[Mike PT1911]

Hello everyone,

I have a novice question pertaining to "drop in" parts. Does that mean I can buy a beaver tail safety, barrel or bushing and install it on my own or do I still need "Mr Smith"? Basically, what is user friendly and what is needed for a pro?

 

[Bud White]

All require some fitt how much depends what you buy and who made the 1911..

A wilson drop in beavertail sort of is but still requires fitting to the trigger

a barrel bushin if they say drop in might drop right in then some may require fitting..


you can do it all if you take the time and buy the right tools or jigs

a Kart ez fit barrel requires fitting but comes with nice instructions and you can buy a fitting kit for about 40 for the ez fit barrel which has the jig and file included..

take a look in the gunsmith section and you will see i fit a non drop in beavertail and that will give you a ideal on that..

i also fitted a comp barrel to a colt 1991 and that will give you a better ideal on that..


I guess how handy are you with tools?

 

[El Pistolero]

A good rule of thumb to go by is the only for sure drop in part on a 1911 is the magazine.

 

[gottripletsNC]

A good rule of thumb to go by is the only for sure drop in part on a 1911 is the magazine.

Some of the junk I've seen lately makes me not wanna believe that Jerry.

 

[Grizzly Adams]

A good rule of thumb to go by is the only for sure drop in part on a 1911 is the magazine.

I've even had to take emery clothe to some magazines to make them function properly. So that rule doesn't always apply!

 

[AutoMag]

"Drop in" part usually means to drop in at your local gunsmith for the repair or replacement!!!:smile::smile:

 

[El Pistolero]

Just me I guess. I've had magazines that didn't function properly, but I've never had one that did not fit into a gun.

 

[Dilbert]

Good Luck with Drop In

I've had good luck using Wilson Combat drop in parts over the years to rebuild or "update" guns. The only qualifier I would attach to that was that the parts were going into mil-spec guns. I have had to do a little fitting when putting an extended thumb safety into a Colt though. I would expect that the tighter tolerance models (all Wilson Combat's, Les Baer's, high end Kimber's) would put up a fight.

 

[Bud White]

Why would you put in a drop in part ina wilson baer or brown?

 

[Dilbert]

Like I said, I wouldn't expect a drop in part to fit a high end gun without fitting, but I could see trying to do it as a short term fix. That said, if I can properly fit a drop in part then there is no reason not to use it.
With Wilson Combat all this is pointless discussion anyway. W/C would repair or replace ASAP. I've never dealt with Les Baer service, but I would like to assume if would be similar.