Alpha Foxtrot Romulus Complete Disassembly
Welcome back to Jim's Armory. In this one, Jim tears down the Alpha Foxtrot Romulus 5-inch comp, a double-stack 2011, for a complete disassembly. It's a chance to walk through the internals piece by piece, note a few quirks of the design, and flag a couple of hardware headaches along the way. Here's the full breakdown of what comes apart, what's inside, and how it all goes back together.
Safety First Jim starts by clearing the pistol - no round in the chamber, no magazine - and double-checks before any tools touch the gun.
The Upper: Comp, Bushingless Guide Rod, and Leftover Gunk The slide comes off first, followed by the front of the guide rod using a 5/32 Allen. Jim holds the spring down inside the slide so it doesn't spin while he works the reverse plug loose, drops the barrel link down, and slides the barrel out the front. The comp itself just spins off.
For the firing pin, Jim uses a 3/32 punch to push it in and rock the firing pin stop (what he calls the firing pin retainer) off. Pulling the firing pin and spring out, he points out that one end of the spring is smaller than the other - Pro-Tip: never grab and pull the spring straight out from the wrong end, since stretching it that way makes it stiffer than it's supposed to be. Instead, grab it, twist, and pull.
The extractor is more stubborn. Its hook tends to catch, so rather than prying with a screwdriver and scratching the finish, Jim pushes it back and off to the side with a blunt tool before working it out from the rear. While in there, he notices some unexplained gunk in the slide - possibly leftover from machining - that he plans to clean out later. He leaves the optic plate alone since it's already zeroed and shows torque-witness paint, and he doesn't want to have to re-sight it.
The Lower: Pins, Plungers, and a Sear Spring Moving to the frame, Jim pulls the magwell and main spring housing. With the hammer back to relieve pressure, the housing slides off, revealing a plunger, spring, and a small headed pin that only goes in one direction.
The thumb safety comes next. With the hammer down and the safety positioned between safe and fire, Jim works it out using a plastic tool rather than metal to avoid marring the frame - he notes some existing marks that look like screwdriver damage from a prior teardown. The detent plunger and spring underneath are bent slightly at the factory so they don't launch across the table, a touch Jim appreciates.
The grip safety comes off similarly, then the hammer and hammer strut lift out on their pin, followed by the sear pin, which releases the sear and disconnector. Jim explains the disconnector's role: it rides up through a hole in the frame to engage the slide, and it's responsible for the audible trigger reset click.
Pulling the grips means removing three screw sizes - a T20, a T20 without Loctite, and a T8. The T8s give Jim real trouble; he strips a couple of sockets and mentions he's ordered ten replacements since he tends to break them. He also discovers Loctite on both sides of the barrel nut/screw setup holding the grip, which he considers a mistake - Pro-Tip: if both screws are Loctited, soak the threads in acetone before backing them out, or risk snapping the screw.
With the grip off, the trigger comes out after removing the magazine release, which uses a small flathead punch to push out a pin. Underneath is a spring and a keyed piece that indexes into a groove in the grip to keep the spring captured when off the gun. Jim leaves the ejector in place, noting the pin holding it is small and not worth disturbing for this teardown.
Reassembly and Quality Concerns Going back together, Jim notes the grip's T-nuts have a bevel on one side meant to face the magwell opening so nothing catches when a magazine is inserted. He's careful seating them so they slide under a ridge in the frame without binding, since forcing it crooked risks breaking the frame.
He reinstalls the sear, disconnector, and hammer pins in a consistent orientation - same direction as always, which he says just makes sense to him for how everything comes apart and goes back together. The sear spring goes in after the frame is buttoned back up, then the safety plunger with the smaller end toward the front (working with the slide release) and the larger end toward the back (working with the thumb safety).
On the upper, reassembling the barrel and comp reveals they don't self-index - it's actually the dust cover on the lower frame that keeps the barrel oriented correctly. Jim also isn't a fan of the half-guide-rod design, describing it as fiddly to seat correctly, comparing the motion to guiding a syringe home.
Crucial Safety Checks Before finishing up, Jim runs a quick function check on the safeties: confirming the thumb safety holds with no grip safety engaged, and cycling it on and off to verify it's behaving as expected.
Final Thoughts The Alpha Foxtrot Romulus comes apart in a fairly conventional 2011 fashion, but Jim flags a few sore spots - stripped-prone T8 screws, double-Loctited hardware, and a guide rod design he finds more annoying than it needs to be. Small factory touches, like the bent detent spring and greased components, show some attention to detail. Stay tuned for more on this pistol, and subscribe so you don't miss it.
