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Thread: Building a 1911

  1. #1

    Building a 1911

    At some point, I'd guess that just about every 1911 fan says to himself: "Self, I'd like to build a 1911." The reputation for having to fit parts may dissuade some, but I have given in to the temptation.

    I started with the frame, slide and mainspring housing. The slide did not fit. I'm told they never do. So, I decided to go with the flat file on the frame, thus:



    Each iteration gets the slide about a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch along the way:



    I figured the flat file would keep good lateral and horizontal straightness:



    Just about there:


    Looks like something resembling a 1911:



    But you are not done yet - need to get smooth action and allow for recoil / loading a round.

    To be continued .....
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1911top.jpg   1911A.jpg   1911C.jpg   1911B.jpg   1911D.jpg  

    Last edited by Pericles; 12-05-2014 at 09:28 PM.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.



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  3. #2
    You built that? Wow.

    I'd love to see more pictures or videos of the process. It looks almost like my store-bought version.

  4. #3
    The frame is already finished as was the slide - when I get the CNC setup going will try 80% frame, as will be curious to see how CNC works on steel. The slide I bought already had firing pin, extractor and other internals installed, which was probably the tipping point in hooking me.

    Luckily, the mainspring housing lined up without fitting. So far, so good.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  5. #4
    Glocks are already assembled. Lol

    Nice piece.
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  6. #5
    Very nice. I am very curious to see how this turns out.

    I can offer some advice with your CNC. Be sure to adjust both feed and speed to maintain tight tolerance (not damaging inserts), and spend the money on solid inserts made for machining steel.
    "Self conquest is the greatest of all victories." - Plato

  7. #6

  8. #7
    You need to allow for recoil, so make sure the slide can have full range of motion. And now for some fine work to make the action smoother.



    Check magazine fit and alignment with the catch - I'm calling this good for now. My ATI only likes GI magazines, the RIA takes anything - this one is more like the RIA it seems.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1911E.jpg   1911mag.jpg  
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  9. #8



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  11. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Intoxiklown View Post
    Very nice. I am very curious to see how this turns out.

    I can offer some advice with your CNC. Be sure to adjust both feed and speed to maintain tight tolerance (not damaging inserts), and spend the money on solid inserts made for machining steel.
    Thanks - right now my priority on CNC education is to work on stuff like this (which the keen observer will note is an A1 forging, and not the modern AR).

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails A1lower.jpg  
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  12. #10
    Plenty of room for that long A1 forward assist to hang over.

    Looks like fun! Did you use compound to finish the slide fit?

    Gulag Chief:
    "Article 58-1a, twenty five years... What did you get it for?"
    Gulag Prisoner: "For nothing at all."
    Gulag Chief: "You're lying... The sentence for nothing at all is 10 years"



  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by brushfire View Post
    Plenty of room for that long A1 forward assist to hang over.

    Looks like fun! Did you use compound to finish the slide fit?
    I'm fitting the slide by using a flat file on the slide - takes longer, but reduces the risk of taking away too much metal. Ran perpendicular to the frame to move the slide down, then I'm finishing by going parallel to the frame to level and reduce the top surface.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  14. #12
    Did you do all this using equipment you have at home? If so, what? If not, then where did you go?

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by erowe1 View Post
    Did you do all this using equipment you have at home? If so, what? If not, then where did you go?
    So far, just used a flat file (pictured) to fit frame and slide. After you think you have the fit, install the slide parts, and slide stop. Then release the slide and see if it returns to battery - I still have some fine tuning to do. It would be bad to put in the frame parts, and have to take some of them back out ...

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails slide.JPG  
    Last edited by Pericles; 12-21-2014 at 10:48 PM.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Pericles View Post
    So far, just used a flat file (pictured) to fit frame and slide. After you think you have the fit, install the slide parts, and slide stop. Then release the slide and see if it returns to battery - I still have some fine tuning to do. It would be bad to put in the frame parts, and have to take some of them back out ...

    D00d, that file looks a mite too coarse for this sort of work. Firstly, it is a double-cut. If you are looking to do fine work, a single-cut file is the way to go. A machinist's straight edge is also a very god idea, and possibly even a square.

    When you're getting down to it, toss the file in favor of a ruby stone or a diamond lap

    Another thing you can do it lap them into each other using compound.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  17. #15
    +REP

    The ultimate minority is the individual. Protect the individual from Democracy and you will protect all groups of individuals
    Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. - Thomas Jefferson
    I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

    - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    D00d, that file looks a mite too coarse for this sort of work. Firstly, it is a double-cut. If you are looking to do fine work, a single-cut file is the way to go. A machinist's straight edge is also a very god idea, and possibly even a square.

    When you're getting down to it, toss the file in favor of a ruby stone or a diamond lap

    Another thing you can do it lap them into each other using compound.
    With a couple of sticky points, I'm down to the finer tools. I wasn't going to use power tools, and I needed to remove more than just a tiny amount of metal, so went for the "rough" solution for a start. As much as I wanted to avoid it, may have to work on the slide a bit.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.



