New Specialist - Ambi Safety Issue

[mrerick]

Hi,

I have a brand new Specialist (manufactured very recently). Beautiful 1911a1, which is why I bought it.

I am left handed, and dependent upon the right side ambi safety lever.

The left and right halves of the ambi safety keep slipping apart, and eventually the right side lever will not properly release the safety on the left side.

Who makes the safety parts used on the current Specialist?

Anyone else experience this, or do I have something special that got by QC and hand workmanship?

Marc

[DrHenley]

Not sure who makes it, but in their description it says

Each Specialist comes standard with our ambidextrous thumb safety

I guess that means DW makes it. In any event you need to contact DW directly.

[Sheepdog]

Ambi safeties are famous for that.

[mrerick]

I have tried compressing them together (using a padded vise) and so far, in just handling the Specialist the safety is holding together properly.

I'll get it out to the range soon to verify that all is OK.

As these are new parts perhaps it was just an assembly issue and not a part defect.

Marc

[Sheepdog]

I would still call Keith at Dan Wesson. You don't want it to fail when you need it. They are very good about making things right. It is new it should be right. You may want to PM Dave Waits, he know a lot , and is left handed.

[mrerick]

I didn't reach Keith at Norwich, but Glenn got back to me yesterday. He confirmed the source of some of the components, and that the procedure I used to tighten the safety together was appropriate.

The safety on my Specialist is the Ambi that they will be using for the foreseeable future.

We had a good conversation, and it reinforced to me Dan Wesson's commitment to customer service.

I'm off to the range to try it out for the first time!

Cheers!

Marc

[mrerick]

Got the new DW Specialist out to the range today. Put about 75 rounds downrange.

The Specialist performed flawlessly. I grouped low and to the right at 25 years, but this started to shift toward the end.

Another 425 rounds to go and we're broken in.

Glad to report no problems with the tightened ambi safety.

Good job to the gunsmiths at DW!

Marc

[Riverpigusmc]

good to hear you got it corrected

[major1911]

I had the same problem with my Specialist. I did a little filing to get it to seat better, but I ended up replacing it with a single side safety from WC. I know it's not the solution for a lefty, but consider replacing it with another quality ambi if your fix ends up not working.