1911 Safety Swap?

[Harleytoo]

So since I decided to keep my EMP, one of the items I want to do is replace the Ambi safety with a single side safety that will carry easier.

I had been looking at various Wilson Combat, Harrison and Ed Brown replacements, then a comment I read on one of their sights got me to thinking.

Someone had installed a, Wilson I think, single side safety and had installed the ambi safety from his EMP on to his Remington 1911 R1.

Which, perked my interest because I don't plan to carry the R1 so the ambi safety is fine for it.

So my thought was, instead of getting a new replacement for the EMP why not just swap the safeties. The one on the R1 is very low profile (early original style) single side.

What do you think. Aside from some minor fitting between the two ... I think it should work.

Thoughts?

(Note: Please forgive the Punisher grips, I had them laying about and I thought I would put them on for the giggles)

 

[badkarmamib]

I found that the safety in my Para and the one in my wife's Ruger are interchangeable. I did a full function check, seeing how far the safeties have to travel to disengage, to verify that they truly are "safeties". I would try it, verifying that they work as intended, and, if not, consider which ones will need replacing before taking a file to either. Maybe you will get lucky, as I did, and they are truly interchangeable.

 

[Harleytoo]

Bad, that was my thinking as well. Hopefully save myself $80 (that I can put toward that Cerakote finish I want on the R1).

 

[Coldfinger]

They are interchangeable. Should not require any fitting. Function test after swap. I pulled a ambi out of a Taurus and put it in a Smith, pulled the one from the smith and put it in my R1. It's a long story but the short of it is, yes swap and save

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[JTQ]

I don't know if the swap will work, but since you own both firearms, I'll assume you realize they are not the same size guns.

The EMP is a scaled down version of a 1911. Simple things like magazines won't interchange, which would make me think a significant part like a thumb safety probably won't either. However, they are your guns, give it a go.

 

[Harleytoo]

Actually the EMP uses standard size 1911 controls. Only the barrel setup and the mag feed has been changed to non standard.

 

[hAkron]

When I replaced the stupid locking MSH on my Springfield mil spec, I found Ruger to be a cheap source for decent 1911 parts.

http://shopruger.com/SR1911-Safety-Lock/productinfo/64042/

 

[dogmush]

maybe yes, maybe no.* They the only safe way to tell is to install the safeties in the new pistol with the grip safety removed, engage the thumb safety, try and pull the trigger and visually check for sear movement.

Since the lug on the thumb safety of a 1911 blocks the sear from moving, and zero movement of the sear is acceptable, thumb safeties are generally considered to be fit to a particular gun and not interchangeable. I have found when actually looking at a friends gun who thought his safety was interchangeable, that while it didn't fire, the sear did rotate a bit, and the hammer hook engagement with the safety on and trigger pulled was less then .008". Not something I would consider safe, myself.

Given the reality of tolerance stack, if both safeties are correctly fit in their respective guns, one will be too loose, and the other will need to be filed down when you swap them. Then the one you filed will be too lose in the original gun. So that would be a one way swap.

For my money, I don't swap 1911 thumb safeties. I fit them to a particular frame, pin, sear combo, and they stay there. Sometimes I get lucky and an old one will have enough metal to be fit to a second project down the road, but it needs to be carefully checked.

*It's possible they'll interchange safely, but very unlikely. It's much more likely that you'll have a safety you think works, and is disengaging 30-40% of the hammer hooks.

 

[Harleytoo]

Dog, you actually have a good point. After watching a few fitting videos I see that you really need to start with an unfitted safety to properly fit it.

 

[bannockburn]

Harleytoo

That's what I did when I built my own 1911 from the frame on up. I used the safety from my Springfield Armory 1911A1 to see how everything went together then I fit a stainless steel safety to the new frame and it worked perfectly.

 

[Coldfinger]

Don't mean to hijack your thread. I love your 1911. Did you mill the reciever? What slide is that?

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[bannockburn]

Coldfinger

If your question is addressed to me the upper is a TacSol .22 conversion while the frame is an old blued Essex model that I removed the finish from, polished it, and left in the white. Grips are Kim Ahrends skip checkered rosewood.

 

[Harleytoo]

Bannacok, which safety did you go with? I like the smaller one you used without the big thumb levers. Those get in the way I think.

 

[bannockburn]

Harleytoo

It was just some aftermarket stainless safety that I picked up at a gun show many years ago. I gave it a really good polish as I wanted it to be closer in appearance to the in the white look of the frame.

 

[Harleytoo]

Ah, gotcha. I need to determine if I am going to leave the R1 the Black Oxide finish and put on stainless controls or Cerakote it Sniper Grey and go with blued/black controls.

 

[bannockburn]

Harleytoo

If it were me I would probably wait and see how well the black oxide finish holds up before I decided to refinish it. Just the thrifty side Of me trying to get the most for my money with the least amount of extra effort and cost.

 

[Harleytoo]

Good advice, especially being that the refinish would be about $350! Furthermore, doing a bit of fitting on stainless parts should hold up a bit better. The only question is can I add a beavertail without doing frame blending...

 

[Harleytoo]

One question I have about refinishing is that when I add a high ride beavertail I know I will need to contour the back of the frame. Is there an easy way to refinish the bare metal with black oxide. I have not looked on Brownells yet.

 

[Zach S]

KG makes a cold phosphate, K Phos, but I've never used it.

 

[Jim Watson]

It is not a readily visible, cosmetically appealing, or high wear area.
Oxpho Blue is adequate. Or is for my FLG.

 

[ichiban]

Back to the original topic...
Don't forget that the right grip panel is different for (most) ambi-safeties. So if you put the EMP safety on your Remington you need to relieve or change the grips.

 

[Harleytoo]

Ichiban, I was actually looking at that last night. I woudl have to rework the grips or replace (which I will do at some point).

I think I decided that I am just going to go with replacement single side (standard) safeties on both guns. I like the smaller size and reduced possibility of them snagging on something.

 

[double bogey]

I find that larger safety levers on 1911"s are not compatible with some holsters. A little bit disconcerting to remove your gun from the holster and find the safety off. Doesn't happen with standard 1911 safetys, but even slightly oversized ones.