Colt Service Ace Manual

[Bosko]

I recently received a Colt Service Ace .22LR. It disassembles similar to the 1911 but I cannot remove the barrel from the slide and a part came out when I removed the slide. It looks like a piece of spring steel with hooks on the end. I tried buying a manual reprint on ebay but the listing is closed. Can anyone help? The pistol is in parts right now.

[lksstbls]

Had the same issue a few weeks ago, when I disassembled my Colt Ace for the first time. I assume the "extra" piece is the extractor which is about 5" long, stainless steel, and odd shaped.

I'll attempt to describe the reassembly process, as someone did for me:

Lay the slide on its back. Insert the barrel in the slide. With the slide on its back, on the RHS of the slide, you'll notice a narrow "slot" (about a quarter of an inch long) running fore and aft on the barrel assembly. The hook or finger on the extractor drops into that slot. Drop the hook into that slot and slowly slide the barrel forward dragging the extractor with it. When the barrel is forward about an inch or so forward, the extractor will drop down on its on weight into its correct position parallel to the barrel and in a slot of the slide. Pull the barrel back to the normal position, and proceed with assembly of the pistol. Good luck and PM me if you have any problems.

[Bosko]

Thanks. I'm GTG.

[clughog]

See if this helps:

http://www.coltsmfg.com/cmci/downloads/Manuals/LoRes/22%20Caliber%20Conversion%20Unit%20SemiAutomatic%20Pistol.pdf

The conversion unit is about the same as the ACE and at least you'll have diagrams to look at.

[1903a3spring]

Had the same issue a few weeks ago, when I disassembled my Colt Ace for the first time. I assume the "extra" piece is the extractor which is about 5" long, stainless steel, and odd shaped.

I'll attempt to describe the reassembly process, as someone did for me:

Lay the slide on its back. Insert the barrel in the slide. With the slide on its back, on the RHS of the slide, you'll notice a narrow "slot" (about a quarter of an inch long) running fore and aft on the barrel assembly. The hook or finger on the extractor drops into that slot. Drop the hook into that slot and slowly slide the barrel forward dragging the extractor with it. When the barrel is forward about an inch or so forward, the extractor will drop down on its on weight into its correct position parallel to the barrel and in a slot of the slide. Pull the barrel back to the normal position, and proceed with assembly of the pistol. Good luck and PM me if you have any problems.

I believe that piece is the ejector, eh? ;)

[RickB]

Yeah, the piece that fell out should be the ejector. For the barrel to come out the front of the slide, make sure the "floating chamber" is rotated so the feed ramp is vertical (12:00 if the slide is upside down), so it passes through the recoil spring tunnel. If the chamber is rotated from vertical, the feed ramp will block removal of the barrel.

[dakota1911]

Thanks for that link clughog. I have it somewhere, but I did get a manual with mine and after the first frustration of working with it I found it strange but obvious. I have a number of .22 conversions and the Kimber, at least in how it comes apart and goes back together, still wins the warm fuzzy award if you know how to take down and put together the 1911.