My Observations - Current products

WELCOME TO THE NO BS ZONE OF TEDDY JACOBSON


I never know what I am going to write about until its time to start writing my commentaries. I talk with a great many people, not near as many as I used to and I have turned down at least 12 big jobs in the past week. Most have called me because they had guns that were already worked on by some one else. The days of me fixing other peoples nitemares are over. The days of me fixing guns for people that ask for help on a chat room first, if I have worked on that very gun it is over for them. I can not deal with any of this anymore. I have been telling every one the truth for years and everyone resented this truth. I will not deviate, its not in me to tell a person anything but what I believe to be the truth. Its not about money, its not about anything but the truth as I honestly see it.


You can only learn so much from a chat room or a forum or a book or a video, etc.
There are procedures that must be explained and shown in person. To believe anything else is BS. Yes there are things that you can comprehend thru pictures and diagrams and instructions but it will never make you a master of the art you are seeking. I can tell you how to properly install a thumb safety in a 1911 pistol but you will never get it right unless you are in front of me and watch everything I do and I explain in detail what I did and why I did it. Any other line of thinking is total nonsense. I do not care who tells you otherwise. I can tell you how to cut the hammer hooks of your 1911 hammer but you will never be able to get it right until you are face to face with some one like me that will share that knowledge very slowly.


When I look at these current models that are available, I often see things that other people would never dream of. When I look at sights of a handgun that is especially brand new, I look at the sights to see if there are any obvious dents or marks that show brass tracking from a punch. I am very interested in this because if you have night sights that have been installed and they have been banged on and show visible signs of dents, then you know that the tritium vials may have been damaged. If they have indeed been damaged that alone will cut down the shelf life of your night sight. If the vial of gas leaks, you will have a dead sight in no time. I see this happening all the time.


I am always inspecting various 1911 pistols, I often see what others do not. I look at the plunger tube to see if its loose. If the left grip panel is holding the plunger tube I will remove the left grip panel to check the plunger tube. I always look at the sear spring to see if its protruding into the magazine well, if it is, it will scrape your magazine. I often check the plunger tube rivets to make sure they have been flared out properly. If you think you can use a 1/8 inch ball dremel bit and flare the internal holes for the plunger tube at an angle correctly, you are sadly mistaken. you will just create an oval instead of a perfect circular flare in the inside of the frame which is what you must have.


I always check the tension on an internal extractor of a 1911 pistol. If you have it too tight the gun will not feed, if you have it too loose it will not extract the case from the chamber. There is no middle ground, this can not be taught to anyone that easily. You can get advice from anyone or read books but nothing will ever beat face to face instructions from some one that knows.
Same goes for all those scratches on your frame from the slide stop that will not go in smoothly. There is no reason for all this if its done right, these people that make and or assemble these 1911 pistols do not get it. Many do not realize that the plunger tube must be checked for proper inside diameter and where the internal shoulder is cut so that the pin does not protrude out to far, and so many pins are not round at the very end. I am telling you the truth no one wants to hear.


The thumb safety on a 1911 pistol must be low enough while in the down position so that the detent pin is in the little hole in the thumb safety. There must be about 1/16 of an inch clearance from the bottom of the slide to the top of the thumb safety (while in the down position) so that if your thumb accidentally bumps it while you are shooting the gun it will not cause the thumb safety to be bumped and you have an instant jam. This is very often over looked in brand new guns. If you want to see what I am talking about look at a brand new Para Ordnance "LDA", the thumb safety is a disaster on everyone I have seen.


The Magazine catch on a new 1911 pistol is very important for reliable feeding. This is about the most over looked item of this model handgun. There are people that will tell you it does not matter if there is a lot of play once your magazine is in the locked position. This is not true, its critical. I often must silver solder shim stock on the magazine catch assembly in order to raise the magazine to the proper height. I do not plan on taking any more custom jobs in any more, my working days are different now as I have selected a few people that I will help educate personally so they will at least know this 1911 pistol, one person will be my son Charles. I doubt he will work at this any time soon but I want him to learn now while I am still here.


There are so many things to talk about regarding the 1911 design. There are so many other models of handguns that need a great deal of attention also. I want to also make mention of the superb Browning Hi Power. If anyone has ever done any trigger work on your hi power, you must check the following. I have found when a person has taken metal off the sear and or hammer and they do not know how to re arrange the geometry for the thumb safety, here is what happens and this is how you locate the problem. If a gap has been wrongfully created between the thumb safety and the sear you can test it as follows. Make sure your BHP is empty and pull the hammer back (chamber is empty), push your thumb safety in the up position, now look between the hammer and the rear of the slide, while pulling the trigger see if your sear rises, it should not rise to any great degree. If you see that your sear rises a great deal, have it looked at. It can be fixed.


I want to talk briefly about a CZ type handgun. I have found that depending of the country of origin, the dovetail cuts in the slide are different for the sights. I have stayed away from changing sights on these CZ pistols and their clones for this reason. Its not worth the aggravation. I have always found the trigger pin with the dual flaring to be a major problem and have always stocked steel metric drill rods in case I ever needed them. This is not an easy handgun to work on as the hammer hooks are over engaged, as many military handguns are. What this means is that when the hammer is back in the single action mode and you are slowly pulling the trigger you can see the hammer come back before it is released by the sear to go forward to strike the firing pin.


Before I end this commentary I want to touch on revolvers. I have always liked revolvers but they can jam and that can cost you your life. For example if there is too small a gap between the forcing cone and the front of the cylinder and after a few shots the metal heats up you have a cylinder that binds instantly. If some thing is not square in this same area, it can bind up in the same manor. I have seen this many times. For the person that wants a durable front sight on his "J" frame SW revolver, stay away from the fiber optic rods, not only are they fragile but cleaning them with the wrong chemical will eat them up.
For those that have revolvers with the new safety lock, get over it. DO NOT try and remove it, leave well enough alone. I do not like them any more than you do but its here to stay. As for MIM parts, we are going to live with this from now on. Are these MIM parts made in America, I do not know. The firearms industry has changed a great deal but we are part of it and we must live with current production and people like me will always try and make it better.


To sum it all up I am not very happy with some of the current products I see. I have found more and more items on back order at Brownells than ever before. It certainly is not the fault of Brownells, it is the supplier but the trail still leads me to ask the major question that no one is willing to answer. Where are these parts made ??? If they are made in this country and you are out of stock and you tell me you can't get the steel, to me thats BS, are they made in Korea, or Pakistan or India or Israel or Taiwan or China, etc, etc. I would rather know the truth. Are they bogged down getting through Customs ?? I still would rather know the truth than be fed a line of BS. I do not have a stamp on my head that says "MORON"...

Thanks for coming to my place and reading my commentaries. I certainly hope I have given you something to think about and have educated you.


AUTHORS PERSONAL NOTATION:
This commentary as well as all my previous commentaries are my personal opinion and my personal viewpoint only. My only intent is to try and educate you.


Teddy Jacobson / Pistolsmith (semi retired)
www.actionsbyt.com
281 277 4008
tjacobson@houston.rr.com
jaj45f@alltel.net
www.actionsbyt.blogspot.com/