OK, maybe I didn’t get the memo, or the update, or the 411, but there is a rumor going around the gunosphere that is bothering me. I’ve been reading it repeatedly over the last couple months, in posts and in comments, and I need this settled up for me.
What “tool†is needed to take down a 1911?
Other than a screwdriver or allen wrench to take the grips off and something sturdy, narrow and pointy to pop the mainspring housing retaining pin and/or the firing pin, I can’t think of a single thing needed to strip a 1911 to damn near bare bones.
Are we talking about those barrel bushing wrenches that retailers sell to people who’ve had their thumbs amputated?
If so, then feel free to go below the fold.
If not, then please ignore my ignorance by leave the name of and a link to the tool in the comments section. Apparently, I’ve been disassembling 1911’s like some sort of neanderthal for 25 years.
Really? Really?!?
I just cannot think of the words to express just how stupefied I am with this discovery. So long as your thumbs work and you’re not disabled with arthritis, there is absolutely no logical reason to waste your money buying one of these “toolsâ€.
It takes more coordination to disassemble a Glock than it does to push the recoil spring plug in with your right thumb and spin the bushing with your left thumb. There are no exceptions for guns that have guide rods.
People who need a “bushing wrench†to disassemble their 1911 make God’s own armorer, the archangel John Moses Browning, get tears all over his wings.
I’m really only needing this answer because it has become annoying to repeatedly read Combat Tupperware fanboys attempt to make up for some personality inadequacies in the forums. Maybe they need a tool to take a 1911 apart so that they can save their manicures.
I have no such difficulties.
I looked at ads for the tools when they first came out about 2 years ago. No one needs a bushing wrench to strip a GI 1911, but some of the match models are made to much closer tolerances and the bushings are REALLY hard to remove, as I’ve been told. That said, I wouldn’t have a match pistol. My 1911A1 can put ’em all in 3″ at 25 yards, and I can SHAKE the bushing out of that pistol once I have aligned it to the removal angle.
The tools have many drift punches in them also, each one designed for a different size drift pin. You only need drifts if you are totally dis-assembling the 1911 down to the frame, which is something I don’t do. If you ARE going to strip it to the frame, you are doing gunsmith/armorer level work, and one assumes you already have a gunsmith level complement of tools, so you STILL wouldn’t need the pocket tool.
I agree, it’s another thing all those Tactical Tommys have to have yet another pocket for on their 35# tactical vests.
Me? I need that pocket for a couple more loaded magazines.
Isn’t this why you have a 1911 in the first place? It is so reliable you don’t HAVE to be able to take it apart in the field.
Every so often I detail-strip my carry 1911 for serious cleaning. As I recall, the only place I use a punch is to push the mainspring housing pin out. And if you had to, you could use the slide stop for that.
Well, I did use a toothpick to press the firing pin down to release the stop, so I guess you could call it one punch and one improvised.
Yes and yes, RD.
Firehand, I once used the firing pin itself as the MS pin punch. Fitted properly, the MS pin shouldn’t need to be drifted, just pushed through.
The bushing wrench is potentially helpful. Bullseye 1911s can be quite difficult to remove the barrel bushing. Of course, if you’re going to make a tactical-tommy gun, you’re going to want to err on the side of reliability over accuracy. I wouldn’t think you’d want a “working” gun to be that tight.
I’m going with RD also.
A Colt 1991 Commander (1911 style, but just a tad smaller) is my daily carry; I’ve never needed any sort of tool to clean it and keep it at 100% reliability, and more accurate than I am.
I picked up Clark Custom’s .460 Rowland drop in including the 40# spring, which was the one and only time I have ever used the bushing tool. My forhead made a fine backstop for the over powered spring.
I have to say I’ve always laughed at people who tell me I should get a proper takedown tool for my 1911. Besides my XD the 1911 is the simplest handgun I own as far as taking it apart. Maybe it’s because I don’t really add anything as far as guide rods and such to my guns, it’s just a simple 1911A1.
Whaaa? Have I heard wrong all these years when I heard that the 1911 as John Moses designed it could be detail-stripped using nothing but various parts of the gun itself?
What “Pistolero” said, plus field stripping blindfolded. If you can’t do both something is seriously amiss.
Screwdriver to remove the grips? If you used the original grip screws as JMB intended, you can use the rim of a .45 cartridge to unscrew those grips 🙂
My Rock Island Armory 45 was supposed to come with a bushing wrench, but repeated calls and emails to both the manufacturer and the US distributor have gone unanswered.
Their web page says it comes with 2 magazines also, and mine only had one and the response I got was basically “Oh yeah, the web page is outdated. We only ship them with one magazine now. Tough noogies.”
As much as I like mine, I won’t be buying another one with such stellar customer support.