Took it to a guy and his son who do a lot of work on 1911s for local customers. I wanted to get the ejector pinned.
The son completely disassembled the gun, for which I am thankful because he showed me how to do it. Now I know. Anyway, after stripping it down to the frame he takes one look and tells me that he can’t pin the ejector for me. There’s no hole for the pin to go, so he gives me the gun back without taking my money. He won’t drill a hole in the frame without knowing where to put it, said without a guide he could ruin the frame. I thanked him for his honesty.
Here’s what I’m not sure about. He told me that I really don’t need the pin, since Springfield press-fit the ejector in pretty tight and it seems solid. All the force on the ejector is lateral, while the whole point of the ejector pin is to keep it from moving up and down. Long as the ejector is contained inside the slide, it won’t come loose.
Now, I think I already know the answer, but I’ll ask anyway. Was the guy on to something, or should I send it in to Springfield Custom Shop to get the ejector pinned?
The ejector is not press fit, it is installed with some type of loctite holding it into the frame. It’s true that the ejector can’t come out if the slide is in place but it can move a little, which can have an effect on consistent ejection.
Drilling and pinning the ejector is an easy job for a competent 'smith with the proper tools. A milling machine or a special drilling fixture is required and at least your gunsmith knew his limitations.
There are lots of SA pistols out there with glued ejectors and they seem to work. I wouldn’t dream of letting a pistol go out the door with a glued ejector, especially one that was going to be carried as a duty weapon. Maybe I’m paranoid but gluing an ejector would not inspire my confidence in the pistol. YMMV.
I don’t blame the guy. Under the best conditions, it still can be tricky drilling a 1/16 hole through 5/8 of anything, let alone decent gun steel, where the start of the hole is in a groove, and where the hole is interrupted by another, transverse hole. This is after you figure out exactly where to put it, set it up, and find that spot.
Probably why SA doesn’t like doing it either.:sad:
I’d rather have them pinned, but they’re OK this way. As long as it doesn’t happen to break off flush with the top of the frame, that’d make getting the old leg out pretty hard.
I prefer mine to be pinned. I will say that clearly you have a decent human being for a local smith. I suspect some hack jobs out there would have tried to do it anyway with predictable results. At least you know he is an honest up front guy.
That doesn’t make any sense to me. Why do it on what is generally considered one of their lower end guns and not on the higher end. Is there some advantage?
Just a guess, but I’d venture to say that it might be to save cost. The TRP is supposed to mimic the accuracy and functionality of the Pro while costing significantly less.
As I understand it, some of their pistols are completely built in Brazil (like the G.I. model) and some are built in the U.S. by Springfield Armory using partially machined frames from Brazil. The Brazilian-manufactured pistols have pinned ejectors.
Of those pistols that are built in the U.S., I’m not sure which ones they choose to drill for the ejector pin but it’s an extra step that Springfield doesn’t do to all of their pistols because of the extra labor.
Some Springfield Professionals come glued depending on the government contract run. I think it is just two different ways of looking at it. Some people think that it is weakened by drilling it.
Could it be Dave Williams own views on the subject? There are enough Pros out there now that if the glued ones had issues they would all be pinned on the newer ones. Just like they corrected the front sight pinning issue. If given a choice I would pin it. That being said, I have two Professionals with MIM and glue in them and still sleep ok at night.
First I’ll state I’m a disgruntled ex EX PRO owner, had 2 , both were less than expected. SOLD BOTH!
Why on a $2500 gun is everyone OK with MIM and production shortcuts ( ala no pinning of the ejector).
Heck you can get a $1400 Baer and it’s pinned with NO MIM !
now they cut out Nowlin bbls for their own in house mfd bbl and again everyone is OK with that !?
Folks buy the PRO to pretend they’re FEEBS, wanna bees, that’s the only thing I can think of. Because for the same dollars a higher end Baer or Wilson is a better overall built gun.
They are not using the same crap MIM parts that Kimber uses. I am sure that whatever problems you had with the guns Springfield would have made it right. I have nothing against Wilson or Baer as they both make great 1911s. Name me another 1911 other than the Professional that has more documented street use from people whose lives depend on them. The gun is not magic, but in a 1911 world you do get what you pay for with the Pro. I am sure there are two people out there that are glad the guns did not meet your expectations.
Maybe, but what are your odds of actually being in a gunfight, and then being in a gun fight where you actually have to shoot your gun, and then being in a gunfight where you had to shoot your gun and it malfuctioned and then it specifically malfunctioning because your ejector wasn’t pinned…those are pretty small odds- I’ll take my chances. The money is better spent on ammunition practicing actually shooting the gun then trying to out engineer people who professionally design guns for a living IMO.
At the end of the day, springfield wouldn’t stand behind their product like they do if they thought it was faulty technology because they would go out of business fixing guns for free and ruin their reputation.
You can what if things to death. At the end of the day, if it aint broke- I don’t fix it.
Still a very good smith to have around - lacking the correct jig and experience, referring you elsewhere was a class move.
My Springfield loaded came with the ejector glued, and it’s now experiencing some show-stopping clocking - it needs to go back either way, and I too am much more confident with my pinned Baer units.
While it’s not in Springfield’s best interest to have to go about spending money repairing all their guns, if a costly and time-intensive pinning procedure would merely reduce the return rate of what few guns they sell that get shot more than a couple thousand rounds and even have the potential to break - I can see why this choice varies so much.
For the folks who are utterly savvy to the platform and have the cash, it’s never really about a pissing match between manufacturers anyway - they either know an existing model fits their uses, or have a smith build what they want from scratch.
