Barrel link problems

[doc45]

Help! After 26 years shooting and owning every version of Colt my 3 year old LW Commander has done what no other ever has: Last weekend I ran 200 rounds through it flawlessly. When I stripped it to clean, the link and pin fell out. They went back in very easily. Upon reassembly I don't think there's enough room for the pin to work loose but I'm not sure. Do I need to replace it with a larger size? This pistol has about 3000 rounds through it and was refinished by the wonderful folks at Robar. This is one of my carry guns but now I've left it in the safe until I get help. Any thoughts? Thanks, Steve

[1911Tuner]

Howdy .45fan,

Not an uncommon problem. Two possibilities as to the cause.

Either the link pin wasn't correctly sized for the hole, or the barrel
is riding/standing on the link, and the hole got wallowed out due to the
barrel locking vertically into the slide on the link instead of the barrel
being cammed upward into lockup via the slidestop pin and lower lug.

If the problem is a simple matter of the pin being slightly undersized, a satisfactory fix is to use a center punch to stake the metal around the hole to keep the pin from falling out again. The preferred repair is to select an oversized pin for a fairly tight interference fit. Your pin is probably .154
diameter. A .156 pin is available, and will probably correct it.

If the barrel is riding or standing on the link, it's more involved. The pin,
being harder than the lug, will continue to wallow the hole into an egg-shape,
and begin to delay the barrel's linkdown timing. You can go to the technical
section of the forum and find a link that is related to...the link. Go over it and determine your problem, so that you can make a decision as to the best course of action to take.

Standin' by...

Tuner

[doc45]

Tuner, I appreciate the info. I'm heading over to read the info and figure out what I need to do. Thanks again.