key-safety in Springfield 1911's

[tercel89]

Has anyone had problems with their key-lock safety thing in their 1911's? I havent but was just wondering if this mechanism could ever get loose and then accidently prevent you from firing when you needed to. Has anyone here ever took theirs out or is it possible?

[ThePainkiller]

you can change it out for any other MSH and its componants. Or you can keep the ILS housing and replace the innards.

[tercel89]

Originally posted by ThePainkiller
you can change it out for any other MSH and its componants. Or you can keep the ILS housing and replace the innards.

What is a MSH ? Also on the second part of your above answer , do you mean to keep the safety mechanism housing and just gut its insides?

[aglocker1911]

Main Spring Housing. It's the name of the part of the gun with the ILS in it you're referring to. You can replace the whole housing as a unit, or just remove the "guts" and replace with standard MSH parts and eliminate the ILS. And no, I've never heard of one that actually caused a problem or became "locked" by accident.

[ThePainkiller]

Here are your options...

1. Keepe the factory ILS Mainspring housing. Change out the Mainspring, mainspring cap, mainspring retainer, and mainspring cap retainer. (You may need a firing pin from Ed Brown, some ppl do some dont. Its all about springs and mass and thats a bit technical so Ill move on)

2. Toss the old mainspring and innards. Replace with new mainspring housing, mainspring, mainspring cap, mainspring retainer, mainspring cap retainer. Install.

Im finally about to do this on my TRP.

[ElConquistador]

It is highly doubtful, you could almost say impossible, that the ILS would lock itself. Of course there is always the possibility of operator error, like you forgetting you locked it or something.

That said, it bothers me to have a lock on my pistol so I remove them. You should also know that the main spring is very stiff, it's extra power because Springfield uses a titanium firing pin and extra power FP spring as a sort of drop safety. For that reason they use an extra power mainspring to get reliable ignition.

If you replace the ILS you should replace the firing pin and spring. Like painkiller said Ed Brown makes a FP that is the weird SA size.

Because of the extra power mainspring they put in a 14lb recoil spring. So if you replace the ILS and the FP/FP spring you should also replace the recoil spring.

I've always been told, "If it's not broke don't fix it" but I still never listen. If you're going to get rid of the ILS do it right and replace all the springs otherwise just leave it and it will run just fine. I would get rid of it just because I don't want a lock on my gun, getting rid of the stiff mainspring will also help your trigger pull.

[tercel89]

Originally posted by ElConquistador
It is highly doubtful, you could almost say impossible, that the ILS would lock itself. Of course there is always the possibility of operator error, like you forgetting you locked it or something.

That said, it bothers me to have a lock on my pistol so I remove them. You should also know that the main spring is very stiff, it's extra power because Springfield uses a titanium firing pin and extra power FP spring as a sort of drop safety. For that reason they use an extra power mainspring to get reliable ignition.

If you replace the ILS you should replace the firing pin and spring. Like painkiller said Ed Brown makes a FP that is the weird SA size.

Because of the extra power mainspring they put in a 14lb recoil spring. So if you replace the ILS and the FP/FP spring you should also replace the recoil spring.

I've always been told, "If it's not broke don't fix it" but I still never listen. If you're going to get rid of the ILS do it right and replace all the springs otherwise just leave it and it will run just fine. I would get rid of it just because I don't want a lock on my gun, getting rid of the stiff mainspring will also help your trigger pull.

You took the words right out of my mouth. I too dont like the idea of a lock on my pistol . Thanks for all your helpfull information . And thanbks to the rest of you guys too! :thumbsup: .I guess i'll start with my Mil-Spec first then move up to my other one.

[Brian Dover]

The ILS system isn't all bad. If the hammer is cocked--as in when the gun is loaded, condition 1--the keylock cannot be engaged. This is fine for my purposes, because the only time the hammer is down on one of my 1911s is when it's unloaded for cleaning, or storage in the safe.

[dbotos]

how-to with pics:

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=32343

[Agent6-3/8]

The ILS in my SA Mil-Spec is long gone. Ceck out the SA section on www.1911forum.com They have all the info you need to replace the ILS.

[epsylum]

Originally posted by dbotos
how-to with pics:

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=32343

Thanks for the link. I plan on getting rid of my ILS in my Sprigner sometime in the future.

[markjones]

GET RID OF THE ILS!!! The key sucks. The idea is good IF it worked. I am running an Ed Brown Snakeskin MSH though it instead. I thought about doing something cheep but then found everything on ebay or another forum.

ILS is for fools.