Project .45 is now completed. You may laugh, or you may sneer, but the work was all mine! It began life as a Federal Ordnance 1911 clone, but I tweaked it a bit as follows:
1. Removed front and rear sights
2. Polished internals
3. Installed 2-piece Briley bushing
4. Installed and tuned new bullet-proof extracter. The rear protruded about 1/8" past the rear of the slide so I had to mill this flush.
5. Milled front cocking grooves
6. Milled rear for low-mount Millet adjustable sight
7. Installed Ed Brown matched hammer/sear/disconnector
8. Installed light trigger pull leaf spring
9. Installed Ed Brown beaver-tail grip safety
10. Installed low-profile beveled mag well
11. Finished entire gun with Dura-Coat in Urban Camouflage pattern
Trigger pull is right at 5 lbs, but it feels much lighter than that.
I started this project to learn how to use my new milling machine. I purchased a bench-top 12-speed mill/drill from Harbor Freight Tools (ITEM 42976-3VGA) and had to make some minor improvements in order to get it to work do what I wanted to do. But, when all was said and done, I'm very pleased with the result. So much so, that all my shooting buddies now want dovetails and front cocking grooves cut in their 1911's.
Anyway, this project was great fun! And, I've learned a lot about machining and rebuilding a .45.
1. Removed front and rear sights
2. Polished internals
3. Installed 2-piece Briley bushing
4. Installed and tuned new bullet-proof extracter. The rear protruded about 1/8" past the rear of the slide so I had to mill this flush.
5. Milled front cocking grooves
6. Milled rear for low-mount Millet adjustable sight
7. Installed Ed Brown matched hammer/sear/disconnector
8. Installed light trigger pull leaf spring
9. Installed Ed Brown beaver-tail grip safety
10. Installed low-profile beveled mag well
11. Finished entire gun with Dura-Coat in Urban Camouflage pattern
Trigger pull is right at 5 lbs, but it feels much lighter than that.
I started this project to learn how to use my new milling machine. I purchased a bench-top 12-speed mill/drill from Harbor Freight Tools (ITEM 42976-3VGA) and had to make some minor improvements in order to get it to work do what I wanted to do. But, when all was said and done, I'm very pleased with the result. So much so, that all my shooting buddies now want dovetails and front cocking grooves cut in their 1911's.
Anyway, this project was great fun! And, I've learned a lot about machining and rebuilding a .45.
