How do I perform basic disassembly, reassembly, and maintenance of my Ed Brown 1911?
Please view our video demonstration on basic disassembly, reassembly, and maintenance of your Ed Brown 1911 below….
Sales, Return, Service and Privacy Policies
What is your sales policy? How do I buy an Ed Brown firearm?
What is your return policy?
What is your service policy? Do you have a written warranty on your products?
What is your privacy policy?
What types of payment do you accept?
General Sales Questions
What is the delivery time on your firearms? Do you sell direct?
What type of accuracy are your handguns capable of at 50 yards? Which models are most accurate?
How reliable are your handguns? Which models are the most reliable?
What if I want some custom handgun options – can you accommodate my requests?
What is the trigger pull on your handguns?
Do you offer any special finishes or coatings on your firearms?
Do you accept trades, or sell any used Ed Brown firearms?
Will you be exhibiting your products at any trade shows?
Disassembly, Reassembly, Maintenance and Proper Handling
How do I get the maximum reliability out of my Ed Brown 1911? What are the fundamentals of 1911 handling?
How often should the recoil spring be replaced? What recoil spring is used in the Ed Brown 1911’s?
What type of ammunition do you recommend for your handguns?
Do you recommend any particular type of lubrication?
Technical Questions
Why do you use a 9mm size firing pin in your handguns?
Is the serial number on my 1911 frame suppose to match the number inside the slide?
Do guide rods increase accuracy? Do any of your handguns come with a guide rod?
What is the difference between 70 and 80 series guns? Are Ed Brown handguns 70 or 80 series guns?
Do Ed Brown handguns have any MIM (metal injection molded) parts?
What is the difference between stainless and blue steel? Does stainless steel gall?
Are the handguns tested before they leave your facility?
How are the fixed sights set up? What is the point of aim?
Newsletters and Manuals
How can I get a copy of the owner’s manual for my Ed Brown firearm?
Do you have a newsletter or mailing list I can subscribe to?
How may I get information about a previously built Ed Brown firearm I own, or plan to own?
Where can I find installation instructions for Ed Brown parts?
Firearm Sales
We sell direct through our website and can ship to any FFL (Federal Firearms License) holder in your area, who will handle the transfer paperwork. We also sell through authorized dealers across the United States. To order direct, place your order online, or mail in the firearms order form. If you would like to see and handle before you buy, contact us for help locating a stocking dealer in your area.
To ship to an FFL in your area, we must have on file a current copy of their signed FFL. Check with your local gun shops, sporting goods stores, or pawn shops for a licensed firearms dealer who can accept shipment for you and handle the legal transfer. FFL dealers generally charge a small paperwork fee. Shipping regulations dictated by common carriers require air service for handguns. All Federal and State regulations apply to all firearm sales.
Retail Parts Sales
There is no minimum order. Online orders over $200 get free economy shipping (typically FedEx ground or USPS Priority). Orders less than $200 are shipped flat rate at $14.95 per order for continental US orders (typically FedEx ground or USPS Priority). Orders to Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are shipped via USPS Priority Mail. Please allow 2-3 business days for processing time. Acceptable forms of payment include MasterCard, Visa, certified check or money order. Personal checks are accepted but held a minimum of 10 days for clearance. If you send a check, do not forget to include $14.95 for shipping or your order will be delayed. Orders can be placed online, emailed to sales@edbrown.com, or mailed to Ed Brown Products, 43825 Muldrow Trail, Perry, MO 63462. Be sure to include an email address or phone number with your mail order, should we have a question about your order.
Dealer and Distributor Sales
Please contact us for details on becoming a dealer or distributor.
International Sales
Retail: please contact our distributors Brownells, Midway USA or OpticsPlanet. Dealers: please contact our international representatives Global Defense, Worldwide Sports Network, CT Group, Point 2 Point Global Solutions, or Reghen International.
Business Hours
Our regular business hours are 8am to 4:30pm Central Standard Time, Monday through Friday.
