ltwguns.com

This one was an interesting project because of who it was for and for the fact that it is the first time I've worked with a Rock River Arms frame. I've been saying for years that RRA 1911's are the most under-appreciated pistols out there-- never saw one that didn't impress me at least somehwat, and I am not easy to please. The frame was excellent. Not perfect, haven't found that one yet, but just a good solid frame with extra metal in a few important places, nothing crooked or too thin or too thick. Nicely ground flat and parallel, no awful burrs. The mag chute had been wire EDM'd which I thought was pretty impressive. Trigger bow cuts had been EDM'd as well.

STI slide
YoBo sights, "Shield Driver" style, tritium vials recessed forward
Kart barrel
YoBo ignition parts
Trigger has a solid OT stop fabbed in
YoBo rail with upsized screws, left long, riveted, and dressed flush.
Zinc-phosphate Parkerized, GunKoted
Grips by friend Keith E., Keith you chime in here and confirm if I can out you. These may be temorary as Simonich Gunners were spec'd but they are backordered at the moment
FLH magwell using Stan Chen's MSH
Standard off-the-shelf Colt thumb safety per customer spec.
Nowlin mag catch. I like these because they are good quality, reasonably priced, long enough to do whatever you want with (angled with mini-Conamyds in this case), and they come with the mag catch lock and spring, although it's a reduced power spring which I always toss and replace with a Colt or Wilson part.
....more if and as I think of it.

Other than to say this gun really doesn't have much use unless you're into shooting silver dollars after dark at 1,000 inches (28 yards). Joking asid though, in test firing there seemed to be a tendency to group better without the light. Anybody else seen this?







The magwell, I think I can post a better pic of this later:

Ned-

That is really sharp- always hard to beat simple and basic.

I'm glad you were pleased with the RRA frame- since partially because of your input I ordered a RRA frame and slide for the gun Bill is building for me!

Nice work- wish I could comment on the light and accuracy for you, but I don't own any guns with light rails and am probably too old fashioned to ever try.

Nice job!

Brent

I like it! Overall finish on this pistol is quite handsome! Ned, I e-mailed you less than a week ago and sent a handfull of pics, did you get the e-mail? It doesn't show as bouncing back. Let me know, I can resend if needed.

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Classic Custom

Very, very nice. Not too far from what I am wanting the next time I come up on your list except that I'm looking at a Commander instead of a 5" gun.

Two things:

1. I hope "Keith E" lets you "out" him. Those are some really nice-looking grips.

2. Mini-conamyds on the mag catch....? I MUST see a picture of that.

"So heavy, so cool!" I've been waiting to use that line..........it was one of our Drug Task Force catch phrases in the early 80's and this gun definitely qualifies. You've excelled again, Ned.

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Thunder Ranch THG & UR(x2), Gunsite 250C,
Yavapai Firearms Acad HG1(x2), HG2, & SG,
Shootrite Prvt Inst HG, NRA Life Member

Outstanding Ned!

Very nice, as always.

Regarding groups with and without the light: I tried the Operator I won here on LTW (Thank you all again) with and without the light and saw no change in group size. That's not to say it didn't happen, but rather, I couldn't shoot well enough to tell a difference.
However- I did see a very slight change in point of impact. At 15 yards, it tended to shoot about 1/4" higher WITH the light attached. I would have thought it would shoot lower with the light, but it did not...with me anyway. I tried it a few times with the same results. I need to try it again, just to see if it was something spooky about that particular day.

Beautiful weapon sir!

I really like the "bark" finish on the rear of the slide and frame tang.

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

A few more pics-- this one shows the inny and the outty of the lanyard point, just a slot through the bottom of the MSH. The hash marks on the magazine aren't Frankenstein stitches, that was just me counting the number of times I'd used each one loaded full so as to be able to track and report to the customer. They are Tripp mags and worked perfectly.




Harold, ask and ye shall receive, especially when it's my first-ever, real paying customer after going full time. A pic of the slanted mag release with half-scale Conamyds:

Ned, do you ever get tired of people telling you how cool you are?

Really a nice pistol. "Keith E" needs to market those grips, too.

It's kills me how humble he is about it too. Very cool gun Ned.

