I wanted to share my new custom 1911, and I'm sharing here in the Taurus thread because technically it started as a Taurus. So I'm just going to give a run down of what I did and hopefully you guys enjoy! Also, in advance, I had a nightmare of a time getting the sights in, and boogered up the dovetail area of the sights themselves. Don't judge me, and I know it's jack already. Ha

GOAL: I started with a plan, which was having a full size traditional 1911 (frame feed ramp, bushing barrel, single action, 45 ACP, etc). I also wanted a light rail, threaded barrel, forged frame and slide, and wide/deep serrations. I would have preferred a 1913 rail, and a series 70 trigger but this will do. Those aren't deal breakers.

I was offered a Taurus AR series 1911 in trade for a Glock I had. This guy used this gun as a project gun, but he was sort of total flipping noob. Lots of parts polished that didn't need to be, and real garbage sights. The one thing he did ok on was a tan Cerakote job. It wasn't baked right, so it's not as tough as Cerakote should be, but it's adequate. It also gives a great color scheme (similar to the MARSOC pistols).

The only parts from the original Taurus I kept were the firing pin, series 80 plunger, safeties, beaver tail, magazine release, and trigger. Everything else was gutted. I know the barrels are ok, and the parts do alright, but being a hardcore Springfield guy I have high standards for durability and reliability. I did my research on them, and they really produce legitimately forged frames and slide, but they saved money on internals and fitment.

So here's the parts list by section.

Slide:

- Trijicon sights
- Storm Lake threaded barrel in black (fitted)
- Wilson Combat factory plus plug and cap
- Ed Brown extractor (tuned)
- Swenson Ejector (fitted)
- Wilson Combat 17# spring

I polished the barrel throat, and the lower part of the ejector.

Frame:

- Ed Brown Maxiwell MSH
- Wilson Combat Value Line hammer (polished sear edges)
- Wilson Combat Factory Plus sear and disconnector (fitted to trigger and safety, and polished)
- Wilson Combat Bullet Proof slide stop
- Complete Wilson Combat pin and spring set - no originals kept
- VZ double diamond G10 grips in black with Swenson slotted grip screws
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I also polished the feed ramp, breach face, disconnector top end, and had to hand fit the grips because Taurus was slightly out of spec in the areas of where the safeties fall. I spent a lot of time on the safety fit and function, getting it clean and crisp. Also had to get the interaction between the plunger and safety good. It's very crisp now. Similar to a stout Mil Spec Springer safety. Crisp and smooth on the release, and stout on the reset.

Trigger didn't need much work. It was mostly drop in, and breaks at about 4.7 pounds. The reset is perfect. Glassy and present, but delicate.

As far as fitment and finish of the gun, I didn't do any slide to frame fitting. I believe a looser fit there keeps the gun reliable. Accuracy exists primarily in the barrel and bushing fit in my opinion. The grip safety also played nicely with the Ed Brown MSH, so no fitting there. I didn't do any frame melting or blending because I don't want to ruin the Cerakote. I'm not worried about the gun being pretty and a safe queen, I RUN my 1911's into the thousands pretty quickly. So this needed to be reliable first and foremost. One day if I refinish, I'll melt the edges around the magazine release, blend the slide and frame at the rear, the safety area, file down the slide stop pin flush with the frame, and also install a new beaver which I'll blend to the frame. But for now, the gun runs very reliably and smoothly.

The action feels like buttery ball bearings. It's actually smoother than my TRP from Springfield. Barrel lockup is almost perfect. The squeeze test (squeezing between the barrel hood and bottom of the trigger guard with the hammer back and safety off) reveals VERY little play. The Storm Lake barrel came with a pre-fitted bushing so I didn't touch it. Absolutely no movement at the nose in battery.

Hammer has no lateral play, and the MSH is solid as a rock. Ejector is 100% and so is plunger housing. The trigger has some "sloppiness" to it, but it pulls and breaks fine. Extractor holds a bullet in place with the slide naked. So tension is correct (I'll get to the actual shooting test in a second). All the pins fit the frame and parts beautifully, and are very snug. And the new spring set made everything crisp and smooth, with good power.

SHOOTING TESTS:

The gun was lubricated with Militec1 on the barrel link, slide stop pin, barrel hood, bushing area, sears, and slide rails. I was using Wilson Combat legendary 8 and 10 round magazines for this gun.

I fired 300 rounds through the gun for testing. I used a variety of JHP's, and FMJ factory and handloads. I started with an accuracy test. At 7 yards, I got all the shots into a 50 cent piece sized dot. Zero was good, and the accuracy itself was satisfactory. I'm sure with match ammo and a good rest I could pull out 2" at 25.

Next was extractor testing. I did the 10-8 test twice and the gun passed well. I did however do a little extractor tuning in the field to get it in the right place, and once I made a little more bend in the part, it was throwing up/right/back into a 4x4 pile. Beautiful.

Then I did some testing with a Streamlight TLR-1S attached. It worked great. Ran 30 rounds in that configuration.

Next I did a limp wrist test, and it passed quite well.

The only areas that I had consistent issues were the slide release. If I power stroke the slide during a lock back reload, it gets into battery fine. But if I use the slide release, it will fail to feed 60% of the time. It's not the extractor, because where it's stopping it's not touching it yet. So any advice on that issue would be greatly appreciated.

Finally, I just ran the remaining 200 rounds without cleaning or lubricating to make sure it runs without having to be super wet and clean. And these last 200 rounds is where it really shined. No failures, and accurate as a laser.

Overall I'm happy with the gun. It's crude in some areas, like some wear on the frame and slide, and an imperfectly blended slide and frame, and like where I beat the sights into submission (And on that note, I had to file open the cuts for these sights then beat them into place like I was angry with them. Again, don't judge me. They're solid.)

I'll keep you guys updated as to the continued reliability. If you have any recommendations for something I may have missed or something please let me know. This is my first hand fitted gun, and I really designed it for reliability. I'm not super interested in getting it pretty and perfect on every edge. I plan on doing another in the next few months, and that one will be from the ground up with raw oversized parts, and Caspian frame and slide.

Thanks for enduring my novel!

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