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The
1911 Tanto Extractor
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(
A Dave Lauck design - patent pending )
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| Those
who study firearm designers and their achievements will
no doubt recognize the name John Moses Browning.
John Browning is recognized as a genius of firearms design.
This is especially true when you consider the era in which
he worked, long before the CAD drawings and CNC machine
centers we are familiar with today. |
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| The
1911 autopistol is one of John Browning's long lasting
designs. It continues to be extremely popular today, especially
among highly skilled and knowledgeable shooters. Many
shooters have their own individual reasons for choosing
the 1911 design, but the general reasoning normally revolves
around the fact that the 1911 is a very user friendly
design which leads to high performance shooting when used
by properly trained shooters. The fact that it has a manual
safety, which has to be manipulated before it will fire,
is also viewed as a highly desirable feature by police
officers and defensive shooters who have the foresight
to consider gun grab situations. |
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| We
now have decades more experience, and many millions more
rounds down range with the 1911 than its original designer.
This has allowed for extensive evaluation of the 1911
design and for improvements to be made where they were
obviously needed. Things like improved sights and upswept
beavertail grip safeties are now widely used and accepted
as improvements in the 1911 design. |
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| John
Moses Browning |
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| Another
item which has been extensively evaluated in the 1911
is it's internal extractor. |
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| The
operation of this device is often misunderstood, even
by experienced 1911 shooters. Misunderstanding the extractors
method of operation has led to many damaged and malfunctioning
1911s. |
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| The
1911 operates with what has become known as "controlled
feed". In other words, the cartridge slides under
the extractor hook once it is released from the feed lips
of the magazine, thus it is then controlled by the extractor
during much of the feed cycle. |
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| The
1911 extractor hook does not routinely snap over the base
of the cartridge as many people seem to believe. |
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| When
a 1911 autopistol is properly constructed, and John Browning's
original internal extractor design is correctly installed,
it is not at all uncommon for the pistol to fire many
thousands of rounds without malfunction, with only routine
maintenance. This is of course when the pistol is operated
properly, i.e. cartridges are fed from the magazine into
the chamber. |
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| Problems
can occur immediately, or over time when this important
1911 operational rule is not followed: Always load
the chamber by cycling a cartridge into the chamber from
a loaded magazine. |
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| When
the 1911's slide is locked open and a cartridge is dropped
directly into the chamber, then the slide is |
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| snapped shut,
it forces the extractor to operate in a manner which it
was not designed to. Instead of allowing the cartridge
to slide behind the extractor's hook from the underside,
it forces the extractor's blunt leading nose to impact
the rear of the cartridge at high speed. This can cause
the extractor hook to fracture and snap off, thus causing
an immediate problem. |
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| Problems
can also develop over time when an operator improperly
loads the pistol as part of his loading routine. Repeatedly
impacting the extractor's blunt nose against cartridge
bases, and not snapping off the hook, causes the hook
to be forced outward and around the cartridge bases. This
can eventually lead to breaking the extractor hook, and
almost always leads to ruining the extractor's adjustment.
A broken extractor hook obviously will not allow the extractor
a means to pull the fired case out of the chamber. A misadjusted
extractor may also fail to extract. It may also cause
stove piping, case crushing, and feeding failures. Bottom
line is that a 1911 extractor plays a critical role in
the operation of your pistol. |
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| Warning:
Anytime you snap a 1911 extractor over the base of a chambered
case, intentionally or by mistake, with any extractor
design, you should have the pistol examined by a competent
1911 pistolsmith before using the pistol for serious purposes. |
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| Firearms
instructors and 1911 "authorities" who don't
understand the mechanical operation of the pistol often
make the problem worse by providing a poor example to
student shooters by misloading their own pistols in front
of a class. It is also not uncommon for firearms instructors
to insist students rack their 1911 slides/extractors over
chambered cases during malfunction clearance drills. This
commonly results in broken extractors in the class, or
students leaving with a misadjusted extractor in their
defensive pistol, a problem waiting to happen. |
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| OK,
we understand the 1911's chamber needs to be loaded by
slide cycling a cartridge into the chamber from the magazine
to avoid extractor damage. We will always do it this way
and avoid problems. The theory sounds good, but real life
often disrupts the plan. |
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| Observing
and training shooters ranging from new, and intermediate
to advanced allows for many ideas about mechanical and
personal improvements to assist them in improving shooting
performance. Some of the best ideas to "G.I. proof"
firearms come from watching novice shooters. |
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| How
will an inexperienced shooter force the firearm to operate
when things are going poorly for him or her? How many
times will they misload their pistol while under stress?
How will they forcibly clear malfunctions? etc. Bottom
line in the real world is the extractor will likely be
occasionally snapped over the cartridge base, whether
it is intentional or not. This is especially true during
high stress malfunction clearance, or when losing the
pistol's magazine and being forced to insert cartridges
directly into the chamber and close the slide/extractor
over their bases to at least have a single shot pistol.
