Gun won't fire!

[asal]

Hey everyone, first post on this forum...
So I bought a PT1911 about two years ago, but I haven't shot it much. I maybe have about 150 rounds through it, and that's a huge maybe. Anyway, I was at the range a couple days ago. I was only able to put about 3 rounds downrange when my gun stopped firing. It seems as if my hammer is stuck in the "cocked" position and pressing the trigger will not release the hammer. Luckily, I'm able to cycle the slide so I was able to remove the live round from the chamber Anyone ever heard of this problem? If so, what steps would you recommend I take in order to get this corrected? Does it need to go back to Taurus? Or would a local gunsmith do the job? Please help...

-asal-

[cuban]

make sure that the thumb safety is all the way down, if that doesn't work, fiddle around with the hammer safety some and see if that doesn't jar it loose.

By the way welcome aboard.

shoot safe, shoot straight, and have fun

[CJS3]

Sounds like a problem with the safety. A few years back Taurus 1911s had an issue with the ambi safety, but it was a simple fix. Make sure neither safety lever protrudes from the frame too much. If one does, press the lever back into place. Cycle the action a few times to make sure it doesn't move out again. The problem involved the safety lever not being pressed in properly for the detent spring to hold it in place. In some cases, the lever on the left side of the frame would fall out.

[asal]

thanks for the info guys. Ill check it out and see if I can find the problem.

[Wolf1477]

I would check the hammer lock as well. Turn it all the way right (locked) and all the way left (unlocked) and see if that doesn't help. Mine did that once when it was new, it was basically half locked and the first mage fired was enough to spin it the rest of the way locked.

[olfarhors]

Trigger adjustment in to far!
grip safety not disengaging?
thumb safety not disengaging?
Taurus security lock on or partially on?
anything else that i can think of would involve going into the fire control parts and would be best handled by Taurus or a gunsmith unless you are familiar with the 1911 workings.
I guess the main spring could have broken but seems that even then you would have some tension on the hammer?

[asal]

So I tried to disengage the security lock on the hammer. I turned it fully to the left and no luck. Then I kept rotating the lock both left and right while pulling the trigger. After doing that a couple of times, the hammer finally dropped. I won't be able to take it to the range for a couple of days but I did rack the slide and dry fired it about 25 times today and all were successful! Thanks for the help guys. Do you think this is gonna be a common problem? I don't want to have to be carrying the little security lock key every time I go shooting.

[jstanfield103]

When I first bought my Taurus 1911,, I looked at that hammer lock and thought that it looked possible to engage by it's self. It bothered me enough that I ordered a comander style hammer for mine and have never looked back after replacing it. Now that I read this I am glad I did.

[olfarhors]

So I tried to disengage the security lock on the hammer. I turned it fully to the left and no luck. Then I kept rotating the lock both left and right while pulling the trigger. After doing that a couple of times, the hammer finally dropped. I won't be able to take it to the range for a couple of days but I did rack the slide and dry fired it about 25 times today and all were successful! Thanks for the help guys. Do you think this is gonna be a common problem? I don't want to have to be carrying the little security lock key every time I go shooting.

BLUE LOC-TITE is our friend!

[cuban]

If you don't care for the hammer ils safety you can also eliminate it all together by removing the hammer from frame and punching out the retention pin at the bottom of the hammer and the safety should fall out.

shoot safe, shoot straight, and have fun