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Old 05-15-2017, 03:49 PM
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Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety  
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Default Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety

The Browning 1911 .380 is a really neat reduced size version of a series 80 style 1911 .45 ACP pistol. The smaller size, lighter weight and thin profile make the 1911 .380 a great carry option for those who are single action, cocked and locked carry aficionados. The is one major fly in the ointment, all the other single action auto pistols our carry rotation do not have a magazine disconnect safety- nor should they. The presence of the magazine safety bothered my wife enough that she would not carry the pistol, so it needed to go away.

Browning's design team added the magazine safety in an ingenious way, without additional parts to muck up the classic 1911 action. They use a cast nub protruding from the rear of the trigger. This nub hits the magazine release button if there is no magazine in the pistol, thereby blocking rearward trigger movement. When a magazine is inserted, the magazine release button is moved slightly to the left revealing a groove for the trigger nub to ride through allowing the gun to fire. Simple. To get ride of the magazine safety, get rid of the nub. No other modifications needed.

Now, being a true 1911 pistol design, the only way to remove the trigger is to strip down the entire lower. A word of caution: NO replacement parts are available for these Browning pistols. Lose or ruin a part and you will be out of luck.
I won't describe a full 1911 tear down, the procedure is easily found elsewhere online. The hard parts with the Browning are removing the minuscule roll pin holding the right side safety lever onto the cross shaft (reinstalling it was worse!) Also, getting the sear, disconnector and sear pin back into the frame is really fiddly. Due to the tiny size of the parts and the narrow frame, you must use long, skinny needle nosed pliers and tweezers to finesse the parts back into place. Have patients, use good lighting and you can do it. Oh, make sure the slide lock/safety detent plungers and their tiny spring don't go flying!!

The actual removal of the magazine disconnect nub on the rear of the trigger is as simple as filing or using a cut off wheel to remove it. The task took me less than a minute very carefully cutting with my Dremel tool. Once the nub is cut off, you reassemble the pistol, no other modifications or part removals are necessary. Your 1911 .380 will then operate just as John Moses Browning intended.

Illustration of the trigger and its "nub".
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Old 05-16-2017, 12:15 AM
2152hq 2152hq is offline
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Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety  
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I've never had one in my hands, so I know nothing about them,,but could the magazine release be modified with an extra groove or elongating the existing groove that allows the nub on the trigger to by-pass it.
The extra groove (or elongated existing groove) placed so that the trigger can be pulled w/the mag removed.
That would seem to avoid the complete dis-assembly of the delicate small parts of the frame.
...maybe the mag release doesn't come out as easily as I hope it would!

Thanks for the info on the internal design, always handy to have. I will print it out and keep it.
The question of removing mag safetys on semi autos comes up quite often lately.
I had a STAR Model B Super in a couple weeks ago that was cobbled up by an owner trying to remove the mag safety feature. A dremel and a YouTube video were all he needed to get in trouble.
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Old 05-16-2017, 04:10 AM
Texas Star Texas Star is offline
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Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety  
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Never heard of these. It's not the M-1910 FN Browning, more like the later type Colt .380, with hammer?


Photos?
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Old 05-16-2017, 08:38 AM
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Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety Browning 1911 .380- Getting Rid of the Magazine Safety  
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Originally Posted by 2152hq View Post
I've never had one in my hands, so I know nothing about them,,but could the magazine release be modified with an extra groove or elongating the existing groove that allows the nub on the trigger to by-pass it.
The extra groove (or elongated existing groove) placed so that the trigger can be pulled w/the mag removed.
That would seem to avoid the complete dis-assembly of the delicate small parts of the frame.
...maybe the mag release doesn't come out as easily as I hope it would!

Thanks for the info on the internal design, always handy to have. I will print it out and keep it.
The question of removing mag safetys on semi autos comes up quite often lately.
I had a STAR Model B Super in a couple weeks ago that was cobbled up by an owner trying to remove the mag safety feature. A dremel and a YouTube video were all he needed to get in trouble.
I removed the magazine release, which is super easy, just turn a screw. By the time you have enough material removed from the release for the trigger nub to ride through there is a great possibility the magazine retention would be compromised. Now, if I could buy a spare mag release button to carve on, it might be worth a shot. By the way, if you push the mag release in about 3/4's of the way you can pull the trigger without a magazine.

As for butchering with a Dremel, you would need to be quite careless (and I know Bubba 'smiths are careless) to muck-up removing the nub from a cast alloy part. Jeweler's files would work well too.

Texas Star{Never heard of these. It's not the M-1910 FN Browning, more like the later type Colt .380, with hammer?
Photos? }

Here is my wife's Browning 1911 .380, the top of the line Black Label model with tritium night sights and an accessory rail. I installed a Crimson Trace Laser and the G-10 Grips. The stock model has no rail and teenie-weenie GI style sights. The pistol frame is polymer with steel inserts. The gun is a joy to shoot.

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