ltwguns.com

Ouch.

Ouch! That hurts to think about. I can afford to buy a barrel, but I really would hate to have to spend the money.

I wanted it to be someone else's fault..... but it was all me:

Mainspring housings-- they drop in, they drop out. Sometimes, on a more elaborate custom gun, I want it fitted perfectly-- almost like a great slide to frame fit. I don't want the user to be able to feel it move and shuck around when the hammer is cocked or the slide is cycled. Doesn't hurt a darned thing if it does but-- kinda nice when it doesn't.

Downside, this fitting can burn a lot of time, like I did today.

But I'm talking here about a couple-three-four thousandths, maybe. Let's say the MSH was wide at the top, narrower at the bottom by .003, and one made the receiving area in the frame wide enough to take it by filing it and stoning it. There would be too much clearance and wobble. Better if the MSH and receiving area of the frame are parallel and properly fitted.

The MSH in this case, one of mine, was already perfectly parallel in its widths. I measured the area in the frame where it goes and found it was .545 at the bottom and top, but about .541 in the middle. So, you don't make the MSH fit the smallest part of the frame, although it's temptimg to modify the smaller part, and the part that can be replaced. This frame, it can't be replaced, but that width has to be finessed to have a parallel dimension to receive a parallel MSH, with minimal clearance.

Files and stones come out, and a Sharpie! Bit by bit, thousandth by thousandth, that narrow spot is opened up until the dang MSH goes in smoothly and without resistance but also without slop. That .004 variance in the width of the frame cut is probably well within original tolerances and a standard MSH would accommodate it, with some wobble; and no one would complain. It's not a quality issue, that .004 variance is actually dang good given how much metal is removed in the making of a 1911 frame, and how difficult it is to hold the thing for each subsequent machining operation. With each operation removing metal, it becomes harder and harder to hold, without distorting it. If you distort it or flex it in a fixture, and machine the next feature, when you take it out of the fixture, what you just machined to perfection flexes back to where it was before, and is no longer straight and parallel.

Or, a previously machined feature that was perfect, warps a few thou when some more metal adjacent to it is removed. It's just what steel does! Or, everything is perfect, then it goes to heat treat, and-- pretzel time.

In this pic I am sneaking up on getting it just right. Some filing, then stoning transverse to the direction that the MSH is installed from, leaves an indicator showing where things are tight (dark spot). Stone that some more, try again... and again.... thou by thou.

“Phase 2” welding is done on this magwell. So, it has been welded on, and the inside funnel profile machined. Then what I call the “bodywork” needs to be done…. The meeting of the magwell with the frame, that joint—that gap—although it is not a gap—needs to be welded up and dressed back down. The magwell is on there good and solid, the Phase 2 welding is not for attachment strength so much as making sure that the meeting line is not visible. Although, yes, it makes the attachment almost as if the magwell is one piece with the frame.
All this is part of why I’m reluctant sometimes to do magwells. It is just a tremendous amount of work to get it as close to perfect as possible.
Phase 2 welding also is on the outside:
Going…….


Going….


Gone. The bottom of the magwell has been surface ground as one of the final steps. The entire inside profile, now that Phase 2 welding is trimmed off, gets stoned smooth.


Lines and steps. When the MSH and frame are machined together, usually it disrupts the line where the frame’s flat meets the backstrap radius. Well, when reducing girth slightly as in this case, or radically, it’s just gonna happen. I have at times left the step in as a feature, but in this one I’m very carefully making the line continue straight—with files and stones.
Before-


After (note to self, clean the polishing bench a little before taking pics!):

Beautiful work. Blood, sweat, and persistent attention to the smallest things.
The devil is in the details... and there are lots of details!

Details aplenty, so true.

This interview with Jason Burton was the most well-spent time on the web in a long while. Jason, I haven't seen you in several years now, regretfully.... it was great to see you in this vid though. Great job!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dWVMquH53c&t=71s

Thanks so very much Ned! This was a cool opportunity to talk about building the guns well all love!

_________________
Heirloom Precision
http://www.heirloomprecision.com

Listening to it again in the background!

Here's some of the final work on a grip safety. Much to go yet but it's more than halfway done. My first time posting a private YT here, so I guess it can only be seen with this link which will be posted here only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eADfwozQOwQ

Interesting. Not how I do it, but then I bang a keyboard for a living now.

