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HELP: .45 ACP 1911 jammed/locked with thumb safety engaged

KingOrca

KingOrca

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Hello All,

I just encountered a very odd situation after I have cleaned and reassembled my 1911. During my function test of the thumb safety all of a sudden my gun locked up. I couldn’t put the gun back to fire and I couldn’t slide the gun back. I have attempted to field strip it again but since the gun is on safety I couldn’t pull the slide back to detach the slide from the frame. I have tried everything and nothing seemed to work. I’m curious if anyone in the community had a similar issue and what was your solution?
 
Sounds like your safety lever is bound up on the sorjng plunger. The tube on the frame in front of the safety lever contains a spring and plunger that holds the safety lever in place. It is what makes the "snap" when you manipulate the safety. Using a non marring tool push that plunger forward so the safety lever clears it then push the lever down. It may help to first remove the recoil spring cap and bushing first
 
HayesGreener said:
Sounds like your safety lever is bound up on the sorjng plunger. The tube on the frame in front of the safety lever contains a spring and plunger that holds the safety lever in place. It is what makes the "snap" when you manipulate the safety. Using a non marring tool push that plunger forward so the safety lever clears it then push the lever down. It may help to first remove the recoil spring cap and bushing first
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This was exactly my thinking, too- check that plunger and spring and, if necessary, push the plunger forward back into its tube with a drift punch or screwdriver tip or some such tool. ;)

And then, check and see if the plunger tube has become slightly "un-staked" from the frame. THAT will have to be addressed, if it's the problem. (This is why I demand that the left grip panel covers that plunger tube and holds it firmly to the frame. Not all of them do.)
 
HayesGreener said:
Sounds like your safety lever is bound up on the sorjng plunger. The tube on the frame in front of the safety lever contains a spring and plunger that holds the safety lever in place. It is what makes the "snap" when you manipulate the safety. Using a non marring tool push that plunger forward so the safety lever clears it then push the lever down. It may help to first remove the recoil spring cap and bushing first
Click to expand...
Would you be able to snap a photo of the part. Just to confirm if I understand the part you’re talking about.
 

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KingOrca said:
I got frustrated, before I cause any damage to the firearm I decided to send it to the pros at SA. Now it’s the waiting game…4-6 weeks…sigh.. I’ll be sure to keep those suggestions in mind for the future.
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Gotta commend you…. There are PLENTY of us here, when we were new/inexperienced, that ham fisted/manhandled it and most likely.. a nice ”beauty mark” was the result. I can neither confirm nor deny my own personal experiences… LOL.
Takes a helluva person to say “nope, not my thing” and either go to a gun smith or send it out.

One could say you possibly missed out on an opportunity to fix/learn about your pistol.
One could also just as easily say you avoided a mark, ruining or worse yet…doing something unsafe.
Cheers.
 
KingOrca said:
I got frustrated, before I cause any damage to the firearm I decided to send it to the pros at SA. Now it’s the waiting game…4-6 weeks…sigh.. I’ll be sure to keep those suggestions in mind for the future.
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if there is a gunsmith near you, a quick run there would have saved you a long wait from the factory.,

heck, even "some" gun stores have someone that might be of some help.

in the future, when you go to lube your gun after a cleaning.?

put a drop of oil at both ends of the "plunger tube".

i usually always use a small pocket screwdriver to push in the plunger (the piece sticking out against the safety), so that the oil gets deeper into that tube.

picture of a 1911 plunger tube...

1706617718359.png
 
Hayes mentioned loosening up the slide by removing the recoil spring plug & bushing.
Seems to me removing the MSH might loosen the internals as well.

Also, the grips off so you can get a good look at the plunger tube. Check for fitment etc.
 
TidalWave said:
Hayes mentioned loosening up the slide by removing the recoil spring plug & bushing.
Seems to me removing the MSH might loosen the internals as well.

Also, the grips off so you can get a good look at the plunger tube. Check for fitment etc.
Click to expand...
Removing the MSH at this point won't "free up" anything but the grip safety and the hammer strut, and that won't help anything, and might actually make things worse.

I firmly believe that Hayes and I both correctly diagnosed the actual problem last night. It's almost certainly a simple, easy, 30-second no-cost fix to cure the immediate problem, and not a much bigger problem to eliminate the "root cause" of the problem. But the OP has announced he wants to go to the trouble and expense of returning the gun to SA, so that's "case closed" as far as I'm concerned. ;)
 
Snake45 said:
Removing the MSH at this point won't "free up" anything but the grip safety and the hammer strut, and that won't help anything, and might actually make things worse.

I firmly believe that Hayes and I both correctly diagnosed the actual problem last night. It's almost certainly a simple, easy, 30-second no-cost fix to cure the immediate problem, and not a much bigger problem to eliminate the "root cause" of the problem. But the OP has announced he wants to go to the trouble and expense of returning the gun to SA, so that's "case closed" as far as I'm concerned. ;)
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then if "case closed", can we derail it now...???
 
Old_Me said:
then if "case closed", can we derail it now...???
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Not yet. We have to consider calibration of the pull weight of the tool-less concentric oblong swinging sear pin engagement doohickey. It will perform best with a 65# Wolf flat wire framus return spring. You'll need the specialty Wheeler Jack On spring ring pliers. Be careful, it is stiff and can be slippery and it could launch that spring into the next township. And remember to lube liberally with Lucas Easy Glide, but don't get that stuff on your clothes. Did I forget anything?
 
HayesGreener said:
Not yet. We have to consider calibration of the pull weight of the tool-less concentric oblong swinging sear pin engagement doohickey. It will perform best with a 65# Wolf flat wire framus return spring. You'll need the specialty Wheeler Jack On spring ring pliers. Be careful, it is stiff and can be slippery and it could launch that spring into the next township. And remember to lube liberally with Lucas Easy Glide, but don't get that stuff on your clothes. Did I forget anything?
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Yea, think you did, you forgot to mention this technique only applies to a H&K VP9 pistol……whoa…..did I just type that……must be my pain meds…..😬😬
 
HayesGreener said:
Not yet. We have to consider calibration of the pull weight of the tool-less concentric oblong swinging sear pin engagement doohickey. It will perform best with a 65# Wolf flat wire framus return spring. You'll need the specialty Wheeler Jack On spring ring pliers. Be careful, it is stiff and can be slippery and it could launch that spring into the next township. And remember to lube liberally with Lucas Easy Glide, but don't get that stuff on your clothes. Did I forget anything?
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i posted my comment about derailing at 1:03 PM

it took you nearly 1 hour and 40 minutes to concoct your verbiage...?????

man, did you take a nap too...??

or wait for a 5 year old like i did????? (see my posting about my new barstool).....then you'll understand.
 
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