My 1911a1 slide is locked when the trigger is held back,if I release the trigger the slide works like it should. The slide is locked with the hammer down and the trigger is held in fired postion. Where should I start looking?
I would look at the cut in the bottom of the slide where the disconnect goes into when you pull the trigger. It may need a little polishing. Just a place to start.
I second that this is disconnector related. With the slide off the pistol, push down on the disconnector. Can you depress it? Repeat with hammer down, trigger back. Does that bind? It could be that your disconnector is climbing on top of the trigger bow (shouldn't happen, but holding the trigger back shouldn't seize the slide, either...)
If you pull the grip safety off and re-assemble you should be able to see what's going on with the disconnector and trigger.
I have looked at the sear and disconnector while in the frame, but I could not see any thing wrong. I have a twin to it, I built 2 1911s on Arsenal line 80% frames, Sarco parts. The other gun works just fine, so I took the sear, disconnector and main spring out of it and put them in the trouble frame, now it works just fine. I compared the 2 sets of parts and they looked the same. I think the fix is to get quality parts for it.
Well, I believe I would measure both first. A fix could be as simple as just taking a bit off the 'bad' parts.
Disconnector is bound by too much trigger travel, use a set screw in the trigger shoe to limit travel.
Thanks for the help guys, 38super wins the cigar, thanks 38super, I put a shim on the back of the trigger shoe and the gun now works like it should.
No worries Ed, I reworked a trigger for a friend who is a self proclaimed tinkerer. I had set the trigger travel to avoid sear bump. He wanted more over travel and created the same issue. Not realizing his adjustment talents, I tore into his pride n joy. Realizing the shift in trigger travel, there was a FORMAL 'how things work' instruction session. It was a lesson to me too, what is second nature to one is not to another.
Engineers can be as dangerous as an over confident Airman.