Safety Pin Hole Specs

[Chuckindenver]

ok,
so lets take this another direction.
why would you need to peen that hole?? iv worked on, restored, and built
100,s of 1911 variants, and held as many more.
and have yet to see a frame wear in the area. let alone be staked so poorly.
i have however repaired many with that same damage.
and had the chance to ask more then a few, who, why and what they did?
and all said the same basic thing...i didnt know you have to have the hammer back before the safety would rotate up and come out.
so i got a punch out of my tool box, and with my trusty hammer. we went to beating the tar out of it..
funny, it never came loose. and i never got it apart.. until i was shown how to do it.
likely if any of the holes didnt pass specs, they frame was tossed asside as scrap, and new one was found.
i have the GI repair manual on my desk, and it doesnt show any repairs as such..only a gage for the slide latch and link pin holes.

[Chuckindenver]

does this look like the same sort of damage??
i know this pistols history, it was my Uncle Bob,s he was issued this pistol after he retired from the Airforce as a Capt, they let him keep his side arm, he flew B 24,s
i have the green D day bag, 5 rounds of pilots tracer ammo that were still in the pistol when i found it. and a 1918 Holster, {said i picked that up at a surplus store} and 2 mags.
he told me that he buggered up the hole, it looked much worse when i got the pistol,
years ago, i refinished the frame..but you can still see the buggers.
i dug this Ithaca out of my Aunts trash years after Bob died.
i was at the right place right time..she tossed it holster and all in the can.
i dug it, and a Jap type 99 out of the can, and enjoy both..
missed his B 3 bomber jacket by a week...

[dbarn]

Good discussion and really appreciate the input. My question to Chuck, would be how many commercial 1911s have you seen with the marks around the hole vs. military ones? It would seem there would be just as many or more commercial models, and there may be, with the same issue if they are indeed caused by poor disassembly methods.

[Chuckindenver]

most the work i do now, is on military pistols, however, iv seen more commecial 1911,s with bugger damage,,this type and others.
the slide latch scratch is prolly the most common.
and the spring tube assemblys glued on with JB weld, ect.
then the grip screw bushings buggerd.
the list goes on...keeps me busy for sure.

[Scott Gahimer]

There were some Colt pistols that had out-of-spec holes. The ones I am referring to were 1943 pistols and typically around 950xxx. The marks from where Colt tightened up the holes are under the finish and were done by assemblers who fitted the pistols together.

There are numerous listings in the SRS database in that Colt serial range where pistols are listed as Defective and/or Unsafisfactory. Some pistols in these serial ranges have signs of barrels that were specifically fitted with modified lugs. I've got a couple in the 95x,xxx range.

Later, in November 1943, the Pistol Committee recommended to the Ordnance Dept. that tolerances be relaxed a bit due to pistol rejections in the previous months and to better achieve interchangeability. At that time, Colt apparently relaxed their tolerances to the point they no longer had to number slides anymore.

I'd say most marred surfaces seen on pistols that are done after finish could have done by anyone after the pistols left the factory...or even left the military. Those marks under the original finish are clearly marks made at the factory prior to finish being applied.

[Chuckindenver]

you would think they would have done a nicer job of staking the hole, and used a special punch to do so, one that like the stake punch on a Carbine flip sight pin.
having the hole made over sized makes since, having it wear over size is a stretch..
the OP,s pistol is most likely done from a heavy handed bubba

[Scott Gahimer]

The original pistols I've seen with the holes closed-up under the finish were probably originally rejected and sent back to be repaired prior to shipping. Some of those pistols do not have any final inspection or Ordnance Acceptance marks, but have what are believed to be factory repair marks on top of the receivers. There is still more to learn about how many pistols may have been defective and how they were repaired.

Those original pistol repairs were neatly done with what appears to be specially made punches shaped to go around the edge of the hole. They don't looked all Bubbafied.