Friday, January 28, 2011

Series 80

NOW I now what a Series 80 is.  Besides something that can break.

Or, Now that I own one, I see what is meant by 'Series 80 1911s.'

There it this little spring loaded button underneath the back of the slide.  And a little bit of metal pop up to engage this button from the frame.  Methinks that this is some sort of firing pin block.  And it looks kinda delicate and easily broken.

The purpose of this modification is keep a sharp blow from making the gun go off.  So, I think that little pinny bit sticks up when the thumb safety is engaged, thus depressing the slide button, thus blocking the firing pin, no?   It might be up at other times, blocking the firing pin, but I haven't figured that out yet.

I don't think there is any other differences, other than the half cock hammer positioning, deep in the lockwork that I can't see.  I'm sure a commenter will correct me if I am off base. 

Well, that little lawsuit alleviator is a bit disappointing.  As something that could go wrong and lock up the whole works and make the gun fail when I kinda want it to work. 

I said 'disappointing' but I don't think it so disappointing that I necessarily need to take any action to removed the fiddly bits.  I don't know how easy it is to remove the stuff anyway and whether or not I should chuck the pin or the button or both and whether I need a gunsmith's help.  Perhaps someone can enlighten me here, too. 

I also need to figure out what else I need to do to detail strip the slide for yearly cleaning and if that Series 80 bit changes that procedure.

I called it a lawsuti alleviator, but this gun may end up being my go-to carry gun in an unsecured IWB holster, someday.  Maybe it's not such a bad thing to have this extra safety meant to help avoid discharges when a pistol falls out of a holster onto a cement mens room floor...   I'd rather read about cops getting NDs in the bathroom than having one of my own.

~~~

Whole nother thing... If the Series 80 safety parts fail, how do they fail?  I mean if they fail and all it does is make it possible for the gun to go off if dropped off the roof onto the driveway... just don't drop it off the roof.  But if it can fail and lock up the gun thus rendering it inoperable...  That's a whole different ball of wax. 

Like a car, if the radio fails, I can still drive it.  That failure is unfortunate, but I can still go thousands of miles with that failure.  If the brakes' master cylinder fails instead, or the timing belt, or the fuel pump, or what have you, I can't drive that car 1 mile.

5 comments:

Arthur said...

Most semiauto pistols today have that same firing pin block.

You have a Sig right? Same thing.

Though most use the trigger to disengage the block, S&W 1911's use the grip safety push that pin block up.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Thanks Arthur

Bubblehead Les. said...

Correct about it being a Lawsuit Alleviator. You should have read what Col. Cooper was writing about when Colt put that thing in. In fact, that little piece of Lawsuit Avoidance really helped to boost Springfield's 1911 sales. Also another reason the Chicom Norinco 1911's sold like hot cakes during the brief time they were imported.

Anonymous said...

1. That's why I prefer Springfield 1911A1's. When it comes time to clean the firing pin channel and/or replace the firing pin/spring have fun!

2. Go to Brownell's they sell a "zit" that plugs the hole without all of that nonsense. At the same time buy a titanium firing pin and and stronger Wolff firing pin spring.

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

I can't seem to find that part, referencesd, x...