1911A1 Metal Slides
 

I recently picked up a WE 1911A1 with a broken barrel bushing, so I bought a real steel bushing and modified it to fit. After that was done I tested the gun and after about 6 shots the barrel bushing broke through the front of the slide and the whole front end fell out. Now I have zero experience with GBBs so I've never seen this happen before, but from what I've gathered this could be caused by propane and a stong recoil spring? I was wondering:
a) Would a better quality metal slide would solve this problem?
b) What slides would be best/compatible with a WE gun?

hmmmm, maybe TM metal slides.......dont quote me though....

I've tried fitting a TM1911 plastic slide on a WE1911 frame before, it was sticking like mad. The dimensions were way off, not surprising considering that the WE1911 isn't really a clone of the TM1911 to begin with. Best bet is to just pick up a WE1911 slide somewhere, somehow.

Wow WE's crumbling left and right! lol.

Well since the WE 1911 isn't exactly the
same as the TM it's supposed to be a
clone from, you won't be able to use
the after market Alu slides.

So your best option is to acquire another
WE stock slide. How you say? Easy. UNC,
Cobra or even eHobby will sell you a new
complete gun with 2 mags, you just ask
them to not send the frame. So for the
price of roughly $100 plus ship, you get
a new complete slide, 2 mags and slide
stop. They may strip out the frame guts
as well, but that may cost a disassembly
fee. Or you sell the parts off, I'm sure
another WE owner will be more than
happy to have parts.

WE1911 was never "suppose" to be a clone of the TM1911. KJW1911 and CA1911, now those are TM1911 clones.

Your splitting hairs again my friend.

Well it's obvious WE bases their designs
off of TM's, but obviously doesn't do a
good enough clone job, hence why they
are so unreliable. To make a good clone
they would have to make alot of new
parts, but they seem to have cheaped
out and re-used some of the Hicapa
parts instead.

I'm not splitting hair, it's important to realize the difference between a poorly executed TM1911 clone and what the WE1911 is. From what we've seen, WE is quite willing to do straightforward copies. With the WE1911, they obviously chose to do something a little different. Instead of a direct copy of the TM1911, the WE1911 is at least partly original, even if the system is derived from a TM2011. It's really more of a TM2011 derivative in that regard.

On the other hand, KJW1911 and CA1911 represent proper copies of the TM1911 with no attempt to deviate.

I fully acknowledge that the WE1911 has significant shortcomings, but I just don't think being a crappy TM1911 clone is one of them when I have a hard time seeing any indication that WE even slightly calipered a TM1911 during the design process.

Oh god, is it important? Not to me, I don't
buy garbage anymore. There are plenty of
threads discussing what TM parts work in
WE guns, so I'm sure people are aware or
can educate them selves before buying.

And yes this isn't the point, the point of
posting in this thread is to try and help
this poor chap, not prove who's the most
knowledgeable about clones. You win
that title easy.

That is the exact reason WE is near the
bottom of the heap, their own designs are
compromises to save on part production.
Hence why the 1911 has a Hicapa cone
barrel on some and many other cheap
outs of replicating the real steel.

If you've got any help for this guy feel
free to add it.

Which is what I was trying to do in the first place, before you came in with your WE bashing, no offence. :) I just want to point out I didn't start this WE v. TM thing, that I from the very start addressed his problem without doing so, nor was I out to prove myself on anything.

I just don't want to leave the impression that WE1911 is an attempted clone of TM1911 at all, and have people take that and turn it into a "hey, maybe with a little dremmeling" nightmare.

We're both trying to help, that's the important thing.

I was browsing UNC and Redwolf earlier for slides, but I am hesitent to buy another stock WE one though since this one broke so easily. If that ends up being my only option is there anyway I can decrease the pressure on the front so another part doesn't break?

Still, had to get the last word eh Saint?
Funny, if you knew alot about WE GBB's
then you wouldn't have attempted to
convert your WE 1911 into as much TM as
possible and expect any real performance
gains lol. All starts with the slide, once
people know a light slide and breech are
the key to performance then their on the
right path. Aluminum is king, zinc mixes
are soft and heavy, that's bad.

