Interesting...The 1911 Is Its Own Tool Box

[Big Shrek]

When you can remove a 1911 bushing with your fingers
either you have some very strong fingers, or it's time
to replace the bushing and recoil spring

[44 AMP]

When you CAN'T remove a 1911 bushing...

Grow stronger!!!

or, you pistol is too tightly fitted...


I know that today, there are pistols made that require a wrench, but if you can't remove the barrel bushing from a GI spec 1911A1 without resorting to a tool, there is something wrong, either with the gun, or with you...

[Rangerrich99]

Originally Posted by 1911_Hardball

Genesis 19-11


1. In the beginning there was the 1911, and it was good. And behold the Lord said, thou shalt not muck with my disciple John's design for it is good and it workith. For John made the 1911, and lo all of his weapons, from the designs which I, the Lord, gave him upon the mountain.

2. And shouldst thou muck with it, and hang all manner of foul implements upon it, and profane its internal parts, thou shalt surely have malfunctions, and in the midst of battle thou shalt surely come to harm.

3. And as the ages passed men in their ignorance and arrogance didst forget the word of the Lord and began to profane the 1911. The tribe of the gamesman did place recoil spring guides and extended slide releases upon the 1911 and their metal smiths didst tighten the tolerances and alter parts to their liking, their clearness of mind being clouded by lust.

4. Their artisans did hang all manner of foul implements upon the 1911 and did so alter it that it became impractical to purchase. For lo, the artisans didst charge a great tax upon the purchasers of the 1911 so that the lowly field worker could not afford one. And the profaning of the internal parts didst render it unworkable when the dust of the land fell upon it.

5. And lo, they didst install adjustable sights, which are an abomination unto the Lord. For they doth break and lose their zero when thou dost need true aim. And those who have done so will be slain in great numbers by their enemies in the great battle.

6. And it came to pass that the Lord didst see the abomination wrought by man and didst cause, as he had warned, fearful malfunctions to come upon the abominations and upon the artisans who thought they could do no wrong.

7. Seeing the malfunctions and the confusion of men, the lord of the underworld did see an opportunity to further ensnare man and didst bring forth pistols made of plastic, whose form was such that they looked and felt like a brick, yet the eyes of man being clouded, they were consumed by the plastic pistol and did buy vast quantities of them.

8. And being a deceitful spirit the lord of the underworld did make these plastic pistols unamenable to the artisans of earth and they were unable to muck much with the design, and lo these pistols did appear to function.

9. And the evil one also brought forth pistols in which the trigger didst both cock and fire them and which require a "dingus" to make them appear safe.

10. But man being stupid did not understand these new pistols and didst proceed to shoot themselves with the plastic pistol and with the trigger cocking pistols for lo their manual of arms required great intelligence which man had long since forsaken. Yet man continue to gloat over these new pistols blaming evil forces for the negligent discharges which they themselves had committed.

11. And when man had been totally ensnared with the plastic pistol, the lord of the underworld didst cause a plague of the terrible Ka-Boom to descend upon man and the plastic pistols delivered their retribution upon men. And there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the land.

12. Then seeing that the eyes of man were slowly being opened and that man was truly sorrowful for his sinful misdeeds, the Lord did send his messengers in the form of artisans who did hear and obey
the teachings of the prophet and who didst restore the profaned 1911s to their proper configuration, and lo, to the amazement of men they didst begin to work as the prophet had intended.

13. And the men of the land didst drive out the charlatans and profaners from the land, and there was joy and peace in the land, except for the evil sprits which tried occasionally to prey on the men and women of the land and who were sent to the place of eternal damnation by the followers of John.

That was a great post. Did you come up with that on your own, or did you find that somewhere? Either way, I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks.

[James K]

Hi, bbqncigars and 1911_Hardball,
I won't deny that JMB was a great firearms designer, perhaps the best of the general gun designers. Others, like Garand, produced fine designs, but no one else had a record of successful designs of such a variety of arms, from vest pocket pistols to heavy machine guns. But I have long felt, (OK, had an obsession) about the JMB fans totally ignoring the role played by the Army boards in making what became the M1911 a better gun than it would have been if left to Browning alone. They are often dismissed as stupid dolts whose only role was to approve whatever "the Master" put before them. But Browning had never (as far as I know) fired a shot in anger and knew next to nothing about military tactics or the actual use of weapons in the field, let alone in combat. None, repeat none, of Browning's previous designs was made to be disassembled away from a workbench (the thought of "field disassembling" a Winchester Model 1886 is pretty frightening). It was just that sort of practical experience that was the contribution of the junior officers on the boards and made the 1911 a pioneer among the world's military pistols.

