OK, I am in the middle of building an AR Varmint rifle. And in the proccess of searching for parts on the www, I noticed that you can do the same with a 1911 pistol. Purchase a frame, barrel, slide, etc. My question is, with all the different barrel lengths and different manufacturers are 1911 parts pretty much standard, and who carries the best selection of parts online? Who has the best quality?
Building 1911 pistol
- Thread starter 7mmRemMag
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1911NM
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I am sure there are more experienced folks here, but just to kick things off, I have heard Fusion arms makes a package to build your own, and also does what finish you want on your new gun as part of the package.
cdrt
Member
Besides Fusion, I picked up some checkered mainspring housings from Rock River Arms..very nice quality.
10X
Member
From your comments I guess that you have not done this before.
You can buy all kinds of different components, but a 1911 is not a slap together job to get it to work right.
The barrel lugs, bushing, sear, hammer, as a start, must all be fitted. Slide to frame fit can be an issue. Take a look at some of the comments about the first SIG 1911s. They bought components from different manufacturers and assembled the guns with some fitting and consumers had a lot of problems with them. The 1911 takes experience and skill to set up right.
You can buy all kinds of different components, but a 1911 is not a slap together job to get it to work right.
The barrel lugs, bushing, sear, hammer, as a start, must all be fitted. Slide to frame fit can be an issue. Take a look at some of the comments about the first SIG 1911s. They bought components from different manufacturers and assembled the guns with some fitting and consumers had a lot of problems with them. The 1911 takes experience and skill to set up right.
THE MACHINIST
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2 Words Ed Brown
bannockburn
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10X has it pretty much by the numbers. It's best to start out with a how-to book; I used Ken Hallock's .45 Handbook. If you feel comfortable with what's in there, and are handy enough, then you might want to proceed to making a list of everything you're going to need for the build. Best if you stay strictly with quality components from quality manufacturers; check out midwayusa.com for a lot of the essentials. The three biggest factors for this project are: slide to frame fit (need an FFL for the frame and best if you can get both from the same manufacturer), barrel/bushing to slide fit, and internal parts fit (hammer, sear, disconnector, mainspring, and trigger). If you do everything right you end up with two things: one, a fully functional 1911, and two, a very large credit card bill.
10X offers WISE advice ! The 1911 can be a very touchy project to put together and produce 100% reliability. Timing issues with the barrel fitment and proper barrel Link can cause some headaches. SIG found out [ the hard way ] that trying to use Extractors that have not been tested within their new tight fitting design - caused many failures.
Best way I found how to build one of these beauties ....is to buy a cheap RIA 1911 that works ........then tear it apart and start fitting new upgraded parts into the pistol ONE AT A TIME. If the pistol fails during the upgrade of a single part ........well then you know where you went wrong and can go back and figure out the mistake. The Pistol will cost you about $400 ....upgraded parts can cost another $300 [ buying the very best ] so for $700 you can have a custom built pistol made by yourself and an education to boot!
JF.
Best way I found how to build one of these beauties ....is to buy a cheap RIA 1911 that works ........then tear it apart and start fitting new upgraded parts into the pistol ONE AT A TIME. If the pistol fails during the upgrade of a single part ........well then you know where you went wrong and can go back and figure out the mistake. The Pistol will cost you about $400 ....upgraded parts can cost another $300 [ buying the very best ] so for $700 you can have a custom built pistol made by yourself and an education to boot!
JF.
www.brownells.com
They carry all the lines. Order their 1911-dedicated catalog so you can compare all the different brands.
Even though "drop-in" parts are called that, you will need a bit of hand-fitting to get everything to fit together and operate properly. I suggest that you buy a copy of jerry Kuhnhausen's "The Colt Automatic, a Shop Manual" Vol 1. for the best general shopguide for the M1911.
They carry all the lines. Order their 1911-dedicated catalog so you can compare all the different brands.
Even though "drop-in" parts are called that, you will need a bit of hand-fitting to get everything to fit together and operate properly. I suggest that you buy a copy of jerry Kuhnhausen's "The Colt Automatic, a Shop Manual" Vol 1. for the best general shopguide for the M1911.
Using quality, new parts - yes, it'll cost more. If you go with a lower end frame and slide (Essex for instance - pretty good but not top notch) and scavenge for pieces from the various internet sources (low end would be a Sarco 'completion' kit), you'll save quite a bit but also be using a lot of MIM parts.
It should be re-emphasized, building a 1911 from components is NOT as easy as snapping together an AR...especially in terms of reliable feeding, extraction and accuracy.
/Bryan
It should be re-emphasized, building a 1911 from components is NOT as easy as snapping together an AR...especially in terms of reliable feeding, extraction and accuracy.
/Bryan
Bailey Boat
Member
I'm in the process of trying to build a "lower" (receiver) to dedicate to my Marvel conversion unit and all of the parts needed can be found at Brownells. You're correct on the pricing levels of just parts compared to a complete gun...... Anyone have a frame for sale????? Essex is 6 to 8 weeks behind....
jpwilly
Member
Save yourself some time and $$$ the Taurus PT1911 is forged frame and slide plus you get everything else for about the same cost as an unfinished kit:
Whirlwind06
Member
I see that Sarco has kits too. For those of us on a budget.
http://www.sarcoinc.com/cgm.html
http://www.sarcoinc.com/cgm.html
Building a 1911 from parts is very rewarding, even if you have to have a gunsmith help with some of the fitting. You still end up with a gun that you selected EVERY part for, which makes it uniquely yours. I'm puttering away on a hicap .40 STI 1911 and it's going to be a fine weapon.
Shooters Connection is an awesome place to get high-end 1911 parts. They cater mostly to IPSC shooters and some of the parts they sell are for double-stack 1911s only, but MOST of the parts are interchangeable. Their prices are fair and Chuck Bradley provides outstanding customer service and lightning-fast shipping. I have no affiliation with him, but I ordered most of my 1911 parts from him due to how satisfied I was with my first order.
Shooters Connection is an awesome place to get high-end 1911 parts. They cater mostly to IPSC shooters and some of the parts they sell are for double-stack 1911s only, but MOST of the parts are interchangeable. Their prices are fair and Chuck Bradley provides outstanding customer service and lightning-fast shipping. I have no affiliation with him, but I ordered most of my 1911 parts from him due to how satisfied I was with my first order.
You can get discounted, cosmetic blemished Caspian frames and slides from Foster. Most often, you can't notice what they termed a blemish.
http://www.fosterind.com/receivers.php
/B
http://www.fosterind.com/receivers.php
/B
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