[Bigoledude]

The hammer on my Mil-Spec 1911 tears into the web of my hand. I would like to replace it with a beaver-tail. Is this something that can be done pretty easily by the average gun-owner?
An ambidextrous safety would also be nice. How difficult would this installation be?

[Billyz]

Is it hammer bite? I dont know how the grip safety is tearing you up.

[Bigoledude]

Yes, it is hammer bite. I feel like an idiot! I went back and edited my stupid post.

[Big Dog]

I did it several years back on my Colt 1991A1. Pretty easy. Basically just driving out a couple pins. The Mainspring housing has to come off first, if I recall rightly. Be SURE to get the pins back in properly though! I had switched a couple accidentally at first, and the hammer pin kept walking out!
Get a good disassembly/reassembly instruction and drawing if you can - it really helps.
I replaced the Colt grip safety with a 'beavertail' that has a wider spur, and does not require any grinding of the frame. A proper full-fledged beavertail usually needs the frame spur ground off - leave THAT to a good gunsmith!
But now the pistol no longer "bites the hand that feeds it"!

[rondog]

This can be a can'o'worms. Depends on a lot of things, such as what kind of pistol you have, parts available for THAT pistol, your skill level and willingness to alter your pistol, etc.

Some makes have b/tails that will fit right on with no mods, others don't and you have to use a "universal drop-in" part, which rarely fits well. Kinda depends on what you really want.

I have a Rock Island GI model that I wanted to customize, and another one that I wanted to make into a clone of a WWII Colt. I wanted to make the one into a clone of the Rock Island Tactical model, so I bought the appropriate Tactical parts from Armscor. The hammer and trigger dropped right in with no mods, but the beavertail took many hours of grinding, filing and sanding to make it fit well and look good. It took a lot of work and a $250 bluing job, but I have a beautiful custom pistol now that "I did it myself", (except for the finish).

My opinion, if you're willing to accept lower quality and poor fit, try a drop-in part. But don't be surprised if you don't like it and it turns out to be a waste of money. If you really want a nice looking and nice fitting beavertail that's comfortable, buy another pistol that's built that way. Either trade in the Mil-Spec or keep it as-is, a man needs at least two 1911's anyway, right?

You could have your gun professionally modified and refinished, and it would look great, but you may put enough money into it that you could have just bought a new gun to begin with. That's what I did. While I love the pistol, I kinda felt stupid when I totalled up the costs and realized I could have just bought a new Tactical instead.