Jim

[Sevens]

Sorry that I am focusing on simply one small bit of your (fine!) post, but if you can honestly say that John Browning was "...perhaps the best of the general gun designers" then I would truly like to know who else you believe would round out the top five?

I'm just one guy that doesn't know much, but I can't imagine anyone comes close to what JMB accomplished in firearms design.

Really, tell me who even approaches his accomplishments in firearms design?

[44 AMP]

I feel Browning truly deserves the title "genius", not just for the ingenuity of his designs, AND the number of them, but also for the way he did business.

And, by that I mean he gave the customer what they wanted. Browning wasn't a gunfighter, or a combat soldier, and based on what he did, he knew it.

He wasn't the kind of man who claimed his designs were "perfection". If the customer (US Army) wanted changes, he made changes. Another aspect of his genius was that his designs were adaptable TO those changes.

I agree, current "history" doesn't give those people who helped Browning turn his prototypes into the M1911 don't get the credit they deserve. They are "faceless" Army officers, unknown to history as individuals...

The service history of the M1911 /1911A1 speaks for itself. No other combat pistol can match it. There is, however a Browning design that will surpass it, in military use, the M2 .50 caliber machine gun. In another half dozen years or so, it will pass the century mark in active service.

In my opinion, if you were to choose one weapon that "won" WWII, its not the M1 Garand (though the Garand did have huge impact), and its not even the 1911A1 (which did a lot of keep individual troops alive) or the Atomic Bomb, it is the Browning .50 cal machine gun.

[Big Shrek]

Guilty as charged with the "too tightly fitted" bushing at the moment...
and a 24# spring...it'll work itself in over time

[mete]

The 1911 was designed for the bottom edge of a magazine to be used as a bushing wrench. Need more ? Replace or stone the bushing !

The nicest take apart gun I can think of is a REVOLVER !!
The French military 1873 . One screw. The end of the center pin is a screw driver .The ONE screw holds the handles together . There are cams to hold things like the mainspring . Without instruction the whole thing came apart extremely fast . For a black powder handgun this means that a thorough cleaning of corrosive powder residue is very easy !

[Hawg]

You can easily remove the barrel bushing of a military grade 1911 with your fingers. I was doing that when I was a teenager.

I like the 1911 style, but I have never had one that would run all types of ammo.

My Rock Island will. It will even feed empty cases. I never had a Colt that would.

[1911_Hardball]

Originally Posted by Rangerrich99

That was a great post. Did you come up with that on your own, or did you find that somewhere? Either way, I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks.

I cannot take credit for this.
It's been many years since I came across it and have no idea to whom credit should go.

[rodfac]

Another interesting utility feature of the venerable 1911 as originally designed is that you can use a fired .45 ACP case for a lost recoil spring plug...and while I've never completely lost that high velocity cap when it escaped my greasy fingers during field stripping, I've come darn close. Rod

[James K]

44 AMP wrote, "any man who can remove the safety BEFORE removing the mainspring housing is a better man that I."

It is pretty easy; I had no idea anyone would find it difficult.

On JMB, "He wasn't the kind of man who claimed his designs were 'perfection' ". From some things I have read, that is exactly the kind of man he was. He fought every proposed change and idea that didn't come from him. Of course, he was good and darned well knew it, and like many people of genius, he was a proud man who did not suffer fools gladly. The military won their arguments by the power of the purse, even when their ideas resulted in a better product.

As for firearms designers, many are quite rightly lauded for major contributions, but basically worked on one design. They include Garand, Kalashnikov, Stoner, Luger, Mauser, Colt*, etc. Others literally worked on dozens of designs; among them, in addition to Browning, include Mason, T.C. Johnson, Pedersen, Borchardt, Bergmann, Mannlicher, etc.

*Colt really designed one gun, the basic Paterson; later percussion revolvers were improvements. Colt, of course, never played any role in the SAA and later guns.

Jim

[Sevens]

Okay, from your second list of Gentlemen that worked on MANY designs...

Who's resume even approaches John Browning?