imported post
Don Barnett wrote:
I researched this problem on the internet and found a blog from someone with the same problem and one answer is to replace the extractor with one made by Wilson. My neighbor is an armor for the Homeland Security Agency and could possibly do the job.
This is very easy to do yourself.
I recommend the C&S (Cylinder and Slide make) extractor, as theirs is the only one made today out of actual SPRING STEEL, as per the original John Browning design.
There's really no reason to ever replace an extractor with anything but one of those. If the factory extractor works, don't fix it, of course. Once it loses its tension, you want to get a proper spring steel extractor. And none of that AFTEC crap.
As for the installation, removing the extractor is a part of the detail strip which you should be comfortable with (very easy on a 1911).
You may have to fit the new extractor in its channel as it will be slightly oversized, but this is accomplished easily and quickly using strips of polish-grade sandpaper held under tension in a curved shape with the to-be-filed end of the extractor as the focus.
I consider this to be trivial, if you can sand a round object (not very hard).
The only part which takes any thought or money is the tuning stage. The extractor needs to be set somewhere between 1 and 2 pounds of tension, or thereabouts. So you need to buy a light weight trigger pull weight gauge (get one that reads in ounces for guns with target triggers). You also need to buy some of
these extractor tension gauges, which are at one end the diameter of the rim of a .45 case and are shaped so that they can be pulled on (the same way a case ejects) by your trigger pull gauge. Then you just set the tension as explained
in this article.
It's really very easy and no more expensive than a gunsmith, plus your gun is only out of commission for the length of the job, instead of many days.
I would do this myself 100% of the time.