We 1911 - Maple Leaf Upgrade Issue

[LoneTactix]

I have bought a maple leaf barrel and hop upgrade unit. Fitted it yesterday and test fired it, seems to work fine. The only thing that doesn't is the slide lock when a magazine is empty.

I have thrown in a photo of the unit from a website and the unit as it currently is sitting in my gun. I am wondering if the highlighted bit might be causing it. I have no idea of its use and found when I reassembled that the slide spring and its stopper butted against it a lot tighter as this sticky out bit is not on the stock hop up unit. 

I am quite new to disassembly and upgrading, lockdown finally got me to pull my finger out with regards to knowing more about the gear I use.

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[Adolf Hamster]

that would cause it.

that protrusion is meant to be for the spring guide to go over (ie it's meant to have a hole in it) so it's less likely to do the normal 1911 thing of going wherever the hell it wants.

as it sits in your picture it's short-stroking the slide by the length of that protrusion which is why the cutoff isn't engaging.

you could either drill a hole in the back of your spring guide, or cut it off.

 

[LoneTactix]

Thanks, I checked the back of the spring guide this morning encase I'd missed the hole and it's solid. It would be cool to drill a hole rather than cut it off so I will ask a friend with a pillar drill and see how we go.

Do you know if spring guide stoppers/ends are solid metal or hollow by chance?

 

[Adolf Hamster]

i've seen both types, my cybergun 1911 (i wanna say kwc oem) has a hole pre-drilled, but my hicapa and a freinds Aw both have solid guide rods that look very much like yours.

if your friend has a lathe might do a better job of putting a hole nicely in the centre

 

[LoneTactix]

Thanks again.

I'm guessing if we somehow guff it up I could potentially buy a KWC spring guide, but I shall remain positive. ?

 

[Zarrin]

Sorry @LoneTactix didn't realise there was a thread yet..  might as well smack my response from the PM down below, but looks like some of the solutions have already been mentioned above:

Sounds as though you want to go the pillar drill route - interesting!

i took a look at mine this morning and I think your probably dead on the money with that little dowel piece being the issue - it doesn't exist on the original unit,  meaning that your recoil spring is compressed by about a cm too much. With the WE metal slides being as heavy as they are, the pressure from something like green gas is probably not pushing that slide back enough to catch the slide on the last shot.

So there are probably a few routes to go:

You could either:

- use (or at least try it out) with a higher pressure gas such as 'guarder power up' or 'black gas'. (you may need to grease up your magazine seals for this though )

- grind off that dowel piece from the maple leaf hop unit.

- cut the recoil spring down (same length of spring as the dowel on that hop) - maybe purchase another one as a spare just in case too.

- purchase a spring guide which has a hole in it that the dowel would slot into (the stock Tokyo Marui one would probably work or other TM compatible)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpIgDuNflWg

https://wolfarmouries.co.uk/guarder-steel-spring-guide-cap-for-marui-kj-m1911a1.html

https://www.plazajapan.com/2001000050451/

- potentially if you had a pillar drill and vice setup you might be able to modify and drill into the existing spring guide - quite ambitious and certainly not everyone's job.

Edit - struck off a couple of those as they wont work lol 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

i'm not sure the slide would go far enough back regardless of the gas/spring, it'll just slam into the recoil guide early.

 

[Zarrin]

i'm not sure the slide would go far enough back regardless of the gas/spring, it'll just slam into the recoil guide early.

Simulated it with a chunk of rubber - I think you are correct ?

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Gas and spring cut suggestion struck off! 

 

[LoneTactix]

Good recreation! ?

 

[LoneTactix]

Done!

My friend has done it perfectly. I spoke to him after and said that other people might want engineered bits for their airsoft kit and he would appreciate some work. Wondering if there's a place on the forums to promote him?

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[Adolf Hamster]

that is very nicely done.

just goes to show the little things can make all the difference, now not only does it work but the recoil spring isn't going to do it's normal shenanigans of firing itself into oblivion the moment you pull the slide.

 

[LoneTactix]

Yeah, overall it feels like the upgrade has improved the internals a huge amount, plus it should now be transferable to other guns if I get a different 1911 in the future.