Need some guidance on a parts gun 1911.....(Tuner, Fluff, etc.)

[W Turner]

I guess I have been readin' too many 'Tuner stories as I have visions of finding a basket case 1911 and restoring it to it's past glory. I think I may have found a candidate at a local shop in the form of a Gov't. Model. Here are the high points...

Slide-Remington Rand

Frame- Interarms Silver Cup (WTH is this, never heard of it)

Barrel- Not marked at all, on the barrel hood it looks like it is polished stainless or polished hard chrome, the actual barrel looks parkerized. No manufacturer's stamp or caliber designation. The bushing is not tight, but does not feel out of spec.

Small parts- Real GI style thumb safety (has the little button on it, instead of the little shelf like the Springfield Mil-Spec), arched mainspring housing with lanyard loop, short trigger that is horribly fit (feels like 1/8" or so slop in it before it engages), GI style grip safety and spur hammer, normal mag release

Fit and finish- minimal fitting
visible wear on the front of the dust cover
looks like someone tried to lap the frame rails
cycles smoothly by hand
barrel locks up well, does not move laterally when in battery, hood moves downward maybe .10" when pressed
slide to frame fit is pretty good, normal amount of vertical play, less lateral
sights are the tiny GI style
barrel and frame lugs look ok, no obvious deformity (I didn't remember until after I left to run my fingernail along them to check for deformity)
hammer does not push off or follow down

The price as marked is $399. There is no way I will pay that much, I was thinkin maybe $300 OTD if I push the right way. The owner of the pawn/gun shop was the only guy I could talk to and he is usually FOS when I comes to his guns (he told me that this gun was one of many like it he has sold in the past that came from the factory this way

). I think I can talk to his two gun guys and strike a deal, they are usually more reasonable.

So what do ya'll think?

Thanks,
W

 

[Jim Watson]

The Silver Cup was one of a line of rather cheap and nasty guns and parts
of 20+ years ago. Doesn't even rate a mention in the Interarms section of Blue Book and I looked in half a dozen old Gun Digests without running across it.

T.J. has a gun on one of those frames EXCEPT that his was assembled by an AMU gunsmith and is an excellent shooter. Still ugly, though.

I would worry about a barrel with that much vertical slop.

Did you look at the feed ramps? There should be a short jump from frame ramp to barrel ramp with the slide back and the barrel held back. There were a lot of guns spoiled by grinding to blend the ramps in that time frame.

Can you arrange to fly before you buy?

Are you going to do the work yourself?

 

[W Turner]

Jim

Glad you mentioned the feed ramp(s). I did notice that the chamber looked as though it had been throated. I will hopefully take another look at it next week and I will check to make sure the jump is there. I will also re-check the vertical slop in the barrel, I may be overestimating it as it didn't feel unusual to me.
I was planning on doing everything I can do with files, stones, sandpaper, etc., myself. Any machine work would be done by the 1911 guy in the Shoals area.
Its at a Pawn/Gun shop in Decatur so I don't believe a trial run is possible.


BTW- Should I expect anything unusual at the match tomorrow?

Thanks,
W

 

[Old Fuff]

Back when ......

Interarms had a pile of genuine WW-2 USGI .45 pistols over in England. They tried to import them into the United States, but the BATF said no, ya can't do it.

So they stripped these guns, trashed (sob!) the frames, imported the parts, and made them into guns using questionable aftermarket frames and lord knows what kind of labor.

Unless they have been misfitted the USGI parts are as good as they come - at least by today's standards. I suspect the frame isn't. If you can buy the gun at a price where adding a new, quality frame didn't jack the cost up too high it might be worth it.

 

[Dave Sample]

Pieces/parts/junk guns (P/P/J's) are not worth much before or after you work on them. "What's cheap, is expensive." Some people have the time to waste on these, but I never did. No matter what you do, it will still be what it is today. It is over priced by at least double. I will leave this one up to Tuner because it is more in his line of work than mine.

 

[gamachinist]

W,
Did you miss a "0" when you wrote .10" lateral movement?
.010" isn't much,but .10" is!
Robert.

 

[W Turner]

gamachinist- I was guesstimating at the amount of play. I don't have any kind of metalworking background, so I may have overestimated it. It did not "feel" out of spec as compared to some new 1911's, just a tad looser.

W

 

[1911Tuner]

Clunker Rebuild

Howdy!

Clunker rebuilds can be pretty decent range beaters if all goes well, and you've got good parts to start with. I'm inclined to be wary of the ones with frames from unknown sources. An out of spec frame is doable, but
generally is an exercise in frustration before it's done. Almost everything
needs to be hand-fit, and thre's no guarantee that a given part can even
be modified to work correctly. It's a crapshoot. The GI frames and slides could at least be counted on for being in-spec, even when they were worn a bit too much. They could be brought back in with a little effort.

To make it worth your while, the price must be ridiculously low...Complete,
functional USGI pistols could be bought for as little as 35 or 40 dollars in the days when my father and I went into our feeding frenzies every time a gun show came to within driving distance. Those days are gone.

.10 inch of vertical movement in the barrel hood means that the locking lugs
are completely disengaged, and the unlock timing of the gun is dangerous.
I'd leave this one lay right where it's at. You can build a very nice pistol
using new parts from known sources for not a lot less than you'll have in the clunker by the time you turn it into a shooter.

I suggest giving Caspian a call to arrange a frame and slide...Other folks here can make suggestions on small parts. We'll help any way we can.

Luck!

Tuner

 

[panayoti]

just as a point of reference new Rock Island Armory GM are going for about $300 to 350. I picked up a commander size a few weeks back and put about 400 rds through it. I has been 100 reliable with ball ammo. it didn't like 185 lswc but with a little polishing it digests them now. I have been having fun tinkering with it.

 

[Dave Sample]

Good advice from Tuner. He knows a lot more about these guns than I do and has a knack for bringing them back to life that I never had or cared to have. My advice? Pass!

 

[W Turner]

I appreciate all of the responses and have pretty much decided to let his one slide by. I would like to find one similar to this, but their price is a little rich for me right now and having a little one on the way tends to put a crimp in the disposable income. Income that I fell would be sorely needed to get this gun up and running again.


Thanks again everybody,
W