Okay, okay I will fess up, those grips were made by me:)

I am honored that Ned has chosen to put them on a gun he has built.
They are my Cactus-skin pattern. they are made from g10/FR4.
This is a denser product than micarta, so it yields a surface that stays cleaner longer with better definition.
I am taking orders,with turnaround being 1-4weeks (depending on color)
please pm me if you would like anymore information.
BTW I have several other patterns-but no way to post pics on this site:(

Thanks for all the kind words,
Keith

"Just Another" my eye, Ned...that is a fantastic looking pistol!

The lanyard loop is elegant in its simplicity and execution. The mini-myds, slide stop mods, magwell, wow, this thing is just full of cool Nedisms.

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Stan Chen Customs
http://www.chencustoms.com

Thanks for confessing, Keith

Keith has done several sets of grips for me, including the really special ones on my spec gun for SHOT last year:
http://www.louderthanwords.us/forum/vie ... wn&start=0

Edit: Oops, just followed my own link and those pics show the pistol with some other grips. Basically the thuya burl grips were too delicate to be for anything other than show..... Keith made me some nice ones out of G10 with a matching teardrop pattern, just ike on the frontstrap.

There's still SNOW in the pictures you posted above Ned!... SNOW!!!...

Ok, ok... the blasters got noticed too! When you leave this world, they're going to bronze your entire shop!!!

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Classic Custom

This spring we are having is totally lame!

I really like the lines on the underside of the slide stop. Gotta go look into getting some of those grips.

Nice work, Ned.

Ned put a similar mag release on a Colt commercial he worked up for me a while back. For my purposes (carry & occ. games) this modification has worked out to be a very good compromise between a traditional extended release and the standard ones. I'm not sure if the bevel or slight extension makes more difference, but either way my reloads are faster with this release over standards ones on my other pistols.

Steve H.

Very very nice. I love the understated guns that the closer you look, the better it gets. I really like the lanyard loop solution and may be looking at Stan for a project that I am working on now. Thanks for the nice pics and great work!

Wow, that's nice Ned !!!

A modern resemblance of what the "business pistol" should looks like...



Just been contacted by the owner with direction to this tread.
"you`re very lucky my friend"

I need some myds on my blaster.

Alex

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Alex NossaR
www.nossargunleather.com

Ned-

Amazing work as all ways! I need to figure out how to download your brain-pan while you are out here in WY!
I only have one 1911 with a light rail and I too shoot a slightly larger group witht he light attached, I figured it was just me. Still very acceptable <3" @20 yards. I also noticed it groups slightly low with the light attached, that probably is me!
See you in a couple weeks..I'll have questions!

Mark

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https://www.graffcustom.com/

Does it get any better? Back in black indeed.

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Best regards,
Brady Miller
www.monkeyedge.com
The Finest in Custom Knives and Gear

I've found that my guns all group better without the light mounted also. I hold the light and let someone else shoot the gun

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God Bless
45Fundi

Ned,

Wow, that looks like the big brother of my EMP you worked over... How you remain so humble remains a mystery. I sure wish I was totting that around over here instead of my beat-up old M9. Yet another example of why you are the man!

Matt Williams

An EMP worked over by Ned Christiansen? Need to post pics of that so I can allocate funds for the next 5 years...

Joe, I think it's here somewhere....

Joe, I never got a chance to post any pics before I deployed. If all goes well I will be posting them in a couple months... Suffice to say that the EMP is yet another example of the Master at work. Ned even machined the completely pointless flutes in the barrel that I wanted. The pistol realy does look like the baby brother of the one posted here. The cut down magazine, conymides, and blacked out treatement make the little blaster look a whole lot more business-like. It shoots like a champ, has been 100% reliable, and is a dream to carry.

Matt

You mean re-re-deployed, don't you? Thanks a ton for all you've done and all you're doing. Pass it on to your mates.

Here's a link to what I posted about this EMP-- I just looked it over and the pics aren't very good but there's some info.

http://www.louderthanwords.us/forum/vie ... 981#p38981

I have one in .40 now to write up, I reckon I'll be buying it......

Let's not let this old thread drift into a new one about EMP's though..... if we need a new thread about EMP's, let's do it......

Nice work Ned!Im new to the LTW forum but have followed as best I can for years the work of great smiths such as yourself and others that are on this forum.There was a time when, due to financial situations that I had to sell my really nice 1911's-when I got things back in order the first 1911 I purchased was a Rock River Elite Commando.I carry it almost every day,is reliable and accurate.It is nice to see you do a really cool custom job on a Rock River! George MT>

Wow, that is just incredible!

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-Bill