Stephen A. Camp
31st May 2004, 02:10
Hello. Two close friends of mine recently took Dave Sample's on-line 1911 class and after seeing their pistols, I was determined to make one as well. Both graciously helped me as they had decided to build another 1911 each. We worked together so I was able to go the trip with someone who'd made it before.
I used a Caspian steel cast frame with 20 LPI checkering. I have been shooting a cast Caspian stainless frame since the '80's on a gun done for me by my gunsmith and it's held up well. Parts are a mixture of McCormick, Caspian, and Ed Brown. The six-inch slide is also chrome-moly and I went ahead and got it with the flat and serrations. It's cut for a Novak front sight and a Bomar rear.
The barrel and bushing are from Kart and it is their EZ-Fit barrel.
The only time a dremel was used on my gun was to polish out the inside of the dust cover. Everything else was "wax on/wax off" with files, stones, and lots of varying grades of wet/dry sandpaper.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/pdfe27b1307c78995b44257b3fc6bb032/f88ff995.jpg
Here's the top of the frame after much sanding and polishing. The initial work on the feed ramp had been done, too.
The slide and frame were not pre-fit at Kart. We did that by careful filing/stoning of the frame rails and then lapping the slide to the frame with a compound. The frame was held in a fixture while the slide was driven on and off many times with a rubber mallet, changing the wet lapping compound frequently. Eventually, the slide could be moved forcibly by hand. "Wax on/Wax off" until it would move freely all the way to the rear by gravity when held at a 45-degree angle and would slide off the frame if forward. More experienced folks could do this more quickly, but it took me several hours.
The EZ-Fit barrel was I guess, compared to a standard oversized one, but it still took me several hours to get it as right as I could.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/p40ad7d758756151ffda16e9110c6b769/f88ff98e.jpg
The barrel has zero play when the slide's in battery.
Kart does fit the bushing ID to the barrel, but the bushing's OD must be fit to your individual slide. This was not as hard as fitting the barrel, but was done slowly and carefully.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/pa1679276d9fc008108c1edc0ef4930de/f88ff9a1.jpg
This is a tight fitting bushing, but it can be moved w/o a bushing if you work at it.
Here is the frame, slide, and barrel together.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/p59b3b48e3f61795e182e31f7b772dc1f/f88ff99a.jpg
The slide is VERY smooth and no perceptible movement, vertically or horizontally, can be felt.
The pistol is still in the white and will go for refinishing soon. The sights have not yet been fitted.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid119/p6067b8ab25e7287af444dd14a23c6141/f8796acf.jpg
The pistol is assembled now and was test-fired for function today.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid119/p3ac15e5148acce072da4495d3e50b8c2/f8796ad4.jpg
The rear of the slide and frame have been blended together and an Ed Brown grip safety fitted to the gun.
A set of plain grips was stuck on the pistol and it was taken for test-firing today. 5 different types of ammunition, including 2 handloads were tried. The spring is a 16.5-lb spring.
One of the handloads used Speer's now discontinued 200-gr. JHP ("Flying Ash Tray") and when chambering from a full 8-round magazine, the first one did hang up. In firing none and this was the only one that hung up when chambering by hand. It was done early in the firing.
Two magazines were used: McCormick Powermag and a Mec-Gar 7-round magazine. Only about 150-rnds were fired, but other than the failure to feed mentioned previously, there were zero failures to fire, feed, or eject.
I got lucky on the trigger. I've not measured it yet, but it is crisp and light. No further work's required on it.
Still have to do some minor things before it's finished, but I believe it will be a shooter.
Best.
I used a Caspian steel cast frame with 20 LPI checkering. I have been shooting a cast Caspian stainless frame since the '80's on a gun done for me by my gunsmith and it's held up well. Parts are a mixture of McCormick, Caspian, and Ed Brown. The six-inch slide is also chrome-moly and I went ahead and got it with the flat and serrations. It's cut for a Novak front sight and a Bomar rear.
The barrel and bushing are from Kart and it is their EZ-Fit barrel.
The only time a dremel was used on my gun was to polish out the inside of the dust cover. Everything else was "wax on/wax off" with files, stones, and lots of varying grades of wet/dry sandpaper.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/pdfe27b1307c78995b44257b3fc6bb032/f88ff995.jpg
Here's the top of the frame after much sanding and polishing. The initial work on the feed ramp had been done, too.
The slide and frame were not pre-fit at Kart. We did that by careful filing/stoning of the frame rails and then lapping the slide to the frame with a compound. The frame was held in a fixture while the slide was driven on and off many times with a rubber mallet, changing the wet lapping compound frequently. Eventually, the slide could be moved forcibly by hand. "Wax on/Wax off" until it would move freely all the way to the rear by gravity when held at a 45-degree angle and would slide off the frame if forward. More experienced folks could do this more quickly, but it took me several hours.
The EZ-Fit barrel was I guess, compared to a standard oversized one, but it still took me several hours to get it as right as I could.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/p40ad7d758756151ffda16e9110c6b769/f88ff98e.jpg
The barrel has zero play when the slide's in battery.
Kart does fit the bushing ID to the barrel, but the bushing's OD must be fit to your individual slide. This was not as hard as fitting the barrel, but was done slowly and carefully.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/pa1679276d9fc008108c1edc0ef4930de/f88ff9a1.jpg
This is a tight fitting bushing, but it can be moved w/o a bushing if you work at it.
Here is the frame, slide, and barrel together.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid118/p59b3b48e3f61795e182e31f7b772dc1f/f88ff99a.jpg
The slide is VERY smooth and no perceptible movement, vertically or horizontally, can be felt.
The pistol is still in the white and will go for refinishing soon. The sights have not yet been fitted.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid119/p6067b8ab25e7287af444dd14a23c6141/f8796acf.jpg
The pistol is assembled now and was test-fired for function today.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid119/p3ac15e5148acce072da4495d3e50b8c2/f8796ad4.jpg
The rear of the slide and frame have been blended together and an Ed Brown grip safety fitted to the gun.
A set of plain grips was stuck on the pistol and it was taken for test-firing today. 5 different types of ammunition, including 2 handloads were tried. The spring is a 16.5-lb spring.
One of the handloads used Speer's now discontinued 200-gr. JHP ("Flying Ash Tray") and when chambering from a full 8-round magazine, the first one did hang up. In firing none and this was the only one that hung up when chambering by hand. It was done early in the firing.
Two magazines were used: McCormick Powermag and a Mec-Gar 7-round magazine. Only about 150-rnds were fired, but other than the failure to feed mentioned previously, there were zero failures to fire, feed, or eject.
I got lucky on the trigger. I've not measured it yet, but it is crisp and light. No further work's required on it.
Still have to do some minor things before it's finished, but I believe it will be a shooter.
Best.