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  20. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Pericles View Post
    With a couple of sticky points, I'm down to the finer tools. I wasn't going to use power tools, and I needed to remove more than just a tiny amount of metal, so went for the "rough" solution for a start. As much as I wanted to avoid it, may have to work on the slide a bit.

    OK.

    As to the high spots, the best way to find them is to "soot" the frame by lighting a piece of wood and letting the soot be deposited on the bright metal surfaces. Fit the slide and work it back and forth a few times, then remove. The high spots will show bright metal, the rest remain sooty. File the high spots just a thousandth or so and repeat the sooting process. You should get less high spotting. Repeat until no high spotting occurs. Be VERY VERY VERY VERY careful not to remove too much from the high spots.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  21. #18
    While finishing up on the final fitting of the slide, need to make sure the rest of the parts fit. Check sear and disconnector, and hammer and strut. Found out that my barrel pin I had with the link was a tad too long and did not fit in the chambered area for the barrel link, Replacement fixed that problem, so the barrel could go all the way back in the slide.

    Here we see the check of the mag catch to hold the mag in place, the sear spring and safeties interacting properly, and the mainspring housing holding the sear spring and grip safety in proper position.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1911 parts.JPG  
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  22. #19
    Spent time working on smoothing out the action and then assembly - basically put together from detail strip down. Ran into an issue with the thumb safety no wanting to install properly and disengage. Will also replace the trigger as I want a real 1911A1 in there. Almost there, but some work to do that might not be for an amateur (other than risking a couple of internal parts if not done correctly).



    The mainspring and sear spring are NOS GI, which gives the hammer a real pull ..... but I'm liking it so far. It is always that last 10% of project completion .....
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1911 Assem.JPG  
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  23. #20
    Got the action smoothed out some more, an A1 trigger, still working on a good release of the thumb safety. But at least it now is starting to look like a 1911A1 should.

    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 1911A1.JPG  
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  24. #21
    One of the reasons I went through the process of learning to build these was to create this, which IS a 1911A1. Had to work on trigger channel, fit slide to frame, fit grip and thumb safeties. I am pleased with the result, because nobody makes a real 1911A1.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  25. #22
    I so want to do this,, only different.
    Though the first would likely be traditional,, I have several custom builds that I have been turning in my mind.

    Prohibition prevents.

    and for those interested,,, You can home build Glock and Sig from 80% frames.

    Though the 1911 is the most perfect platform. and the most hot rodded ,
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  26. #23
    For some reason, people feel compelled to tinker with 1911s and ARs. I never understood why.
    Last edited by Pericles; 02-18-2017 at 10:40 PM.
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Pericles View Post
    For some reason, people feel compelled to tinker with 1911s and ARs. I never understood why.
    Same reason they tinker with cars and bikes.

    and the better designs are the most customized.

    I still miss a certain sporterized .303.
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom



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  29. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Pericles View Post
    At some point, I'd guess that just about every 1911 fan says to himself: "Self, I'd like to build a 1911."
    Quote Originally Posted by Pericles View Post
    For some reason, people feel compelled to tinker with 1911s and ARs. I never understood why.
    Why not?
    It is a great and time proven design, and has been chambered in several good choices.

    and though I do understand historical preservation..

    A build lends to personal customization.. and with care,, closer tolerances than mass produced military units.

    Ammo choices,, are also a factor. I had already come to prefer the .38 super,,, and then found 9x23 win..
    And then there is 460 rowland,, with a full half ton hammer.

    Lots of choice and a perfect platform to play with...
    What's not to love??
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by pcosmar View Post

    Lots of choice and a perfect platform to play with...
    What's not to love??
    and being prohibited,, I can only hold and turn them in my mind,,

    I have a full set of Alliance (WoW) guns designed,, one for each faction.
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  31. #27
    Moar 1911A1s!

    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  32. #28
    I had an STI 1911 in 9mm, which was gorgeous, but utter garbage; it even locked up during the shooting portion of my CHL test. Fixed it and sold it.

    Someone I know put together a Kimber .45 with a light and a suppressor, and can get to it from a gun safe in seconds. It only has 10 rounds so .gov will be happy, right? 😉

    An instructor at a pistol training course sneered at a 1911 for carry use, which makes sense, imho

  33. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by buck000 View Post
    I had an STI 1911 in 9mm, which was gorgeous, but utter garbage; it even locked up during the shooting portion of my CHL test. Fixed it and sold it.

    Someone I know put together a Kimber .45 with a light and a suppressor, and can get to it from a gun safe in seconds. It only has 10 rounds so .gov will be happy, right? 

    An instructor at a pistol training course sneered at a 1911 for carry use, which makes sense, imho

    This is partly why I posted above that people can't resist tinkering with a proven design.

    How many documented cases do we have of someone using more than 8 rounds to end an attack in a non military context?
    Out of every one hundred men they send us, ten should not even be here. Eighty will do nothing but serve as targets for the enemy. Nine are real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, upon them depends our success in battle. But one, ah the one, he is a real warrior, and he will bring the others back from battle alive.

    Duty is the most sublime word in the English language. Do your duty in all things. You can not do more than your duty. You should never wish to do less than your duty.

  34. #30
    Will I go to hell if I build a 1911 with a polymer frame?

    Is it still a 1911 at that point?
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
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