Warranty & Disclaimer
Effective April 10, 2007, all Ed Brown firearms include a legal written limited lifetime warranty. We are the only high end 1911 manufacturer to our knowledge who offers a legal written lifetime warranty on firearms. All Ed Brown parts continue to be sold as is and without any legal written warranty. No liability is expressed or implied for incidental or consequential damage or injury which may result from the improper use or installation of any parts sold or produced by Ed Brown Products, Inc.. Our parts are intended to be installed by a qualified gunsmith, and parts and firearms sold by us are only intended for factory specification standard velocity ammunition. Any verbal representations made by us related to installation, should be confirmed with your gunsmith to assure safe operation in your particular firearm.
The following sections explain in detail how to proceed should you need to return an item for any form of exchange, refund, or repair:
Return Merchandise Authorization Number (RMA#)
In order to process your return in the fastest way possible, an RMA# is REQUIRED to be on the outside of ANY returned package. Returns without an RMA# on the outside of the package will be refused. Contact us to get an RMA#. We will locate your customer record and purchase history in our system and provide you with a RMA# (return merchandise authorization number) for the item you would like to return. A sample return shipping label is provided below:
Ed Brown Products, Inc.
RMA#: (your provided RMA# here)
43825 Muldrow Trail, PO Box 492
Perry, MO 63462
Order Mistake or Defective Item purchased from Ed Brown Products, Inc. (excluding firearms)
- Contact us within 30 days of the invoice date to get your RMA#.
- Return the wrong or defective item(s) back to us prepaid in the original packaging along with a note stating which item(s) you expected to receive.
- We will process the return promptly. Any price difference will be charged or credited accordingly. Only new, unused parts will be accepted for exchange or refund, but we understand installation mistakes can happen, and are willing to sell you a replacement at a discount if you return the modified part. Returns for other reasons no fault of our own are subject to a 20% restock fee. Shipping charges are non-refundable.
Order Mistake or Defective Item NOT purchased from Ed Brown Products, Inc. (excluding firearms)
Any Ed Brown Products, Inc. purchased through any of our dealers or distributors must be returned direct to them for any type of exchange or refund, subject to their stated return policy.
Firearms
Firearms may be sent direct to Ed Brown Products, Inc. (RMA# required) for evaluation or repairs, even if purchased from a dealer, and even if more than 30 days have passed since the date of purchase. Exchanges or refunds do not apply to firearms. Shipping and insuring high value firearms is expensive (the average is around $80) and the rules are complex. If you need to ship an Ed Brown firearm to our factory, use our Basic Service Package to get a huge discount on Round-trip shipping, and a shipping label emailed to you. Slides or parts only (except frames) may be sent via US mail, fully insured and prepaid. Please note that even a handgun frame only, is considered to be a firearm by ATF and common carriers. You can generally expect turnaround of less than two weeks for a firearm evaluation or repair.
Feedback
We value feedback from our customers, as it helps us keep up the good work, as well as improve our products and services. Feel free to contact us anytime with feedback on any of our products or services, website, etc. We want to hear from you!
Do you have a written warranty on your products?
Yes, we have a written warranty. If you ever need service on your Ed Brown firearm, we are here for you. It doesn’t matter what the reason is, how old it is, or whether you are the original owner. We never look for reasons to turn away service calls…if you’ve got an Ed Brown firearm and you have a problem, we are here to help you.
In addition to the excellent service we offer, effective April 10, 2007, all Ed Brown firearms include a legal written limited lifetime warranty as well. We are the only high end 1911 manufacturer to our knowledge who offers a legal written lifetime warranty on firearms, which demonstrates the confidence we have in our product. Anyone can claim their service is the best and most do), but to go a step further and put it in writing in a legal warranty is something that Ed Brown Products, Inc. does, and the others avoid.
All Ed Brown parts continue to be sold as is and without any legal written warranty. No liability is expressed or implied for incidental or consequential damage or injury which may result from the improper use or installation of any parts sold or produced by Ed Brown Products, Inc.. Our parts are intended to be installed by a qualified gunsmith, and parts and firearms sold by us are only intended for factory specification standard velocity ammunition. Any verbal representations made by us related to installation, should be confirmed with your gunsmith to assure safe operation in your particular firearm.
