What does it take to build a 1911, a journey.

[gunjunky]

June 12 (4 hours), had a productive morning in the shop. I finished fitting the beavertail to the trigger so I could install fire control. I ordered a complete fire control set from Cylinder & Slide for this project. I have used individual components from them (and many others) and was impressed with the quality. A good trigger job usually takes me a couple of hours, this one took about 20 minutes. Fantastic parts that literally dropped in with very little tweaking. I usually have to "adjust" the hammer hooks and the sear nose. Not with these parts, they were perfect! So with the time saving I thought I would get started on the barrel fit. I also fit the thumb safety while I was installing the fire control parts. I selected a new product in the market from Novak. Rather than using the typical tennon process for mating the two sides of the ambi-safety the Novak uses a roll pin.






I selected a Kart "xact-fit" 5" barrel with a Wilson/Nowlin ramp for this build. I have never used the Wilson/Nowlin ramp but the theory seems sound. The theory behind the Kart system is that a hobby smith can install a high quality barrel with hand tools. I have used them a few times but usually select a "drop in" barrel. However, there were not many choices in .40 to choose from when I was putting my parts list together. I took more photos of this process hoping it would help anyone thinking about jumping in to one. The first step is to fit the sides of the hood. In the Kart tool set there is a guide jig that is used to hold the barrel square in the slide so you can figure out where to get started. I had to cut some on the right side to get the hood to start into the breach of the slide. Once that is done the length of the hood must be cut to allow the upper lugs to engage (thought I screwed up with a slip of the file here, but everything turned out great). Once that is done a "fitting bushing" is used to begin fitting the barrel with the slide and frame (lower lugs) and the upper lugs. Kart uses an ingenious "fitting pad" to make this easier. I used a blue sharpie again to mark the critical areas (lower lugs, pads and hood). Then the hard part begins, put the frame/slide and barrel together and hand cycle to get contact impressions in the sharpie, file or stone and repeat. I like a very tight initial fit (like a Baer) and this process is laborious. Assemble the gun, cycle (read smack with non-marring hammer) repeatedly, dis-assemble, file, re-mark with sharpie and repeat. I probably went through this process about 30 times or more before I got the result I was looking for.

 

[gunjunky]

June 12 continued, full stop – dead in the water. So after getting some chores around the house done I headed back out to the shop to fit the barrel bushing and maybe even finish with initial fit of the pistol so I could shoot the gun on range day on Tue. Well that is not going to happen. I fit the external dimension of the bushing and install the barrel for a fit check and try as I may I can't turn the bushing. So out it all comes to inspect. Low and behold, no bushing cut in slide WTF! I am sure I did not order it that way as I never use bull barrels, so I am not sure what happened but in a rush to get it out I boxed it up and sent it back to Caspian. Tried to call first but they are way over on the other side and had gone home for the day. Hope this does not stall me for weeks. How did I not notice this on my first inspection of the parts ug.

 

[MountainBear]

Bahhh. Well crap. That certainly slows down work. I feel your pain. Currently waiting for brownells, so I can finish half the jobs in my shop...

 

[Velzey]

Great thread!
Some folks don't realize how much it takes to build up a custom 1911.

You need to get yourself a mill and small engine lathe!

 

[gunjunky]

Velzey;
So true, that is one reason I thought I would share. I would like to learn how to use a milling machine and lathe, so I could do all the operations myself. On this build I even had Caspian fit the frame slide set, something I usually do myself. But after reading about their carbonizing treatment I thought it worth the added expense if it could help the gun run smoother. This is my first one in .40 and think there may be some challenges getting it to run reliably.

 

[gunjunky]

June 17 (2.5 hours), Great news from Gary at Caspian, he got my slide and already had it in the shop to get the bushing cut done. He planned to get it shipped back today, talk about great customer service!