If you break your extractor hook during these activities,
you have severely handicapped your pistol's operational
effectiveness. |
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| Solution? |
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| What's
all this hype about pivoting and/or external extractors
for the 1911? Dave Lauck has experimented with all currently
available pivoting 1911 extractor designs. It appears
that the problem they solve is related to parts installation
by semiskilled workers on production line 1911s. It is
much simpler to have workers install coil spring A, with
pin B, and extractor C, rather than have experienced workers
properly fit and adjust an internal 1911 extractor. |
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| None
of the tested pivoting (or other) extractors have solved
the potential breakage problems related to snapping the
extractor hook over the base of a cartridge chambered
in front of the extractor hook. In fact some of these
extractors are designed in a way which makes it impossible
for the pistol to go into battery with a cartridge in
front of the hook unless you break the hook. Not good
during serious encounters. Add to this the problems of
extractor pivot pins coming loose and coil springs clogging
with contaminants and it is obvious a better solution
was needed. |
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| Dave
Lauck's Design Solution |
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| Dave
Lauck's design solution will work with either an internal
conventional, internal pivoting, or external pivoting
extractor. The internal conventional extractor is preferred
because it remains closer to the boreline, and it does
not require a pivot point or springs. This is an area
where the simple solution is the best solution. |
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| Dave
Lauck's design does not change the preferred and recommended
method of 1911 operation, i.e. it is still recommended
you cycle cartridges into the chamber via the magazine.
What the new design does is drastically minimize the chances
of bending or breaking your extractor on those occasions
when the pistol is misloaded, or when a case stuck in
the chamber must be cleared immediately and the extractor
hook is intentionally snapped over the base of the stuck
case. |
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| This
is accomplished with a redesigned leading edge on the
extractor hook. The new hook is designed to be similar
to the profile of a Tanto knife blade. This allows the
hook to be directed out and around the base of the chambered
cartridge with a drastically reduced chance of damage
or breakage. Conventional extractor hook designs receive
tremendous impact shock and often fracture or are bent
during the snap over process. The new Tanto design shape
allows for a much smoother and reliable snap over. |
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| The
D&L Tanto extractor is manufactured from heat treated,
spring tempered steel for a long and reliable service
life. During the testing and development of this new extractor
design a single extractor was properly installed in a
D&L 1911 Signature Model Pistol, then improperly operated
by snapping the hook over a chambered case 5000 times.
Not only did the extractor survive with no damage, it
did not even lose its proper tension setting. This is
how smooth the Tanto profile allows the hook to snap over
chambered cases. |
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| The
Tanto extractor can be conventionally fitted to 1911,
Series 70, and Series 80 pistol slides. A small angled
notch is required to be milled into the right rear surface
of the barrel to complete installation. |
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| This
is an invention that is as important for 1911s as reliable
magazines are for the AR-15/M-16. It is one of those inventions
that doesn't get much operator notice because it rarely
needs attention, and it just keeps on working. Operator
level personnel often don't understand or care about the
mechanical reasons for reliability or unreliability, they
just know if something works reliably or not. It is simple:
is the component heavy duty and reliable, or not? That's
what matters to field operators. This is one such 1911
design upgrade that dramatically improves 1911 reliability
potential under all conditions and should be considered
mandatory on all serious use 1911s. |
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Price: $60 |
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| In
order to expedite this invention getting to end users,
licensing agreements will be considered with quality manufacturers. |
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| 1911
Tanto Extractor Installation |
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| Warning:
This and all other DLS products should be installed by
a skilled, competent, and experienced gunsmith familiar
with the firearm design to be worked on. Failure to install
components properly can lead to firearm failure, injury,
and/or death. |
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| The
primary 1911 Tanto Extractor design is compatible with
the internal extractor tunnels of proper spec 1911 Series
70 and 80 pistols. Simply remove standard internal extractor
and the Tanto Extractor should fit the existing extractor
tunnel with little or no fitting. Correctly tension the
extractor until it will hold a loaded cartridge in the
breachface area. No filing on the extractor should be
required. If proper tension can't be achieved, check the
breachface dimension of the slide. On rare occasions the
breachface may be slightly oversized, and require minor
extractor modification to compensate for this problem.
Consult a more experienced 1911 gunsmith, or replace the
slide if the problem is severe. |
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| The
extended leading edge of the patented Tanto Extractor
hook requires the rear of the barrel to be relieved on
the ejection port side of the pistol. This is a very simple,
but critical milling operation. After installing the extractor
and reassembling the pistol without the recoil spring,
push the slide forward and note the area of the barrel
that needs to be relieved. Keep in mind that the barrel
moves up and down while going in and out of a locked position.
This means the relief cut needs to be wider than the extractor.
A .250" end mill is just right. |
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| Angle
mill the rear of the barrel in a manner which makes room
for the extractor hook, but minimizes chamber exposure.
Use Dykem to frequently check progress while taking off
only 002" - 003" per pass. Only make the cut
deep enough to assure the extractor hook does not touch
the barrel when the slide comes forward, or when the barrel
moves in and out of the locked position. |
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| Professional
installation is required to assure safety and proper function.
Seek assistance if necessary. |
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| 1911 auto pistol extractors require precise individual fitting to achieve proper function and reliability with individual firearms. All D&L Inc. components should be installed by a competent and experienced gunsmith, and thoroughly test fired for reliability prior to serious use. |
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