Trigger, among other things. Sometimes it just seems right to keep it all Colt to the extent possible. Nothing too wrong with a Colt trigger, but they are loosey-goosey and heavier than need be. This one has been lightened and tightened. Well…. de-slopped. Nothing has to be, nothing should be, actually “tight” on these things. Good fits with minimal clearance, sure, in some places.
So the trigger has been welded up top and bottom, and on the bow a little. I’ve never done that before but the trigger track on this one seemed particularly wide and tall. This will keep the rear of the bow stabilized and well centered.


Among the many other parts to fitting a grip safety, I like to get it so the forward stop surfaces are making a lot of contact, down low by the memory bump. This minimizes its creeping forward subsequently as it and the inside of the frame get acquainted in recoil. In this case the GS had more travel than it really needed so landing pads were welded on, and trimmed down until they “blued off” with Prussian blue nicely.


Again, keeping it all Colt. Not saying I always do that, it wouldn’t make sense but again, this older gun, it just felt right. The mag catch is to get small Conamyds (Minimyds), so it needed to be a little longer. It gets shortened to the bottom of the existing serrations, then an extension piece is welded on, turned back down to the right diameter, then Minimyds are added. This original Colt piece is rather rough in the non-visible areas. It took considerable time to get it to run smoothly.


Minimyds done, on an angled surface, so, slightly higher in front. Pardon terrible picture.


Final fitting of a Shield Driver sight. They are supposed to be tight. OK, that’s one place where it’s alright to use the word ‘tight.” Here I’m taking off .001 because they aren’t supposed to be so tight that something has to distort or gall. They get installed with anti-seize, not LocTite.

In this thread: https://forum.ltwguns.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9504

I discussed tools and fixtures one sometimes needs to make. It's something for a special task that no one makes a tool for. Some parts, including 1911 parts, are hard to hang on to for work/rework/custom work. Very often I make it out of aluminum because, yes, it's easier and faster. Most of them, I'm probably not going to be using it a lot, not thousands of times, probably not even dozens of times.

Here the task was a slide stop with half-sized Conamyds on it. I wanted to use the Colt part. I didn't want to just make flat surfaces from the rounded bottom control surface and concaved, serrated top control surface. "Just throw it in the CNC" would be a standard suggestion, but, A) You still have to hold it securely, so some kind of holding fixture still must me made; B) Ain't no CNC here; and C) We are talking a curved surface upon which to machine the Conamyds. So, you still need a way to index the part short of a 5-axis machine.

Work like this is fraught with opportunities to screw it up. There is also some guesswork and eyeballing and you won't know until it's done if you did it right, so you try to make it with some adjustability and/or contingencies for having guessed or eyeballed something not quite right.


The Conamyds are "raw" here, of course.... edges will be broken, each individual feature will be checked and deburred as each cut tends to throw a tiny burr into the previous one. That can be dealt with by going over the patterns again, which is a tremendous amount of extra work on top of what was already a tremendous amount of work, plus, ref. the above "fraught with opportunities to screw it up" comment. Go over it a second time, your chances of making a mistake are more than doubled....!

And, the safety. How to hold it securely, and how to get its surfaces running true? It’s work. Get it clamped securely, get surfaces dial-indicated in to running true, start cutting.

….Done. Mini-Conamyds are cut, now time to don the Opti-Visor and knock off any little burrs.

And then, let the hand-blending and stoning begin.

Sometimes it gets kinda crazy trying to get everything as near perfect as possible. The more you do it, the more the next things suddenly start standing out as “not good enough”. It really is but sometimes the perspective is lost and so…. You play it safe.

This isn’t something that needs doing on every gun (well, I mean, it didn’t really “need” doing here either). But for the short amount of time it takes, I felt in this case it was worth it. The slide stop profile around the shaft—had “lobes”.


…..and now it’s nice and roundy. Needs a little more handwork between1 and 3:00.


Holding the part is a big deal. I wanted to shorten the safety’s shaft and re-profile it just a little. Some have a full spherical radius but that is not Colt-ish, and it makes it stick out farther.


Into these barrels alone I have probably the better part of a week. I think I mentioned them earlier, Kart makes bull barrels either with a conical form or straight, full diameter. The best profile for a bull is cylindrical on the bottom with and angled step-down in diameter on top, otherwise it simply can’t link upward and lock. I love Kart but I don’t get it. The conical shape can allow the barrel to tilt down in front during cycling, letting the back tilt up and possibly drag on the slide. If there’s a compensator held up in cycling by a guide rod, no issue. Just not ideal otherwise.

