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Sunday while putting my 1911 in a holster that i keep in the console of my truck noticed that the thumb safety was wiggling around, just touched it and the lever came off along with the grip safety. Was a little pressed for time so just unloaded and put the parts up and gun in the holster until I got back home.. once home was able to put the safeties back on, cycled slide a few times and tested safeties. Think what caused the original problem was the IWB holster i am using. The upper pad (backing) rubs on the thumb safety when inserted in the holster, putting to much pressure on the lever Just ordered a Crossbreed SuperTuck, hopefully will help on the problem

RetNavy wrote:Sunday while putting my 1911 in a holster that i keep in the console of my truck noticed that the thumb safety was wiggling around, just touched it and the lever came off along with the grip safety. Was a little pressed for time so just unloaded and put the parts up and gun in the holster until I got back home.. once home was able to put the safeties back on, cycled slide a few times and tested safeties. Think what caused the original problem was the IWB holster i am using. The upper pad (backing) rubs on the thumb safety when inserted in the holster, putting to much pressure on the lever Just ordered a Crossbreed SuperTuck, hopefully will help on the problem

Just for clarity, the thumb and grip safety fell off of your Ruger? FELL OFF? As in no longer attached?

That is not a holster issue. No gun should fall apart by being holstered and unholstered. I would send it back to Ruger, and I certainly would not depend on it for self defense until then.

RetNavy wrote:Sunday while putting my 1911 in a holster that i keep in the console of my truck noticed that the thumb safety was wiggling around, just touched it and the lever came off along with the grip safety. Was a little pressed for time so just unloaded and put the parts up and gun in the holster until I got back home.. once home was able to put the safeties back on, cycled slide a few times and tested safeties. Think what caused the original problem was the IWB holster i am using. The upper pad (backing) rubs on the thumb safety when inserted in the holster, putting to much pressure on the lever Just ordered a Crossbreed SuperTuck, hopefully will help on the problem

That's an unusual occurrence. Normally it takes some effort wiggling the safety lever back and forth while pulling on it to remove it deliberately.

You might take a look at the plunger that bears against the front of the safety level to make sure it's putting pressure on the lever and not frozen in place or not getting proper spring pressure.

Excaliber wrote:

RetNavy wrote:Sunday while putting my 1911 in a holster that i keep in the console of my truck noticed that the thumb safety was wiggling around, just touched it and the lever came off along with the grip safety. Was a little pressed for time so just unloaded and put the parts up and gun in the holster until I got back home.. once home was able to put the safeties back on, cycled slide a few times and tested safeties. Think what caused the original problem was the IWB holster i am using. The upper pad (backing) rubs on the thumb safety when inserted in the holster, putting to much pressure on the lever Just ordered a Crossbreed SuperTuck, hopefully will help on the problem

That's an unusual occurrence. Normally it takes some effort wiggling the safety lever back and forth while pulling on it to remove it deliberately.

You might take a look at the plunger that bears against the front of the safety level to make sure it's putting pressure on the lever and not frozen in place or not getting proper spring pressure.

when i noticed it the lever had come far enough that the plunger was not making contact with it. If I had turn the weapon on its side then the lever might of fell out, but i actually removed it, once i got home and field stripped it then i was able to push the plunger in and reseat the safety

jbarn wrote:

RetNavy wrote:Sunday while putting my 1911 in a holster that i keep in the console of my truck noticed that the thumb safety was wiggling around, just touched it and the lever came off along with the grip safety. Was a little pressed for time so just unloaded and put the parts up and gun in the holster until I got back home.. once home was able to put the safeties back on, cycled slide a few times and tested safeties. Think what caused the original problem was the IWB holster i am using. The upper pad (backing) rubs on the thumb safety when inserted in the holster, putting to much pressure on the lever Just ordered a Crossbreed SuperTuck, hopefully will help on the problem

Just for clarity, the thumb and grip safety fell off of your Ruger? FELL OFF? As in no longer attached?

That is not a holster issue. No gun should fall apart by being holstered and unholstered. I would send it back to Ruger, and I certainly would not depend on it for self defense until then.

when I looked at the IWB this morning I saw rub marks where the safety was rubbing, being new to CHL and carrying I could have made a wrong assumption. the only other holster i am familiar with is the military flap over holster:)

RetNavy wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

RetNavy wrote:Sunday while putting my 1911 in a holster that i keep in the console of my truck noticed that the thumb safety was wiggling around, just touched it and the lever came off along with the grip safety. Was a little pressed for time so just unloaded and put the parts up and gun in the holster until I got back home.. once home was able to put the safeties back on, cycled slide a few times and tested safeties. Think what caused the original problem was the IWB holster i am using. The upper pad (backing) rubs on the thumb safety when inserted in the holster, putting to much pressure on the lever Just ordered a Crossbreed SuperTuck, hopefully will help on the problem

That's an unusual occurrence. Normally it takes some effort wiggling the safety lever back and forth while pulling on it to remove it deliberately.

