I recently received a new S&W 1911 ProSeries 9mm 178017. I field stripped it to clean and had a lot of difficulty with both taking it down and reassembling. I have 7 1911 pistols--4 made by S&W ( 2 pros and 2 Es) and I have over 50 years experience with cleaning them from military service to now.

The lock back notch on the slide is at least 1/2 inch further to the rear of the slide than normal--in fact it is directly above the front of the trigger guard. The take down notch is about 1/8 inch away from the lock notch and the takedown notch is rounded on one side/almost square on the other and looks like it was machined with a hacksaw. Taking out the takedown pin requires super human strength and putting it back requires a sledge hammer. The actual takedown pin/lever is much fatter and beefier than any I have ever seen on a 1911 in 50 years.

I took it out and fired abut 100 rounds using 4 brands of magazines--including the Wilson combat that came with the pistol. I had at least one failure to lockback after last round on every brand--think has something to do with slide?

I notified S&W and am awaiting their comment/instruction. On a side note the sights were totally misaligned and I had to drift both front and rear to get the pistol zeroed.

Other than that I feel good about spending $1300 to get frustrated. I have never had is sort of problem with a new S&W pistol before. I have 5 M&P (9,9C,40,45,22) 1911 2 e series and 2 pro series--and every one was great out of the box.

My only regret is that I never bought S&W stock.

Pictures attached

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Netty, I'm looking into buying a new 1911 e series. Love the fish scale look on the slide and front strap checkering. Additionally, I can get one for $845 out the door. The one thing I know I want to do is change out the sights to Truglo TFX sights. As I have been researching different 1911's, I have noted the cuts for sights vary greatly. Do you know whether the cuts on the slide for the sights would be a standard novak cut? Also, anything I should consider buying the e-series 1911?

I might be totally wrong , but that slide appears to have been investment cast and the notches don't appear to have been machined.
I have an old AMT Hardballer , these were some of the first stainless steel 1911's and I know the frames and slides were investment cast and then finished on machines....mine looks a lot like that but the notches , rails , flats and serrations were smoothly machined.
I wonder if this one got by quality controll and/or missed a machining operation.
It shouldn't be that hard to strip ...something's up here .
Gary

I sent the pistol into S&W --got it back yesterday 10/11 (21 days) 5 day delay due to hurricane Matthew. The repair sheet says they repaired the slide stop??? Looks OK now---manual cycled and takedown OK. Will take to range in next few days and test. One bonus (I guess to soothe my flames) they sent me an extra Wilson combat mag with the returned pistol-----hope its more than a bread and circuses gesture----.

On my E series I have models 108409 which is the 1911TA and 108485 which is the 1911SC. Both their sights are Trijicon-----I do not know if TruGlo TFX would be a drop in replacement and I have not considered replacing them since they are already excellent sights. Just for info--the E series are all series 70 slides so there is no firing pin safety plunger in the slides.

S&W really uses some stupid naming conventions ... it's hard to tell the different guns apart. For example, "the SW1911-Pro" is actually two very different guns: one is a .45acp with a grip-lever-controlled firing-pin safety, and the other is a 9mm E Series with no firing-pin safety. Similarly, they have reused the "Model 360" number for at least three very different snubbies: some .357, some .38 Special only, some with titanium cylinders and others with steel cylinders. Nutty "system".