Well for maintaining it I'd say some basic stuff: maybe a bushing wrench, a small brush, a brass bore brush, good lubricant and cleaning agent, and recoil springs for replacement. As far as fixing.....well that's a different story. Depends on what's wrong and what you refer to as fixing. I've sold guns, lots of them, to buy tools to fix 1911s so there's a lot of depth to that particular pool.
For general use recoil springs.
When I travel to a match, if I don't take a 2nd gun, I have a fitted ignition set and sear spring. and recoil springs.
Honestly they don't go down very often.
Proof the pistol and then don't concern yourself with it.
Clean it, lube it and change the recoil spring occasionally.
I'm really new to working on the 1911. And while I haven't really bought a lot of tools yet, I've managed to accumulate a few. Out of everything I've bought so far the pin gauge set I bought has proven to be most valuable.
When I installed the beavertail on my first build i used smaller pins to keep the BT in while determining how much material to take off the tangs. Once I had the small pin free in the holes I would install the larger pin until I worked up to the thumb safety itself.
And being able to tell if a frame hole is drilled to the right size is invaluable. On my Nighthawk frame the hole for the sear pin seemed way too small, like .006 too small. I used the biggest possible pin I could install, .103? And then pushed it trough with a brass hammer. A big chunk of drilling remnant pushed out with it. Then a .104 and so own until I got close to the correct size.
I've seen more extractor failures/breakages than anything else by a large margin.
Well.....except for squibs!
For me, 'in the field' or at a match:
Squib rod.
Spare tuned extractor.
Of course back at the shop I got a LOT of stuff.
Other 'not so common' parts failures:
Colt factory 45acp slide stops. The inner lobe breaks off.
First generation cast Ed Brown thumb safeties. Break a bit behind where the shaft meets the plate.
Colt factory firing pin stops. High round counts. Usually crack but rarely totally fail.
Spare 1911s. I always take an extra gun to matches and keep extras in the safe. Just in case.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
1911 Firearm Addicts
2.7M posts
36K members
Since 2011
A forum community dedicated to 1911 firearm owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about other firearms, gun ownership, gun care, tactical firearms, small arms, optics, gunsmithing, styles, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!