I think almost everyone else makes them straight bottomed with the relief on top. I’m sure it’s no biggie in production but for me to set up and do them was a lot of work. Then, in the same setup, I fluted them “my way”. I was asked to flute over the chamber….. I will generally decline to do that but being 9mm and .38 super barrels, there’s a lot of metal there and I wanted to try a new (to me) cutter type instead of ball end mills…. turned out pretty nice. Fluting a .45 chamber, I prefer not to do it. You can’t get enough depth to get enough weight out to mean anything. Indeed the flutes over the chamber in the below pic are pretty much styling only but I think with the longer ramp-out on the ends they do kinda look good, more old-school. Someone told me they saw a 1911 with ersatz FRAG on the barrel. That was not me!

The fluting to the barrel body below does get noticeable weight out. Why go to a heavy barrel and then lighten it? Well it is still much heavier than a standard barrel, and it is rather cool. Both barrels print within 1", maybe a little more, of each other at 28 yards. It's a job trying to make that happen, plus I think a little luck.

Interesting fixturing for the thumb safety. I suppose your tool & die background may have provided the inspiration for that. I've often perused factory bulls with the relief on top and tried to imagine the setup to turn the relief. Makes my brain cramp.

I didn't do it on the lathe, but on the surface grinder. Not that it was easier, probably wasn't, but more precise and a great finish without a bunch of polishing.

So I should fire up the Parker Majestic 2Z for that job?

Heck yes!

I had never heard of the brand before but I see they are well-known. In my area all the tool shops have Harig, Boyar Schultz, and some Chevaliers. Mine is a Harig 612.

LTW has been down some days. The hosting service has successfully extorted more money to get it back up..... that is the one thing they do really well . Should be good for a while now.

Some of the final cosmetic work. I mean this always “comes after” making sure the thing works but various areas of it get done throughout the process of creating a custom 1911.

When I do an ejection port in this style, I like to try and keep these two lines parallel. Not quite there yet in this pic; the final work will be with stones.


Some steps I go through to ensure that the grip safety installation is mirror-imaged left/right and that there are no noticeable flats or facets in any of the radii. This pic with it silhouetted shows a few areas that need a little further work.


Eyeballing it is usually really effective, yes. Sometimes I just throw a square across it in various places to see to it that radii meet flats at the same point on both sides.




Knowing that a project is going get polished flats means going to a lot of extra trouble to preserve factory polish and existing flat surfaces, throughout the whole process. Final polish is where you find out if there is anything you have to go back to and address. Here there was a very slight line that didn’t get covered by weld.

….and, gone.

A couple little imperfections that have probably been there since the cows on Yazgur’s farm wondered what all the noise was about. If this gun was going to get a Parkerizing, or Park / paint / bake, or even a matte blue, these could maybe be ignored. They are probably only .0015 deep, but on polished flats, they have to go. The trick is to make them gone by stoning them out without turning a small pit into a large divot or wave. That means lowering a larger area to the bottom of the pit….. = time.


Same deal on the trigger. This pit didn’t announce itself until I started polishing off the old blueing. On this one I put a dot of laser weld in there as I was there for something else anyway.

Masking in preparation for blasting.

Then you polish. The you re-mask and re-blast some areas where polishing ran over onto a blasted area. Then you re-polish some areas where blasting got under the tape. Repeat until done.....

https://youtube.com/shorts/uJ2YbYbbSJs?feature=share

Bushing a firing pin hole to get a more centered hit. I think my method that uses the very barrel as a guide, gets it as darned close as it can be. The final test being, put some Prussian Blue on the breech face, put the barrel into battery, and drop my little tool down the barrel. It has a ring on the end that pretty closely indicates primer pocket and primer diameter.

I’ve researched this for a while now and offset hits have to be radically off center to be any kind of problem.


Not more than .004 off center.

Some details on the back end. My fittable MSH, fitted to the frame like a good slide to frame fit, so, no telegraphing of mechanical movements when you’re manipulating the pistol. The mainspring cap is drilled to get a little weight out of it. That's not for reducing the weight of the gun nor for shortening lock time, although it does that to some infinitesimal extent. It's to help the hammer put a better whack on the FP which helps with ignition.... to some infinitesimal extent


Mainspring cap polished and the mainspring is trimmed top and bottom at the last coil. Many times that last coil will actually be a little larger and drag on the sides. The idea is to have no dragging / crunching sounds and sensations. The locating rails are given a lead-in at the top for easier reassembly.


