1911 Thumb Safety Swap and Fit Help

[conibear]

I'm working on swapping the thumb safety on my Colt New Agent with a Wilson Combat Extended version (brownells #965-600-007) and I cannot get it to engage on safe. I had to fit the post by sanding it for hours and I'm not sure if there is something else I might have to do. I can insert it without too much effort now but it will not slide up to the point where the angle goes into the notch in the slide. I've also visually compared it to the stock one and there is a slight grove cut out on the base of the safety rod so I matched it by using a very small precision file. I'm in no rush to get this done as it's just a little project I'm trying to take on myself and I enjoy working on things. I'm not above taking it to a gunsmith but just looking for some advice for someone who might have run into this. Any help out there? I'll post some pictures later.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Its only my opinion, but I recommend finding an expert gunsmith that is experienced with 1911s. The 1911 safety is not something for a novice to tinker with. "supposed" gunsmiths have nearly hurt people by doing sloppy work that caused the gun to malfunction. (hammer drops unexpectedly when disengaging the manual safety as I recall from the story here.

There are several very competent folks here that can help you out. I'm sure they will chime in shortly.

 

[conibear]

Thank you for the reply! I planned on getting it verified prior to using but I love figure things out. I don't want to get hurt or have anyone else hurt either so I fully respect your point and will find a gunsmith prior to using it. I appreciate it.

 

[AllenM]

if you are near the westside of Indy I would be glad to help.

 

[churchmouse]

Any work concerning a safety on any firearm should be done by someone that knows the platform.
Knowledge and tooling are required. Safety's are not something to dive into.
Spend the money and have a good gunsmith do this for you.

I would 2nd AllenM for this.

 

[conibear]

Understood. Thank you guys for the advice. I'll go to a gunsmith and won't risk it.

 

[Integraholic]

This is gonna be an insanely stupid question, but is the hammer back?

 

[conibear]

Yep.. Hammer is back and stock safety goes in and works fine, so this is not a necessity but more a want. I'll keep it stock until I can get to a gunsmith.

 

[1911ly]

I'll toss in another hand up for AllenM's work.

Be safe, not sorry. Some things are more hands on worthy. Fitting ignition parts on a 1911 isn't. You can easily ruin the new safety and or someones life. Good call to take it in!

 

[Integraholic]

There may need to be a bit of filing done on the safety, then. I think I put one of these in a friend's Kimber and I had to get in there with a file and work it a bit.

 

[drillsgt]

I'm working on swapping the thumb safety on my Colt New Agent with a Wilson Combat Extended version (brownells #965-600-007) and I cannot get it to engage on safe. I had to fit the post by sanding it for hours and I'm not sure if there is something else I might have to do. I can insert it without too much effort now but it will not slide up to the point where the angle goes into the notch in the slide. I've also visually compared it to the stock one and there is a slight grove cut out on the base of the safety rod so I matched it by using a very small precision file. I'm in no rush to get this done as it's just a little project I'm trying to take on myself and I enjoy working on things. I'm not above taking it to a gunsmith but just looking for some advice for someone who might have run into this. Any help out there? I'll post some pictures later.

It sounds like you are on the right track and may just need to take a little more off the safety to slide up to the sear. You can't really use the original as a guide (except to see where and what angle to file) because there's so much dimensional difference in aftermarket safeties, some you might have to take off less and some you have to take off more than you would expect. There are a ton of tutorials on how to do this. Just take your grip safety out and put it back together without the grip safety so you can observe the thumb safety and sear interaction. It's not a hard job you just have to be careful not to take off too much toward the end of fitting, just go slow, when you are done with the safety on and pulling the trigger you should see zero movement in the sear. All the gunsmiths everybody's telling you to take it to had to cut their first safety as some point.