Taurus 1911 Thumb Safety Issue

[Sgt.K]

Y’all, looking for anyone who has heard of this before:

I bought my first pistol (Taurus 1911, no comments from the peanut gallery) in 2013. It was used - lookup showed manufacture in 2008. As a right-handed shooter who intended to carry it I didn’t want the ambi thumb safety hanging off the right side so I bought a Wilson Combat single-side safety. Other than a little smithing on the functional bit to match the internals it was a drop-in fit in the pivot hole in the frame.

A few years later I bought a 2^nd Taurus 1911 for carry and designated #1 for match use. Bought the same Wilson Combat safety for #2 and did the same smithing. Again, a drop-in fit in the frame.

Last summer I sent #1 to Taurus for some (free, kudos to Taurus) work when they told me there was frame damage and they would be replacing the gun. Ok, cool, send me back my parts, please. They did. When I attempted to put the Wilson safety in/on #3 it wouldn’t fit the pivot hole. I haven’t taken a caliper to either part as of yet, so I don’t know how much difference there is.

I have contacted Taurus about possibly getting a single-side safety from them but, and I quote, “It is possible there was a design change. We also do not have a single sided safety to provide you as it is a restricted part.”

Is it common for a manufacturer to change something like this? In my head, drilling out the frame and grip safety to match the shaft on the thumb safety would be much simpler than reducing the shaft diameter but would likely void any warranty from Taurus, which I don’t want to do if I have another option.

Thoughts?

P.S. - Almost put this in Gunsmithing, but it's about changes being made, not necessarily work to be done.

Thanx

[JenniferG]

Most thumb safeties for 1911's have to have minor fitting done because of the variations in the frames and the thumb safety. I would message CDI if you want a thumb safety fitted correctly.

I had a friend of mine in New Mexico have an EGW ambi safety done on her Colt Commander and the gunsmith there did a nice fit up job. The pivot shaft of the Colt thumb safety broke at the end where it goes through the right side of the frame. Seems to be a fairly common problem but the EGW is a forged piece so it's supposed to be less prone to breakage. They make stainless or blued. I did quite a bit of research for her to find out why this happens and best fixes. There are other forged pieces out there like ED Brown etc... but these EGW pieces come highly recommended from many different forums.

https://www.egwguns.com/1911-parts/f...components=923