Slide to Frame Play...can it be repaired?

[gary25]

I have a WWII vintage Colt M1911A1 which is in very nice shape, but it terribly inaccurate at the range. A friend of mine that knows more about these then I do, pointed out that my pistol has about 0.5mm of play at the end of the slide to frame fit. I suppose my gun has been well used over the years and the frame rail and slide rails have become worn. Since the slide is orginal I would like to keep it and not replace it with a new one.

My question: Is it possible to have a gun smith fix the loose fitting of the slide and frame on this orginal gun?

Regards,
Gary

Information

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[Johnny Peppers]

I don't believe tightening the slide is going to make much difference in the way your Colt shoots. I have a Colt Series 70 GCNM that has a rather sloppy slide to frame fit, but still is very accurage.
When the Springfield Armory National Match pistols were being developed, records were kept of what worked and what didn't. Here is a record on an issue pistol and what kind of difference the alterations made.
This is a step by step progress report of the largest groups fired at 25 yards from a machine rest.
As Issued......................6.60 in.
+ tight barrel bushing.....5.65
+ long link....................4.25
+ tightened slide............4.20
+lengthened barrel hood..2.35
+lug locking (loose link)..1.38
As you can see, tightening the slide made the least amount of difference in group size. You will have to make alterations to the pistol if you want a truly accurate pistol.

[gary25]

Johnny,
Thanks for the feedback. This particular Colt will barely make paper target hits at 40'. But, I have a similar WWII Remington Rand that is much more accurate and hits in the black at 40'. The Remington has a tight slide.

I have replaced the bushing and the barrel but all I can think of now is that the lose slide/frame fit is causing a really bad accuracy problem. It is so bad that I don't even want to take it to the range anymore....I can't hit anything with it!

Gary

[cplstevennorton]

Frame to slide fit is only 5% of accuracy. Really it doesn't make a whole lot of difference. Accuracy mostly depends on the barrel bushing and slide stop to barrel link fit. If you have both of those fitted by a qualified gunsmith, your pistol will be very accurate. Unless your barrel is shot. Which in that case you will have to get a new barrel. Hope this helps.

[Col. Colt]

Slide to frame fit is the last thing to work on for accuracy - and never on a carry gun. Barrel and bushing fit, and particularly that combined with using the slide stop pin as part of the barrel lockup, will give you all the accuracy you can use, with complete reliability.

I discussed this with the Colt Firearms Plant Manger several years ago. I asked him why Colt did not try to go as tight on slide frame fit as the other makers. He advised that Colt got their knowledge from the 1911's designer, John Moses Browning, and the gun was designed with good accuracy in mind, but a tight slide was not part of it. He advised me to find an original 1911 (NOT A1) in near new condition at a gun show, and with permission, ($4,000+ gun) check it.

He was right - on original, near new guns the barrel/bushing/slide produces little or no movement, but their is play in the slide frame fit. And a friend's 10,000 round Kimber has worn itself to exactly the same fit, by the way - and is still wonderfully accurate. CC

[gary25]

Guys....thanks for the advice on my Colt. I have replaced the bushing, but it didn't help. I will next try swapping the barrel and bushing from my Remington since that one shoots very good, and put them both in my Colt. Maybe a complete swap of the barrel and bushing will show me that the slide/frame fit is not the culperate?

Gary

[Johnny Peppers]

Colt's pre-70 Series Gold Cup National Match had the slide tightly fitted to the frame, and the slide was numbered to the frame. When the Series 70 GCNM came out, the slide was no longer fitted to the frame, and they still shot very well indeed.

[limazulu]

I remember when Colt Custom Shop had a booth at a local gun show, when they still wanted to sell to us regular folks. They were promoting their hard chromed slides and how tight and silky smooth the fit was. They were nice and tight and silky smooth. They never said anything about it improving the accuracy as I recall.

I also remember all those gun smithing articles about how to tighten up slide to receiver fits by bending the slide or pushing out the receiver. I even remember an article about drilling long horizontal holes, inserting rods and having the slide ride on them (I think).