My main ccw PT1911 is finally finished.

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DasFriek

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The refinisher: http://www.shootiniron.com/index.html

After 2 months at the refinisher who did a complete media blast and then parkerized the gun and then put a coat of KG GunKote in satin black on it. I took my PT1911 that was a stock blued gun with 2k rounds threw it.
I stripped it to the frame/slide and barrel and replaced everything from the pins and springs up with all high end machined parts that i hand fit myself. I even switched over to a GI style guide rod and plug as i didn't like the plug at the end with a hole in it as it couldn't be beveled. Then as i just mentioned i beveled and melted the gun to my liking and sanded the billboards off the sides.
The serial number is still legible on the slide.
The trigger is amazing at about 4-5lbs as i do carry the gun but its very crisp with very little take up and no overtravel.
The gun was very tight after the rebuild and even tighter after the new finish as it does add some thickness to parts so alot of the gun has been fine tuned again for the second time by me.

BTW this is my main carry gun and i couldn't wait to get it back, I even bought an RIA CS Officers 3.5" in .45acp to carry while this one was getting refinished. But it will be back in the holster once again. The RIA will be moved to summer duty for IWB carry.

Over all it was a very fun project and expensive as heck, But well worth it in the end.

The pics:

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Thanks, You can have one yourself with a lot of time and money and a little skill don't hurt either. Im no gunsmith so this was my way of learning how to work on almost every part of a 1911 i could. I still don't want to try fitting a new barrel and lug tho.
Luckily the gun was very accurate so i didn't want to mess with that by changing the barrel. I still need to re-polish the barrel hood again as that gets messed up when you shoot alot.
 
Yeh it turned out even better than i thought it would. This was my first gun i ever rebuilt, But also the first i ever modified the steel and re-profiling it and i didnt know what to expect.


Here is a pic of it with all the work done and ready to head to the refinisher.
Holding it looking like this and knowing how much money i had invested in parts i felt like i had made a BIG mistake and prayed it would look good when done.
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Since it was a PT1911, and Taurus isn't known for precision, how much difficulty did you have fitting the new parts?

Thanks,

RMD
 
Very "utilitarian" looking. I like that. I like the melt job on it. Looks like a "ringer".
 
Very nice. I bought a SA loaded a few years ago and replaced the msh and all the ignition parts. Great way to learn how the 1911 works. You did an excellent job on the cosmetics. I had my Baer PII refinished with the Ionbond because it already had such tight tolerances and the Ionbond doesn't add much bulk.
 
Thanks for the nice comments guys, It was a fun and rewarding project.
The refinisher "Mac" is a member here also, But his link is in the first post.
Hes a retired LEO iirc and very meticulous in his work, And for what he charges its a bargain. IonBond is a very good coating, But i just couldn't afford it after putting so much into the gun. I did look into Black-T but i went with Mac as i felt his coating was more proven and his experience is very long in using this process.

I didn't want it "fancy" looking, But more utilitarian as mentioned as this is my main carry gun when possible.
Im even gonna answer a few more questions, One i find very rude.

This is a fair question:
Since it was a PT1911, and Taurus isn't known for precision, how much difficulty did you have fitting the new parts?

Thanks,

RMD
Click to expand...

First off no gun unless a semi custom is know for precision, But that only applies to the parts as they make them "drop in" as much as possible. But the Frame/slide and Barrel are very much in spec and well fitted.
All the high end parts i used fit like puzzle pieces and fell right into place. The further i went the tighter the gun got, Thats before the refinishing.
With the refinishing adding a bit a thickness to a very tight gun i have a few bugs to work out, Mainly the Extractor as i took the gun out yesterday and the gun worked great except shells didn't want to slide under the extractor.
Ill get that adjusted today.

The gun shot extremely tight and groups at 25' were better than anything ive even shot and the nose stayed down under recoil like no 1911 ive ever shot.
So shes definitely a shooter and inspires confidence which ive not seen in a gin shooting wise.

This was my first 1911 i ever owned and i bought it as a training gun and ive always done all the work on it myself and used it to learn 1911's on.
Then this past fall my aging parents bought me a new firing group as a birthday present and at that point i knew i could never get rid of the gun for sentimental value.
I liked how the gun responded to those new parts as the trigger turned out amazingly good. So i figured id build the gun to a point it will last me the rest of my life and maybe only ever need a new extractor or spring since i used the best machined parts i could find.
Hand fitting each part myself and spending days sanding and filing on it gave me a direct connection with the gun i don't think you could understand.

Its no longer a Taurus, Its a "My" gun and may i even dare say a custom depending on how you look at it.
I purposely buried myself upside down in the value so i made sure id never be able to get rid of the gun knowing many parts inside were a gift from people who may not be here much longer.
 
How do the Taurus frames and slides hold up? That would be my main concern about using the Taurus as base gun. Forged frame but how well is it done? Also I had heard some of the parts were not mil-spec. Did you have any trouble with the aftermarket parts fitting properly?

Either way nice looking good and good work.
 
Congratulations, you did a great job on that gun! Next thing you know, all your buddys will be asking you to work on their 1911s.

