My next project - 4566TSW makeover

[BMCM]

Something to keep me busy while I'm waiting for the 4516 to come back from Coal Creek. I just dont feel like messing with 1911s right now so this piece has moved to the head of the line.

Picked this one up from my FFL guy last Friday. It's quite obviously a police turn-in. Has the expected holster wear along with lots of impact damage on the right side. I suspect she was dropped on concrete a few times too. Front sight is bashed down and dovetail deformed a bit. Some abrasion damage on the beavertail too looking like it met with cement at some time. Typical dings, dents & divots here and there I'd expect from a high mileage duty gun. In the plus column... slide to frame fit still nice and snug, Lockup is tight with no slop or movement at the breech or at the barrel bushing.

A little judicious filing will fix this

Ouch!

I will do a complete tear down & inspect, then compile my replacement parts list. At the bare minimum, she's going to get all new springs and a grip.

This is a particular version I've wanted for a while, meaning, a TSW without the scabbed on rail and no holes in the dustcover plugged with aluminum rivets. Since I don't have a CQB I will just have to roll my own... IMO this is the next best thing. I do plan some minor enhancements. Nothing so drastic as what I did on the 4516 project. Just some discrete light beveling & de-horning here and there and of course I will correct that checkering. I wonder if the PC still has any of those Briley bushings laying around?

More to follow

Cheers
Bill

 

[SW CQB 45]

Let me get the fritos, bean dip (hot) and a cold one....pull up a chair and watch the movie.

I has a 4566TSW at one time....out of the box was good to go for duty carry.

I look fwd to your mods.

 

[BMCM]

Barrel assessment:
I'll need to soak it in copper solvent for a week to get all the gilding metal out of there, however...

Crown looks good. Assuming I use this barrel I would re-cut the crown just enough to remove the toolmarks & polish it.

Breech though, looks like someone did some unauthorized throating here.

Note the "sawtooth" feature and burnishing on the left side. That comes from a bench mount wire wheel. Matches the interesting topography in the middle of the feed ramp too. Perhaps from cleaning some stubborn deposits with a less than ideal tool?

Not particularly liking on the amount of unsupported brass here and would like some opinions. I'm entertaining a replacement barrel because of this.

And...

Cheers
Bill

 

[18DAI]

Wow...that rail free 4566TSW is one of my holy grails too.

I'm usually a day late or dollar short when they make a rare appearance.

I'll be watching this thread too. Are you going to install a match grade barrel and Briley bushing? Regards 18DAI.

 

[boomer1983]

I took my 4566tsw out to compare breaches and mine is identical to yours, so too is my 4566 standard so i wouldnt worry too much about it. its possible its a factory thing mine has held up well even with +p's.

 

[vista461]

Still looks more supported than my old G22 was.

 

[ILLWIND]

Regarding unsupported cases:
I think in one of Kuehnhausens' (I butchered the name, sorry) books there was a specification for how much unsupported case is acceptable. 3mm? Don't remember exactly...must be on the internet somewhere.

 

[Catshooter]

Man that is one ugly feed ramp.


Cat

 

[GaryS]

I'm pretty confident that there are a lot of people with way more expertise than I have, but out of curiosity I put a round into the barrel of my 3913.

Comparing that to your last picture in the second set of photos I'd have to say that someone really hacked away at that feed ramp, especially the top where it transitions to the chamber.

I then took apart my 457 and did the same thing. I'd have to say that while it's closer to your photos, someone definitely did a number on that feed ramp.

Again, I'm no expert, but that feed ramp of yours looks very suspect to me.

 

[BMCM]

Are you going to install a match grade barrel and Briley bushing? Regards 18DAI.

Man, I'd love to but S&W today told me today they don't do that anymore. I don't know any insiders there so I only have whatever the C/S guy tells me. Seems I'll be sticking with the stock tube. Kinda disappointing.

 

[boingboing]

Still looks more supported than my old G22 was.

Anything is more supported than a glock

 

[BMCM]

So, About the barrel... Last week I was reading about various Glock kB events and perhaps my imagination ran away a bit regarding this barrel. I noted everyone's comments (thank each of you by the way) and carefully compared the chamber with the two other 3rd gen 45s I have here. In the end there really isn't much difference in the unsupported case depth. Even my old series 70 shows more brass and never so much as a hiccup.

New barrels are on backorder at S&W so I'll work with what I have and order a new one later. With that in mind I fiddled with the barrel a bit today:

Fixed the scuzzy feed ramp. It's hard to get a good picture due to the shine and the droplets you see are bit of cutting oil.

Also re-cut and polished the crown. Interestingly, the factory crown was not quite perpendicular to the bore axis so it took some time to get it trued up and square.

Consider it a pet peeve, I really dislike cratering around stamped markings like this (a little file work already done here).

So I fixed it.

There were also a few more amusing discoveries during the teardown to share:

Yeah, this has seen better days.

