SMITH & ALEXANDER 1911 MAINSPRING HOUSING

Pro: at least it's available

Cons: loose fit in 3 of my 1911's but did acceptably slide into a RIA officer frame without a lot of slop. Another huge con is that the mainspring bore was extremely rough, like it was drilled with a dull bit. I could feel the spring drag the whole way while thumb cocking. I had to use a electric drill, dowel and sandpaper to smooth it out to a tolerable level. When fitting this to work with the grip safety, the safety has to profiled rather than the housing due to the mainspring retaining pin hole being located so close to the top.

Installed on a Springfield Range Officer Compact. Looks nice enough out of the bag, but it required A LOT of fitting to work. As others have mentioned, the machining leaves a bit to be desired.

Bottom line: Though I'd recommend the part, it's only because arched Officers MSH aren't very common anymore and S&A is one of the few manufacturers.

I had read a review, with photo, that showed the checkering to be inferior on one side, so I was prepared for a little file work. I was very pleased with mine, it was a plug and play part on my Colt Govt model. I installed the hammer spring and installed the housing in my pistol. I bought this part because with a flat main spring housing I point the gun low in the dark. The arch raises the muzzle. I also wanted a lanyard loop, and this company offers it in off the shelf part. Couldn't be happier.

Got the arched version to replace the flat one that came with my Sig 1911 Nitron. Was really impressed with the fit and finish. Dropped right in and was flush with the butt of the grip. The light checkering is very nice as well. Just enough to offer a good non-slip surface without being to abrasive to your skin.

Installed easily with no fitting on my Colt New Agent.

I bought this to replace the plastic one in my Para Black Ops 14-45, which was coming apart on the side rails. It fit perfect, and looks nice.

Got this to replace the plastic housing on my Colt Series 80. I got the arched, checkered, blue finish with lanyard loop. The installation was a piece of cake. I put a drop of oil on the rails of the MSH and once all of the internals were switched from the plastic Colt housing to this one, it slid right onto the frame like it was fitted to it. Really adds to the appearance of the pistol. Very pleased.

This product dropped right in a Springfield Armory with no fitting required. It's a quality part and looks great.

Installed this on current Colt series 80 1911.

Quick and painless installation.

Fit is excellent, no gaps and even.

Looks great.

Checkering is outstanding.

Checkering anchors pistol to hand for no slip shooting.

Highly recommended. Buy it!

Have purchased three of these. First two required some fitting but fit well and looked good. Last one not so good. Fit was so poor, gave up on it!

Replaced the flat composite MSH on a stainless Colt Combat Commander. This is the second S & A MSH I have purchased in the last month. Fitted a blue one to a Remington R1 and was completely satisfied. Same with this one. Perfect fit, easy installation. I recommend this product without reservation.

I have been wanting to change the Hogue mainspring housing & grips on my 1911, but have been hesitant due to swapping out mainspring housing. With this day in age of Youtube, I watched a few different video and order this mainspring housing based on recommendation of friend. I couldn't be happier with the install and the quality of the part. I would highly recommend this product! Oh yeah, the shipping on part was really fast even during the holidays.

Easy installation; no fitting required in my Remington R1.

Would have given 5 stars except for a tiny burr in the checkering where the retainer pin hole was drilled through. A quick tap with a light hammer flattened it and it works great.

Ordering another one in SS for a new Colt Combat Commander.

These mainspring housings are a drop-in part for some Colt O/M's and Some of the older Springfield compacts. Others may require moderate to extensive fitting. These are cast parts and the internal spring chamber will need to be polished smooth, or you'll have a hammer pull back that feels like 36 grit sand inside. The checkering is cut true and square and can easily be pointed up and sharp with a 60 degree bent needle file.

These are well made products, but can be far from drop-in replacements. I have used these on Colt O.M's with little to no fitting required and on Springfield Compacts as well. Other brands may require little to extensive fitting. But, I have ran into these same fitting issues with all of the other brands as well. So, spending more money doesn't get you out of doing some file work.

This fit my Kimber Custom CDP II perfectly and feels great in my hands.

Purchased this to replace the Scheiß plastic MSH that came stock on my Kimber Stainless Custom II. I had mixed feelings about buying this part based on other's reviews but after my own evaluation and installation I am very pleased. My single complaint is that the checkering is a tiny bit rough in two or three areas. Otherwise it is a quality piece. Plug and play, fit/finish/ease of install was (practically) 100%. Would recommend to others to go ahead and make the buy, I believe you will be satisfied.

