My Fusion Project begins

[SSGN_Doc]

What I got in the box (It was moe assembled than this, but I immediately stripped it down to begin fitting the ignition parts, before I thought of grabing the camera):
http://i33.tinypic.com/mhpvnq.jpg

What I've assembled so far:
http://i38.tinypic.com/2cq1cts.jpg

Close up of the hand checkered front strap and the raised portion under the trigger guard:
http://i33.tinypic.com/3038g8l.jpg

The muzzle and bushing: (Piece of dog hair included by my dog, not Fusion)
http://i34.tinypic.com/sm9ets.jpg

This has gone together fairly easily. Standard deburring of holes needed. Some polishing of trigger tracks is still required. I need to get sights, the correct firing pin (I didn't know a standard GI .45 pin wouldn't work). I also forgot to order the correct firing pin stop to accomodate the Bomar sight cuts. The devil is in the details I guess, but it shouldn't take long to get her up and running. Also, deciding on final finish. If I'd known it was going to look so goo "in the white" I'd have probably just ordered Stainless.

This is intended to be a NM Service Pistol, if any of you are wondering why I didn't go with fancy chain link checkering, front cocking serrations, or wide beaver tails and such.

The company has been great to work with, and the project so far has held no major surprises in the area of fitting parts so far.

The fact that the kit comes with a fitted frame, slide, barrel and bushing, gives a huge head start, and the fit that it arrived with is very good. No slide to frame play at all, and while cycling the slide is tight it is smooth.

[af22raptor]

Doc,
That is a nice looking lady, are you planning to use it for the Atlantic Fleet matches next may? which trigger setup are you using? what has been the damage on this lady?

[MoneyTree]

Great write up Doc . Your build is looking very nice so far , I'm looking forward to your next installment of your project and of course seeing the finished pistol . It's to bad you didn't think of taking photos from the first opening of the box and each step along the way . You're doing something that the vast majority of us here would just love to attempt . Thanks for sharing your project with us .

[d90king]

Looks like a great project with some nice parts. Keep us posted.....

[SSGN_Doc]

Doc,
That is a nice looking lady, are you planning to use it for the Atlantic Fleet matches next may? which trigger setup are you using? what has been the damage on this lady?

Yes the idea is to use it in the Fleet matches this next season, provided the operational schedule will support.

Right now the trigger parts are mostly GI stuff, except for the Wilson trigger, and Clark sear spring.

About $900 so far. Not too many parts left to purchase just final tuning, and final finish.

[SSGN_Doc]

Great write up Doc . Your build is looking very nice so far , I'm looking forward to your next installment of your project and of course seeing the finished pistol . It's to bad you didn't think of taking photos from the first opening of the box and each step along the way . You're doing something that the vast majority of us here would just love to attempt . Thanks for sharing your project with us .

So far putting the internals in has required very little work, so most pictures would look like basic asembly pictures. There will be some more polishing, and tuning to do to get the trigger pull to where I like it., while still keeping it legal for national match competition. As I remove and replace parts the several more times that I will need to I will try to take more pictures and explain what I had to do to fit the parts.

I still need to get a sear jig and appropriate stones for the final trigger job. This is my first 1911 build so I 'm sticking with mostly GI parts from gunshows to keep cost down while I figure all of this fine tuning out, just in case I screw something up.

I don't think I could have picked a much better platform to start with than the Fusion, since the hard fitting has already been done, and the rest of the frame and slide seem to be pretty precisely machined.

[af22raptor]

that is not too bad Doc, I know the feeling of Operational commitments I was all signed up and ready to go but then my orders were changed. I have been thinking about getting a purely competition 1911 pistol but I keep taking the other 1911s higher on the list. Right now the SA MC or TRP Operator looks to be my next 1911, I guess the NM pistol will be after the Operator.
Doc you may want to check out the Fusion E-Stores on Ebay and Gunbroker to aquire some of your parts I have done very well getting a few Fusion parts from those outlets.

[SSGN_Doc]

Here she is. Battery died on the camera, so I only got a few pics that are kind of blurry.

http://i34.tinypic.com/2epkdtu.jpg

http://i36.tinypic.com/28a3wua.jpg

The Norrells was pretty easy to apply, and seems fairly forgiving. Now I can hardly wait to see how she shoots with sights.

[af22raptor]

Doc,
That is a very nice looking shooter. Have you had the change to break her in yet?
Bravo-Zulu on the setup.

[SSGN_Doc]

I just baked the Norrells on today. I did function fire it before I fitted the sights and applied the finish. It ran with Novak, CMC, and Kim-Pro Tac Mags. No failures in that dozen rounds. Using the silhouette of the rear of the gun on a torso target at 20 feet, it kept 12 rounds in a group tight enough to cover with my palm.

I can hardly wait to try her with sights now.

Trigger still needs some fine tuning too. Need to buy a hammer/sear jig.

[af22raptor]

Not familiar with that finish is it similar to Dura Coat or T black? can you give me some info on the process and the quality of the finish.

[SSGN_Doc]

Similar to GunKote, as it is a bake on resin type finish. Like Dura Coat but you don't have to wait weeks for it to cure.

It is applied to a sandblasted surface or Parkerized surface using an airbrush.
I used a 29 dollar Badger airbrush from Michaels craft store.


Ensure everyting is thouroughly degreased before applying.

Preheat items to 100 degrees so it will dry on contact and allow gentle handling without maring the surface.

Hang in a 300 degree oven for an hour. Allow parts to cool and reassemble.

The coating has some pretty impressive characteristics:
- withstands 500 degrees F for 1000 hours
- 24 hour emersion in aviation gasoline, hydraulic fluid, jet fuel, lubricating oils, paint removers, thinners, solvents.
- when applied to cold rolled steel it passes tests for salt water spray for 1000 hours, salt water emersion for 1000 hours, and accelerated salt spray test equivalent to 30 years atmosphere exposure, and 60 day sea water emersion.

Sounded good to me. It also comes premixed so there is no extra thinner to buy or mix for airbrush application. This was a seller to me because I figured I would get better and more consistant results.

[af22raptor]

Thanks Doc I didnt know about this finish before but I am glad I know about it now. I have an HK USP Compact 45 that need a touch up and this stuff might just be the ticket.

[SSGN_Doc]

Norrell's website mentions this flat black as being a clse color match for the military HKs and the Semi Gloss as being close to HK rifle finishes.