Review: Secure Firearm Products Firearm Pin Stop Tool

If you are like me, you have probably been spending much of your time in quarantine engaged in various gunsmithing projects. While there is no shortage of tools to help make the job easier, the ones I find myself reaching for these days are ones that help me to work smarter—tools that offer that blessed third hand that tinkerers always finding themselves wishing they had, especially when the act of compressing a spring goes awry. Secure Firearm Products’ Firearm Pin Stop Removal Tool is just such an item, because it keeps me at my workbench and off the floor searching for errant springs.

At first glance, this tool looks like an ordinary bushing wrench, as evident by the cutouts in its center capable of accommodating standard Government and Commander-size bushings. Now, of course, it can and will function as a standard 1911 bushing wrench, should you need it in that capacity. However, closer inspection reveals that it has much more going for it.

Various dovetails along two of its edges aid users in the installation/removal of a 1911’s firing-pin stop—a process that can be challenging for even the most-skilled gunsmiths due to the narrow dimensions of the part and because it normally requires use of both hands, along with a tool such as a punch or screwdriver to keep the firing pin and its spring compressed as the stop is being moved in and out of position. A roll pin in one of the tool’s dovetail compresses the firing-pin assembly while the stop is captured in the notch and all the user simply pulls gently until the stop is free. Best of all, the subsequent dovetails are designed for use with different types of sights (fixed, Bo-Mar, etcetera) and marked accordingly. The tool will also work with Tanfoglio 1911-style pistols. MSRP: $10.99; securefirearmproducts.com