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If you want to build a 1911 yourself, a good place to start (besides hanging around some of these websites) is getting Kuhnhausen's two volume set on the 1911. That provides a lot of the basics. Also, be prepared to spend a lot of time filing things. Part of the problem is that there is not a lot of pictures of where material needs to be removed in a lot of the fitting. I did fit the slide to the frame. I used lapping compound and a leather mallet. I tapped the slide on and off many, many times. It took me close to 8 hours, but the fit is nearly perfect. The barrel was a "drop in" Briley match barrel. In this case it really was a good fit. The Baer frame's bed was cut high (EVERYTHING on this frame had to be fit) so material had to be removed and a little removed from the bottom of the barrel as well. The trigger group was a five piece Cylinder & Slide Ultra Match that also dropped in.
The hardest part for me (and that is really the only part that did not turn out well) was blending the grip safety. It functions perfectly but could have been fit and blended better.
A DIY build is not necessarily much of a money saver. Depending on the frame/slide/barrel/trigger group, it is not hard to get into the $1500 - $2000 range.
One nice thing about the parts is that if you buy from Browells and Midway, they will take parts back for any reason. If a part is out of spec or even if you decide to use something else, they will give you full credit no questions asked.
+1
I just finished a Caspian XR build and the satisfaction was awesome already have plans for #2 but it cost me more than planned and fitting a few parts to waaaaaaay longer than I had anticipated. After building numerous Ar's I thought how much harder can it be
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