I don't have the books in front of me but the 1911 was designed around 3 tools to disassemble the gun - a piece of spent brass to unscrew the stocks, the hammer strut to use as a punch, and the heel of a boot to add oomph to the punch and to seat the mainspring housing retaining pin afterwards. Or, using the hammer strut to seat the pin (with the boot), then putting the hammer in the assembly after the fact (which is easy enough, it's just pushing it down the fraction of an inch to get the hammer pin in the frame)...either way!
The firing pin can be used too, it's good at it's job, it's just a little more important that it not be bent or burred...the gun'll run just fine with a bent or burred hammer strut ...well, within reason, anyway...
That's because bushing to slide tight fit... eventually they will both mate better after n disassembly cycles.
The Baer are great guns, but their philosophy is that instead of mating everything perfectly they just make them TIGHT and let the normal operation of the pistol (lots of rounds) do the final micro adjustments. I think this is because it saves them some time and also because most people think that tight = quality, so tighter = even better.
This is exactly how I do it. Same as Hilton Yam as well I believe. Putting together is indeed a little trickier than taking down. But nothing that complicated. I just think it’s something that takes time to get coordinated with.
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For fun I tried the slide stop first method today. No problem in the removal, but I had a bit of trouble managing the loaded hand grenade that is the tensioned slide, recoil spring and plug when trying to slip it onto the slide.
In the end I didn't want to launch my recoil spring into orbit so I reverted back to the bushing method for putting it back together.
I prefer this method of disassembly. It preserves the fit between the bushing and the barrel. Larry Vickers teaches this method in his 1911 class, and Hilton Yam also promotes it. Both refer to it as the Hi-Power method of disassembly.
The Wilson Flat Wire Recoil Springs are shorter than the regular round springs and this makes it easier for me to reassemble the 1911 using both LAV and Hilton's method.
Just a quick footnote and question: I ordered a Wilson Flat-wire Recoil Spring kit, part no. 614 (17# spring, guide rod, shok-buff). I installed the spring and guide rod today. Have to say, the feel is noticeably different with the flat wire spring. I'm headed to the range this week and I'll try it out, and also see if it helps me in assembling/disassembling the gun with the slide stop first method.
One thing I noticed, during dry practice, running the slide, the spring sounds like a creaky screen door. Is that normal, I guess?