Yep, after my 1st WE self-destructed I
felt the same. I was going to buy parts
to replace the frame internals but after
seeing how much had to go I just sold
the parts gun to another WE owner.

Well you would want to use less gas
potentially or consume more in the
process of firing. So if you install a
stiffer recoil spring with a metal/rubber
washer it will lessen the blow to the
back of the bushing. Maybe swapping
the valves for Guarder performance,
something not Hi-flow. Another idea
is to use the regular open bushing and
full recoil rod. Are you using the cap?

WE's slides are heavy, and that's crap
for performance since the gun will
need tons of gas to push it.

i thought there was an adapter plate to mount tm slides on we.. maybe its the other way around.

Since you're also still taking the time to point it out, obviously, neither of us like being the 2nd last word. ;)

Theories require testing. Before I guessed, now I know.

There is an adaptor side plate to mount TM Hi-Capa slides on TM1911s, Swatt.

Khaos, unfortunately, reducing stress at the bushing means recoil spring strength. Your blowback will get sluggish. The bushing failure is a manufacture defect that is NOT found in all WE1911, but there's no way to tell until it happens. Personally, if you were to buy another WE1911 slide, I'd shoot it as per normal. If buying another slide means you're worried about it breaking, buy a different gun all together. I'd recommend you look at a KSC/KWA1911, stock aluminium slide and body.

There's a Tanio Koba slide spacer available
for TM 1911a1's so they can use metal slides
from the HiCapa line.

Don't know about any ones for WE though...

Thanks for all the responses you guys.

That's what I thought at first, but since I now have a bushing that is far stronger than the original one and it ripped a chunk out of the front of the slide it seems like it isn't just a bushing failure.

Illusion PM'd about this solution last night, unforetunetly I need it for reinacting purposes so I need a 1911A1 slide.

Those are interesting ideas M1, I can't test them though since I can't even keep the front end of the gun together anymore. Do you know of anyone who has actually tried any of the mods you suggested?

Why not just use a bull barrel? :p

I hear the outer barrels are TM compatible.

Actually, when I got the gun it had a broken bushing. After I replaced the bushing then the slide broke. I'm still willing to give it another shot, it's only messed up once on me. I'll find my camera and put up a pic of what broke, but its basically the barrel bushing broke through the front, ripping out the part of the slide that the bushing rotates into. It pretty much just stops the bushing from staying in place.

I'm pretty sure that the only slide that will fit on that gun is a WE slide. As reluctant as you are to try that, it's probably your only bet to get this gun running again. I would also suggest if you can to get the proper bushing from WE as well.

I had considered the WE 1911 at one point, but it's lack of compatibility and overall bad reviews made me think otherwise.

I was thinking about this last night after our convo and there are actually Springfield Armoury 1911A1 slides available that fit the Marui Hi-Capa. I believe I even have one on the way, but it's stuck in customs right now so I can't confirm this info until it's released and safely in my hands.

Thats what I thought, eliminate the bushing=no more broken front end on the slide...though I am not sure how the original one is broken, as to my knowledge the force of the cycling slide on a TM based 1911/2011 system is taken by the recoil bushing?

As far as I can tell, the force from the recoil goes to the spring cap which pushes against the barrel bushing which in turn pushes against the inside of the front slide. Since the old bushing was the weakest part, I'm guessing, that's why it broke, but now that it's stronger than the slide the force broke the slide, again thats just my theory. I am somewhat confused as how you can eliminate the front bushing from the gun, can anyone elaborate?

The force would go to the barrel bushing if it is indeed like the real-steel, where the recoil spring bushing is held on by the barrel bushing, but in the case of the Hi-Capa or Marui 1911, there is a lip around the back of the recoil spring bushing which braces agains the slide itself....which also hits the base of the guide?

Anywho, if you run the Bull-barrel, as per Kos's suggestion, you are basically running the same barrel configuration as Hi-Capa(which have no barrel bushing), the slop in the barrel/slide fitment is taken by the barrel itself, which is tapered along the length of it(wider at the tip, narrower toward the chamber).

Oh, well, in that case, you can just get a full length guide rod.

Shit, why didn't I think of that earlier. That'd totally work.