At Ed Brown Products, Inc., we hold the privacy and the security of our customers in the highest regard. To earn your trust, we respect your privacy in handling personally identifiable information relating to you and your transactions with us. We have taken numerous precautions to guard your security while making purchases with Ed Brown Products, Inc..
What personally identifiable information does Ed Brown Products request, and what do you do with it?
Any information provided by a customer may be used to process your orders or requests and to identify you within our systems, such as your name, address, telephone number, or email address. We may use your contact information such as your email address or telephone number, to contact you if we have any questions about your order. We do not use your credit card information for any purpose beyond fulfilling your order.
If you have subscribed to our email newsletter, we will use your email address only for sending the newsletter. You may unsubscribe at any time by following the instructions included at the bottom of each newsletter email. We do not sell your email address, or share your email address with anyone else.
Is ordering online secure?
The credit card information you enter on our website is strongly encrypted by industry standards. This encryption makes it extremely difficult for anyone to intercept and misuse your information while it is being transmitted to our secure server.
Once you have completed your order online, our security procedures do not end. We take extra precautions to protect the security and privacy of the information stored on our computers. The systems which store your credit card information for processing are not connected to the internet, reducing the likelihood of security breaches. Our systems are also housed in secure facilities, and access by our employees is limited to a “need to know” basis, and controlled by a password protected system.
If you are still unsure of giving you personal information over the internet, please feel free to contact us by phone or mail at:
Ed Brown Products, Inc.
P.O. Box 492
Perry, MO 63462
Phone: 573-565-3261
Other privacy information
We contract with third parties to provide specific services to you. For example, we use a credit card company to issue credit, verify, bill, and collect payments when you make a purchase with a credit card; an outside shipping company such as UPS, FedEx, or the US postal service to ship your orders. These service providers are provided with only the information that they need to perform their functions and are not permitted to use or disclose your personally identifiable information for other purposes without your authorization.
We may share personally identifiable information with law enforcement or other entities as required by law or as we reasonably determine to be necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others, to prevent harm to persons or property, to fight fraud, or to enforce our web site terms of use. Personally identifiable information may be transferred as an asset in connection with a merger or sale (including any transfers made as part of an insolvency or bankruptcy proceeding) involving all or part of our businesses.
In accordance with federal law, we do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under age 13 without the verifiable permission of a parent or guardian. If you are under age 13, you are welcome to browse our web site. However you are not permitted to use any of the features of our site that require the collection of any personally identifiable information. If we determine that we have erroneously collected a child’s information, we will immediately undertake to delete that data from our records.
This privacy statement was posted on February 14, 2007. We reserve the right to change our data practices from time to time. The current Privacy Statement will always be posted online. If we revise our Privacy Statement, you may decline to permit us to use your personally identifiable information under the new policy by notifying us as described above.
What types of payment do you accept?
We accept Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express credit cards, cashiers check, or money order. We will also accept personal checks, but they are held a minimum of 10 days for clearance.
What is the delivery time on your firearms? Do you sell direct?
Please see the delivery page where we post current delivery estimates. We do sell direct and can arrange for shipment to any FFL of your choice. We also sell through a worldwide network of authorized dealers.
Do you accept trades, or sell any used Ed Brown firearms? What about “seconds”?
Please refer to our Trade-Up program. Our commitment to excellence and quality prohibits us from releasing any manufacturing “seconds” to our customers, though we do offer factory-certified trade-ins for sale that were traded in under our Trade-Up program.
Do you offer any special finishes or coatings on your firearms?
Yes, we offer our own Gen4 firearm coating. While this coating represents the fourth and latest evolution in coating technology, and offers superior rust protection and improved wear resistance over traditional bluing, we continue to advise that there is no coating currently available anywhere which never wears and keeps your gun looking like new forever. Gen4 coating is now standard on many of our handguns, and optional on other models. We also offer Gen4 coating on any previously purchased Ed Brown handgun.