I've handled some PT 1911s and I was very surprised how well they were fitted together. I've been told by some people I trust, the frames and slides are every bit as good as SA. You know, they do make parts for other manufacturers.
Good luck with that puppy!!
 
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Looks good, probably came out better than, risking it to some minimum wage polisher would have done.

Just to let you know GUN KOTE is not indestructable and it will scratch and wear with time.

I used it on a beretta 21 pistol and applied it professionaly according to manufacturer specs and the slide of the pistol and sharp edges were the first to wear off after a month of pocket use.

Gun Kote is simply a ceramic based paint that it applied hot and then oven cured, it goes on very thin and works good on moving metal surfaces.

Anyone can apply a GUN KOTE finish with a simple harbor freight air brush and simply bead blast and the clean and degrease metal parts prior to spraying with a good dupount paint prep solvent or simple laquer thinner works great.

Some of these custom finish shops make it sound like its rocket science, refinishing these guns with a spray on finish, but anyone could set up in their basement or garage to do this professionally.

All you need is an old oven or heated metal box, cheap bead blaster, compressor and pot or simple metal box to parkerize the guns.

Note you don't really need to parkerize the guns, if you are appling a spray on finish.
 
The frames and slide both are forged and all in spec in every way i can see.
Some people including me have had issues with the firing pin safety plunger hole in the slide being a little more forward than it should be, But many have not had that issue also.
Its fixed easy enough by back cutting the extractors slot at the FP stop and putting a small shim behind the extractor cut and it pushes it forward enough to engage the plunger once again. But most report no issues like this so its probably just a few that got by QC.

The frame is solid and shows little wear as mine is now around 2300 rounds. The barrel and bushing are really good out of the box and actually more accurate than more expensive guns out of the box. One reason i kept mine.
My first shot yesterday was a dead bullseye at 25' so that was a good omen.

The only hard thing i found in the whole project was finding a proper fitting grip safety where the radius meets the frame and pin hole. Just in case people find this later in a search its an ED Brown grip safety that fits best, But it still takes blending on the frame as well as the safety to make it perfect.

I don't have many shooting buddies as ive only been into it 2 years at the range and im not a big sociable person, But id always be more than willing to help a friend out.
The thing is every 1911 is different so even tho i can fix and diagnose this one fast, My new RIA CS Officer takes me much longer since i don't know it as well.
But on its first day of ownership it received a new trigger and full trigger job.

Taurus makes a good gun, Its just a bit loose tolerance wise with its small parts so they don't have to be hand fitted like they lead you to believe.
They are good parts imo, Just undersized so you don't get that "High quality" feel you do with much more expensive guns.
But its hard to beat them accuracy wise and trigger pull wise out of the box compared to other guns in the price range.

As to the finish, I know its not bomb proof. But the original bluing wasn't even holster proof. Taurus puts a really thin bluing job on the gun stock.
For the money which is $150 for a complete job i think its a really good product and should last a long time.
IonBond is about a $350 minimum job for a complete gun but ive found a trigger i have thats coated with it scratched rather easily. It was a Harrision design trigger so you know im not confused. But its still a wonderful coating, Just expensive.

And i will say Mac who refinished the gun and his link is in the first post, Does and excellent job inside and out and then does a great job after the coating is on to make sure everything works together and is fit well. Every internal part was coated and even inside the frame and slide also.
So basically i wouldn't be afraid to take my gun swimming as long as i could get to cleaning and lubing it before the un-protected barrel rusted.

I just cleaned and inspected the gun from yesterdays first outing and reliability testing and break-in. As i said i had several failures to feed due to a very tightly tensioned extractor which i always ran with before, But the addition of the new coating taking away small amounts of room in that area is all fine tuned and fixed now.
I lessoned the extractors tension to more of a standard tension, Then i also took 200 grit paper and cleaned out the extractors claw of all coatings and then added better bevels to the bottom and rounded and sharp points that would catch the rims as they slid up and under the extractor.
Hand cycling live rounds proved to be much improved even over what it was prior to the refinish, I was even able to slowly lower the slide and watch the round as it slid into place.

Thats pretty darned good if thats all the gun needs fine tuning wise after all its been threw. Now i just need to go retest the gun to prove reliability so i can get back to carrying it 100% of the time and until warmer days when my officers will take over that duty.
 
I'm not a fan of that particular shape of trigger, or those grips, or the Taurus 1911 platform in general.

I can get over all of that--it's not my money being spent.

That said, you did what very few have done or could do, and I salute your efforts and the result.

If it works correctly, and you are happy, then I am happy too.

Now, what is up with that ammo? :)
 
That... is gorgeous. Very nice job! If you don't mind me asking, what did it cost you to have the GunKote applied?
 
If my comments on Taurus quality and the OP investment and faith in a PT1911 were mistook as offensive was not what I wanted to be taken from my post. If I hurt the feelings of the OP then I am sorry for that. I guess I should keep my dislike of Taurus products to myself.
 
Nice work, must be a good feeling to carry something customized just the way you want it, and done by yourself no less.
 
nice work. reminds me of the les baer thunder ranch (with no markings and minus the front serrations) that I wish I could afford...probably only a little more than what you have invested in yours too..nicely done.
 
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