Originally posted by Dave Williams:
SA has not changed the location of the mainspring housing retainer pin location on any of its pistols. The ILS is a retro fit on any 1911, gov't model or officers size.
Dave,
The facts of the matter are thus...A friend bought one of the current production stainless/alloy Compacts. He did not want the ILS on his pistol, so he bought a Wilson 30LPI-checkered mainspring housing for the Officers ACP (along with the proper diameter mainspring, cap, etc.). When we attempted to install this mainspring housing, the mainspring housing pin would not press home, as the hole in the frame was slightly misaligned with the hole in the mainspring housing. It appeared that the frame's hole was slightly farther rearward than the hole in the Wilson mainspring housing.
In an attempt to understand the situation, we tried the Wilson housing in a Colt Officers ACP frame. The pin fit just fine. We tried the Colt's factory mainspring housing in the Springfield compact frame and the holes were misaligned in the same manner as with the Wilson housing. This seems to bear out that the holes in the Springfield frame are not in the Colt-spec location.
The misalignment wasn't much and it looked as if one could ream the Wilson mainspring housing's hole a bit larger to address the misalignment. However, my friend suggested that we leave it alone and that he would call Springfield Armory to get the straight scoop.
My friend called the factory and spoke with a lady in customer service. He explained the problem to her and she said that she was not aware of any changes in the hole locations. My friend then told her that he would need to send the pistol in to have it checked out. The service department lady then went and spoke with one of the technicians and told my friend that one couldn't swap the ILS out with the Wilson/Colt-spec part. When my friend noted "Well that means that the holes' locations were changed", she responded "yes".
Those are the facts, Dave. Whether the specs on the hole location has changed or whether this particular pistol is slightly out-of-spec, I cannot say. I can only share my observations and, as faithfully as possible, paraphrase the telephone conversation as described to me by my friend. I have no ax to grind with Springfield and have recommended the various "loaded" models to many people.
Dave, you note that an ILS may be retrofitted on any 1911.
Will a Colt-spec mainspring housing retrofit to the current, ILS-fitted Springfield pistols?...both full-size and compact? In my recent experience (limited to ONE Compact), it would not.
Rosco
