Looking for Series 80 firing pin safety parts

[XavierBreath]

I have a Series 80 pistol that I bought used, and the previous owner had taken out all the firing pin safety parts and replaced them with the shim from Brownells. Unfortunately, he tossed the parts in the trash bin.

Believe it or not, I am wanting to replace these parts. I checked with Numrich, and it appears they have everything but the plunger spring that fits into the slide. It's listed on the schematic, but not among the parts list. I tried calling Colt's Customer Service to see if they would be willing to send me the parts, but got an unsatisfactory result. I know Cylinder and Slide has an upgrade kit for the same parts, but at $50 I figure I can just slick up stock parts like always.

So, does anyone have any other solutions on where to obtain these parts?
I need both levers, the slide plunger and the plunger spring.

[SMMAssociates]

Xavier:

Have you tried Brownells?

They had (haven't looked) the in-slide parts (spring, plunger) for Para's version of the pin block safety. (I bought 'em - lost the spring when the rear sight decided to exit the frame suddenly.)

They should have the corresponding Colt parts.

I don't know about the little actuator that the shim replaces, but they should have that too.

I'm not going to ask why you want to put that stuff back, but the general consensus is that if you buy a gun with that feature disabled, there's no good reason to put it back. You just don't want to remove it from a carry gun. I think you're building/rebuilding for sale, though, and that may be a good enough reason to put that back if you're even marginally close to being a dealer.

I've bought enough stuff from Brownells to qualify for a parking space, but I have no connection with them. Service has been uniformly good, but I'm not sure I trust them to recommend parts - there are just too many choices. :eek:

[XavierBreath]

I checked thier catalog, but have not actually called Brownells yet.

[SMMAssociates]

Xavier:

Looks like Brownell's 160-109-082 is the missing trigger group part (the one the shim replaced), 160-109-081 is the spring (goes in the slide), and 160-109-080 is the plunger. You also need to use an extractor that's cutout for the plunger, and the proper firing pin.

DO NOT put that first part back in the gun until the spring, plunger, firing pin, and extractor have been replaced. The lever will engage the hole in the slide and do some damage, I think.... :o

(All this from their "Schematics" section on their web site. The above part numbers are for the GM. Others might be different.)

Lifting the catalog is hazardous to my health.... Not to mention what happens when the wife sees another Brownell's box in the "in" pile.....

Regards,

[LFN]

FYI from my shop manual by Jerry Kuhnhausen, The Colt .45 Automatic, page 84, Quote "figure 130 shows the interaction of series 80 safety features, as a safety reminder, and also to caution about the factory fit plunger lever. This part has three fitting variations marked 1 2, and 3. They vary in angle and elevation , and provide critical final lift for the firing pin lock. only the original fitting number can be used. "

Don't know what you can do about finding out how it was originaly, but thought you should know this information.

[SMMAssociates]

FYI from my shop manual by Jerry Kuhnhausen, The Colt .45 Automatic, page 84, Quote "figure 130 shows the interaction of series 80 safety features, as a safety reminder, and also to caution about the factory fit plunger lever. This part has three fitting variations marked 1 2, and 3. They vary in angle and elevation , and provide critical final lift for the firing pin lock. only the original fitting number can be used. "

Don't know what you can do about finding out how it was originaly, but thought you should know this information. LFN:

Thanks.... Never ran into that one before (where's Tuner when you need him?), but it may make "don't even try to put it back" the best advice.

You'd think they'd stamp the number someplace, but it could be on the lever :o , which isn't going to help now.

Brownells doesn't mention this issue at all.... Parts seem to be parts....

(I've had those Kunhausen books on my "wish list" for some time, but a combination of buying parts, ammunition, and having a competent local gunsmith has kept me from spending the money on 'em.)

I wonder how you'd fit one if you didn't know.... Just being a little out of time shouldn't damage the gun the way having the lever jump into an open hole (no plunger) might, but it would make ignition iffy. (Just rambling....) I wonder if it's "series" specific? IOW, Commanders use #2, GM's #1, etc?

The location of the plunger itself on the slide, the location of the lever on the frame, and some minor timing issues (getting the lever out of the way as recoil starts) are all issues, but you'd think they'd build the things so those were all constants.

Curiouser and curiouser....

Regards,

[XavierBreath]

Don't know what you can do about finding out how it was originally, but thought you should know this information.

I just checked my Kuhnhausen book, and you are correct. That's a bummer, but very good to know. (I need to get into Kuhnhausen's book more often.) I may take a chance on the Brownells parts......After all, they do have a good return policy, or I may be able to use them as spares at some time.

I stoned the spacer today, and after a good stoning, the trigger cleaned up considerably. I may just leave the Series 80 stuff out, but my history of working on aircraft gives me this thing about empty holes that used to contain a part. ;)

Many thanks guys.

[SMMAssociates]

Xavier:

This is one area where I think you can leave the empty hole and not worry about it. In the absence of the plunger, nothing happens. The lever we're discussing serves to push the plunger up and disengage it from the firing pin, unblocking it. If the plunger is missing, it's not going to block anything.

The only issues are those of keeping the hole from allowing crud into the firing pin tube, and the "don't take a safety device out of a firearm" problem.

The latter probably is moot if you bought the thing that way - copies of this thread would show that you've made some kind of effort to understand and perhaps remedy the situation. (Kind of irrelevant if it's not a carry piece, too.)

Keeping out the crud just involves cleaning it more often.... I'm more concerned about crud in the thing when the plunger is present. My Tac-Four's got it, and while it seems to be designed to avoid problems - tapered surfaces, tight fits, etc. - it might be wise to clean it more often than folks might take apart the slide of a 1911 built without it.

Regards,

[1911Tuner]

Tryin' to buy a house and pack up two more to sell'em...and nursin' a blown disc in my lower back is where! :D

Brownells has all the parts that you need, but they're listed in the back of the catalog under the Colt Factory parts section. Plunger lever #1 is available from brownells, but the others are available only from Colt. The good news is that I've only seen one factory Colt that didn't have #1 in it,
so your chances are good with that one. The key is to make sure that the lever has enough lift when the trigger is pulled. .060 inch above the frame with the slack taken out of the trigger, but before any sear movement, and
.090-.110 inch with the trigger pulled fully to the rear will work. There's a fairly wide tolerance for the parts to work, so it's not all that critical.

Lemme scratch around in my parts boxes and see if I've got all the parts you need. If I don't have'em all, I know I've at least got the frame levers. That'll save ya a few bucks...I'll report back tomorrow if somebody'll remind me. My
synapses ain't what they used ta be... :rolleyes: :D

[SMMAssociates]

Tryin' to buy a house and pack up two more to sell'em...and nursin' a blown disc in my lower back is where! Yikes.... You really need to drop in more often and tell us why you're not dropping in more often. :D

Good luck with the back - the houses thing (if you can avoid having to carry furniture) is only a time sink, but the disk can really ruin your day. I messed my back up hauling mom's luggage about this time last year and it's still annoying, but at worst it wasn't as bad as not holding my buddy's .44 Mag properly with a full load.... (Bruises on both hands!) Except it hurt longer.... :o

Thanks for dropping in on this thread. If Colt did anything right with the firing pin block, IMHO, the parts in the slide seem to me to be really "KISS". The lever thing looks strange, but that's kind of how it has to be shaped. I wish I'd been in the room when they designed that one....

Saving a slot - the Commander's now working perfectly (although I think I need to yank the variable rate spring I was playing with), and do take a minute and read the "Haunted Para" threads hereabouts for a good laugh. Short form: bad slide stop and some missing Loctite!

Regards,