Just Got Back from the Gunsmith

I didn't like the style of beavertail grip safety on my Springfield 1911, because of the little bump at the bottom. I noticed it too much when shooting.

I wanted to swap out the bulgy part for one more like this:

You have to be careful to get the right part that goes with your 1911 type. And I did. When trying to swap it out myself it wasn't going back together as well as I'd like and I didn't want to mess something up by forcing it, so I figured a gunsmith for any fitting would be appropo.

Here's some humble pie for me...

So I swapped out the main spring housing on my 1911 some time ago. I failed to notice in this big exploded diagram that there is a tiny little pin (#32 in that diagram, mainspring cap pin) that you need to use if you aren't using the one that comes with a Springfield. The gun functions without it, but an unsuspecting friendly neighborhood gunsmith working on another part of the pistol might not know, and when he goes to disassemble has the workings spring out at him, AIMING RIGHT FOR HIS EYE! He was wearing eye protection. Which leads me to an important point. When doing home gunsmithing, WEAR EYE PROTECTION. Goodness gracious EVERY gun I've taken apart has a spring in it that is strong enough to cause damage to your tenderer bits. There's at least 3 on the Garand.

But I was embarrassed I hadn't attended to that pin myself.

All's well that ends well. The new grip safety and new cap pin are in place, and it all works. It's stiff and needs a bit of breaking in, but I love the new feel in my hand. I will take it to the range next week.

The seer spring looked funny to my gunsmith at Engage Armament, but I can replace that myself. I ordered a new spring to see, and a 1911 specific gunsmithing reference.