Misfires with Silver Bear

[juniustaylor]

I've never had a problem with my safety detent. On mine, the spring is actually "attached" to a tit on the bottom of the detent. So, it's always just stuck to the spring. When you pull the safety out of place, the spring kind of holds itself in the hole and doesn't fling out. You may want to see if your detent has the tit on the bottom, lightly crimp the end of the spring to hold tight to it. Something to look into.

[clrollins]

Yikes! Is the safety detent the spring or is there something else that goes in that hole? There seems to be a lot of clicking and nerdling getting that safety spring back in, which I can't see too clearly from the video. I'm getting ready to look at it again and then to the shop. Sorry for my ignorance. I'm used to good old, simple, 1911's.
Thanks, Gene.
Laney

[The Only Sarge]

The spring holds/pushes the lil "detent" into the safety.
So spring goes in first then the detent.

[The Only Sarge]

See laying next to the recoil spring. That is the safety spring and detent.

[The Only Sarge]

Here is a much better picture....
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =250878655

[clrollins]

Thanks guys. This little bugger popped right right out of there when I pulled the safety out. (Thanks for the heads up!) Everything is soaking happily and spirits are already turning a little dark. Which way does the detent point when you put it back in? I'm guessing the spring goes in first and then the detent with the pointed end up?

[juniustaylor]

clrollins, you are correct. Insert the spring into the slide first. Then insert the detent with the cone shaped end facing out. That cone shape is what clicks into the indentions on the safety itself.

In the gunbroker.com image that The Only Sarge provided, you can see the cone shaped side, you can also see the other side that kind of has a tit on it. You can see on the tit that it has a groove around it. Try putting the spring on there and see if it will hold itself to the detent. If not, try lightly pinching the end of the spring and then see if it'll click on the detent. Will make things a little easier.

[juniustaylor]

I have provided some photos here of a step by step, putting this back together deal. Mostly concerned with the safety detent as the firing pin should be held with forceps. I didn't use forceps in the photos but it's not a bid deal. I hope they help.

In the photos I used a basketball inflator tip to compress the detent. It did a nice job and the hollow tip holds in the point of the detent to keep it from slipping off. Here we go:

Put your spring and detent back together.


Insert the detent/spring assembly spring first into the back of the slide.


Go ahead and let it go all of the way in.


Insert the firing pin, hold it with the forceps. Then push the safety in from the side. Just until it gets next to the detent.


Compress the detent with any suitable punch or screwdriver (flat) tip.


Push the safety until it makes its way over the detent and will lock into place. Here is a view of the safety on the detent, you can see the detent in this picture being compressed by the safety.


Go ahead and push the safety on into its home. Make sure it operates smoothly.


Basketball inflator tip I used. Worked pretty good actually.

[Byrd]

Very good idea to use the inflator tip to depress the safety detent! I dis-assembled mine last week to stone the tip of the detent to allow the safety/decocker to work smoothly, and had to struggle to do this with a screwdriver.

[clrollins]

Great photos! Thanks !!!

[clrollins]

Good morning everyone! Well, it's all back together. It took a lot longer than I figured, and the safety spring and detent was the reassemby problem. Not until I took your advice and crimped the end of the detent to the spring was I able to get it back in there. Shouldn't have been that difficult, but at least it's it's back together now. The safety is really difficult to engage - would a dab of grease help? The firing pin and spring look fine.
Since it's going to be a couple of week before I can get to the range, the thought occurred to me that the problem might be the trigger spring. Has anyone had a problem with this? Again, the little gun feeds and ejects great, Would a stronger trigger spring help or hurt the strike on the primer?
Thanks again, you are a great bunch. I'll give you a follow up when I do get to the range again.

[The Only Sarge]

If you say the prayer of the sunny beaches it will go in smoother.
The air needle is absolutely a great idea.
Yes...grease it.

[juniustaylor]

You can try some grease or good gun oil. I wonder if some grittiness that folks experience with the safety isn't from the detent, but if its from the part of the slide that the safety butts up to on the right side of the slide. The safety basically just rotates in that cutaway in the slide.

As for the trigger spring. I don't think it's going to do anything for you. It basically holds the trigger bar up so it contacts the hammer to work in SA/DA. It doesn't have anything to do with the force that the hammer hits a primer. About the only other thing would be the mainspring (hammer) spring. Whatever floats a person's boat on the nomenclature. However, I would assume it still has the factory 24# spring, so that wouldn't make sense unless someone chopped some coils off but that's probably unlikely. I use a 17# spring and do not have any trouble getting Silver Bear to go bang the first time around. The good cleaning should hopefully remedy your problem. Fingers crossed.

[juniustaylor]

Did you end up scrubbing the firing pin channel with anything... Q-tip/pipe cleaner? Did you soak the rest of the gun in the mineral spirits?

[The Only Sarge]

Mr. Taylor thank you for the pics......that will help folks for sure.

As for the "grittiness" you bring up. I dremel/buff the indention the safety calls home and all my P64's safeties are smooth as Obama with a teleprompter.

And for the record I now have 4 P64's all with 17lb hammer springs that perform flawless.