Ambi safeties for 1911 (installation success)

[swc007]

i have been looking up info on ambi safeties and how difficult it would be to install one on my kimber custom 1911... i bought the kimber ambi safety and it just came in today.... i myself have very limited gun smithing abilites...some people say it may need professional installation which may be the case in some situations but mine was a drop in part and i like it very much...also replacing the hammer pin is verrrrry easy haha i thought it would be very difficult...it took about 30 min (not a pro) for me to figure it out and get the job done haha... i only put this cause it was hard for me to find really good info on it... BUT now i can work the safety on my awesome pistol efficiently!!!!! haha told myself if i screwed up id still have my glock to use until i figured it out..did function test and everything works great....now it will be a test of longevity to if it breaks or whatever else

[USA1]

Good job!

You're braver than me. I've always been one to tinker with things
but I'd be nervous to start taking apart a 1000ish dollar gun.

[cougartex]

Congratulations.

[O6nop]

i have been looking up info on ambi safeties and how difficult it would be to install one on my kimber custom 1911... i bought the kimber ambi safety and it just came in today.... i myself have very limited gun smithing abilites...some people say it may need professional installation which may be the case in some situations but mine was a drop in part and i like it very much...

You are fortunate that it was a drop in like that. I had to have mine installed by a gunsmith. I didn't get a Kimber ambi for my Kimber Pro-carry II, I bought a STI ambi. That may have been the difference. Maybe a Kimber ambi would havebeen better. Anyway, eventually, mine sheered off on the right side and I put my original back in. They are easy to take out and put back in, unless you need a pro to grind it down to fit.

[rm9792]

Quote: I've always been one to tinker with things
but I'd be nervous to start taking apart a 1000ish dollar gun./Quote

I cant help it, brought home a SCAR ($2250) the other day and first thing I did was take it apart. I have 3 1911s apart in bins right now waiting on some part or other. I did my first smithing on a safety last month and it is hard and delicate at the same time, cant see well in there to see what needs filing. Fortunately they arent outrageous in price so you can always start over.

[swc007]

Double-check and make sure that there is no sear-movement when you pull the trigger with the safety engaged. The thumb-safety fitting into place in the frame is not the same as the actual blocking of the sear-movement, so I hope it's tight.

how an u tell if there is or isnt sear movement? what do u look to check for it?

[swc007]

http://www.cylinder-slide.com/1911safetyck.i" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; did what this said to check sear movement and i didnt hear a click i am pretty sure that it is good i hear the 99% of the time that kimber ambi safeties going into kimbers r drop ins BUT i wanna eliminate that 1%

[jimlongley]

I had an ambi safety installed on my "night fighter" Charles Daly 1911, and took it off. My grip is pretty high and I was chewing up my knuckle shooting IDPA with it.

[swc007]

oh no i dont take it as that!!! i really appreciate it... and i know that most all ambi safeties have to be shaved to fit right... But i put my two kimber pieces together to compare and they look like exact clones of eachother... they said they use the same mold to make em (at different websites i have read) HOWEVER lol like i said i dont trust that i ran through all of the safety test ten times.... 1. hammer cocked back, safety switched on and i squeezed the trigger REALLY hard (kinda worried me) let off the trigger took off the safety(hammer didnt move)...put gun as close to the ear as possible to here any click... but heard nothing when i pulled the hammer back. i did that alot to make sure then i ran though the other tests on that cite i posted

thats all i saw how to do unless there is an angle i can look inside the gun to see i just havent done... otherwise i think id have to cut a piece of the gun off to check for sear movement lol...BUT i def wanna make sure its doing its job...that would be bad news bears if it went off unwanted