Was able to get out to the shop and get a bit more work done on the project, the frame is ready to go to the range, just needs the slide. I finished fitting the thumb safety from Novak. This is a rather unique ambi-safety as it uses a roll pin to attach the right side. It has a rather substantial amount of material on the right side as well and hit my thumb knuckle so I had to relieve the right side to make it more user friendly.
I ordered 6 magazines for this project as well; three from Mec-Gar and three from Tripp. Two of the MG mags would not drop free from the frame when the magazine release was pressed. In fact they were very difficult to pull from the gun so I had to "fit" them to get them to work. Here is the frame with the Esmeralda "Truth & Justice" thin grips attached.

 

[Velzey]

Ok I must ask what those grips cost from Esmeralda ? She does great work, I have several but have not seen those!!

 

[gunjunky]

My wife picked them out for Christmas, I believe they were $89.

 

[MountainBear]

Very pretty Colonel, very pretty. But can they fight? Oh, sorry, was watching Dirty Dozen last night.

I love Esmeralda's grips. Been looking at them for years, but then I look at the stock wood set of grips on my 1911 and shudder what her beautiful grips would look like after a few months.

 

[Doc In UPlace]

For metal fitting you might want to get a jar of Dykem Blue.

4oz. will last almost forever. Much faster to apply and a better, more uniform coating than marker method:
http://www.amazon.com/Dykem-80300-Steel-Layout-Brush/dp/B0018ACR6G

Interesting to see your progress, thanks for posting; nice pictures too.

 

[MountainBear]

For metal fitting you might want to get a jar of Dykem Blue.

4oz. will last almost forever. Much faster to apply and a better, more uniform coating than marker method:
http://www.amazon.com/Dykem-80300-Steel-Layout-Brush/dp/B0018ACR6G

Interesting to see your progress, thanks for posting; nice pictures too.

Agreed. Eight years and I'm on the same 4-oz bottle they gave us in gunsmithing school...

 

[gunjunky]

June 25th (2.5 hours), elated/disappointed - got the slide back from Caspian yesterday and finally made it out to the shop today. Finished fitting the bushing in about 5 minutes and got the gun together. Spent some time fitting the sights and was pleased with the outcome. There is still some final finish work to be done but want to get it out to the range and test fire. However, after getting everything together and cycling the slide a bunch to let everything settle in some; I attempted to cycle a few rounds and the gun is having nose dive problems. Not every time and the problem seems to go away at the bottom half of the mag. But the first round seems to dive into the feed ramp every time and it is hit or miss for the first few rounds of the mag. All mags seem to be having this issue. I will try and get to the range tomorrow and test fire and see what happens with 'normal operation'. Was really hoping that there would be no apparent issues on this one but I did try and step out of my comfort zone on this build, let's hope I don't regret that decision.
This is the first time I have used a Wilson/Nowlin ramped barrel for a build but that does not appear to be what is causing the issue. I have cycled the slide slowly by hand and it appears that as soon as the slide picks up a round from the top of the mag and starts forward the cartridge dives into the feed ramp, suggestions?

 

[ZA_Survivalist]

Its a PITA!
I redact my excitement of fine tuning the 1911 I got in a trade..

You custom fit one thing.. Only to find a part that somehow connects that once fit, now doesn't with the addition of that said new part.

Just going to pawn mine.. Not enough time to play with her to get things 100%.

Best of luck in your journey.

 

[Nickb]

EGW raised mag catch would be my suggestion.
I'm sure you're using quality magazines.

 

[gunjunky]

June 26th (2.0 hours), progress – so after working a bit too late last night in the shop I returned and continued to work this project. There were a couple of items on the pistol that I was not satisfied with; safety function (affected grip safety) and the trigger (just did not feel right). Those particular parts especially the trigger were two of the hardest parts of this project. This is not normal as triggers are usually very east to fit. This one just seemed to be out of spec a bit and was difficult to get into the gun in the first place and then just did not feel right. The thumb safety from Novak's was very well made and worked perfectly as a single sided safety but when I would install the right side it would tighten enough that it would cause the grip safety to stick in the off position.

