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There have been tears, broken parts, empty wallets, and agonizing defeats. There has also been laughter, a few new friends, quiet nights with dusty shop manuals, and triumphant victories. My first “full custom” 1911 build is finished. It even shoots without falling apart!
While not planned for, the three tone look I went for (black, dark grey, polished) in combination with some of the retro elements of the gun (old school Bo-Mar rear sight, traditional lettering, vertical serrations, etc.) resulted in a “steampunk” look which I think is fairly unique.
Look and feel is nice but I wanted an accurate workhorse that I could be my life on. The gun feeds just about everything, including empty cases. I have not gotten a chance to test it for accuracy yet with my bags and Merit pinhole optic but its 100% reliable at the range and prints 2” at 15 yards off hand if I do my part (I’m not a target shooter…). I’ll try the bags and I am hoping to get a Ransom rest soon (Christmas?) but for now that is the best I can report.
Below are the parts list, build sheet, “lessoned learned” and a few “special thanks.”
Parts list:
• Caspian: frame (20 lpi front strap checkering, integral plunger tube, .250 radius cut for grip safety), slide (rear only vertical slide serrations, Model 1911 US. Army lettering, flat top, low mount Bo-Mar rear sight cut, Novak front sight cut), ejector, firing pin stop
• Bar-Sto: barrel, barrel bushing
• Wilson Combat: extractor, thumb safety, trigger, recoil spring, barrel link
• Bo-Mar: Rear sight
• Ed Brown: small pins, small springs, main spring, sear spring, magazine release, grip safety, main spring housing, front sight, hammer, sear, disconnector, slide stop, guide rod, grip screw bushings, grip screws, recoil spring plug
• Chip McCormick: magazine
• Alumagrip: Stocks
Build Sheet:
• Frame hand stoned and lapped to slide
• Frame feed ramp polished
• Frame disconnector hole polished
• hammer rail in slide polished and beveled near breach face
• Breech face polished, all edged around breech (where a cartridge might snag) beveled for feeding reliability
• Slide firing pin hole chamfered at 12 o’clock position
• Barrel throated (lightly), tool marks removed, and ramp polished
• Barrel hand fit w/lockup measured and lugs hand filed, lug contact checked
• Barrel reamed to proper chamber depth and finish, gauged
• Bushing hand fit to barrel and lapped to slot in slide for tight hand turn fit
• Rear of slide blended to rear of frame after barrel fit
• Barrel clearance in slide polished
• Rail cuts in slide dehorned at edges
• Mainspring hole in housing polished and chamfered
• Slide stop cut flush, right hand hole chamfered
• Slide stop dimpled from proper hold down
• Beavertail grip safety fit (in the gripped position) and blended
• Grip safety set to disengage at 1/3 travel
• Wilson combat ambi thumb safety fit and blended, retaining screw set with Loctite.
• Thumb safety polished on sides where it contacts the frame.
• Hammer slot polished
• Hammer sides polished
• Hammer strut staked to hammer
• 3.5 lb trigger job with proper sear angles, engagement and proper mainspring tension
• Wilson trigger fit, over travel screw set to just clear half cock notch with Loctite, pre-travel set
• Trigger bar sides, top, and bottom polished.
• Trigger slot in frame polished
• Trigger tack polished
• Ejector tuned, set with Loctite and retained with pin
• Bo-Mar rear sight installed, “bed” dehorned, sight lightly dehorned (except notch)
• Front sight installed with retaining role pin drilled in slide, sight lightly dehorned (except rear face)
• Disconnector polished at trigger contact and slide engagement and fit
• Firing pin retainer hand fit
• Extractor set to proper tension, head beveled and tuned
• Grip screws installed with Loktite.
• Trigger guard undercut for high hand hold
• Entire pistol lightly dehorned (there are no sharp edges, but nothing is “carry beveled” to maintain the “classic” look).
• Flats polished to 600 grit, trigger sides polished, barrel hood polished, bushing polished
• Checkering lightly dehorned for less bite on the grip (my personal preference)
• Rounds and small parts blasted
Bone yard (borken or lost parts and lessons learned):
• Caspian slide and frame: The Rails (internal and external) were badly galled during lapping. They stuck together due to lack of oil mixed with lapping compound and had to be hammered apart. Watch those stainless sets and go slow! Needless to say the cash and time hit for this mistake was disheartening as I was forced to order a new frame and slide.
• Caspian Ejector: a leg broke when I tried to squeeze the legs together for a tighter fit in the frame. Bad idea…
• Caspian Ejector: I hand filed the small radius for retaining roll pin to high resulting in a loose fit. I switch to the “clamp and drill” method for the next one.
• Ed Brown ambi thumb safety: I didn’t have the grip safety fit properly so I foolishly polished the grip safety pin on the thumb safety to make it fit. After I fixed the grip safety fit the thumb safety was too loose. I would have ordered another Ed Brown ambi safety but Wilson’s new Hardcore ambi came out and retaining the right hand side with a screw that also stops the downward travel of the safety (unlike the King’s ambi) and can be tuned for a tight fit (unlike the Kind’s ambi) caught my eye and is a real step up for us lefties.
• Ejector and front sight roll pins: I lost these two during the build. Ed Brown sent me a new set for free. Nice folks!
• Small elevation springs for Bo-Mar rear sight: Lost these during a parts washing. I ordered a new set.
Special Thanks:
• My wife: for letting me drop money down the hole, listening to me describe arcane details related to issues that she had no hope of understanding (or caring about), dealing with the UPS guy, etc. etc. etc.
• Brownells and Midway: for help ordering tools and parts. Both are great American companies that others should model themselves after who have forgotten about pride and customer service.
• Gene Shuey: His “building a custom 1911” AGI tapes were invaluable. I must have watched these four or five times throughout the build process. He is a class act.
• Jerry Kuhnhauses: His 1911 Shop Manuals Volume I and Volume 2 were extremely helpful.
• Ed Brown: for the free replacement roll pins.
• 1911Forum, M1911.org, The High Road, Louder than Words: for various posts from smart folks that filled in the gaps and covered specifics
• Jeff Cooper: for leading me to the 1911
• John Moses Browning: for inventing the 1911 and being one of the world’s true geniuses
I now have a fair stack of specialized tools for the 1911 and they won’t go to waste. The files are calling again and the quest for perfection is far from over!
Thanks for looking.
Michael.
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