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I have a kimber eclipse, (full size 1911) I bought a new wilson combat thumb safty for it. (My old one was worn/sratched up etc.) I cannot get it to slide in place of the old one. Any Idea's? Sould I have to file this to get it to fit? THanks

Bigger Hammer.

Other than a bigger hammer... (my baby)
And no duct tape either

That thumb safety will only go in or out when the other items are in the right position. I can't recall which combination, but try it with hammer up and with it down, grip safety in or out. Get the right combination and it will drop right in.
I went through that in reverse just last night.

A safety is NOT a drop in part. It must be fitted by filing or stoning. It takes time and great care to be done properly. Too little fitting and it will drag and not "click". Too much and it won't work at all.

If you don't have the time to learn to do it yourself, I'd suggest taking it to a gunsmith. Good luck!

Jhutto, was there not a fitting instruction sheet in the package?
I know the grip safety has fitting instructions.

As for 135boomer, I was not suggesting it should was a drop in fit, only pointing out that it will only go in a certain way. Having said that, sometimes you get lucky and they DO drop in and work right.

135boomer wrote:A safety is NOT a drop in part. It must be fitted by filing or stoning. It takes time and great care to be done properly. Too little fitting and it will drag and not "click". Too much and it won't work at all.

If you don't have the time to learn to do it yourself, I'd suggest taking it to a gunsmith. Good luck!

Take it to a smith, or get one of the AGI tapes to learn how to do it. I think Blindhogg's website may have a description with photos, but I'm not sure.

Chas.

135boomer wrote:A safety is NOT a drop in part. It must be fitted by filing or stoning. It takes time and great care to be done properly. Too little fitting and it will drag and not "click". Too much and it won't work at all.

If you don't have the time to learn to do it yourself, I'd suggest taking it to a gunsmith. Good luck!

Yup,

You can use your old one as a rough guide, but you must take time to fit it correctly.

I fitted a Wilson Combat ambidextrous safety to my Springfield Champion some months back. It was most definitely NOT "drop-in." The lug that actually blocks the sear/trigger is slightly oversize, to allow for fitting to an individual gun.

To fit the safety, I stripped the gun, removing the slide assembly and the grip safety. I put the mainspring housing back on, to engage the hammer strut, and cocked the hammer. I then coated the lug on the new safety with a black Sharpie Marker, and repeatedly inserted/wiggled/removed the safety to see where the marker was rubbing off. Those points that showed bare steel were the filing points. I did a little filing, re-coated the lug with marker, and did it again until I was getting no rub marks and the safety was positively and securely engaging the sear/trigger. Evidently, I did it properly, but I did run the risk of screwing up, which would have necessitated purchase of yet another safety.

It took me a couple hours, as I wanted to be exceedingly careful. You can always remove more metal, but you simply cannot put it back.

If you already know how to fit a safety, it's pretty easy. If you don't, you can do what I do, figure it out on the fly, and run the risk of ruining the safety (I didn't, fortunately ). Or, you can take the pistol and safety to a gunsmith, who will charge you for doing it right the first time, but will almost undoubtedly warranty his work. I chose option one, mainly because I wanted to know how to do it. What you choose depends on your priorities.