Will you be exhibiting your products at any trade shows?
Annually we attend the industry SHOT show, held in Las Vegas, NV, booth #13409. The 2025 SHOT Show is scheduled for January 21-25. This is a dealer only show, and we attend for the purpose of spending face to face time with our dealers across the country, and to show them our new products. If you’d like to see and handle before you buy, please contact us with your location to find a dealer in your area.
How can I get a copy of the owner’s manual for my Ed Brown firearm?
The owner’s manual for Ed Brown firearms is in Adobe PDF format, and available free of charge. Download Handgun Owner’s Manual.
Do you have a newsletter or mailing list I can subscribe to?
To stay up to date with new products and promotions, sign up for our email newsletter, sent periodically throughout the year. You can sign up via the form at the bottom of any page on our website. We never share your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
How may I get information about a previously built Ed Brown firearm I own, or plan to own?
We can provide you with a factory letter of authenticity by searching your serial number.
What type of accuracy are your handguns capable of at 50 yards? Which models are most accurate? Does a 1911 barrel/slide/frame fit have to be super tight to get the most accuracy possible?
Ed Brown guns are capable of producing the accuracy the highest quality ammunition is capable of. With a 45 ACP, this is about 1 1/2″ at 50 yards. A common misconception is that a gun has to be extremely tight to be accurate. What is required to reach the accuracy potential is consistent lock up of the critical components. Any tighter than zero movement is useless, and can only reduce reliability and detract from handling. It doesn’t have to be tight, it just has to be right.
There are no significant functional or quality differences in our handguns – each represents the best engineering, manufacturing, and craftsmanship we have to offer. They are divided into different models mainly because of cosmetic finishing differences and different features. Under extremely precise testing, the 5″ models are slightly more accurate than the 4.25″ models, however it is very difficult to notice any practical (handheld) difference.
How reliable are your handguns? Which models are the most reliable?
There are no significant functional or quality differences in our handguns – each represents the best engineering, manufacturing, and craftsmanship we have to offer. They are divided into different models mainly because of cosmetic finishing differences and different features. Under extremely precise testing, the 5″ models are more forgiving and inherently more reliable due to the additional slide travel, however it is very difficult to notice any difference with the 4.25″ models when handled properly.
How often should the recoil spring be replaced? What recoil spring is used in the Ed Brown 1911’s?
We recommend replacing the recoil spring every 3,000 rounds. Ed Brown 5″ Government models are equipped with an 16.5# recoil spring as standard (our part number 9165-G), while the 18# recoil spring (our part number 918-G) is generally preferred for heavier loads. Ed Brown 4.25″ Commander models are equipped with a 20# recoil spring (our part number 920-C). Flat wire recoil springs, used in the EVO series 4″ pistols, have a much longer service life.
Do guide rods increase accuracy? Do any of your handguns come with a guide rod?
Our Classic Custom pistols are furnished with two-piece guide rods. They smooth out the cycling slightly, add a bit of weight to the muzzle, and may increase the life of the recoil spring. They do not enhance the accuracy or reliability of the gun, therefore we do not include one with most series. If you would like to have a guide rod, they are a simple part to install as they drop right in. The two piece design is recommended, because it is so easy to disassemble and reassemble.
Why do you use a 9mm size firing pin in your handguns?
This prevents primer flow if hot loads are used and prevents a 45 ACP rim from hanging in the firing pin hole during the feeding cycle.
Are the handguns tested before they leave your facility?
We have what is probably the most extensive testing session of any firearms manufacturer. The gun is triple checked in different stages throughout the manufacturing process, and extensively test fired with a variety of ammunition before leaving our facility. Because of our commitment to quality and our investment in the latest manufacturing technology, we enjoy one of the lowest defect rates in the entire firearms manufacturing industry.
Is the serial number on my 1911 frame suppose to match the number inside the slide?
Some slides have numbers or letters stamped inside. These are lot codes for heat treating, not serial numbers. They have nothing to do with the serial number on your frame.
How are the fixed sights set up? What is the point of aim?
