ltwguns.com

I've been intrigued by the Springfield EMP since I first heard about it. I really like the resized grip frame (to the appropriate length for a 9x19 cartridge) that makes the 1911 platform better suited to folks with smaller hand size. When my daughter's wedding was in the works, I decided that I wanted to do something special for her that was more personal than just the usual Dad duty of staying out of the way and funding the shindig, so I decided this was as good an opportunity to build up an EMP as I would find.

I took the EMP shooting as soon as it arrived to be sure it was worth all the extra effort that I was planning to put into it. I wasn't disappointed. I ran 100% and had exceptional accuracy, cutting it no slack because of size.

When I started work on it, I wanted to make it's appearance be set apart from the OEM version, so I knew I wanted to give it some Harrison trademark features like a fluted flat top, serrated 40 lpi and a hair-line joint at the beavertail fit. These two things required some welding to achieve, since the slide already had a dovetail front sight and the original beavertail fit was intended for mass production. I welded up the original front sight dovetail and frame tangs and refit them the way I wanted. The rest of the work was more straight forward and went like this:

SDM rear sight modified for one-handed operation with enlarged notch
New dovetail front sight with white bead
Flattened & fluted slide top, serrated 40 lpi
Rear of slide serrated 40 lpi
Ball cuts at spring tunnel & bottom bevel on slide
French Border with interupted cuts
Springfield beavertail
Wilson #6 thumb safety
Yost Bonitz ignition parts
Grieder short smooth trigger
30 lpi bordered checkering on the front strap and main spring housing
Round butted frame with hand made cocobolo stocks
Beveled mag well
Shortened magazine with steel floorplate
IonBond DLC on top end (-w- polished flats) and hard chrome on the lower

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The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

Very nice, John.

That is a VERY nice pistol. Love the execution.

Now that is a very cool wedding present.

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Scott

Great work John!

When I saw this one in progress, I knew it was going to be something special and I'm not disappointed in the least. Almost makes me want to buy a 9mm

Thanks for posting pics.

Brian

John will you adopt me?

Tell me about that sight. Looks great what is SDM, where do you get one from to have you work on it?

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Building Hand Crafted Leather for the 1911 Platform

John, that is fantastic. I'll bet your daughter was thrilled - but I wonder what your son-in-law thinks...

Ed

I have been waiting for one of you guys to get around to working on an EMP. It was worth the wait. Did the parts that are unique to the gun pose any special challenges? I ask because Springfield won't sell small parts and no one is currently making after market parts for the EMP.

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"Domari Nolo"

Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind comments.
Heck No!



The rear sight is made by SDM Fabricating, Scott Mulkerin at http://www.sdmfabricating.com He thinks his should be next


The trigger was the biggest worry because I wanted a short trigger and with the OEM being the three hole design, I couldn't make it into what I wanted. I called Bob Greider who was kind enough to make one up for me.

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

That is an awesome gift John!

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"Let us speak courteously, deal fairly, and keep ourselves armed and ready."
T. Roosevelt - San Francisco, CA, May 13, 1903

John, great job on a tricky package!
Can you elaborate on the feed reliability pre-tuning and if the magazines are stout enough for hard use? I have heard mixed reports on EMP's working out of the box.
Thanks.

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"The most effective armor is to keep out of range"-Italian proverb

CHECK OUT MY CUSTOM 1911 BLOG
http://thearsenalofdemocracy.blogspot.com

Very cool Mini Blaster John!

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Aubrey<><

Wow, that is a sweet pistol. Your daughter is one lucky girl. Maybe there should be a new tradition: something old, something new, something borrowed and something blued! Perhaps when my daughter gets married I will try out that thought. Nothing says you love your daughter more and that he better take really good care of her than something like that. I wish them all the best.

I have noticed a number of your pistols have IonBond on them. I believe this is the first two tone I have seen. I always love those polished flats with IonBond. I have read some things about the hardness of IonBond related to warnings on mixed finishes and/or not IonBonding the barrel in an IonBonded slide, etc. Are IonBond and hard chrome that far off in hardness where there really are are such worries? Did you also chrome the barrel or is it ok to just run a stainless/in the white HP barrel in an IonBonded slide? Are these 'warnings' warranted or internet urban legends? Getting perspective such as yours is what makes this site great.

