WE 1911 slide catch issues

[Lon]

Hey all. I'm sure I'm not the only WE 1911 owner who's slide catch (or lock, whatever you'd like to call it) doesn't seem to work very well. Are there any known remedies for this?

 

I was thinking putting a slightly stronger hammer spring may help, as I noticed the slide does actually does lock when I rack it back manually with a little bit of force. Yeah, this would mean worse gas efficiency, but meh, I don't really mind. And still, I doubt this would be enough to make the catch reliably activate. I'm not sure if a stronger recoil spring would do much help either.

 

Anyone care to share their WE 1911 slide catch woes or possible fixes? Thanks.

[ruger13]

I got the same model and i have no problems like this

 

only thing i can think of is grit on the slide rails, or low powered/insuficient gass

 

in any case a stronger recoil / hammer spring will in most cases make it worse

[onesidedsquare]

i had a problem with that too, found it was my seal that was messed up

[The Saint]

The hammer spring has nothing to do with the slide catch not engaging, don't touch that part.

 

The problem you're experiencing is most likely due to the slide catch retaining mechanism. Remove your slide catch and take your slide off. Notice how there is a little spring-loaded nub that pushes against the very end of the slide catch? The nub will extend out of that long tub above the grip panel. Actually, here's a pic.

 

 

Some times, that nub pushes too hard against the slide catch, preventing it from actuating when it needs to. Just file off a *tiny* bit off the tip of the nub, clean off the nub and lube it, reassemble your gun and test. If it didn't work, file a *tiny* bit more off and repeat until it does.