Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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Well, I can now tell you that method one is a slick as snot way to remove and replace the slide.

BUT. With a full length guide rod you can't remove the guide rod and spring without removing the plug from the muzzle end.

So method one, while slick, does not speed up the disassembly if you have a full length guide rod.
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"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space. Everything else is just opinion." -Democritus 
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Come check out my custom 1911 grips and other wooden items at my Etsy store.

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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Paladin wrote:It does work with a full length guide rod just depends how strong the spring is.
Not on my pistol. The spring and guide rod bind up against the bottom of the slide opening when you try and remove them.

I suppose one could force the issue, but I'd be leery of bending the guide rod.

Simpler to remove the bushing IMHO.
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"Nothing exists except atoms and empty space. Everything else is just opinion." -Democritus 
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Come check out my custom 1911 grips and other wooden items at my Etsy store.

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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I like the tip on using safety glasses. Don't care much for using compressed air because small particles being airborne don't do lungs or eyes any good. I have Frog Lube my guns including my 1911 and this has made cleaning a breeze. I came across and old copy of the Army manual for the1911 from the Office of the Calavry.It gave the directions that after field stripping the weapon to wash it in hot water with soap dry and then oil. I asked my Dad who enlisted in the 5th United States Horse Cavalry in 1940 about using soap and water on the gun. He said when you came back from the field you cleaned and to care of the horse and tack first then you cleaned the gun, even if the gun had not been fired, and then yourself. Yes you did wash the gun with hot water and Lye soap with a brush.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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I agree with dry brushing first. It saves time, too!

I shoot mostly cast and in the bores I normally do not use solvent. I do use a copper solvent after shooting jacketed. But day in, day out, it's a dry borebrush followed by a dry boresnake.

I occasionally use hot soap and water following borepaste, for those times I use that. Solvent is useful on frames, breech faces, and cylinders, since the powder residue can be a waxy mix of carbon and lube.

As to soap and hot water, that still works great on BP and substitutes. No harm to the metal. Gets dried and oiled afterwards.

I have not tried Slide Glide (that's the Enos product, I think). I have used white lithium, Hoppes gun grease (smells herbal!) and Tetra gun grease. All seem to work pretty much the same, to me.
On the waaaaay.... (it's a turret thing)

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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mark wrote:I think we need a "How To" on resizing pictures.

Great write up - now let me see if I can resize these damn photos for you.
There's a great program for windows called "irfanview". It's freeware (not open source) and malware/spyware B.S. Free. It's not the prettiest but it's very capable. I use it heavily.

http://www.irfanview.com/

You can also use the GIMP - it's an open source competitor to photoshop but it has a very steep learning curve.

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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The comment about cleaning with hot sopay water is correct. Hot water is still recommended as the first cleaning pass when using corrosive primed ammunition. You have to neutralize the corrosive salts left from the primer. Soviet block surplus ammo is the most common corrosive ammo, followed by the various 8mm Mauser surplus.
If you want to be a leader, lead from the front, and don't look back.

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Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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Howdy Y'all
If you shoot it you clean it! If you're in a snow, rain, dust, storm clean it! When in doubt clean it!
I am a gunsmith, I love to see the client come in and complain that "the trusted firearm is not so much anymore". They are a good chunk of my business. Dad/Mom ect... passed on and left me XXX but it does not work correctly!! They are closet queens, dirty pig's, so abandoned love ones!
I served in the military and law enforcement and before that my Dad trained me along with the Scouts, summer camps etc... You shoot you clean!!! All the carbon, plastic, brass, lead, copper blah blah all attract dirt and moisture. If you have a gun safe all controlled with all the bells and whistles you can probably get away with once a year if unfired. I go through mine daily with client firearms and all, and clean my own firearms weekly or when fired at the least. But that is just me if a clients firearm arrives with rust :o then everyone gets a bath it is catching!!! :ninja: . As most of you have said it is a personal habit Uncle Sam had me doing it daily so i have stretched that to a week now. :shock:
Yours in service
James Acerra
Gun Control is HITTING your TARGET
Attachments
J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. 200 20ga pump circa 1911-1916 detailed stripped.
J. Stevens Arms & Tool Co. 200 20ga pump circa 1911-1916 detailed stripped.

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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Obviously, I have never had one of the modern knock-off 1911s, only the Colt Government Model, and GI issue 1911a1s when I was in service. The way I was taught was to depress the plunger tube with my thumb and rotate the barrel bushing, then remove the slide stop and then the slide.

Are the springs that much more powerful?
If you want to be a leader, lead from the front, and don't look back.

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Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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sturner wrote:Obviously, I have never had one of the modern knock-off 1911s, only the Colt Government Model, and GI issue 1911a1s when I was in service. The way I was taught was to depress the plunger tube with my thumb and rotate the barrel bushing, then remove the slide stop and then the slide.

Are the springs that much more powerful?
The only 1911s I have trouble with are the ones with a full length guide rod. Still, I don't use a plastic tool but I wouldn't mind having one.
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Puffing up is no substitute for smarts but it's a common home remedy

Re: Cleaning a Pistol (1911) 56k No Way!

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Simmer down wrote:
sturner wrote:Obviously, I have never had one of the modern knock-off 1911s, only the Colt Government Model, and GI issue 1911a1s when I was in service. The way I was taught was to depress the plunger tube with my thumb and rotate the barrel bushing, then remove the slide stop and then the slide.

Are the springs that much more powerful?
The only 1911s I have trouble with are the ones with a full length guide rod. Still, I don't use a plastic tool but I wouldn't mind having one.
Brownells sells one with both a GI and Commander fitting. I would say it's slightly overpriced, but damned if it don't work like a charm.

...wouldn't you know it, it's on sale right now.

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