1911 TOP END DISASSEMBLY | FUSION TECH | 1911 BASICS

Ever wonder how to disassemble the 1911 pistol? Follow these few simple steps, and you will be a master at disassembling your 1911Pistol in no time! In this video, we will go over the top-end disassembly of the 1911 pistol and, specifically, the slide stop. This is part of our basic series that we will keep expanding upon.

Steps To Remove A 1911 Slide Stop

A couple of things to keep in mind when removing your slide stop are not to use excessive force and ensure your 1911 pistol slide is in the correct position. Many people have tried to remove the slide stop when the slide is not in the correct position and hammer on the slide stop pin. This will cause issues, bend your slide stop, and cause dents and unnecessary wear on your slide, slide stop, and pistol. You should not need an excessive amount of force! You might need a couple of light taps with a pin punch.

1. Make sure your 1911 pistol is unloaded.
2. Take your barrel wrench and turn your barrel bushing to remove your end cap and relieve tension on your recoil spring.
3.  Slide your 1911 slide back to the "half-moon-shaped cut" (Not the slide lock notch).
4. Push on your 1911 slide stop where the pin is exposed on the other side of the frame. (If you have trouble removing it, you can use a punch and tap lightly

Steps To Install A 1911 Slide Stop

You want to keep a few things in mind when installing your slide stop. Just like removing the slide stop, you should not need excessive force you install your slide stop. Ensure your slide is positioned correctly when installing it, along with your barrel link. You should be able to see the barrel link hole through the slide stop pinhole in the slide. This should be done with ease with very little to no force needed. It is best practice to use a scribe or a small tool that you can use to pull back the detent on your plunger tube to install your slide stop easily. We have seen many people install the slide stop and swing it up into position, scratching the frame. It would be best never to do this unless you want scratches on your pistol. If you chose not to use a scribe tool, there is a chance that you will bend the slide stop and cause issues with the function of your pistol. Ensure that you are not using excessive force when installing your slide stop. You may need a few light taps with a small rubber jeweler hammer.

1. Make sure the barrel and recoil spring are already installed.
2. Swing barrel link down into the window in the frame
3. Make sure your 1911 slide is in the correct position (half-moon-notch)
4. Install slide stop pin into the frame and through the barrel link
5. Pull back on the detent in the plunger tube
6. Push down lightly on the slide stop until it is in position
7.  Install endcap and barrel bushing
8. Rack slide back and ensure proper function

FULL TRANSCRIPT

okay folks we're going to get into doing a little field stripping just to the top end here we're going to give you some close-ups of the slide stop i'm doing this because i just see an awful lot of folks out there that are having issues trying to get the slide stop into the gun and not understanding just the the simple basics of of getting this together here and then again not scratching your gun all up so we'll get we'll get some close-ups here maybe this will help some people out i'm just going to field strip this first get the barrel bushing out remember encapsulate the spring so it's not flying across the room for you all right we'll do that again make sure the gun's unloaded before you start all this i'm going to bring the the position of the slide stop notch there's a slide stop lug you'll see it when you take the slide stop out that has to go through the notch not the position that for to lock the slide back you'll see there's another little to a half moon shaped clearance in the slide so you that you can just push on the other side of the slide stop push it up you'll see i'm pushing up with my finger on the other side and it'll start to pop up and then you can pull it up and out of the pistol like that okay if they're a little stubborn then you can then you can take a punch and just hit that hit the other side from this side here and just hit it with a punch slightly and it'll come out for you so one of the biggest things we see is is one a couple of items you really got to look for is make sure that your link the link on the barrel is swung down in the window here and you're actually getting the shaft on the slide stop through the frame and through the link that's linking the barrel up and down here that's really important so the other thing we see is people struggle to get by the detent here this detent is under spring tension so that while you're firing the pistol this isn't this isn't jping up out of battery and and stopping your slide the slide stop itself while it's functioning it only comes up and stops when the magazine hits it on the last shot so again people have problems with this and some people just end up putting it in and then just slam it home when i see that happen also there's some problems you'll end up a lot of times bending your slide stop then all of a sudden you'll start having issues where you don't have slide the slide won't lock it back on the last last round well a lot of times it's because the slice up itself is bent up off of the frame and there again it'll either impede the performance of the slide itself going back and forth because it's rubbing or it won't go into the engagement pocket because it's bent out out of the out toward from the frame itself so generally when you get it in this position here you'll look at how i have it again i use a sharp instrent which just is a scribe you can use all types of things a pin sewing needle anything that's small that can get in here there's those little little things for cake decorating i've seen people use there's just anything you can grind a punch down sharp on the end but basically it's insert that make sure you're into the barrel link itself then you use the scribe itself to pull back on the detent and as i'm doing that you'll see i'm moving the slide stop up into position in the window and i pull it out and put it right back down in there and see how simple that was very simple very easy and that helped to assist you of not scratching your frame all up i've seen people with huge drag marks where they they bought a brand new gun from us next thing it's all scratched up and everything because they're just slamming it in so that is something that you can do it that way if you want but generally people want to keep their gun in in good condition and don't have scratches all over it and this just a little scribe or a tool such as this will just help so much by just relieving the pressure pushing back on the detent and then pushing in the slide stop and and then you're there and done and again we see just a lot of people with that same exact problem all right so here's some of the final checks you want to do after you've completely reassembled the top end and added your slide stop back into the pistol a couple things you want to check for again make sure everything operates properly make sure it locks up properly if if you go to pull it back and and you have an issues with that generally it's because your slide stop is not in the in the link hole in the barrel so that's one thing to check for there so again you're going to check it and all again everything's unloaded here we're going to check that let the slide go forward a couple times make sure you don't have hammer fall engage your thb safety make sure the hammer is not going to fall and then make sure the beaver tail coming into position pull on the trigger make sure that the hammer is not falling with the beaver tail not compressed then compress the beaver tail fire the pistol again everything done unloaded in a safe position pointed in a safe direction all the time.