you'll shoot your eye out .... yep a funny at my expense

[BPTactical]

The extractor could put a persons eye out but they normally just go MIA to the clueless.

Thank goodness for the WESCOG bolt assembly tool!

[Elhuero]

so what happened?

[clublights]

Yup-easy fix- take a nice and sharp center punch and "stake" the pin in place. On the outside of the lug where the hole is place the point of the punch just outside of the hole with the pin in place. Give it a sharp rap but you are not trying to drive the punch through the lug. The punch mark should upset a smidge of lug metal into the hole, holding the pin in place. Repeat for the other side. Stone any burrs flush with the lug surface.
If you are not sure/comfortable taking a hammer to your 1911 give me a shout. I hammer goodly!

I'll send ya a PM to talk about you doing it ....

I'll tear apart a 2300 buck macbook pro.. I'll rip apart 10,000 dollar moving lighting fixtures... I'll tear out motors in Jeeps and Motorcycles but for some reason taking a hammer to my 600 buck pistol scares me to death!!!! LOL

I've had the recoil spring scare me a couple times in my 1911.. my barrel bushing is kinda tight ( tho this is a good thing from what I understand...) and had it move that last little bit during disassembly unexpectedly a couple times.. haven't hit myself with it yet tho I got close one time... and spent a few mins searching the kitchen for the missing spring plug! ( damn thing rolled half way under the fridge!)

[Mazin]

glad you made it out alive! Guns kill people!

[Mick-Boy]

Glad your eye is OK.

[Atrain1]

When I got my first 1911 Auto ordnance I think. I stripped it down and went to put it back together, that is when I shot the recoil spring and plug into the living room, took me awhile the find the plug then I got it back together.

[Sharpienads]

Luckily for me my dad had good parenting skills and taught me about the dangers of what happened here. He also told me when he gave me my first 1911 that if I put an idiot scratch on it he'd take it back. (See dad, I do listen... sometimes...)

I did something similar while reassembling (read: f**king around with) an M9. I didn't maintain positive control over the guide rod and it shot out and hit a full bird colonel right in the junk. Thankfully he had a sense of humor and laughed it off.

[tmleadr03]

Stored energy... ain't it a hoot when it cuts loose?

Glad you still have your eye.

I always get a bit of a pucker when I do struts.

[kwando]

so what happened?

yeah i'm a 1911 virgin... what happened?

[Irving]

In order to disassemble a 1911, you have to take the recoil spring out from the front of the dust cover. You essentially rotate a retaining ring on the front of the dust cover, and if you aren't ready for it, the spring shoots out, along with the metal retainer on the end of it. It's been a while since I've done it, but that is essentially how I remember it.