Bent Lanyard loop 1911A1

[dbarn]

The landyard loop on one of my USGI 1911A1's MSH is bent forward toward the muzzle. Not bad, but noticeable. Thought about using a hammer & wooden dowel to bend the other way and straighten. Are these fairly fragile? Should I leave well enough alone? The last thing I want to do is break it off. Thanks.

Information

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[Johnny Peppers]

The lanyard loop was made from mild steel and shouldn't break, but just to be sure why don't you remove it from the MSH to straighten it?

[badabing]

You cold try that but as you mentioned, why take the risk. Instead, remove the grips and set frame on a solid surface. A nice piece of pine 2x4 will work. Tap out the MSH housing pin and slide the MSH out. I used 3/32 punch on the one in the picture. It came from an old Sistema and it was tough to remove. You must hold the MSH firmly, while holding the punch and hitting with a hammer. It took a number of blow to finally get this one to start moving. I have a stubby punch for starting, it's less likely to bend or break. Once you get the cross pin to move you can continue to tap it out with a longer punch. Use a small screw drive to pry out the lanyard loop. Usually they aren't too hard to remove once the cross pin is out.

[dbarn]

Thanks guys, I'm thinking leverage, but you're right it would be easier to simply remove it. Once it's out, would you recommend using a brass hammer to straighten?

[dbarn]

Got the crosspin out, but try as I might, the loop would not come out or budge. It's wedged in really tight. Wound up putting the MSH in a vise between two blocks of pine and using a large brass punch, got most of the bend out.

[badabing]

Usually you can dive something wedge-like through the loop and it will pull it out of the MSH.

[Jim K]

Hi, dbarn,

IMHO, and a little experience, it would have been much easier to do what you suggested in the first place and a lot less likely to damage the MSH. That loop is tough and I usually use just a brass block and a hammer to straighten them without trying to remove them. (If the loop is bent forward, I never even take the MSH out of the gun, just rest it on the bench pad and whack the loop.)

Jim

[Johnny Peppers]

Got the crosspin out, but try as I might, the loop would not come out or budge. It's wedged in really tight. Wound up putting the MSH in a vise between two blocks of pine and using a large brass punch, got most of the bend out.

If you break the lanyard loop off in the MSH you can see how much fun you have digging the pieces out.

[Scott Gahimer]

Yeah, that's when it is time to add a little heat to the matter.

[seabee73]

It was a reblued all original Rem Rand that someone tried to pretty up. I removed the MS housing and soaked the cross pin and the lanyard stub ends with Kroil for a couple days. The cross pin drifted out easily, but had some rust on it. I was able to coax the stub remnants out with a small drift, engaging the concave relief for the cross pin through the cross pin tunnel.When enough of the stub was exposed, I was able the remove it with vise grips. It took a while, but they came out with no damage to the MS housing.
I replaced it with an original loop I got from Bill Ricca. Used the original cross pin.
Karl