[Onisan]

Playing with my new Wiley Clapp Colt commander .45 I noticed with the safety off or in the down position there is excessive play pushing it downward. No other .45 does that from Kimber to SA and the few others I checked out.

You can just simple push it down and it clicks! Is this normal or cheap craftsmanship on my so called high end Wiley Clapp?

Please help me put this behind me!

 

[dsk]

It's common on Colts. While it doesn't hurt anything I agree it makes an otherwise excellent pistol feel cheap.

 

[dakota1911]

Mine is nice, but I did look at it in a LGS before I bought it. If I didn't like it then I would not have bought it. And I have seen Kimbers, SAs, etc. do it. One reason I like to look before I buy and the Kimbers, SAs, etc. I own do not do it because I also looked before I bought them even though it costs me more money. Time for a picture of my Colt WC.

 

[EvolutionArmory]

Both the grip safety and thumb safety are the only negatives I can find on a Wiley Clapp. If Colt would address the fit of those 2 parts, the WC would go from great to amazing.

Having thumb safety over travel is par for the course unfortunately.

 

[honeybadger45]

My last batch of three CCOs all had horrid thumb safeties. I bought one for myself anyway.

 

[Retired AF CE]

It appears that the cut inside of the thumb safety is cut/molded too deep and lets the TS over travel down in the off position.

I feel your pain, that is the only negative part on my Wiley Clapp, well the poor fitting beaver tail too. But that does not bother me as much.

Colt knows they have an issue with the TS but it I would imagine that they have so many TS around that they need to use them up before they can fix the issue.

 

[dsk]

Colt knows they have an issue with the TS but it I would imagine that they have so many TS around that they need to use them up before they can fix the issue.

Colt's thumb safeties have been like this for many decades. I once owned a 1986-vintage stainless Government with a safety that did that, and I had to go through a couple of replacements before I found one that didn't. On most of my current Colts the thumb safeties will go down past the detent a little, but I'm okay with it as long as it doesn't go so far down that it sticks.

 

[mutto]

Harrison retro TS fixed mine. Tiny bit of fitting on the sear pAd and its perfect.

 

[Big Pete10]

I have one of the WC Commanders. It's a jazzed up production gun, slide even rattles on mine. I really like it anyway, wish I wasn't so poor I'd have a pair of them.

 

[AZ Husker]

I replaced the thumb safeties on both my Colt S70 repro and my Delta Elite with Ed Brown parts. New both almost fell out of safe mode on their own. Both guns got Brown beavertails because I hate the bite that the stock models did regularly. Virtually everyone has given up that design. If Colt could get their stuff together and admit these faults that have been mentioned on this forum alone hundreds of times, maybe they would gain some customer confidence back. We are but a few of their customers. Multiply the number of times it comes up here times thousands and ask yourself what in the hell are they doing when they are well aware of the issue.

 

[Tikrit Tourist]

I replaced my CCO thumb safety with a Novak part, as well as tweaking the sear spring leg, which eliminated the rattly grip safety.

For about 100 bucks in parts, and 60 bucks labor, my CCO is much improved!

 

[yan2x]

colt's thumb safeties and beaver tails sucks

To be honest, colt's current thumb safeties are garbage, I replaced them with wilson combat ambi safety and the fit is just first class, no excess movement ever,
below is a picture of my safety from a brand new Gold Cup Trophy (fyi it already look like this already when I got it brand new)

also I replaced the grip safety on mine with a Smith & Alexander one, the fit is also first class unlike the colt that is very loosed and wiggled a lot.
Below is my Gold Cup together with my cousin's series 70, fyi his thumb safety is fitted nicely unlike the current thumb safeties being made today by Ccolt

 

[dsk]

Unfortunately it seems that fitting of a thumb safety on a 1911 is an art form, and a lot of manufacturers screw the pooch on it. I've researched several threads recently on Auto Ordnance and Rock Island owners with over-fitted factory safeties that allow sear movement, and I just bought a CZ with a really stiff safety that's hard to engage. The thumb safety is one of those 1911 components that has to be carefully fitted to the individual pistol, and too many factory assemblers are in a hurry.

 

[myco4you]

I don't think the Thumb Safeties are hand filed to fit each pistol,at least on the RIA pistols.

The 9mm GI pistol I got had movement of the sear when the TS was applied.Looking at that safety,it was not touched with any tools.

I compared that one with 2 others from 2 different RIA guns,and they were not touched either,but each one had a different lug size to it.Holding the safeties against each other,it is obvious that they had different heights cast into them when made.

I think they have bins of different sized safety lugs that they pick from to get the best fit,without hand-fitting each one individually.

 

[AZ Husker]

And that is exactly why it's better to save your pennies until you can afford an Ed Brown, Wilson, or Les Baer. Every part is hand fitted. Like a quality car, they are cheaper and run better in the long run.

 

[Blue Duck]

Yes, the thumb safety is a fickle thing on a 1911. Being left handed I usually have to add an ambi-safety most 1911's when I get them. No, two come out exactly the same. I can keep the sear engagement close, but the action of the safety can be like I said "fickle".

I always want a nice clean snick in both directions when I move the lever. I just hate a mushy safety, and also not to easy and not to stiff. One thing that helps me is to always have several different plunger spring assemblies around. because sometimes just changing out the assembly can make all of the difference, because the ends of the plungers vary a little.

But once I get one right, it usually stays right.

 

[EvolutionArmory]

I don't think the Thumb Safeties are hand filed to fit each pistol,at least on the RIA pistols.

The 9mm GI pistol I got had movement of the sear when the TS was applied.Looking at that safety,it was not touched with any tools.

I compared that one with 2 others from 2 different RIA guns,and they were not touched either,but each one had a different lug size to it.Holding the safeties against each other,it is obvious that they had different heights cast into them when made.

I think they have bins of different sized safety lugs that they pick from to get the best fit,without hand-fitting each one individually.

Manufacturers don't have several different safeties to choose from. Either the stacking tolerance between the safety and the sear is correct or it gets hand filed. The downward over travel has nothing to do with how the safety is filed to the sear but with the design or shape of the lug itself because what stops the downward travel of the safety is the frame.

Colt assembly workers file each safety to the sear. Most of the time they don't take enough off but that's a seperate issue.

 

[yan2x]

I'll stick with my colt, even if the stock safety is fitted poorly and the stock beaver tail wiggled a lot, I can just replace them with after market parts. Aside from those parts, my colt is well fitted.

 

[wetidlerjr]

And that is exactly why it's better to save your pennies until you can afford an Ed Brown, Wilson, or Les Baer. Every part is hand fitted. Like a quality car, they are cheaper and run better in the long run.

That being the case, why are you wasting your time in the Colt forum? Surely, you have better things in other places to discuss.

 

[AZ Husker]

Because I love my Colts, just sorry the direction they took (or failed to take).