Series 80 parts?

[Stephanie B]

I'm buying a Series 80 Lightweight Combat Commander from an estate.

Outside of general neglect (the owner was sick for a long time), he deactivated the firing pin drop safety. He removed the slide parts and cut the lever off the firing pin plunger lever. I'm not a terribly big fan of doing that.

I can source all of the slide parts, but the firing pin plunger lever seems to be unavailable.

Gun Parts has them for Remington's 1911. Brownell's has them for Para-Ordnance.

Does anyone anticipate an issue with either one?

[theJanitor]

https://www.brownells.com/handgun-parts/trigger-group-parts/performance-enhancing-kits/series-80-trigger-pull-reduction-kit-prod5501.aspx

[Stephanie B]

Perfect, thank you!

[rd62]

I'd be interested to hear anyone's personal experience with the linked Cylinder and Slide kit.

I have a Series 80 Colt Commander I'm currently working on to include polishing of the factory components. I'm not sure what difference if any there is in a National Match lever, but having the pins polished and coated sounds nice.

[Rock185]

If parts have not changed since I attended the Colt O-Frame armorers classes, there are four different plunger levers. They are marked 1,2,3 and "N", and vary in angle and lift. The N lever lifts the most and may need fitting. The higher lift enables the use of a trigger over travel stop in Series 80 guns, without the firing pin beating up the firing pin safety plunger. I would guess this is why the N plunger lever is included in the C&S kit. I know Remington and Para use a Series 80 type safety system, but don't know if the plunger levers are exactly the same as Colt factory plunger levers...

[Robinson]

I'm buying a Series 80 Lightweight Combat Commander from an estate.

Outside of general neglect (the owner was sick for a long time), he deactivated the firing pin drop safety. He removed the slide parts and cut the lever off the firing pin plunger lever. I'm not a terribly big fan of doing that.

I can source all of the slide parts, but the firing pin plunger lever seems to be unavailable.

Gun Parts has them for Remington's 1911. Brownell's has them for Para-Ordnance.

Does anyone anticipate an issue with either one?

It's a good thing you're doing. Well, other than combining the terms "Lightweight" and "Combat" when describing a Commander. :)

[Stephanie B]

It's a good thing you're doing. Well, other than combining the terms "Lightweight" and "Combat" when describing a Commander. :)

I stripped the gun down. Good thing, as it had more lint in it than a dryer's screen. It has a trigger stop, which tells me something, but I don't know what.

I ordered a new recoil spring, which I do routinely when I get a used pistol. In this case, I also ordered a new firing pin return spring, as I can't be sure that it wasn't mucked with. The night sights are dead, which I'm not going to worry about, for now.

[theJanitor]

It has a trigger stop, which tells me something, but I don't know what.


you mean the overtravel screw? It probably doesn't tell you any more than the cut-out series 80 parts do.

Rescuing old Colt's is a noble cause.

[rd62]

If parts have not changed since I attended the Colt O-Frame armorers classes, there are four different plunger levers. They are marked 1,2,3 and "N", and vary in angle and lift. The N lever lifts the most and may need fitting. The higher lift enables the use of a trigger over travel stop in Series 80 guns, without the firing pin beating up the firing pin safety plunger. I would guess this is why the N plunger lever is included in the C&S kit. I know Remington and Para use a Series 80 type safety system, but don't know if the plunger levers are exactly the same as Colt factory plunger levers...

Thanks! Good info! Planning on a new trigger with over travel stop so a new lever may be in order. First time working with the series 80 system.

[Stephanie B]

Well, I finally got around to putting the gun back together. Other than having to use q-tips to remove lint from every conceivable crevice in the gun, clean up some small parts and deal with my fumbling fingers (it's been a very long time since I detail-stripped a 1911), it went back together fine and seems to function OK.

Next step, when I get around to it, will be a range trip.

Then I may get around to replacing the long-dead night sights.