Sear engagements kinda rounded over. I'll put a new one in to go with the new bobbed hammer.

Two is better than one??

Front dovetail buggered up. Both sights were installed well to the right. Note the flash on the left that was never cleaned up.

And.

I think that little piece of metal (half of which is still embedded in the sight base) was a piece of flash or trash that was driven into the dovetail with the front sight. The front sight was jammed solid well short of the center line and the rearward half of the slide dovetail was deformed. I think I can fix the slide and I have a new set of sights.

And lastly today... Never being a big fan of giant "tactikewl" logos or billboards on my guns... I wiped the slide flats which, it turns out weren't particularly flat to begin with.

Well a granite surface plate, some 220 followed by 400 grit some water with a pinch of detergent and a couple hours of elbow grease took care of that. The flats are certainly flat now and sanitized to boot

And the starboard side.

Lets see... All four of the tiny coil springs (the two by the hammer and two under the backsight) were rusted, sear spring rusted and the retaining pin was just beat to death. Had that look of a spoon that fell in the kitchen disposal.

Those of you with sharp eye sight may have noted the lack of the little red dot. Yup this was a decock only gun but the spring loaded assembly was removed and a regular M/S safety installed. Fortunately I have new spring loaded one that I'll be fitting tomorrow and maybe do a little de-horning. That's all for now.

Cheers
Bill

 

[45times6]

You're a miracle worker -- that doesn't even look like the same pistol!

 

[4506517]

OMG....I love following your posts!!! I'm always like "What's he gonna do next?". For the love of God don't stop now!

You are very skilled by the way.

 

[BIG DOG]

BMCM
Love reading and looking at the pics of your work in progress.
I am the point now where I dont want your post to end till finished.....I guess I am an instant gratification type at reading your posts too.
G

 

[SW CQB 45]

I am interested in the double trigger play spring.

I am assuming the two leafs are stronger than the one (to minimize breakage?

I have never seen that before.

Definitely raises the level to hard use!!!!!!!!

Or am I completely wrong?

What does the detergent do when flattening?

Tia

 

[BMCM]

I am interested in the double trigger play spring.

I am assuming the two leafs are stronger than the one (to minimize breakage?

I have never seen that before.

Definitely raises the level to hard use!!!!!!!!

Or am I completely wrong?

What does the detergent do when flattening?

Tia

I've never seen nor heard of the doubled up play spring. I think it was done more so to double the springs force vice deter breakage. I have another drawbar assembly around her somewhere. I'll fiddle with both setups when I start putting stuff back together and see if I can detect a difference. ATM I'm really not seeing a downside to having it doubled up.

I used silicon carbide paper wet on a granite surface plate... A little dish soap in the water or a couple drops on the paper, main benefit is as a surfactant, breaks the surface tension of the water and keeps the filings in suspension. Also adds a little lubricity. Overall helps the abrasive cut faster & cleaner.

Cheers
Bill

 

[BMCM]

Greetings Gents...

I've been attending to other things around the homestead of late so progress has been a bit slower than usual. I've ordered a few bits and a special file for the front dovetail from Brownells, and am still waiting for my parts order from S&W. Anyhow, here's where I'm at.

Been messing with checkering again.

Looks like this now.

Chamfered this hole to clean up some "idiot gouges". Still some light tracks there that the bead blasting will clean up I think.

Fixed the divots on the beavertail.

Rolled the sharp edge on the extractor.

Done some discrete beveling.

And...

And on the top end...

And...

I have run into my first snag though. Since this gun was originally decock only, I intended to install this 4506 part:

However the TSW guns lack this relief cut on the starboard side which the older Non-TSW models have.

The part I have is just not long enough to allow proper fitting of the ambi-lever without excessive metal removal. Even if I went ahead and filed the ambi-lever enough to install, It would be flappy loose.

The safety lever for the TSW gun is about .030" longer than the older 4506 part so, I'm now on the hunt for the proper spring loaded decock assembly for this gun. So far no joy from S&W and a couple parts suppliers I've tried and I have a WTB add posted. Any other ideas? That's it for now.

Cheers
Bill

 

[andrewb70]

Bill,

With your skill level, why not modify the existing safety assembly to accept the spring? From the looks of it, you would just need to machine the groove to receive the spring.

Andrew

 

[BMCM]

Bill,

With your skill level, why not modify the existing safety assembly to accept the spring? From the looks of it, you would just need to machine the groove to receive the spring.

Andrew

Well... Machine the groove and drill another hole to anchor the spring. It's a good idea but the show stopper is the existing plunger hole in the standard lever. there's a big hole right where that groove would go. I could probably do it but the resulting part would be pretty fragile. I'm afraid I'll just have to use the standard safety and keep looking for a spring loaded decock. There's lots of folks that prefer having a manual safety and don't care for the spring loaded lever so I'm confident one will eventually one will turn up. Thanks.

Cheers
Bill