Reworked Springfield GI to Carry and Duty Gun

[deezulsmoke]

Customer sent me his bone stock SA GI. He was after a reliable carry and duty gun. Some of the modifications made were,

Yost Retro Rear Sight
Kings Tappan Front Sight
Wilson Thumb Safety
Match barrel bushing
Wilson Bullet Proof Extractor
STI sear
Nowlin Commander Hammer
STI titanium strut
S&A Checkered Main Spring Housing
S&A .220 Radius Beavertail
Front Strap 25 LPI Checkering
Midnight Blue Refinish
Nowlin Extended Extractor
Target Crown on Barrel
OnTarget Slide Logo
Wilson Bullet Proof Firing Pin
EGW Firing Pin Stop

Nice looking rework to a work horse pistol. I really have a thing for blued pistols with nice cocobolo grips. This one has 600 grit brushed slide flats and satin blue everywhere else. It will be holster carried as a duty gun so I am sure it will get "character" very soon. I must apologize for the quality of the pics. I have a new camera and just cannot seem to get the focus and light settings right, but I am getting closer. I have a kind of light box built and plenty of the right light, just cockpit error.

Jess

 

[1911 guy]

Hey, I recognize that pistol!

I've put about a full case of ammo through it in the last week. Shoots wonderful. The only thing I've changed since getting it back is to put smooth grips on it so I don't wear holes in my shirts, since this is a CCW as well as work gun. The frontstrap and MSH checkering provides a very firm grip even with smooth panels.

 

[Exmasonite]

Wow... that is a thing of beauty.

Any chance either of you are willing/able to discuss the cost of said upgrades? PM is fine if that's better.

 

[1911 guy]

Ballpark figures.

I'm going from memory here, so forgive any brainfarts.

Pistol cost about $450
I bought the parts myself, spent about $250
Gunsmithing cost about $800. A lot of that went into the frame checkering and refinishing.

The trigger, by the way, is excellent. I'm going to have problems going back to my stock gun for a while. About 3.5#, not too much overtravel and a nice reset.

 

[critter]

That is one fine looking piece of machinery! I'll bet it shoot as good as it looks.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Nice looking 1911.

Are the slide and frame on the Springfield GI forged steel?

 

[1911 guy]

Yes, all forged.

That's actually the reason I bought a Springfield. I got a forged slide and frame with everything I wanted and nothing I didn't.

 

[Majic]

Nice way to spend money (and a good looking pistol after everything was done), but what was wrong with the stock pistol so that it wasn't reliable out the box?

 

[AndyC]

Nobody said it wasn't reliable - just that he wanted to make sure he got a reliable end-product.

It's like a woman who goes to the beauty-salon - she goes there to become more beautiful, not because she's ugly - see?

 

[AndyC]

Here, I added some gamma for you:

 

[CWL]

Wilson Bullet Proof Extractor
Nowlin Extended Extractor

?

Would that be a Nowlin Extended Magazine Catch?

 

[1911 guy]

No extended mag catch.

Must just be the angle of the photo. It's a standard catch.

As for reliability, it was, right out of the box. So is a Pinto, nothing wrong with wanting a Lexus. When I bought the pistol, it was with this build in mind. Everything is hand fitted, no MIM, all the things I want and nothing I don't instead of a manufacturers "package" off a production line.

 

[Majic]

Nobody said it wasn't reliable - just that he wanted to make sure he got a reliable end-product.

You have to shoot a handgun to determine if it's reliable. All the smithing in the world means nothing until rounds are run down the tube to see if it malfunctions. Some of those parts may not have been needed, but the owner wanted the bells and whistles.

It's like a woman who goes to the beauty-salon - she goes there to become more beautiful, not because she's ugly - see?

Covering up faults don't make them go away.

 

[Lonestar49]

First Class

...

Truly a work of love..

Well done D,


LS

 

[1911 guy]

It's been shot. Quite a bit.

When I first got the pistol, I shot it as a range gun for about a year. I didn't keep a round count, but it was quite a few. I sent it to Colorado and waited. Got it back two Saturdays ago, blew through 500 rounds before I qualed with it the following Tuesday. It's seen another couple hundred since then. I guess I'd call it reliable, since it hasn't malf'd on me yet. This Sat. a.m. I'm going to run a few boxes of Fed. Hydra-Shocks through it and begin carrying it full time. As far as bells and whistles, there really arent any. Good sights, beavertail and checkering were the main functional changes. Mostly, it was upgrading to high quality parts instead of production line cheap stuff.

 

[TX1911fan]

I did something similar with my GI, at a little lower cost. I did most of the work myself, sending it to Springfield to finish off. It's a FANTASTIC shooter now.

 

[lance22]

It's what ya do with what ya got. Two thumbs WAY up!

 

[Geronimo45]

Nobody said it wasn't reliable - just that he wanted to make sure he got a reliable end-product.

That makes sense. At first, I thought this was a case of a gunsmith of the Mr. Haney variety trying to con somebody:
"To make this weapon reliable, you need a new hammer, extractor, grips, checkering, barrel bushing, sights..."
Needless to say, that's some very impressive work. You'd never know it was a GI model.

 

[deezulsmoke]

And then there are some that say "It works right out of the box, why change it" and then you get to own a custom pistol that is done just the way you want it, all hand built to all the right tolerances and cigarette paper gap fitting of all of the parts, slides that are vault tight when they come into battery and the 1-2 in groups and you never look back or ask the question again.

Jess

 

[AndyC]

You have to shoot a handgun to determine if it's reliable. All the smithing in the world means nothing until rounds are run down the tube to see if it malfunctions. Some of those parts may not have been needed, but the owner wanted the bells and whistles.

Need? Who said anything about need?

"You have to shoot a handgun to determine if it's reliable". Oh, that's genius - did you come up with that by yourself? Thank you - I realise that it has to be test-fired, but the smith should do that while he still has it. You know any 'smiths who send work of this nature back to the owner with no shots through the barrel?

I swear, some guys here just have to nit-pick at syntax....

Covering up faults don't make them go away.

Tell your significant other that

So, what are the faults in the man's pistol to which you refer? (I can nit-pick with the best of them, if you want to play that game).