ltwguns.com

I got the parts back from Birdsong after getting the Black-T treatment and promptly went over to my friend/gunsmith's house (Jeb Burnett of The Armoury in Little Rock) last night and put her together. He and I were both very impressed with how it turned out! Jeb did an awesome job of fitting everything together. Slide to frame is great and the barrel bushing fit is something to behold. The trigger is like magic, the proverbial glass rod at around 3 lbs. The weld in magwell is a thing of beauty. Jeb beveled the barrel bushing and he also chamfered the slide stop hole and flattened the end of the slidestop. Not a lot of extra aesthetic work on this one, just right for a nice target/range gun or a carry piece if the mood strikes me. Just wait for the pics of my springfield 9mm if you want to see the aesthetic aspect of Jeb's work Hopefully that one will be back from bluing very shortly!

The frame for this one originally started as a dedicated frame for my .22 top end. I had the urge to have a gov't .45 top end and this is what resulted. I can of course still shoot the .22 top end on this frame for some cheap practice and plinking.

The parts:
-Essex select frame
-Colt series 80 top end with series 80 parts removed
-Colt series 70 barrel
-EGW barrel bushing
-Ed Brown mainspring housing
-Wilson ultralight trigger
-C&S ultramatch sear and disconnector
-C&S ultralight hammer
-Wilson extractor
-Wilson sear spring
-Wilson firing pin
-STI titanium hammer strut
-EGW titanium mainspring cap
-Wolff 17lb hammer spring
-Wilson pin set
-Ed brown beavertail
-Wilson narrow thumb safety
-Wilson bulletproof ejector and slide stop
-Wilson mag release, mag catch lock, and mag catch spring
-Champion rear adj sight
-Brazo's fiber optic front sight
-Briley weld in magwell
-Birdsong Black-T finish
-The grips are cocobolo dorado from Esmerelda

All the pics can be found here: http://s258.photobucket.com/albums/hh27 ... lt%201911/

Here are a few:

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my HBE leather
my .45 target 1911

Looks great, nice blaster. Congrats!

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irq23
Member NRA

Thats a very well done build! I love the mag well and bushing treatment too. The Black-T looks different than a blue finish, real clean. The lighter color grips are growing on me - I got a pair of her Ivorywood grips with Celtic checkering, she is a fantastic grip maker!

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The Spirit of God hath made me, the breath of the Almighty hath given me life

Which .22 top end are you using, and how well does it work? I have a couple extra Caspian frames and I'm thinking about having one built and making it into a dedicated .22lr 1911.

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Hard work pays off

It's a Kimber .22 topend. You can probably find the original pics on here somewhere when it was built originally as a dedicated .22. I won't EVER use another Essex frame, I can say that; too many things had to be reworked to make it both functional and cosmetically more appealing. Caspian frame would've been much better IMO, but that's what Brian started out with so that's what we built. It's still not as clean as I like or am capable of but it's a nice blaster. I, too, am not a fan of "blonde" grips but those looked so good against that Black-T that I called Esmerelda and ordered a set for one of my 5" carry-guns!
-Jeb

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"Better judged by 12 than carried by six."

Yep, kimber .22 top end. It does fairly well, but is sensitive to ammo. Seems to work best with hotter stuff, like mini mags.

Jeb's right about the essex frame. It took him some extra time and effort, but I think it turned out very well in the end. I plan to shoot this one until the frame falls apart

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my HBE leather
my .45 target 1911