So after about 300 hand cycles of the slide with a bunch of TW25 in the gun I could feel everything start to settle in a bit. So apart it came for a quick clean and inspect. The trigger bothered me enough that I grabbed a Colt trigger (from another project) out of the part drawer and installed that. Also changed the thumb safety to another I had on hand (will order a different one). Then the lower went back together. Not the safety and trigger function properly with a nice clean break and perfect reset.

In an effort to address the feeding (nose dive issue) I polished the barrel feed ramp and tweaked the followers of the mags just a bit. This seemed to help as there were fewer hand cycled stoppages. However, I will also be ordering an EGW raised mag catch (as NickB suggested) as it appears this will help. To test that idea I held the butt of the pistol against the work bench, to hold the mag higher, while cycling and the dives seemed to abate. I will not have any time to work on this for the next week and a half or so; as we are heading out for vacation.

 

[gunjunky]

June 26th continued, TEST FIRE – took a drive out to the woods to test the pistol. Was not very optimistic after the nose dives I was getting with hand cycles in the shop. However, I should not have worried, can you say 96% success. Fired 100 rounds of mixed ammo (165 gr, 180 gr, ball and defensive) and only had 4 stoppages two failure to feed and two slide lock with one round left in the magazine. All of the stoppages occurred with the same Mec-Gar magazine, one of the ones I had to 'fit' to the gun (see above) and is still too tight for carry use. To say I was pleased is an understatement.

The only identified issue was high primer strikes. The FP is striking the primer about midway between center and the top of the primer, may have to work the lugs a little more.

I had already ordered the 'high hold' mag catch from EGW and a Wilson combat stainless ambi safety to add to the gun. I did not take any targets to check accuracy or sight the gun in. But I did manage to keep all of the rounds in a fist size pattern in the downed log I was shooting. I also knocked the flowers off of some weeds standing in front of the target so it seems to hit point of aim point of impact at about 15 yards.

As expected the .40 S&W round in a full size 1911 is a joy to shoot, it reminds me of my 9mm/.38 Super Commander as far as recoil goes. The Commander has a Ti frame which cuts weight so I would guess they are about the same. Shot to shot recovery is very quick and finding the red fiber optic front is a snap. Trigger reset was positive and fast with the trigger breaking at about 4.0 lbs. When putting together the parts list for this build I was not sure what weight recoil spring to use and ordered three (18.5, 17.5 & 16.5) variables manufactured by Wolff Gun Springs. I assembled the gun using the 17.5 spring and it seems to serve very well. It is amazing how only 100 rounds can seem to settle things right in and the slide action/lock up seems to have settled in nicely; will probably still need 4-500 more to be just right.

Will try and do a clean and inspect today or tomorrow before I head out of town.

 

[Velzey]

I was going to say don't worry about the nose diving while hand cycling ..
Live fire tells u allot more!

Mags and followers, are a major problem sometimes!!

 

[gunjunky]

Doc,
I do need to get a small container of dykem would work better than the ol sharpie. All the pics have been via cell phone, easy to e-mail and post that way.

All,
Thanks for the feedback so far. Should get the last couple of part next week while I am out of town. After I get back I will fit them and then the final clean up of file lines etc...

Originally I was planning to Cerakote this project a combo of FDE and black. But the more I work with the plain ol stainless the more I like it so I think it will stay for now. Maybe a high polish on the slide flats Another 400 rounds when I get back and then I will decide. Still need to shoot a couple groups and sight it in.

I was able to get a few minutes to field strip and do a clean and inspect. I did not see any indications of problems there were no nicks or burrs to speak of, it looks like it runs well.

 

[gryghin]

So, it's been a few years and came across this thread. How did the project hold up? Any findings that stand out?

 

[gunjunky]

Not long after finishing the project a gunsmith friend talked me out of it, he added a 357 Sig barrel and carried the gun for a while. I think he has since sold it and I no longer know where it is. Guess I should start another.