Anyone else notice that the slide catches on the Springfield 1911'a are MIM (castings) and still have the mold parting lines on them? The little lines cause burrs which are bad because they cause malfs and cracks. They are not machined and round as they should be. I've replaced the ones on the last two Springfields I bought recently with Wilson Combat slide catches which are machined to .200" like they should be and are smooth and round.
Yep. I think that the 0.200 pin is easier on the frame holes as well. SA uses a 0.197 pin because it increases linkdown reliability. Same reason the GI pins tend to run small. But I've yet to see a gun become unreliable from going to a 0.200 pin.
yep those pins are junk I have one in the RO when I sent it in to Springfield to get replaced they would not replace it I think now days most RO buys you just get a frame and slide then through all the guts away buy good stuff to make it right it is pitiful what they are putting out now!
My ROC is at Springfield at this time having some custom work done. I spoke with Amanda at SA and she insisted the MIM parts were of a very high quality. She discouraged me from replacing them.
MIM parts are good in proper applications. When you machine the lugs on the bottom of the barrel and the hole through the frame for the slide catch to a nice finish and tight tolerances then put a raw casting against these finishes and damage them it just doesn't make any sense at all. They at least need to take the burr (parting line) off the MIM part. I was a journeyman aerospace machinist before I went into quality and ran second shift quality eventually. I have some small idea of manufacturing applications even in the Neanderthal world of firearms.
I don't doubt your analysis at all mgardner. I notice a couple other things Springfield is doing to lower their costs at the expense of precision.
I believe they cannot supply any other part because they don't have any other available to them. All it takes is a few strokes with a fine file to smooth the casting and prevent it from damaging any machined surface and I'll bet they do that during the custom work they provide.
I hope they do do that for me. There are quite a few things they're doing on my ROC and I hope they will correct things they know are wrong, even if they were not on my list.
