Howdy and help ?!?

Have owned, shot, and reloaded for a number of 1911 style pistols since 1969. It's been a long time, but a couple of buddies and I used to tear them down to 50 parts in contests to see who could re-assemble them fastest. Alas, it has been a long time since I tore one down past the "field stripping" mode however. I think I can still do it to correct my problem described below::::::

I recently picked up a 80's style "Combat Elite" in near new condition.

In spite of owning it over a year, I just got around to shooting it this week.

Two problems arose:

1. Previous owner apparently got a little over zealous in polishing and tuning. When I let the slide slam home without a magazine, THE HAMMER WOULD FALL as well !! While it did not do this with a round under the slide, it still caused me a bit of fear. Also, when on half cock, the hammer would finish falling when trigger is pulled. I don't think it is supposed to do this, correct?

Where do I begin to correct this? New sear?


2. This piece was sandbagged and rested. I fired some 24 rounds at 15 yards. The group printed consistantly 2 inches low in spite of my fine centering the sights on the center of the target circle, not held low. The present fixed rear sight has "MMC" stamped on the left side.

Question 2: I want to install a low adjustible sight without removing the factory front sight to bring the point of impact up 2 inches at 15 yards. What brand of adjustible sight will do this?

MANY THANKS in advance. "Bo"

I have seen this many times in the gunshop I used to work at. Our gunsmith told me that it was caused by someone who was a little over zealous in working on the sear notches on the hammer. If the notches were too shallow, the force of the slide going foraward would jar the sear out of the notches, thus allowing the hammer to follow the slide forward. The same with the hammer dropping from half cock..the sear notch is too shallow, so with enough trigger pressure you can override, so to say, the half cock notch.
Many a times I have heard people say that they live with this by simply holding the trigger full back after each shot, that way the disconnector will not allow the hammer to go forward. To me that is a very half assed solution as it totally disregards the proper mechanical function of the pistol's design.
I would start out with a new hammer and sear, just in case they did some work on the sear and there is not enough to engage the sear notches correctly. Pretty inexpensive fix. Check Brownells and you will see several diffferent "drop in" hammer, sear parts available. Good luck.

BoCash

You need a competant 1911 pistol smith, not just a general smith who works on them occasionally. Series 80 guns can be tuned as light as 2.5 lbs with out any problems that you describe. I would predict that some one with out the necessary skills worked on the gun.

Now having said that, you can have a good trigger job done by a skilled smith and if you make a habit of dropping the slide on an empty chamber, the hammer will eventually jar off and damage the sear, causing it to jar off much easier from that point forward. All of your pistol smiths that specialize in 1911 guns will warn you about this when they perform a trigger job.

Series 80 guns Do Not have a half cock safety. That position is called a half cock ledge, not half cock safety notch. If you take a new series 80 out of the box, you will be able to pull the trigger and drop the hammer when it is in half cock position.

If you can locate a seasoned bullseye shooter in your area, he will be able to steer you towards a skilled 1911 pistol smith. Otherwise if you have to ship it, I can recomend some very good ones.

Thanks so much, Congo and Craftsman. Now that it has been mentioned, I took out two other Colt's, a 70 series Gold Cup and Stainless Commander, very recent 80's style production. I tried to pull the trigger on "half cock" on the series 70 and it would not fall. Trying the same on the Commander and it did fall just like the other Combat Elite I first mentioned.

At this point, I may try to install a new McCormick or Wilson sear and hammer in the Combat Elite to ease my mind. While I seldom do let the slide "slam" on an empty chamber, seeing the hammer fall when I did this on this particular pistol un-nerved me quite a bit.


Can either of you also solve my adjustible sight question above? My rear sight is obviously too low on that pistol.

Would appreciate any help. Have a great week.

"Bo"

Did no one ever tell you not to let the slide fall on an empty chamber? One of the best ways I know of to beat the trigger engagement surfaces to death.

As for the front site, you can file it down and that should raise your 15 yard groups. The MMC is a neat little sight, if not somewhat fragile. You may want to go with a fixed rear of similar height to a Colt original. If it were mine, I'd get a matched set of front and rear sites and replace them.

Hey Bo, The new Sear might fix the concern, but it could also be that the Spring is adjusted a bit too light. Haven't had my Randall apart in awhile, so I don't remember which of the Spring Fingers is the one to readjust, but it should be obvious as you disassemble it.

Best of luck to you.