Thank you for sharing your work, photos and experience.

I think the son-in-law is the lucky one myself.

Hi Anthony,

I didn't do anything out of the ordinary prior to shooting it. The biggest concern I had was whether it would run with a really loose grip and it did. Now I didn't try out a variety of JHPs and could possibly find something this pistol doesn't like, but what I did run through it ran 100%. I can't speak for other EMPs as this is my sole experience so far, although I hear they sell like hotcakes, so I expect to work on more as time goes by. The magazines haven't shown me any worrys to date. As to hard use, the plastic floorplate may be the weakest link. I don't really see the EMP being used in a role that I'd consider hard use, like a LEO duty gun or an USPSA/IDPA match gun. I think it's more likely a concealed carry / personal defense pistol.

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

Fantastic mini-micro-bug!

A BackUpGun BUG that is. Would fit just nicely taking the place of my 442.

Well done Mr Harrison.

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"No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."
Calvin Coolidge

By far the best looking EMP I have ever seen. I would really like to upgrade my MK9 to something like that.

Great looking EMP.

This little gun intrigued me. John took a plain assembly line gun and turned it into a priceless give of love for his daughter. I wonder what's he going to build for his son in law.

I heard he was working on a Kel-Tec for him

_________________
"The most effective armor is to keep out of range"-Italian proverb

CHECK OUT MY CUSTOM 1911 BLOG
http://thearsenalofdemocracy.blogspot.com

When I showed the pistol to my daughter, she was really diggin' it, checking it out and all that. Her hubby, my new son-in-law took one look and said "Where's mine?".

In my best dead-pan Father-in-Law manner, I told him that we had to decide if he was a "Keeper" first!

That got a double take! My daughter, good sport that she is, never even raised her head.

And I've gotta say that I think she did find a keeper!

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shop.HarrisonCustom.com
www.HarrisonCustom.com

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

Gentlemen,

My son and I had the opportunity to eat dinner and visit with John last week. He was kind enough to "loan" me his daughter's custom EMP for some range time and a possible article. I was able to get to the range late this evening for a few rounds. The images are not as sharp as I would like because I had to push the file to 1600 to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 to capture the action.

The little gun shoots like a house of fire. It is fun, comfortable, and accurate. My son shot the five shot group shown, in fading light, from 7 yards. I love flat topped slide and how quick the sights are to pick up. The short trigger will spoil you as will the lack of sharp edges. If this weren't his daughter's pistol, I might try to steal it from him. It may not be a good thing for my check book that I have a stock EMP in the safe.

I can sum the EMP up in one statement. It makes you want to carry a 9mm again! Thanks John!

Better photos to come later.

Enjoy,

Rob

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We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm. George Orwell

Looks bigger in the hand than I thought it would be, which is a good thing. I need to see one of these in the flesh. Good group and of course the work looks exceptional. Might be the BUG answer I've been looking for in my personal collection.

I have stayed away from this thread.. I do have a stock EMP in my safe and when I revisit the thread it starts looking like it needs to go to John.

I have a LW OACP that John did for me and he in the process of building a twin on a Steel OACP.. Maybe I need a " 9mm little brother" for the two OACP's on .45.

I can tell you that my EMP was very reliable out of the box. Some JHPs would hang up during the first couple of hundred rounds I put through it. After break-in it has been 100%. Ned did a little work on it and the gun remains dead reliable. It really is smaller than it looks. You can carry one of these all day, I often reach down to put my hands on it to remind me that it's still there..

Matt Williams

What were you thinking giving that gun to Rob? You may never see it again, or at best, the rifling may be worn out of it when it is returned to you! Seriously, what superior work on that gun! You are a true artisan, sir.

Rob will tell you that I am HARD on my guns, and I expect them to work every time, with no tolerance for anything less. I have an EMP that came from the factory, and it has worked 100% with 124 Gold Dots, Golden Sabers, Hydra-Shoks, White Box, and Zero FMJ and JHP reloads, and some Moly-coated flat point reloads. The gun really runs, and shoots better and more accurately than I could have expected.

But the work you have done on this gun is really special. Maybe that's why Rob told me to contact you for a certain project I have in mind... If I may, I'll give a call in the near future.

CO

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OZ / Chris

"I will fight them until hell freezes over, then I will fight them on the ice."