I've spent the last week reading various forums and threads on the thumb safety problem. Apparently the charming little habit of the safety falling apart multiple times is more widely occurring than just mine.
I'm led to believe I can readily obtain a replacement single non-ambi style from one of a number of suppliers. I also gather 'trim to fit' is not a big deal in most cases.
I am fortunate that my 'smith is less than a mile away should I need help.
Ed Brown and others have what I'm after, but some charge $10 for shipping.
I have concluded I do not want the ambi because I also manage to run my soft fleshy parts into the edges too often due to old training habits that are unlikely to be reprogrammed.
The PT1911 has performed nicely, other than a few little glitches.
I 'inherited' this from a family member, who had purchased it as their "First Gun"....left it for a number of months in the case, and proudly brought it out for show & tell time.
It was flash rusted badly and had some deep evil pits in the slide. They abandoned their interest in confusion, guilt and shame. So I was left in possession of a small rusty anvil/bucket o'parts..... It was likely no warranty would cover it.
Took it to my 'smith, evaluated, disassembled, detail striped & cleaned, decided sand blasting & reblue was the only remedy.
All went well. It shot nicely. Until the L thumb safety fell off. Again. Again. Again. And Again. Hmm....
Factory says "send it back" maybe in 6-8 weeks they'll put on a new thumb safety. Didn't mention the rust issue.
As I said before, buy a replacement and drop it in. If the safety works correctly you won. If not take it to the gunsmith and have him fit it. It is not easy to do unless maybe you have done many others before. I ruined an original trying to fit it and eventually got the replacement right. But it is not intuitive as to where to remove metal and it drops out of sight when in the gun not allowing a visual to see exactly what it is not doing correctly.
I would not send it back to Taurus as any warrantee you had with the gun was lost when you refinished it. They will probably charge you more than your local gunsmith and you'll have to pay shipping as well, both ways. Taurus is not know for good service or for a timely return of the gun.
I agree with LD. there are many very good drop in safeties but all of them need some kind of refinement to get them to function smoothly , function 100% correct and fit properly. During my course work in getting into the gunsmithing trade, there is a whole section on 1911 safeties. One of my American Gunsmithing magizines even has a whole article on doing it right. There is a whole system of things going on inside the safety system that you can't see but you don't want to assume that its OK. Its not for the faint at heart and if you have any concerns that you won't understand how to do it, its best left for a smith.
Taurus repair services is lackluster. I had a PT92 that I sent to them only b/c it was a lifetime warrenty fix so why should I dump my own money into it. I do have to say the payed for everything, even the shipping to them but it was replacement with their parts. If you send your 1911 to them they will only replace it with "their" parts which will be another ambi safety that will give you the same problems, mechanically and ergonomically.
IMO buy the safety lever you want and will suit your needs. See if you can find any info on installing them, some even come with instructions and see if you understand what is involved. Some require much more fitting than others. I've done one that only required some minor filing to make it work smoothly I had another that required me to chamfer the safety hole in the frame of the gun to get the safety to fit flat to the frame. I can't tell you how the taurus will be b/c they are all different.
If any doubt, take it to a local smith. One that has done it many times won't kill you in price if he is reputable. If he is a "pick and replace" kind of smith, then he is not your guy. They will waist your time and money.
Thank you both gents. I appreciate your words of experience on this matter.
I've had to fiddle a bit with most of my guns over the years. Now that I'll retired I have the time to delve further into the mysterious working previously left for my 'smith.
He's on the verge of retiring himself, and facing surgery in the next few months.
He's given me tips & reference material over the years and advices I better start learning how to tend to a few matters myself. I am rural and there are strong advantages to knowing a few tricks in keeping your own livestock healthy.....
I think those are wise words. Many of us have converted to doing the work ourselves for many reasons. If you feel comfortable and your current smith is more than willing to help with advice then your in the right place to be. Like many car restorers I took pride in knowing what I did and knowing whats "inside". Some of my favorite guns that I have worked on were those that the people watched me. (this is before I got my 01 license and they needed to be there for me to legally do the work). They learned something and I learned more b/c I had to explain to them what had to be done. It made better customers out of them b/c they now know what was done.
You sound like a very confident person, take it on yourself. The older and retiring gunsmiths are a wealth of knowledge and it sounds like he's more than willing to help out if needed.
Again, I'll agree with LD & Helix. Go ahead and give a replacement safety install a try...
While you're ordering parts, I would also check into getting either the Jerry Kuhnhausen "1911 Shop Manual" volumes 1&2 and it's DVD, or the AGI 1911 DVD manual. Either one are very good references on working on the 1911 and both of em cover fitting a new safety very well.
I too will caution that I've never seen a real drop-in safety lever either. Every one that I've done has required fitting. Like Helix, I've seen one or two that needed just some filing on the sear block but some that needed a bit of work to get things set into place and functioning.
I've only got one Taurus 1911 under my belt so far...it wasn't any hard to fit parts to than the Springfield "victims" that I've worked with.
Here's a quick shot showing a factory Taurus safety compared to a factory Springfield safety. (Were the only loose safety levers I've got laying on the bench at the moment).
If you notice, the dimple (bevel, divot, detent, whatever you call it) that the plunger rests in while in the FIRE position is very small on the Taurus safety lever compared to the Springfield one. In addition to holding the safety lever down in the FIRE position it also helps retain the safety lever in the frame.
Another thing that retains the lever in the frame is the undercut on the bottom of that sear block. I've seen where the undercut is either not wide enough to engage the bottom edge of the hole in the frame, and I've also seen where the sear block post with the undercut on it was too small and won't travel down far enough to engage that undercut onto the frame. Either one will allow the safety lever to come out of the frame.
(Sorry about the delayed response. I was on the road for a few days and didn't have pix to reference you to.)
And yes, this Taurus safety lever is a mess! It was on a "bubba" gun that I picked up cheap...looks like the gun had been dropped hard on the left side and bent the safety lever up. A previous owner must've had the lever in a vice and whatever else tools to try and straighten it out. It wouldn't even function safely...the safety wouldn't block the sear and the bent lever kept things from engaging the frame at all.
Good luck with fitting your new safety lever. Hope this helps!
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