Problem with slide stop when re-assembling a Les Baer Premiere II

Slidestop is fit to the individual pistol. Les cannot help you!
Find a local shooter who is good at putting one back together and learn from him how to do it. Several variations of how it can be done. Some are harder than others. The rear of the slidestop can be grooved to make it a bit easier.
Jon

Just to be clear, you do have the slide retracted to the point where the assembly notch lines up with the slide stop arm?  

https://www.google.com/search?q=1911+slide+stop+assembly&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&ei=XGHEWcXhE6GM0gKMyb-wAg&start=20&sa=N#mhpiv=2&spf=1506042248956

mikemyers wrote: slide stop has a funny mark/scratch on it, which probably is a clue to what's going wrong. I took a photo, will post here. 

That mark is on every 1911 I own, some deeper than others.  The mark is from the slide stop plunger as the slide stop goes up and down.
- Dave

Pic of groove Jon mentioned:

Jon, I wish you were within driving distance.  I haven't yet found a good gunsmith in Miami.

I wiped down the slide stop, and left everything sitting for several hours.  After reading this, I went back to try it until either it worked, or I gave up.  This time, I left the spring sticking out the front of the gun, and no pressure on anything, and eventually it just snapped into place.  For some reason, this gun has always been very hard for me to re-assemble.  My Colt goes together more easily.  One of these days, I will spend the whole day doing dis-assembly / re-assembly until I can do it in my sleep.

To rried, I tried to follow the instructions in the video.  With everything aligned as shown in the photos you linked to, I couldn't get the part fully in.  A few minutes ago I was fiddling with the parts, just to try to "feel" what was going on.  On the last attempt I think I aligned the parts with the larger cutout on the slide (not the little half moon), while just trying to feel how things worked, and I think that's when it popped into place.  Right now I just want to get it back together.  Next time I clean it, I'll get this figured out.  

To ddroning, is this something that requires me sending the whole gun to a gunsmith to do?  Thanks for the information - before you wrote that, I thought my slide stop had a problem.


Thanks to all of you.

mikemyers wrote:dronning, is this something that requires me sending the whole gun to a gunsmith to do? 

No, any gunsmith can do this and only need the slide stop, many 1911 owners do it themselves.  Do a search for 1911 slide stop mod and decide if you want to take it on or send it to a gunsmith.
- Dave

Thanks; I think the first plan when I get back from India is to use this gun a lot, and clean it regularly, until I can do it with no problems.  

If I knew long ago what I know now, I'd probably have bought a different gun.  For ages, the LB was so tight I could barely rack the slide.  The grip safety has a bump that would probably work better for me if the gun didn't have a thumb safety that looks like a canoe paddle.  Getting the barrel bushing on and off is a pain in the whatever, as it's so durn tight.  If I wasn't so pleased with the results when shooting it, I'd already be looking for something else.

Which isn't to say that this thread means it has a problem, even if I suspect it might.  I just need to learn the magic tricks to get it working well for me. 

Seriously, what Jon wrote is the REAL answer "Find a local shooter who is good at putting one back together and learn from him how to do it" but I'm still looking to find a person like that somewhere close to me. I have a small group of people I've met online, but that's not the same.

With the gun disassembled, please insert the slide stop pin into the hole.  You will generally find that a Les Baer pin and hole are a very tight fit.  I've even found some Marvel slide stop pins that will not fit in a Baer.  

That coupled with the slide stop plunger pin sticking out and the hard fit barrel lugs on the bottom may require require that the gun be re-assembled without the spring in place (standard take down / assembly procedure. 

You probably also need to do a visual check that the barrel lugs (bottom) are clear of the hole (some guns are so tight you might need a slave pin slight smaller to ensure the barrel is in the right position.  Lastly, a very careful insertion of the slide stop pin so the plunger does not get trapped into the pin.  

It's a Les Baer, it's supposed to be tight, that's how they build them.

CR10X, thanks for the advice, but for me that's like getting out of the frying pan, only to be back in the fire.  The standard procedure used to be the only way I knew how to assemble my Colt, but with the LB the barrel bushing is so tight that I struggle to turn it into place.  That's infinitely more difficult if I'm simultaneously trying to keep the spring in place.  Eventually I do, as was the case last night.  Because of the difficulty in turning the barrel bushing, several people suggested I do the assembly the new way (as shown in the video I linked to).  I think I'll insert that video into this thread.

I doubt that the problem is the fit of the pin in the hole, as when the slide stop is pointing "down", it drops in effortlessly.  Then I pull it out slightly, rotate it into the proper position, push it in slightly, and then get ready to push up and in at the right end, while pushing in with my left thumb opposite the pin.  This never works.  Ever.  So, I use the Pachmayr Widget to slightly depress the plunger ball, and rotate the slide stop just a bit, so the plunger ball stays "down".  Then I try to push everything into position - sometimes it works, but more likely the slide stop only goes in part way, sticking out from the gun by about 1/8" or so.  At that point I remove it, and start all over again.

I don't know what you mean by "a very careful insertion of the slide stop pin so the plunger does not get trapped into the pin".  Maybe that is exactly what is happening.  Maybe that's what Jon hopes someone will demonstrate, so I know the correct way to do it.  I didn't think there was any "right" or "wrong" way to do it - I've always been told to push it up an in, and it will click into place.


I realize it's "supposed to be tight", but doing this the old way would be so much easier if it wasn't so difficult to twist the barrel bushing into position.  Then I could do it the "old way".   When I get back from my trip, I guess the next time I get the gun apart, I'll take all the parts out, and practice installing and removing the slide stop pin until I get used to it.

