How a 1911 works

The mechanism within a 1911 has always been a bit of a mystery to me (beyond load, cock, pull trigger, BANG!). Bolt action? No problem. Lever? Easy. Straight blow back? Got it. Revolver? Come on. 1911? WTF?!!?!

Now I know some of you folks own 1911's and learned how to field strip them and throw them back together blindfolded and using only your left big toe. Me, well, I like wheel guns quite a bit and Dad only bought a 1911 after his two sons left the house and there was no danger that it would end up in one of our boxes on the way out. There were autos around (and I own a few now), but I've never taken the time to really understand how their mechanisms work.

So how does a 1911 work? Let's just say that Mr. Browning was undoubtedly the genius everybody makes him out to be and that it's all about the cam just above the trigger. You can read a good description of the 1911 cycle here taken from an old American Rifleman issue. Or you could just stare at one of the animated GIFs below that I made from the same article (the high-res GIF runs a lot slower than the low-res so they're both worth watching).

Incidentally, there are some really neat Flash animations at Genitron.com for the Beretta 92FS pistol, Smith & Wesson Model 66 revolver, and the Glock 23 that are a lot of fun to watch. I spent about 20 minutes just watching these amazing machines cycle around and around. I know, small minds are easy to amuse...

Click to View High-Res Animation
Click to View Low-Res Animation