Below is a good disassembly video that does a great job of illustrating how to take down your pistol.
See another Kimber takedown/ cleaning video we posted earlier.
I just found a couple cool videos that show how to disassemble a 1911 and then reassemble it.
1911 Disassembly Video
I thought I’d share a recent experience with the removal of the ambi safety for the purpose of installing a pair of Crimson Trace Lasergrips…
We started by field stripping the pistol. For instructions on field stripping, check out this YouTube video. After taking the slide and barrel off the pistol and removing the magazine and gips, you’re ready to attack the safety.
The safety is a bit tricky to remove. Not wanting to damage the pistol, I decided it was best to research the removal process. After looking around I found that the safety has to be rotated up about 20 – 25% from the disengaged position. The following 3 photos show about where the safety needs to be for removal:
From there, you have to work the safety out from the left side of pistol by carefully (and somewhat forcefully) vibrating and pulling the safety.
You’ll see if it is in the right position because when you pull a bit, it will flex out from the frame. If it is in the wrong position, it really won’t give. On pretty new pistols, this can be tedious – especially if you don’t have a good set of small wedges handy.
I found that once you can separate the safety from the frame a few millimeters, you can slide a small zip tie under the safety and then zip it part way to create a handle. You can also put one under the front of the safety and, combined, you have a good tool to pull with that won’t scratch the frame. You still have to jiggle and pull a little bit to get it to a point where you can separate it the rest of the way by hand.
Once you remove the safety lever from the left side of the pistol, the safety on the right side will rotate around to the top of the pistol. You can see some photos on this thread of this part of the removal.
Now you’re ready to attach your new safety and reinsert the safety from the left side of the pistol. Reassemble your pistol and you’re ready to go!
It worked like a charm and saved the cost of having to go purchase wedges and you’ll reduce the changes of scratching your frame or safety. I hope this might help anyone in the future looking to remove the ambi safety. I didn’t take photos during the removal process on this pistol but next time we do one, I’ll take photos and add them to this post.
Looking for some help cleaning your Kimber pistol? This video shows the proper steps needed to maintain a Kimber Ultra Carry II but the basics apply to every model…