I have a LB wadgun and had a hard time reassembling it, even with a widget.  On close examination, I found a different problem (with a simple solution) that you should rule out.   On mine, the retaining pins which interact with the slide stop and safety were very rough and resisted sliding in the tube (sorry for not having the correct part names handy).  The end of the pin for the slide stop was also no longer round.   A pair of EGW pins and slight clean up of the tube and mine now just clicks into place.   Best of luck.

Aprilian, could you please find something that shows me what parts are the "retaining pins"?  How do I get them out, and what did you do to fix them?  I think you are saying you bought EGW pins - do you still have the part number?  Which part is "the tube"?   Also, when you say "the end of the pin for the slide stop" are you referring to the end of the round cylinder that is part of the slide stop, and that the end of it wasn't round?  

If I post a parts diagram, can you point out which parts you're referring to?  I wish I knew more about the insides of the LB.  The only parts I'm familiar with are those that I remove and replace during cleaning...    Thanks!  Maybe that is what my problem is.

Thanks Dave.

I did a little searching on YouTube, and found this video on what not to do.  I figured I would at least understand what was being done.  I'll post the video below, but if this is what needs to be done, it's beyond what I'm prepared to get involved in.  

One quick question - assuming Jon is right, and the real problem is me, not the parts, is there any reason why I can't disassemble the gun for cleaning, and leave everything off the gun except the slide, and practice installing and removing the slide stop?  If the problem really is the plunger tube, I'll eventually find a repeatable way to deal with it.  I hope.  

Here's the video - what not to do - but it supposedly shows what's involved in installing the part from Brownell's...

Mike
Why do you think the tube is bad?  There are much better videos on the plunger tube install, this one is just plain painful to watch
- Dave

I don't know if it is or isn't bad; I'm just trying to understand Aprillian's post.  

I searched for a video to try to understand what was going on - until now, I had no idea as to what even held the tube in place.  Yeah, the video is...   well, I won't say it, but thanks to the video I know more than I did before.  

What I suspect is "bad" is the slide lock, and I'm not even sure if "bad" is the right word. It's far more likely that I am "bad".

I should add, I've been searching for an old, worn-out or whatever 1911 I could buy, for no purpose other than to take it completely apart and learn more about the gun.  I haven't found one yet.  Eventually I will.  There are SO many things about a 1911 that I don't understand.  Hmm, if someone were to take a 1911 completely apart, and put all the parts in a plastic bag, I wonder how many people here besides Jon could re-assemble the gun?

mikemyers wrote:What I suspect is "bad" is the slide lock, and I'm not even sure if "bad" is the right word. It's far more likely that I am "bad".

Based on the pic you shared your slide lock isn't bad it's just like 10,000's of them out there that don't have the notch in it to make it easy to install.  A very easy fix as shown in another post.
-Dave

Re 1911 assembly: I can with eyes closed and I'm sure many others can also. 1911 is a simple device. Don't make it hard.

Anything is easy to do once you know how to do it.

Olde Pilot - it's like me talking to my relative, saying how easy it is to do something on his computer, while he is totally lost.  That's how lost I would be, and you're right, it's probably easy for you, and would probably be for me once I started doing it.  But not on my Les Baer, until I have some idea of what I'm doing.

For dronning, I combined Jon's photo and the photo I took into one image with both slide stops roughly the same size in the image.  You will understand my ignorance when I ask you "what notch"?  I see lots of differences between the two images.  If I'm supposed to machine my slide stop so it looks like the other image, that's way beyond my capabilities...

I think you mean the small recess in Jon's image, but exactly where would it go, and how deep?   Why does his slide stop look so different from mine?  

Mike 
This is a dumb question. You are not putting the assembly in
the tube backwards are you?
Lamar H

mikemyers wrote:
I think you mean the small recess in Jon's image, but exactly where would it go, and how deep?   Why does his slide stop look so different from mine?  

Mike,
Your pic is straight on the pic on the right is taken at a 45 degree angle.  Maybe this will help the green is where your slide stop pin wear is, the red is where you would file the notch, but based on your question I'd have someone do it for you.
- Dave

Lamar - no question is dumb.  Feel free to ask anything.  In this case, I assume you mean the plunger tube, and I've never done anything to it.

dronning, I took five or six photos of the slide lock, but never took one at a 45 degree angle.  I did take one at an angle, but it doesn't really show much that I can relate to.  I'll post it below.

I'm leaving for India in a week.  I plan to get to the range one more time, probably Tuesday, and then put things away until I return.  Thanks for all the advice, but long before I think of modifying any parts, I will try to learn how to do this the way the rest of you do it.  I'll leave the barrel out of the gun, along with the spring and related parts, put black electrical tape on the slide and frame (insurance) and work at it until I can do it repeatably.  The 'notch' sounds like a good idea, but if it was that good, with no issues, why don't the guns come with the notch already machined into the slide stop?  

Here's the (slightly) angled photo.  I'll add more to this thread in January, one way or another........

....and once again, thanks to all of you!

I wanted to add a follow-up note for this discussion.  I had my gun apart for cleaning yesterday, and I wanted to try something I thought of earlier.  While the gun was apart, after the parts were cleaned, I mounted only the slide on the receiver and started to practice installing the slide stop.  This was SO much easier without having to fight the recoil spring.  After several tries, I finally found the combination of where and how hard to press, and the slide stop eventually popped in very easily every time.  (It was still difficult to get the slide stop past the plunger, but the solution to that was to use a Pachmayr "Widget" to depress the plunger just enough to let me move the slide stop up until it was holding the plunger back.  After that, knowing what I learned while practicing, the rest was easy.)


This is one place to buy the "Widget":
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100572620/pachmayr-widget-assembly-tool-1911-polymer-blue   It's only $5.  Being plastic, it can't damage anything.