Oopsy. The “landing pads” for the grip safety. Not until it came back from blueing did I realize that they had been welded on in stainless. Well no harm done….. actually I kinda like it.

Cool stuff!
The devil in the details and lots of devilment (?), deviltry (?), OK, devilish details going on there. I wonder how many shooters would even notice most of that work if it were staring them in the face. They might notice the difference in the feel, but never realize what went into making that happen even if looking right at it unless you pointed it out to them.

Some finishing touches. Gold bead front sight was the requirement. Here we have the front sight, drilled and reamed for it, the bead, and a .033 pin to pin it in. Two .031 holes are already drilled into the sight, one as a guide for the final drilling of the cross pin hole. the other is a vent as I also will put a little red LocTite in there.


Pressing in the gold insert, about a .0015 press fit. Front sight mounted in my sight fixture, a Delrin punch in the Bridgeport’s collet, and a piece of tissue protecting the polish on the gold bead.


The gold bead gets a cross-pin, up from the bottom of the sight. I know that with that much of a press fit it’s going nowhere but I…. just…. can’t …. bring myself to trust only that. Tiny pin is .150 long. That's my cherished Etalon caliper, I don't think you can get them any more, it's the best I ever used. Thanks, Switzerland!


Drilling the hole for the cross pin, ~ .160 deep. Save those chips! Gold is at $3995 / oz today!


And, pressing in the little pin.


My current method for installing an Extra Stout Plunger Tube (ESPT). PT's need to be held down independently of the staking process. It seems like the staking tools hold it to the frame but they don't, really. A sheet of paper gets cut to fit under the aluminum plates to prevent any metal to metal contact between tools and frame / ESPT. It's a beautiful bluing job by Glenrock and I can't risk marring it, that's the owner's job....

Non-‘smithing content follows.

Yardwork around here has been at a standstill for a while as I wrap up a project that has taken way too long. As of today things are as far as they can go, gun back from bluing, waiting for the barrels and hammer to come back from DLC. For many, many years I’ve had 100% great service from the PO shipping and receiving things Priority Mail, this time is way different. DLC shipped on November 5th, tracking shows the package stuck in Indianapolis from the sixth until today. FINALLY it is on the move again!

To Puerto Rico.

My Postmaster is confident that’s a legit move; the Indy facility has a new updated system that is experiencing problems….. obviously…. he thinks they sent a bunch of stuff to PR to handle the overflow and compensate for the glitches. Says I’ll have it Friday, maybe.

I certainly hope so. It’s a disaster if I have to re-do these very elaborate barrels.

Not that I don’t have other projects in the works while I wait but sometimes, especially when winter is coming, preparations have to be made. This is my chance. I’d rather be in the shop, yes, but—getting the wood ready for the coming months is something I also enjoy very much, it’s a chance to break out of the pursuit of perfection and dial everything back to “crude is perfectly OK”. 8” long firewood? OK. 20”? Also OK. 14” plus or minus 6”, let’s go! The feeling of independence from oil and gas is a benefit; the exercise is a plus. Fresh air, too.

First things first, get the wood-getter running better. This old Ford is a borderline lost cause. Yes, I should get something newer but there’s something satisfying about getting some use out of a truck that probably should have been melted down before I even bought it. And if something major happens, like, I expect the frame to break, the junkyard will come get it and give me $200.


Cut. Split. Load in truck. Transport to the other side of the yard, dump it, pile it. Some of this can be used this year, some needs to wait a year.


Mother nature signed this one….


Been wondering for decades where this hook went . I have a vague memory of me in a hammock suspended from it, a book, and some Sun Country wine coolers on ice. They were really good post-mowing. I have not’ seen that brand for a long, long time so the hook has been there a while. When the tornado struck last year and so many trees came down, and got cut and split, this reappeared. It was well-anchored.

In the reading room. Coincidentally, again it’s about Cuba. This most interesting American fought the revolution with Fidel and Che, sort of from the other end of the country. William Morgan became disillusioned after the victory when it became apparent the new government was to be a communist dictatorship. He spoke out against it—and acted—and was executed for it. Most pics of him show him carrying a cocked and locked 1911, crossdraw / 2:00 in an open-topped holster. Often he is also seen with a Sterling SMG.

A Canchanchara made with Havana Club…… the hours I have into this 9mm / .38 Super, thought I deserved one!

Oh, the pistol. After taking way too long, it is done and some pressure is off. I think it came out looking spectacular, (and it shoots) which doesn’t show so much here but more to follow. The barrels and hammer finally got through to me, intact, after a very scary 17 days’ journey.


