I'm still having problems with the 1911 45 ACP using an Essex frame that I'm assembling for my wife.
I solved the problem of the magazine falling out when the gun was fired.
Now I have a problem that has stumped me and since I no longer have any patients to solve problems as I had in the past, I've decide to aggravate you guys for awhile.
When you insert a magazine and pull back the slide the slide now cleanly strips a round and loads it into the chamber and the hammer goes to and stays in the cocked position.
When you fire a round the slide cleanly strips a new round from the magazine and the slide goes fully forward but the Hammer does not stay cocked it returns with the slide.
You can manually cock the hammer and it stays.
Fire the gun and it extracts the cartridge and reloads properly but the hammer does not stay cocked.
I have polished the disconnecter where it contacts the trigger bow and the disconnecter spring contact area.
It didn't help! Nothing appears to be binding
I have measured the disconnector and it's within specs. It's an Ed Brown disconnector.
The spring is also an Ed Brown product and to best of my knowledge its fine.
If your finger is off of the trigger everything is OK it's only after you fire a shot holding the gun as just firing it that the disconnector apparently doesn't disconnect and allow the sear to re-engage the hammer.
Now I have not had any problems with slam fire or uncontrolled firing.
Any suggestions?
Right now i have a self loading single shot
Have you checked the length of the hammer strut? I'm by no means a 1911 guru, but thought I'd ask if maybe it was too long(?) Or perhaps the slide was not riding back far enough to cock(?). Perhaps the recoil spring is too stiff?
If the hammer stays back when you rack the slide by hand with finger off the trigger then the sear engagement to the hammer must be Ok and the slide must be pushing the hammer back and down far enough for the sear to catch the hammer.
It sounds to me like a problem with the disconector not being pushed down far enough by the slide to disconect it from the sear and the sear is not able to engage the hammer during normal firing.
That would be causing the hammer to follow the slide forwards after each shot because the sear is still being held away from the hammer by the trigger during normal firing.
If you take out the grip safety and look at the disconector while pulling the slide back by hand and have the trigger pulled back while doing it, you might see that the flats on the disconector dont get below the sears bottom tabs.
If thats the case then 1 option would be to file a little of the disconector flats top edges if there is enough overlap onto the sear when the trigger is forward.
You would have to make sure there is enough disconector movement when the slide is moving back so that you dont take to much of the disconector flats but and leave yourself with a disconector that no longer engages the sear.
Hope that makes sense.
Longer disconnectors are available from Brownells IF this is your issue.
Does it do this if you cycle the gun by hand? That is, on an empty chamber snap the hammer. Then while continuing to hold the trigger depressed, cycle the action with a dummy round in the magazine.
Does the hammer fall? If so you may well have a disconnector issue.
I'm just about ready to stick this frame up Essex's ass.
I don't have any drill to use as pins to get a precise measurement but I think I'm close.
Has far as I can tell the frame is long on the top its about .017 higher than it should be. measuring form the cross slide hole.
It should measure .450 - .005 and what I have is .467-.470.
Everything seems to be measured of of the out of spec cross slide hole.
What I need to know is far does the disconnector stick out of the top of the frame.
I have a couple of different disconectors but they both stick out of the top of thr frame about the same amount.
Can someone please measure the tip of a disconnector sticking out of the frame for me please?
I've been looking for an oversized disconnector. I searched the Brownells site and can not find it. Can you post a link to it?
I found an old disconnector and was able to finally make it work.
However when I was fitting it I removed alittle to much off of one side to suit me, it still makes contact with the sear but I would like a little more.
If someone could still measure how high a disconnector sticks above the frame I would appreciate it.
If someone knows where I can buy a long diconnector please share.
Depending on how hard the disconnector is, you might be able to peen it in the middle and lengthen it slightly.
Brownells seems to have stopped carrying them. Try EGW -
If the problem is that the disconnector doesn't sit out of the frame long enough to be pushed down by the slide then a simple slide tightening should help. This is done by peening the slide rails on the frame BUT you need slide plates to do this properly.