Bushing Fit and Cleaning

Bushing to slide fit on my 1911s is incredibly tight. Does the bushing have to be almost impossible to remove from the slide?

How tight is tight enough?

If you don't remove the barrel from the slide, what's the best technique for cleaning the barrel?

It doesn't "have" to be almost impossible, but it helps to make sure lock up is consistent. A firm fit is sufficient in my experience, but I'm not a gunsmith.

A boresnake/patchworm type device is good for quick cleaning every 500 or so rounds.

Otherwise I do the technique of removing the slidestop pin, carefully remove the slide (while holding in the spring), remove the spring, push the barrel forward out of the slide (so the bushing isn't making contact with the barrel tip), then start working the bushing out of the slide.

The following technique removes the toughest/tightest, custom fit bushing I have seen;

With the slide off the frame and and the lugs centered in the frame use the barrel as a slap hammer against the bushing and it will come out with no problems. You will not hurt the barrel or the bushing.

You can damage / mar the slide if the lugs are not turned up and in the center.

Dewey:

Bushing fit is generally pretty tight for most gunsmiths, but not all. They seem to think that bullseye shooters will be taking it apart enough that it will eventually get a little looser. The main item is to not turn the bushing while the barrel is at the lock-up position as this can increase the wear for the barrel - bushing contact area.

I generally brush from the muzzle (yes I have a guide and that .45 bore is a good sight bigger than most rods), just be careful. I generally only have to fully take the barrel out about 2 -3 times per year. Just brush the barrel and use pull through as needed. A good bore, properly broken in and with no leading can go a long time without a full cleaning. There are others that will say do something else or this is wrong. I've learned to listen to the gun and it will tell me what it needs. A light brushing, a squirt of Kroil and I don't even have to wipe out the barrel on the next trip to the range. The first shot will be in the group for all my guns. (This low level maintenance is one of the things I like about shooting the Oregon Trail lead bullets.)

And yes, I've got barrels with multiple thousands of rounds and several years of shooting that still produce about the same groups as new. I've noticed that barrels wear out from the outside from shooting and generally from the inside from too much cleaning or putting two bullets in there at the same time.

On the other hand, most shooters do not disassemble the firing pin and extractor often enough. Keep the extractor tunnel and extractor clean every shooting session or so.

Sorry for the long post, but still can'tt use the right arm so I got nothing else to do for a couple of months.

Cecil Rhodes

Thanks, Cecil.