Put this on a Ruger 1911 commander in about 5 minutes. It slid right into place without any fitting. That's a first for me. Perfect fit, nice and tight, The finish matches the pistols finish exactly.

bought two, one for a series 2 compact CDP and another for a compact aluminum. overall, good quality components, but a moderate amount of filing was needed for both to fit without disabling the grip safety. additionally, the spring housing was left rough, resulting in a gritty cocking action (this though is easily rectified using a 1/4" dowel, sandpaper and a drill). all in all, good quality, but cast with pretty generous tolerances; don't expect a straight drop in fit.

Smith & Alexander housings are cast, and very little or no effort is made to finish them. The MSH that I received had as-cast rails with a lot of flashing and crud that needed to be filed off. The flat that holds in the sear spring was also very uneven. Not worth the effort to make it work when there are billet machined MSH's available.

This piece looks nice, but it only got 3 stars because it said it does not require fitting, but it does.

replaced flat MSH in my RIA 1911A1 with arched checkered. perfect fit. very deep checkering matched perfect. took all of 2 minutes to install.

Poorly fitting the grip area, the lugs that retain it in the frame are too small, which allows it to push inward on the grip safety. This motion allows the gun to fire hands free, even after extensise fitting in the safety tang area. NOT a good product but since I filed on it I now own it

replaced the msh on my kimber classic stainless thought i bought the wrong part fit perfect and looks awesome

Took it out of the bag, looked great. Installed it and about .015 or so had to be taken off the front of the grip safety stop at the top of the unit to allow the Swartz safety lever to drop below the frame surface on the Kimber TLE II I was installing it on. There were burrs on these surfaces that would have needed to be dressed off anyway. After that bit of needless fun, I discovered that the mainspring hole was either crooked or off center entirely, as the right side of the groove in the grip safety would hit the hammer strut when depressed with the hammer at fullcock. The good folks at Brownells can be expecting a package shortly

Added great grip with good checkering.
Fit pretty well until I attempted to put the mainspring housing pin back into the frame.
The hole bored through this housing was very off center and undersized by almost 1/64"

Required a trip through the drill press to make it function.

All in all.. I'm pleased with how it turned out... but by far the most work I've ever done to get a mainspring housing installed.

Honestly too much wrong with it out of the box for me to recommend it to someone else.

Bought this as a replacement for the plastic MSH on my Colt. It needed no fitting to install, but it created a large gap on the right side of the frame and sat way too low. Also, one of the ears on the top was poorly cast. The checkering was cast, not 'machine cut' as the description indicates, and there were small voids on the left side of them. I would not buy this product again and will be ordering an Ed Brown to use instead.

Have a kimber stainless came with a plastic main spring housing replaced it with this perfect fit

While these seem to be made of good quality steel, they are finished fairly roughly. There are somewhat rough cast marks inside and out. The outer rows of checkering on mine were very sharp and chewed my hand up pretty well. I ended up filing off the outermost left and right rows of checkering at about a 45 degree angle to help with this. The mainspring channel was also fairly rough and I could feel these rough spots when cocking back the hammer on my Kimber. On the positive side, the checkering is straight and even and it did fit my pistol very well. For a few bucks more, I'd probably go with Wilson or Ed Brown part for a better finish.

This MSH is Great quality part that has perfect fit and was cake to install. The only negative thing I can say is that it does not come with any of the pins or spring. But its best MSH that I have found NO ISSUES to install.

Droped in my Kimber Classic custom target without the slightest problem. Great feel and fit!

Colt should start putting these in at the factory and loose the cheap plastic. The new Colt 1911 Guns are much improved with the exception of the cheap trigger and cheap mainspring housing. S&A's mainspring housings make great replacements.

Replaced the plastic housing on my Colt. Cost was half an Ed Brown or Wilson housing but the quality is as good or better.

Excellent Quality, Nice sharp checkering helps with controlling the weapon when multiple shots are being placed on target. Easy installation, I use the Ed Brown 19# mainspring for a winning combination.

No fitting required and easy to install. Provides a nice fit for those that like the arched grip. I use this with Pachmyr Signature grips.