During the exhaustive testing prior to acceptance of M1911 pistol, did rivets securing plunger tube loosen or fail?

Bady's book, Colt Automatic Pistols, has a fairly thorough description of the acceptance test program. It mentions nothing about plunger tube rivets coming loose. But that does not mean it didn't happen.

I own a bunch of Colt 1911's and only once did I have a rivet loosen up on the plunger tube. On one of my business trips from NY to MA I was pretty much going by the Colt plant in Hartford, so I brought the pistol to Colt - they fixed it on the spot in 30 minutes. And yes - I did have all the proper carry permits in all the States I ever went through.

I suspect that rivet was defective from the get-go as after 25 years of heavy shooting with that same 1911 I have never had it happen again. AFAIK, it is not a very common occurrence.

I have the tool to re-rivet the tube and in the years I did gunsmith work I can only recall using it twice for repairs (did use it on a few custom builds from bare frames). Don't think it's really a common issue for them to come loose. If one does though the tool is vital!

If I remember...the test was a 6000 round shoot with the gun being torn down for inspection and maybe a quick wipe down every so many rounds. The Savage suffered a number of malfunctions...the Colt suffered none. That doesn't mean during inspections if anything was potentially amiss it wasn't taken care of on the spot or documented.

What you describe is, I believe, the final portion of a series of tests, the Colt Model 1909* being the "control". Surprisingly, Colt semiautomatic and the Model 1909 completed the function test without malfunction. Internet Archive or the Gutenberg archive has a downloadable summary of the acceptance testing.

*A modified Colt New Service 45 Colt.

This may be covered in the Clawson "big" book.

There was also a shortened .45 revolver round (unofficially the Model of 1906) used in the board tests, made by Frankford Arsenal. The FA quality was so low (many misfires) that UMC made up a lot for use in the tests. Recognizable as the case was not headstamped. A very rare cartridge today sometimes called the ".45 S&W"

I am sad that this world is so screwed up that you felt it was necessary to post the legal notice.

And even sadder that it was.

I have had the opposite problem; with a little dent that hampered the locking of the slide lever, I had a devil of a time getting it off to replace it.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244