You might take a look at the plunger that bears against the front of the safety level to make sure it's putting pressure on the lever and not frozen in place or not getting proper spring pressure.

when i noticed it the lever had come far enough that the plunger was not making contact with it. If I had turn the weapon on its side then the lever might of fell out, but i actually removed it, once i got home and field stripped it then i was able to push the plunger in and reseat the safety

Contact with the holster could certainly move the safety from safe to fire and I've had that happen with several holsters, but it usually takes pulling force on the thumb ledge get the safety lever to come out. It has to be in exactly the right position to come out too. Pushing force on the pin that goes through the frame would do the same thing.

It's possible that your safety lever wasn't properly seated in the first place and worked its way out. I'd suggest carrying it unloaded and cocked and locked around the house in that same holster to see if you can duplicate what happened and figure out the how.

AndyC wrote:What jbarn and Excaliber said.

On a 1911, the thumb-safety has to be in exactly the right position to be even close to coming out - and normally takes a LOT of pressure and wiggling. The plunger and spring just in front of it adds more pressure to keep it in place, so something isn't right. The holster issue isn't really relevant other than an annoyance.

thanks for all the advice. will keep an eye on everything for next of weeks.

AndyC wrote:What jbarn and Excaliber said.

On a 1911, the thumb-safety has to be in exactly the right position to be even close to coming out - and normally takes a LOT of pressure and wiggling. The plunger and spring just in front of it adds more pressure to keep it in place, so something isn't right. The holster issue isn't really relevant other than an annoyance.

It's not just exactly the right position, it's (usually) exactly in between safe and fire, and there is no detent on the safety lever to hold it there, like there is on the two "normal" safety positions; for this to happen accidentally would require an almost freakishly accurate applications of exactly the right amount of force at exactly the right direction, combined with a large amount of force on the opposite end of the pin at exactly the right time (yet not so much as to make the safety bind up from friction). While this could theoretically happen (and stranger things have), let me repeat what the others have said, with an addition: CALL RUGER'S CUSTOMER SERVICE! A "normal" gun does NOT fall apart like this; this could be a factory defect which Ruger will want to see fairly quickly, and probably repair at their cost. If it is a defect, Ruger will want to know, and probably yesterday, just in case other pistols might have had the same problem (liability and customer service reasons). It pains me to say it, because I normally love Ruger's products, but I would NOT consider your pistol as safe to be carried until this problem is fixed!

Ruger contact page:

http://www.ruger.com/footer/contact.html

Other contact info for Ruger semi-auto pistols:

Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.
Customer Service Department
200 Ruger Road
Prescott, AZ 86301

Telephone: 928-541-8892 / Fax: 928-541-8835
(Monday through Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm MST)

Once again, I would NOT regard that gun as safe to be carried! It won't blow up on you, but if it fell apart in the holster (or tried to), I would not trust my life to it!

think i found what caused the problem... due to my dunlap roll, the upper flap that protects the weapon from you body was pushed over a little bit and when I holstered the pistol the edge went between the lever and the slide. think that day it happen i pushed a little harder to seat the pistol in the holster, will also contact Ruger about it,

RetNavy wrote:think i found what caused the problem... due to my dunlap roll, the upper flap that protects the weapon from you body was pushed over a little bit and when I holstered the pistol the edge went between the lever and the slide. think that day it happen i pushed a little harder to seat the pistol in the holster, will also contact Ruger about it,

I was originally thinking about a left-handed person holstering a right-handed 1911, and the holster pressing on the right-side post of the safety, not catching the thumb shelf on the left side. Right-handed holstering of a right-handed 1911 means it -really- should not have happened. If the sweat guard got underneath the safety, then the safety lever was -already- coming out; the internal lug on the safety would not allow it to pop out of the frame in either full-up or full-down position. The only way I can see this happening is if the safety lever was already mid-way at the disassembly point, AND starting to come out for whatever reason; normally there isn't enough room between the thumb shelf on the safety and the frame to fit much more than a stiff piece of paper (if that).