Ed Brown handguns with fixed sights are set to impact approximately point of aim 25 yards using Federal American Eagle 230 grain ammunition. Variation in grip, ammunition, or people’s eyes can affect the point of impact. If you feel the gun shoots too high or low for you based on the grip and ammunition you are comfortable with, we can custom install a higher or lower front sight at your request.
What type of ammunition do you recommend for your handguns?
We recommend high quality Nosler, Federal or Winchester ammunition. In our years of testing and experience, ammunition by these makers has proven to be of consistent high quality. We use Nosler ASP along with Federal FMJ & Winchester FMJ for our testing. For accuracy, the Federal 185 grain Gold Medal Match ammo tends to produce the best groups. For Self Defense ammo, we recommend Nosler ASP in both our .45 & 9MM pistols.
Included with each firearm is a coupon for 25% off your first order of ammo at Nosler.com.
What is the difference between 70 and 80 series guns? Are Ed Brown handguns 70 or 80 series guns?
80 series guns have a firing pin block mechanism, while 70 series do not. If you aren’t sure which you have, 80 series parts will work in both series 70 and 80 with no negative effects. Ed Brown handguns are all series 70.
Do Ed Brown handguns have any MIM (metal injection molded) parts?
No, we use no MIM parts in Ed Brown firearms. While the current thinking is that MIM parts are “good enough” for firearm applications, this thinking doesn’t fit with our philosophy at all. All Ed Brown parts are made from either forgings or bar stock steel.
What is the trigger pull on your handguns?
The trigger pulls are set at a crisp 3.5 – 4.5 pounds that will last for thousands of rounds due to the fully machined components.
Do you recommend any particular type of lubrication?
Yes, we offer a special blend of synthetic oil (part #960) intended for the lubrication of Ed Brown 1911’s. It works perfectly with both stainless and blue steel, as well as our Gen4 coating. A bottle is included with all new firearms shipped, and you can purchase more direct from us.
What is the difference between stainless and blue steel? Does stainless steel gall?
Stainless steel is more rust resistant, and costs a little more. There is no other significant difference between the two with regard to any attribute of a 1911 – accuracy, longevity, durability, etc. are all virtually identical between the two. We have been building all stainless guns for many years from high quality 416 stainless steel and there are no problems with galling.
How do I get the maximum reliability out of my Ed Brown 1911? What are the fundamentals of 1911 handling?
The fundamentals are simple and easy. Like all fundamentals they are the source of most problems people experience.
- Use high quality ammunition, such as Federal or Winchester.
- Use high quality lubrication, and keep the firearm well lubricated and clean.
- Maintain a firm grip on the firearm throughout the entire firing cycle. The 1911 is a recoil operated firearm.
- Make sure your recoil spring is correctly matched to the ammunition you are shooting. When you have the proper weight recoil spring for a particular load, ejected brass should land 8-12 feet away. If brass is falling within a few feet of you, your spring is too heavy for that load. If brass lands more than about 12 feet away, your spring is too light for that load. Either case leads to reduced reliability. A common problem is a novice shooter trying to “shoot anything and everything” through his 1911 from 185 grains up to 230 grains without considering the proper recoil spring setup. Another common problem is the novice buying a carry gun with a shorter slide, then shooting the hottest personal protection ammo he can get, while ignoring the recoil spring and ejection pattern. For the ultimate in reliability, we recommend choosing a consistent high quality load and sticking with it once it’s proven to work well with your particular setup.
What if I want some custom handgun options – can you accommodate my requests?
Absolutely…we have always been a custom shop and remain true to our roots. With over 100 custom options available, you can truly have it your way, and create a one-of-a-kind handgun. See our Build page to create your own custom firearm, get instant pricing, delivery estimate, and submit the order online to our sales staff for quotation and consultation.
In addition to all the options, extensive personalization is available on our in-house laser engraving machine, whether it be custom text, fonts, etc. If you already own an Ed Brown, and are considering more custom options to be added to your pistol, we can do that as well, see our Service page for details.
