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One of the real deep dark secrets of marketing is to make the service somehow mysterious and far too difficult for mere mortals.
That is what has been done to the 1911 extractor so that someone can charge $25 to "tune" it.
Do you think Mr. Browning knew or cared how many pounds of force it applied or used a special tool to adjust it?
All you have to do is rub the nose across a sheet of emery cloth a couple of times to polish it a bit and check to be sure that there are no burrs on the back side of the hook. If you want to go the whole nine yards you can take a swiss file a radius the bottom a bit so the cartridge can slide up smoothly.
All you have to do to set the tension is to be sure that the extractor will not fall freely into the hole. You should need to push the back just a smidgen to get it to go in. It is best to use a screwdriver or the firing pin stop to make sure the slot is aligned before reassembling the firing pin.
My experience has been mostly with GI or Colt parts and in all these years I think I have replaced two that broke the hook off. I did encounter one aftermarket part not long ago that had asbolutely no temper and no spring at all. I have heard some good gunsmiths complain that current parts are not as good but it isn't as if they break in wholesale numbers.
I'd love to hear some extractor horror stories.
Most of the time you just put them in and they work.
That is what has been done to the 1911 extractor so that someone can charge $25 to "tune" it.
Do you think Mr. Browning knew or cared how many pounds of force it applied or used a special tool to adjust it?
All you have to do is rub the nose across a sheet of emery cloth a couple of times to polish it a bit and check to be sure that there are no burrs on the back side of the hook. If you want to go the whole nine yards you can take a swiss file a radius the bottom a bit so the cartridge can slide up smoothly.
All you have to do to set the tension is to be sure that the extractor will not fall freely into the hole. You should need to push the back just a smidgen to get it to go in. It is best to use a screwdriver or the firing pin stop to make sure the slot is aligned before reassembling the firing pin.
My experience has been mostly with GI or Colt parts and in all these years I think I have replaced two that broke the hook off. I did encounter one aftermarket part not long ago that had asbolutely no temper and no spring at all. I have heard some good gunsmiths complain that current parts are not as good but it isn't as if they break in wholesale numbers.
I'd love to hear some extractor horror stories.
Most of the time you just put them in and they work.