The barrels. Lots of work, beautiful DLC.


Having finished this 9 / Super, I have a little time to shoehorn in a few minor things before the next full-on job. For a local good friend, who has a Python where the barrel cracked right at the forcing cone, we are re-barreling it. He rented an action wrench form 4D, since I don’t have that kind of thing for any revolvers. It went easier than expected. Next thing I knew the Python barrel was sitting next to a .45 with no barrel in it. Next thing after that was…….

Before and after optimizing the slide stop notch in the slide.
Geez. I know why they do it this way, it’s easier. If they find a way to do something easier, they should do it—as long as there’s not a negative impact on function or quality. Why such a large radius? Well, you break fewer cutters that way. I’ve seen Colts where the notch is EDM’d in—good way to get a sharp corner in there like it was meant to be. That shows that at least they know how it’s supposed to be. In the old days it was broached square after milling. This shape in the before pic is sub optimal, as it means the slide stop has less material to interact with, which is going to cause metal to peen out and create a burr. That’s more than unsightly, it’s a durability thing and can eventually become a reliability thing.

I have broached them in the past but my preferred thing now is use a 1/32 end mill and mill it out. The radius then is only .015 which allows the slide stop to go up much higher, giving maybe twice the engagement. I think it’s good to not have a dead-sharp corner there. I have seen one and one only slide crack there but I bet it happens more than that—on high milers. It is an impact area: when the slide starts running forward and the slide stop moves up there to stop it after the last round has been fired, it’s a not insignificant whack, slide notch against slide stop.
I know Jason also does this, Chuck does, probably some of the other guys too.



This Colt is very nicely made, BTW. It's a "Special Edition." Not sure how old it is, but I think "not very." The owner has done some minor things to it, it happened my way for basically a going-over. The bluing is great, roll marks are cool. It came with a beavertail that is not going to win the Innerwebs BT Tightest Fit Championship but it's totally functional. It had the Colt feed throat at the rear of the chamber where it's trenched out in the middle, easily improved upon. The feedramp on the frame was perfect. Not magazine-cover mirror polished but that's not necessary. What's needed there is the right geometry and "not too rough". Frame and slide rails are nicely machined, broad and square. It's not bank-vault tight but there again-- not necessary, and as-is, the decent fit it has will last throughout a high round count.

I love a good read. More than one American was involved in that revolution, only to be disillusioned by the outcome later. Bob Brown, publisher of Soldier of Fortune had a finger in that. I have a late cousin who was a gambler. Black sheep of the family. He was involved in the mess in Phenix City, Alabama about the time the feds sent in troops to clean it up. If you get a chance watch the old movie about that. It was very well done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phenix_City_Story. John McIntire and Richard Kiley were in it.The grandson of Albert Patterson retired as an O-6 and runs a contracting firm doing work for the Army at Fort Rucker.
My cousin was on the run and passed through the area stopping off at other relatives homes looking for some help. He was turned away. Ended up in Cuba. The last anyone heard from him was early 1959. We all thought he died there until recently when a little investigative work turned up more info. He got out and started a new life over in Georgia with a new wife and family, having never divorced his first wife.

I love a good .38 Super. My first carry gun was an early 70s Combat Commander in .38 Super. I still have it. Great caliber.

BBBBill, next for me will be one I've had for decades but never read, by Tad Szulc, title is something like, Fidel: A Critical Portrait. I guess when I bought it I had my curiosity about Cuba but didn't get to it and then..... it got buried. I know I've seen it in the last year though. But the bottom line is that insiders certainly don't have only good things to say about Fidel.

I'm working on a Dan Wesson now. What a pleasure. Everything is straight and parallel, no waves, lots of quality in every square inch. The mag chute is by God wire EDM'd in. Trigger cuts and trigger bow cuts are EDM'd. I guess they are not cheap but the quality and attention to detail-- gotta be a good value.

I don't know exactly where to draw the line between custom, semi-custom, and "off the shelf" but in whichever category the DW's are, I've been noticing them for maybe ten years now-- they sure seem like good stuff. Still a ways to go on this one but I will report on findings.

So Dan Wesson being a part of CZ, and CZ having bought Colt-- I don't know anything about how that all settled out. What I see in 1911's that I actually handle, I usually don't know a production date (unless it's oldish). But my impression is that Colts and DW's are at this time not coming off the same line. Something worth looking into.