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Potentially dumb question here. I thought I knew how to disassemble a 1911, but now I am second guessing myself.

After triple checking that the gun is unloaded, I have always started the disassembly by depressing the recoil spring plug and turning the barrel bushing.....

This morning I saw something on another site that said you should first move the slide back slightly before turning the barrel bushing in order to avoid excessive wear on the barrel to bushing fit. That poster recommended placing a spent shell casing in the open breach to hold the slide back about 1/4 of an inch.

I just happen to have a manual sitting on my desk for my new CZ-1911 and sure enough, in the relevant disassembly step it says "Push the slide back about 1/4 of an inch, press down on the Recoil Spring Plug and at the same time rotate the Barrel Bushing until it stops."

So have I been doing it wrong this whole time?

AndyC wrote:Not necessarily.

This would be appropriate for those 1911s where front section of the barrel is a little wider - for example, the Colt series 70s which came with a collet-style bushing. The thicker barrel up front allowed an easy method to get a nice lockup into the springy fingers (for enhanced accuracy) without having to individually hand-fit the bushing.

On those style pistols it can be a little easier to disassemble by drawing the slide back a little first to release the tight grip that the bushing has on the barrel.

Well that makes complete sense. Both for ease of disassembly and minimizing wear. Obviously if the barrel is the same width throughout, then pushing the slide back a bit shouldn't change anything.

I'm guessing that the barrel on my CZ is the same, but will take a closer look at it tonight.

The other tip I saw was to engage the thumb safety if you don't want the slide to move while you are dealing with this step. Obviously that was not from the same person who said you should move the slide back first.

There is an alternative method which I always use now.

The first thing I do (after ensuring it's unloaded) is to push the slide back and remove the slide stop. Then as you ease the slide forward with you hand on top of the slide, you curl your fingers under so you can control the recoil spring. Once the slide is off, it's very easy to remove the recoil spring and guide.

Here's a video that shows it better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYuJhnB-1mY

Pawpaw wrote:There is an alternative method which I always use now.

The first thing I do (after ensuring it's unloaded) is to push the slide back and remove the slide stop. Then as you ease the slide forward with you hand on top of the slide, you curl your fingers under so you can control the recoil spring. Once the slide is off, it's very easy to remove the recoil spring and guide.

Here's a video that shows it better:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYuJhnB-1mY

Very interesting. I may have to try that.

I'm guessing that re-assembly might be more tricky than disassembly with this method. It's hard enough for me to get the slide stop properly aligned when it is not under pressure from the recoil spring.

I don't hold the slide back the way the guy in the video does. I put my right thumb (right where thumb meets hand) under the beavertail. Then my hand wraps around the right side of the pistol and my finger come over the slide. After pushing the slide back with my left hand, I can grip it with my right fingers and fine tune the slide position by merely tightening or loosening my right hand grip. It works like a charm, once you get the hang of it.

Edit: This guy wraps his hand the other way, but it shows the concept.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnjKxOBhXxU