1911 Build

[tangerine911S]

I've been considering a 1911 build for a couple years now and the need for a new project finally made me go for it. Caspian Arms in VT was chosen for the slide and frame. They are the best in the business and only a couple of hours away from my parent's house in Rutland, VT.

I placed an order Nov 11 and was told to expect an 8-12 week wait. I gave them a call just after Christmas when I was in VT visiting my family and I was told they were ready. I would be leaving by the time they could be shipped and transfered to me so I drove up there to pick them up.

I was greeted by a very frendly crew at the Capsian shop and before I left, Gary, the general manager, was nice enough to offer a tour of the shop and walked me through the entire machining process.

I placed some large orders with both Brownell's and MidwayUSA to get everything I would need. This was going to be an expensive project already so I spared no expense and went with very high quality parts from EGW, Wilson, Ed brown, etc. EGW was chosen whenever an option. Their parts are machined from barstock, oversized in some cases, and absolutely top notch.

The first job was to fit the slide to the frame. Caspian offers to do this for you but I wanted to give it a shot. I wouldn't call this a mistake... but you will see this is where I first encountered issues.

The method to fitting a slide to the frame is to first measure all dimensions of the frame rails (which are oversized) and slide grooves, and file the rails to just barely fit. Once the slide can be started onto the frame most of the way, lap the slide to the frame with compound. Things were going great and the slide would go on smoothly until about 1 inch from the end. Well, one small push too hard and the slide hung up. It would not budge not matter what I tried. I spent the entire day trying to remove the slide, first by hand, then a soft mallet. This thing would not come off. Both the slide and frame are stianless steel and I had encountered the most dreaded issue with fitting stainless parts...galling. You can imagine my frustration. I felt like a hack because I had messed up royally on the first step. This is where I did something stupid. I needed the slide off the frame by any means and I gave it a few hard whacks with a hammer. This made things worst and the galling worsened. I also realized the slide was toast because the extractor hole and firing pin stop slot had peened and were mishapen.






I set it aside for a day to think. I came to the conclusion that the slide needed to be removed in hopes of saving the frame (which has a custom serial number). I have no pictures of this because I did not want to remember it. I split the slide down the middle and removed it from the frame. The galling was pretty bad but I was advised by Gary at Caspian that all was not lost and that function would not be affected. That was comforting but I wanted it fixed.

As though it was meant to be, I found a company very near me that does micro arc and laser welding, mostly for mold repair. They are also a gun shop! They were very nice and said I could drive it up after work one day. For $50, they did this.

[tangerine911S]

After some file work, it did not look half bad.


I spoke with Gary again at Caspian to order another slide, identical to the first. Gary offered me a 20% discount on the slide which was fantastic. I will be having Gary fit the slide when it is ready. Their method involves welding tungsten carbide to the rails to prevent wear and galling. After this experience, it seems well worth it.

ONWARD!

Next step was to fit the trigger. The tracks for the trigger bow in the frame needed to be polished. The stone for this was pretty fine so it took a fair amount of time to get it to the point I was happy with it. Everything will be given a final polish at a later date but it was smooth enough so that the trigger bow would glide smoothly and not get scratched.





Then the height of the trigger needed to be reduced so that it fit through the trigger slot in the frame. I did this very carefully as I did not want any up and down play with the trigger. Using a black sharpy as a poor man's dykem was effective, showing where things were rubbing and where I was removing material while filing. The final fit is tight with zero play and smooth enough that the trigger falls under it own weight. Great.


I wanted a flat trigger. It looks very purposeful and the idea is that the trigger pull is the same regardless of where your finger is on the pad. The Wilson Combat lightweight version has the tabs shown below that can be bent forwad to eliminate the fore and aft play in the trigger at its resting position. These tabs had to be filed down slightly to fit in the trigger track and move forward completely.



The back of the trigger bow was polished where the disconector will ride. Not perfect here, but fine for the time being.

[tangerine911S]

Next step was to fit the slide stop. This is by EGW and I bought the over sized version which is .003 over sized. In hindsight, the .200 would have saved me some time because the frame was made to exacting tolerances. The stop had to be taken down to .200 to fit snugly.





Here are the ultralight sear, disconnecter, and hammer from Cylinder and Slide. Very nice peices. The pins for each took minimal sanding to get to fit tightly.


The hammer strut had to be installed by hammering in the pin.


Here is the engagement at half and full cock positions. The sear face angles are spot on out of the box.

[azasadny]

Brian,
Great work, this is a fantastic project! Thanks for documenting the process with such nice, clear pictures! Someday, I'll build a 1911, for now, I have 2 WWII warhorses that I enjoy. Keep up the good work!

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks Brian. That is very interesting. LOL I'll know not to try it myself. Please keep us up to date with progress.

[Rick Lee]

Make and model number for that AWESOME hammer, please?

[Jim Bremner]

I want to to this but with a 80% receiver aka "paperweight" I want a clean gun.

[tangerine911S]

Here is the hammer, Rick. I bought the parts in a set.

[JasonDTM]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Make and model number for that AWESOME hammer, please?

http://www.cylinder-slide.com/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=prodshow&ref=CS0214

That one most likely, C&S good stuff.

[tangerine911S]

Today I worked on the mainspring housing. Its by Smith and Alexander and incorporates the magwell. I will be doing the front strap checkering at 25 lpi and wanted to practice on the mainspring housing and the satisfaction of doing it by hand. Its nearly complete and I'll post finished pictures tomorrow.





I will be removing the last bit of checkering and shape the butt of the magwell later.

[tangerine911S]

Originally Posted by JasonDTM

1911 Ultra Light Chamfered 3.5 lb. Trigger Pull (5 piece) Set

That one most likely, C&S good stuff.

The link I posted didn't work but that is the C&S parts set.

[tangerine911S]

By the way, I will be making my own grips and this will be here this week.

[JasonDTM]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

By the way, I will be making my own grips and this will be here this week.

That is a pretty piece of wood for sure, I'd even love some grips.

[Jim Bremner]

damn!, So how are you cutting the checkering? I really wish I had a machine shop!


are you going to do a carry melt on it?

[Jim Bremner]

the BEST colt .45 1911 animation collection ( with labeled parts ) - YouTube

This might help some people understand the basics

[tangerine911S]

Checkering is done by hand with a 25lpi checkering file. Then they are pointed up with a 60* needle file. I'm calling this done for now. Pretty proud of this.

[makaio]

Nice work!

[Jim Bremner]

Originally Posted by tangerine911S

Checkering is done by hand with a 25lpi checkering file. Then they are pointed up with a 60* needle file. I'm calling this done for now. Pretty proud of this.

Looks like you have a very steady hand. How hard was this to do? I couldn't imagine doing this right the first time!

[Turbo_pro]

Nice job......

[azasadny]

Beautiful work, you're a craftsman!!