The idea is that you don't have the appearance of a cocked gun and you don't have the hammer sticking out, snagging your clothing. You also don't have the possibility of something getting between the hammer and the slide. The basic kit also gives you an amibidetrous safety.
The installation was pretty simple, as this video shows. The mainspring is pretty stout, which may be why they glossed over that part. You'll probably need to clamp the mainspring housing in a vise to make the change. When you open the box, make sure that you don't lose the tiny plunger spring, as that's a necessary part.
The instructions say that you should fully cycle your gun 25 times before using, pulling the slide back and letting it slam shut to make sure the hammer doesn't follow it down. I'd suggest using a magazine with snap caps in it to do that. Also, if you're planning to do anything involving the trigger, do that first, as it's a little more of a PITA to detail-strip a 1911 with an ambi safety (you have to drift out the pin holding the right-hand lever).
The major change to how you handle a 1911 is that the safety is applied by pushing the hammer forward. When you do that, the safety pops on. The directions say that if you were to apply the safety by moving the lever up, that can damage the mechanism.
After I live with this one for a bit, I may convert my Browning High Power.
INteresting. Please keep us informed as you use it and get used to it.
ReplyDeleteLots a goodness there. Some of which is why I am working so hard to keep my Para LDA pistols alive as they wear, so this might be a solution to that.
I shall. This gun is a fairly cheap budget 1911. it's my "let's see if this works" gun. If I like it, I'll probably convert my LW Commander.
ReplyDeleteI live in a "ban state", so single-stack autoloaders are viable tools. Carrying a gun capable of holding 17-19 rounds with only 10 in the magazine seems inefficient as fuck.