version that needs some fine tuning and filing to get it to fit properly, or am i going overboard here because one of the Ed Brown, Wilson Combat, etc. drop in versions for an 80 model will be to better tolerance standards...but then that brings up my fear that maybe its the frame that's off.

Anyone had this problem before on a Colt and have an easy fix, or experience on swappin and modifying that can shed some light on this situation?

 

[jglenn]

Bend the sear spring arm for the grip safery.to increase pressure

 

[jeep78]

Did you contact Colt to see if they can help?

 

[Hayata]

geezer

 

[geezer]

Man if you were closer we could play with a few different grip safeties... but they all should be very close in thickness... If the frame is cut too wide there, that’s a manufacturer defect... the “fitting” part is usually where the tang of the safety contacts the trigger bow...

 

[Ravager95]

geezer took a video of what i’m workin with you lemme know

 

[geezer]

The thumb safety pin is supposed to be a snug slip fit into the grip safety...which would prevent the grip safety from moving side to side like yours is. I can honestly say I have never seen one that sloppy. I would be looking at pin diameter on the thumb safety and hole diameter on the grip safety. Great video by the way.

 

[Ravager95]

So try a replacement thumb safety first? The pin you are referring to is the one that comes through the beavertail and is connected to the left side thumbbsafety right? I dont have a set of calipers to meausre the width of that hole and pin sadly

If i do grab a new thumb safety from lets say ed brown should i go ahead and get a new beavertail from ed as well just so they match? Will that help any?

 

[geezer]

I would pull the thumb safety and grip safety out, and visually look at how the pin fits through the grip safety. It’s got to be pretty sloppy for that grip safety to move that much. I am very hesitant to make any repair recommendations having not seen the weapon myself…The leaf spring seems to be holding enough pressure on the grip safety for it to function, but might need to be bent a little more to add more pressure.

 

[geezer]

Both the thumb and the grip safety will need to be fitted to your pistol, and will not be drop in parts.