Removing factory saftey/Bullseye shooting

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piasashooter
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Removing factory saftey/Bullseye shooting

Post by piasashooter » Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:46 pm

The conventional pistol rules state for a gun to be legal it must have the factory safeties. If I get rid of the Springfield mainspring safety, I assume that would make it illegal, right?

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Post by Bullseye » Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:37 am

Technically yes under the rules, but if you replace the entire mainspring housing assembly with an earlier version that doesn't have the I.L.S you should be OK. Why, well these pistols came without the ILS before 2001 and in general this is a minor physical change to the overall pistol, unlike what happened to the Colt 1911's with the Series 80 pistols. If the ILS mainspring housing is used and just the internal components are changed you could risk getting DQ'd. A mainspring housing without the ILS hole would pass the pre-match inspection/weigh-in with that safety feature largely unnoticed since the hole is not present in the mainspring housing.

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Post by piasashooter » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:25 am

That's pretty much what I was thinking. I am planning to purchase a Springfield Range Officer to use as my wad gun. A couple shooters I know have bought one, and only had to have a new bushing fitted and they were shooting under 3 inches. They come come from the factory with a flat mainspring housing, and I think I like an arched one better. And I figured if I am going to change the part, I would prefer to not have ILS saftey, and covert it to the traditional configuration.
While I am typing I do have another question. Would I need to swap out the ILS mainspring housing before I give the gun to my smith. I recall hearing that there are legal issues for a smith to remove a factory safety. I have no problem changing the part myself, but I believe I will need a new mainspring, and am not sure what # spring my gunsmith would normally use. I guess if I need to I could give him the gun with no spring.

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Post by Bullseye » Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:03 pm

Better if you change out the housing and plunger first and then later let him put in a reduced power spring, if he goes that route tuning your wad gun.

I don't disable factory safeties in customer's pistols, which is one reason why others are using and making my design replacement bushings for the Mark III's magazine safety disconnector. To their credit, each of them contacted me prior to production to be sure I had no issues with it. That says a lot about the integrity of those gentlemen and puts them in a good light with me. For me it is a matter of ethics and potential liability. I can describe what to do but then it is up to the owners to decide for themselves to disable a factory safety device.

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Post by piasashooter » Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:40 pm

OK, thanks for the help.

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