Got my first 1911 finally

Got a Colt MK IV/Series 80 Officer's ACP stainless in 45 auto caliber today. In pretty decent condition. Did not have a chance to the range yet. Just had it cleaned and lubed. A couple questions though.

1. Not able to ID the SN according to the web site that suppose to have all SNs, so here is the SN: SF11407. Anybody knows when it's manufactured?

2. This is the first gun I have with grip safety. I assumed that if you did not touch the safety, the gun should not be functioning. But it appeared to me that the hammer will drop even the grip safety was left along. In other words, the hammer will drop when the trigger was pulled, it does not matter if the grip safety is on or off. Is this normal? Anything I should worry about?
Thanks.

----
James

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by chieninhouston

Got a Colt MK IV/Series 80 Officer's ACP stainless in 45 auto caliber today. In pretty decent condition. Did not have a chance to the range yet. Just had it cleaned and lubed. A couple questions though.

1. Not able to ID the SN according to the web site that suppose to have all SNs, so here is the SN: SF11407. Anybody knows when it's manufactured?

2. This is the first gun I have with grip safety. I assumed that if you did not touch the safety, the gun should not be functioning. But it appeared to me that the hammer will drop even the grip safety was left along. In other words, the hammer will drop when the trigger was pulled, it does not matter if the grip safety is on or off. Is this normal? Anything I should worry about?
Thanks.

----
James

---

With the grip safety not pressed in, the trigger should not be able to be pulled unless the grip safety has been deactivated. If you're not familiar with the gun, I would have a smith take a look at it.

Contact Colt and they should be able to tell you the date of manufacture, might want to ask them about having the gun sent in and looked over, who knows what else has been done to the gun.

Thank you. Will give Colt a call.

The 1911's grip safety merely keeps the gun's trigger from being pressed back. It does not affect the sear or hammer.
If the sear or hammer has been badly angled during an inept trigger job, the 1911's hammer will fall if jostled, even though its trigger has not been pressed, or pressed all the way back.
If the thumb safety has been badly adjusted during installation, and the trigger has been pressed while the defective thumb safety is "on," then the hammer may fall as soon as the safety lever is pressed downward to "off," and the grip safety will not keep this from happening.

The gun sounds used by your description,there are a few things that can cause it.Steve's answer is one,the previous owner may have disabled it and one way means it's junk,and simply replacing the mainspring housing can cause it.Does it move in and out freely?If there's a smith local it never hurts to let them check out a used gun,and if you bought it at a shop I'd go back and ask why they sold a gun to you with an inoperable safety,that's bad business.

Thank you guys. Called COLT 2 times, one around lunch time (my bad) holding 15 min. the other time gave up after 21 minutes. The messages must have introducing the whole line of Colts, still no luck to talk to anybody. Maybe all their employees were out doing some Christmas shopping. :-(

Sent emails to their info@colt.com (suggested by their Q&A) or info@coltsmsg.com (referred by the greetings) all bounced back saying that the domain rejected the mail etc. This is not a very impressive customer service of a major brand.

Yes, Rex, I acquired this pistol used, and the grip safety moves in and out freely. Now I am hoping that nothing was wrong with it. I'll find out when I have a chance to shoot it. With the CS department like this, some luck will be really needed if the gun is not operating correctly. Anyway, Thank you for your help.
--
James

M'sieur le Chien;
Do you know how to detail-strip your 1911 pistol? It's pretty easy to do.
(If you don't know how, there are plentiful on-line locations bearing clear instructions for doing so. Use your Google-fu.)
Take the whole thing apart, and examine the parts for completeness and adherence to the standard, as shown in illustrations.
In particular, examine the grip safety, which should include a long projection with a square-cut notch in its end. The notch engages the trigger's yoke—the open part behind the trigger shoe that goes around the magazine well—and it thereby keeps the trigger from being pressed back toward the sear. When the grip safety is pressed inward by the web of your thumb, the projection pivots upward so that the notch no longer contacts the trigger yoke.

In both of my competition 1911s, the grip safety has been disabled.
In one of them, there is a pin in the top surface of the mainspring housing which inserts itself into a corresponding groove in the bottom of the grip-safety palm piece, and holds the grip safety in the "off" position.
In the other, the projecting arm of the grip safety has been sawed off. The grip-safety palm piece moves, but it does nothing.

I suspect that the grip safety of your pistol may have been altered, probably by removing that projecting arm.

You need to check it out.
In the process, you will learn how to detail strip your pistol. It can be done entirely without tools, because Browning cleverly designed the gun's parts to be their own stripping tools.

You can also contact Brownell's. The gunsmiths on staff are very knowledgeable and should be able to help you. They can also recommend repair parts if needed. In my experience they are there to help not sell un-needed parts. Be advised, I may be a bit bias. I went to the FBIs Armorer school with a couple of guys from Brownell's.

Sometimes it's hard to reach the company,it sucks.Being used,they will probably want you to send it in on your dime or will charge you for it if discovered it's used and altered,sucks too.

If you can't find out how to strip it,come back and let me know and have a camera that can pull excelent pics,and it'll be diagnosed.It's a real long gig so when I can get the time is iffy,but if it comes to that be patient.

As far as shooting it,no biggie if the thumb safety still works-as long as you know the rules and aren't freaked out.Where the grip safety really works for me is reholstering,I was taught to insert the slide and then seat it fully with the thumb pushing the back of the slide and if any other finger is on the gun it's low on the frontstrap away from the triggerguard.It does need fixed if you aren't going to use it solely for competition.