I am getting a Colt Officer's ACP today that needs a new slide stop. Are Gov and Officer's slide stops the same? Will any 1911 slide stop work? Should it just drop right in... or ?
Anything I need to know about it would be most appreciated...
I'll jump out. I believe they are all the same - but you may need to adjust the fit for the barrel link. The SS should allow the link to easily rotate around the SS pin, no binding.
They are all (nominally) the same, and a new one should drop right in.
The difference between slide stops is for caliber, not model. .45's use one size, everything else generally uses a .38/9mm slide stop. The difference is the lug that goes into the frame and contacts the magazine follower. The lug for smaller diameter cartridges is a little longer.
Dave is correct... according to the books. However, I had a 9mm Commander- size pistol that came with a "correct" 9mm slide stop, and it jammed on almost every shot. I replaced it with a .45 slide stop out of my parts drawer and it worked fine.
Which just goes to prove (again) the adage that there are no "drop-in" parts with the 1911.
Thanks for the info. I bought this gun and the seller told me the slide stop needs replaced because it can be pushed out fairly easily without moving the slide... it does not fall out when tilting the gun on it's side or anything, but i can push it out without moving the slide or applying a lot of pressure. At what point would you say it is so lose as to be a danger and needs to be replaced?
It should never come out unless the slide is moved to line up the takedown notch with it.
Loose is not the issue. The inside portion of the lug should extend high enough that it cannot be pushed out except when it is correctly aligned with the take-down notch. The fact that it can be pushed out without aligning the notch indicates either a defective slide stop, or an out-of-spec pistol.
Obviously, I would try a new slide stop first.
Here's a pair of good slide stops:
If the slide stop in the gun you're going to get looks like these (the rounded sections at the upper left in the pic) think twice about getting that gun. If its slide stop is OK but can be pushed out (to the left) someplace other than the disassembly notch, there's something very seriously wrong with it.
There's a blueprint of the slide stop in our Tech Issues section too.