1911 Barrel Link Pin question...

[Keane]

So at the NWFA thing at Izzy's tonight, the topic of the Barrel Link Pin on 1911s come up. For clarification, I am talking about the pin used to hold the link to the barrel, as pictured here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=56380

Now, Another member mentioned that his seem to fall out freely, however on all of the 1911s I've pulled apart, this has been installed quite tightly, and required a punch to remove.

Is this something that varies between 1911s? Is this wrong with one of these weapons? Anyone have ideas?

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[treemanx]

From what I can gather from my book by Jerry Kuhnhausen on 1911's, you dont want the link pin to tight, as you can damage or distort the barrel and or the pin itself by forcing it in. You also dont want it so loose that it falls out, you want the happy medium where it is snug, but taps in/out somewhat lightly with a punch. Thats my best advice, lets see how it holds up to the experts!!

 

[wichaka]

For general use, you don't want to have to use a hydraulic press to either install or remove the pin. But for match grade stuff, a good press fit is what one will be looking for.

You want the link pin to be about .0005" larger than the hole, so some force will be needed to insert the pin in the hole.

The key to accuracy on a 1911 is consistent lockup of the barrel every cycle. Which means the fit of the barrel bushing to the slide, barrel bushing to the barrel, barrel lugs to the slide, barrel hood to the slide, link holes (both link pin & slide stop pin) are snug fit...all the above parts need to be fit and fitted correctly.

A link pin that falls out is giving extra wiggle room to the above equation, meaning there won't be as a consistent lockup, as a snug fitting link pin.

If your link pin is falling out, it means someone wasn't paying attention to the details at the factory. So obtain an oversize link pin, and hopefully if the hole isn't too large, that should cure the problem.

Just one more thing, a tight slide to frame fit produces a very small effect on overall accuracy.

My shop is almost done, so if anyone is interested in a 1911 armorer class, I would be happy to put one on.

 

[Keane]

A 1911 armorer class sounds like a lot of fun!

I mentioned that my Rock Island 1911 (not by far a 'good' or match 1911) seemed like it was requiring a lot of force to get the pin out (it wasn't as loose as say, the backstrap pin).