Problem with the Taurus PT1911 hammer

**PhilaShooter** · April 6th, 2010, 11:46 AM

THIS IS MY OPINION

The Taurus PT1911 was the first and only 1911 model I ever bought (my first firearm purchase actually.) I have read a good number of reviews and they all seem very positive on the Taurus, especially because they make ALL the PT1911's part's "in-house" even the Heine sights. They use metal injection molding for most small parts which they say is very precise. From what I gather they bought the rights from Heine and such to make them themselves, therefore everything on the Taurus fits perfectly. One thing I did notice with mine however....when shooting and I finish off a mag the slide stays open, I drop the mag out, replace with another full one and push down on the slide release...now not always but sometimes the hammer will not stay cocked all the way...only half way, so I need to pull it back manually. Now it doesn't happen every time but it does happen, am I doing something wrong ??? Is something loose maybe....I have locked the slide in place manually and hit the release over and over, not to much but just to see how many times it will occur.....I don't have an exact ratio but I would say maybe 1 or 2 out of 20-30 times I release the slide and the hammer is only half cocked....maybe even 40 if I were to actually keep track...which I should have. Does anyone know what could be causing this...should I try replacing the hammer, or a spring ?? The only problems I have ever had with her while firing are a very few times a case would get caught while ejecting, FTE, but not very often except when I use some junky 20rd aftermarket magazine....which I only got b/c it looks bad (_!_) with the mag that long in the .45 but I wouldn't really use it to carry or even at home for protection at all. Any opinions or suggestions are very much appreciated...as my other post in the pistol catagory i am considering this pistol to carry...along with the HK P30, still trying to figure out which one I should. I just want to make sure whichever one I carry is 110% ALL the time.

**Lycanthrope** · April 6th, 2010, 12:02 PM

That's hammer follow and it shouldn't be happening. It's a potentially unsafe condition......your gun could start to double...triple...or worse.

Do NOT continually drop the slide on an empty chamber....that just makes it worse as you bounce the sear. You CAN do this on rare occasion while flipping the gun forward (to get max slide speed) to make sure the hammer and sear engagement is ok. If the hammer follows it's a warning that something is amiss.

You can send her back or have a local smith look at her. It may just be you need more pressure on the sear leg of the sear spring (easy fix) or it may mean the hammer or sear need replaced. I'm betting it's just sear spring pressure.

If you do replace the hammer, you will need a replacement hammer strut as well. The strut on the stock hammer is made to work with the locking device.

Lycanstaysafethrope

**PhilaShooter** · April 6th, 2010, 12:15 PM

Thank you very much, I thought something wasn't right about it, I have had it about 2 years roughly, only fired between 2,000-3,000 rounds out of her. I will have to contact Taurus today and see what they say...if I make this my main carry pistol I surely can not afford this or having it get worse, thanks again.

**PhilaShooter** · April 6th, 2010, 05:13 PM

THIS IS MY OPINION

Ok so I called Taurus just a bit ago...I told them the problem and they said send it back right away either UPS or Fed-Ex overnight, which I'm sure is gonna cost a lot and I have to pay for sending it...they will pay to return it overnight tho and fix it for free since it's under warranty. Also the right hand grip had a piece chip from the top back corner where the safety is and actually a piece of the safety is behind that corner so I asked if they could throw a new one on there, even if I have to pay for that just so no issues occur with that piece of the safety exposed now. Great customer service I must say...the lady I spoke with was very helpful and pleasant. I did however stress this in another thread just last week...I REALLY REALLY hate sending a firearm in MY name through any mail service and then have it sent back to my house...even though it's legal b/c of the circumstances I'm worried it will get "lost" a.k.a stolen, but it needs to be fixed and there is really no point in me paying for it since it's covered...just makes me uneasy shipping it in my name...well either way I gotta get it fixed...my as well go the FREE route right, lol. Thanks again for the advice Lycanthrope