WE 1911 - Broken Bushing and Spring Cap

[Phil_Black]

Originally Posted by Drake

Beware just swapping out the bushing and recoil spring plug for better ones; someone else did it and ended up destroying the forward end of his slide:

http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=63571

I wish i read this befor !

i sust swap my barrel bushing and in 5 shots the front of the slide just went flying.

[-Erebus-]

I have just had the same problem. Piss me off. I haven't even gamed it yet. I will never buy a WE 1911 again. No wonder everywhere is sold out of the parts. This is such a common problem.

*Addition*
Try this link http://www.wilsoncombat.com/a_barrel_bushings.asp Because the slide on my gun was made by Wilson combat, these parts work for it. They might work for you too.

[evaz95]

I have one of the wilson combat 1911s and also broke my spring cap. but this is an easy fix. first off the reason they come apart is because
1)the spring guide rod is to long and bottoms out in the cap
2)the metal is just pot metal - cheap
3)the slide is heavy and has a good blowback
ok onto the fix.
on a new gun just disassemble and place a rubber washer between the spring rod and spring

for one that has broken the lip off of the spring cap only, file the cap smooth so that when fitted into the slide it does not extend pass the slide. it must sit recessed so that the washer you place on the rod hits the end of the slide and not put pressure on the barrel bushing which is made from cheap pot metal. this set up will take a thicker washer or two thin ones.

if you broke the barrel bushing you will need a replacement. i contacted socom gear and they are sending replacement parts for mine. i did also find that a bushing from a real 1911 will fit the slides but the inside dimension is a tad small, you will have to resize the bushing a little, then you can continue with one of the other fixes.

with any of these just make sure the rod can no longer bottom out in the cap.
i used 3/8 washers made for sink faucets that i drilled out with a 5/16 drill bit

[Drake]

The recoil spring guide being too long was my conclusion, too.

It rams against the front of the plug, instead of the base of the guide impacting the ring on the plug/dust cover on the slide.

I think the safest bet is for people to cut off about 3mm from the front of the spring guide and round off the tip, but that's probably also the hardest option.

An upgraded/stiffer recoil spring would probably help, too.

I also picked up some Sorbo pads (the V6/V7 version) that I want to cut up and place on the base of the recoil spring guide, basically like Shock Buffs.

Dunno yet if any one, or combination of those will resolve the problem.

Watch out for the thickness of the washers, too, or the slide won't be able to move back far enough to lock the slide on the last shot.

[max.power]

Drake:

I took about 3-4mm of the end of the spring guide, and it worked awesome.

Thanks for the advice all!

[takealap]

Do you think you can put a tm m1911 long guide rod in the we?

[Drake]

Originally Posted by takealap

Do you think you can put a tm m1911 long guide rod in the we?

No you can't.

The long guide rod requires (and usually comes with) a different recoil spring plug (with a hole in it, for the long guide rod to pass through): the TM plugs do not fit in the WE (not made the same way).

[Cleric]

evaz95, would you mind posting pics of your fix? I think I understand from your description, but I'm more of a visual learner, and would like to be certain.

[Rickhey]

Hello!
This is my first, and probably last, post here on this forum. I just registred to give something back, since this thread helped me fix my WE 1911 Tactical.

The lip on the spring cap broke on it (like what happened to this guy) just about an hour after I got it... which really sucked, but thanks to this thread and mainly what evaz95 and Drake wrote, I was able to make it work again without any problems.
I'm posting some pictures showing what I did to fix it, hopefully it can help other people with the same problem.
I apologize for any typos that I've might have done, English isn't my native language (I'm from Sweden!)
Click the pictures to enlarge them...

I didn't want to file down my spring rod since that would mean more work, and I figured that as the spring cap was already broken it would be better to file that down instead. (And put a couple of washers onto the spring rod.)

Here you can see the spring cap filed down and the spring rod with two rubber, and one metal washers.


The spring rod with the washers, they're about 2mm each. So 6mm all together.


As you can see the spring rod doesn't ram into the bottom of the spring cap.


Yes, I made the washers myself from some rubber I found at home.
I know they look awful, but its the functionality we're after!


Without the washers the rod would ram against the bottom of the spring cap, and most likely destroy it.


This is how much I filed off from the spring cap, I'd say it's recessed about 1-2mm.


The washers helps absorbing the force into the rail instead of the barrel bushing, which would otherwise break after a while.


Assembled it doesn't look too bad


Just make sure the slide will lock back again. If it doesn't you've used too many washers.

There, I hope that will help people with the same problem as I had. I've read on a couple of different forums about broken WE 1911's so I know it's a fairly common problem.
But it's still an awesome gun!

[Cleric]

Thanks for the pics, Rickhey. Others: is this basically how you've fixed yours?

[Roughneck]

That looks like a good fix, but will the pressure from the recoil spring eventually bend the barrel bushing? Or is it strong enough to hold?

[Drake]

Rickhey, welcome to ASC and thanks for the contribution! It's nice knowing these threads are actually helping folks.

I hope you'll post again and let us know how well the washers are holding up: I tried something similar myself, but I used sorbo pads (like they use in mechboxes for the cylinder head) and unfortunately it was a bit too soft, the spring eventually dug into it and started making a mess. I think a metal washer would have worked better, but the rubber looks harder than sorbo, so maybe that worked well?

Another thing to be mindful of if adding a spacer like that is not making it too thick, or it'll prevent the slide from locking back properly. The way Rickhey did it, cutting off the ring from the plug and using that thickness of washers, seems about right to maintain proper operation.

Originally Posted by Roughneck

That looks like a good fix, but will the pressure from the recoil spring eventually bend the barrel bushing? Or is it strong enough to hold?

The bushing should be able to hold the spring, there isn't that much tension. The real problem has always been the spring guide slamming into the tip of the plug (with all of the mass of the slide / backwards momentum behind it).

[m102404]

If you've got your spacing and thicknesses of rubber (not metal) washers right...you can transfer the recoil shock load from the bushing to the inside area of the slide (the area where the spring guide ring, that broke off, used to bear against).

If you've got the spacing right, most, if not all the load will be taken there and almost none (or minor load) on the barrel bushing.

Lowes also has white UHMW plastic bushing tubes that are the perfect inner diameter for the spring guide and aren't too large in outer diameter to bind up anything inside the frame. A small section of that can be used to substitute in for a stack of washers.

They also sell rubber washers that are the perfect size (a touch big OD...but completely usable).

There's nothing inherently wrong with short stroking (not the way you do it late at night...pervs ). GBBs hardly need more recoil than is necessary to cock the hammer. Saves the wear and tear on the slide catch notch (stays undamaged...good for resale).

Good luck guys,

Tys

[Roughneck]

I did this mod on a Wilson Combat 1911 that has the broken rim on the spring cap. It's very simple, the spring guide is too long and bottoms out in the spring cap.. striking it with too much force and eventually breaks it. I cut about 3mm off the spring guide with a dremel, then smoothed it out and added two rubber washers to absorb the shock and lower the impact between the spring guide and inside of the frame where the spring cap rim used to be. I fired many, many rounds after to test and it shows no wear and tear. If anyone needs help with this on any of the WE 1911 series guns, feel free to PM me. I know the frusteration of a broken pistol and am willing to help out.