Someone with a lathe want to help me out?

[Archangel]

I want to run my Kimber Pro-Carry with a standard (non full-length) guide rod. Problem is it has a bull barrel. I know I could have the barrel turned down, cut the slide for a bushing, buy and install a bushing, and buy a standard guire rod and plug. But that's more than I really want to do to the gun.

I could also just install the standard rod, and use the current reverse plug. But I don't like the idea of that big gaping hole in the front of the gun. (not the barrel, the one in the plug. )

What I want is a reverse plug without the hole for the FLGR. Of course, no one that I can find makes such a thing. I looked into having one made through emachineshop.com, but I would have to make 20 or 30 before the price per became even remotely reasonable. And I just need the one.

So, anyone here interested in trying to make one for me at a reasonable price?

 

[1911Tuner]

lathe

Howdy Archangel,

I'm willin' to give it a shot, but the problem is the thin walls of the plug. By the time you get it bored to size, the chuck will collapse it. If you bore it on the end of a solid piece of round stock, the piece may wobble a little and the hole won't be true and concentric.

If you can do without the gun for a few days, you can send me the plug so I can get the dimensions on it and see if I can figger a way.

Shoot me a PM and we'll arrange it.

Standin' by...

 

[jrhines]

Tuner, not trying to teach you how to suck eggs but FWIW I would cut a mandrel about a half thou smaller in dia than the plug ID. I would then make my plug with the correct ID and about 150% over on wall thickness. I would Loctite the plug on the mandrel, chuck the mandrel and turn to the finished plug OD and plug end geometry. Clean up & polish, maybe 20 LPI checker the end, apply heat to break free of the mandrel, go pour a cup of Joe & enjoy the evening. I would make the plug work piece double ended (say a work pc 2.5 inches long with the proper ID bored in each end. I would mount the first end, part it off so I could make two plugs total. No sense in making that spiffy mandrel for just one plug and yer already set up to bore! 'Sides that I always screw one up or figure out a change I want to make or just want another one lying around on the bench.

 

[ExMachina]

Ok, I'm ready too look the fool (again ), but w/o the rotating bushing of the traditional 1911, won't this set up be very difficult to field strip and reassemble?

 

[1911Tuner]

Mandrel

Howdy jr,

I was thinkin' along the lines of a mandrel, but my live center is gettin' long in the tooth and I don't know if it'll keep things on the straight and narrow. Another problem is...I don't think I've got a boring bar small enough for that job. I may hafta drive up to Danbury one Sunday afternoon and use my bud's machine shop...which may take longer to arrange than Archangel is willin' to wait to get his pistol back together.

ExMachina...It shouldn't be any harder than with a FLGR. The only thing changin' is the rod and plug. It'll be a mite tricky to get back together though, with that spring actin' like a slinky... But...doable.

The simplest solution might be to heat-shrink a plug into the hole...with a dab of Lock-Tite bearing and stud mount to cinch the deal.

 

[1911Tuner]

Hold The Phone!!!

I'm forgettin' somethin' here! The forward section of the reverse-plug setup
ain't sized to fit the spring anyway...right? Hmmmm. Might be easier than I was thinkin'. The spring only fits into a short section of the plug, and the smaller diameter extends to the front of the slide. Just make it solid on the small diameter and open the rear section to take the spring.

YEW-REEKA!

 

[Jim Watson]

Couldn't you just silver solder a plug in the hole of the stock plug?

Me?
I have a little SA UC with a half length rod, it protrudes only with the slide all the way back so you can capture pin it for disassembly. So in battery there is that empty 8mm hole. So the crook thinks I am pointing an over and under at him, huh?

 

[ExMachina]

Tuner, yes, that's what I had in mind, the RE-assambly--when I've reassembled my Compact w/o having first captured the spring w/ a paperclip through the guide rod, it can prove frustrating to get back together...very frustrating.

However, perhaps w/o the guide rod protruding, you could compress the recoild spring by pressing the muzzle against the edge of a table while you line up the slide release...maybe that would not be as bad

 

[Dave Sample]

Clark makes one with no hole in the end. I have one around here somewhere that I can take a picture of but it's not for sale. I may need it for some weird project. I have had it for 15-17 years. I am still waiting for that weird project to come up.

 

[1911Tuner]

No-Hole Clark

Clark? Hmmm That might be just the ticket, and probalby for less than 20 bucks delivered.

Thanks for the tip, Cap'n! If it's been discontinued...like their blued ducktail...
makin' one is still open.

 

[Archangel]

Funny, I acually looked at the Clark website when I was looking for this little widget, and looked right past their "no-hole" reverse plug.

Unfortunately, upon further investigation, it looks like the Clark is a flange type reverse plug, and the Kimber uses a collar type. I don't think those two types are interchangeable, are they?

Tuner, I can pull out my calipers tonight when I get home and give you the dimensions of the plug.

And maybe I'll try assembling it the way I'd have to with the no-hole plug in place. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not envisioning it being as bad as you guys are saying...

 

[1911Tuner]

Flanged Plug

Dang...Back to Square One...

I don't think I've got a boring bar small enough to do that job. I may be able to grind a little off the backside of my smallest one and get it into the hole if the hole ain't too deep. The length will tell the tale.

If I don't have the tooling on hand to do it, go to a local community college
and talk to the instructor in the machine shop. He may give it to one of his
students for an extra credit. He'll keep a close check on the specs and dimensions. Not sure if they can do the checkering on the front though.
A shallow concave cut in the end may be the best you can do there. Keep it very shallow...just enough to hold the tip of your thumb.

Be sure and tell him that the solid portion in the end needs to be .100 to .110 thick and that 1018 won't do. Silver soldering a plug in the end of your existing plug may not work due to the thickness of the material.

Standin' by...

 

[MoNsTeR]

http://www.experimentalmachining.com

BrianH has made me several custom recoil spring plugs as part of a bigger project. The price was very reasonable. I'm sure he could help you out with this.

 

[Archangel]

Hold the phone.

ExMachina was nice enough to point out to me that you can't rack a compact 1911 against a barricade because of the dust cover length, which was the entire point behind trying to make this little gadget. Seems that in trying to figure out how to do it, I missed the forest for the trees. :banghead:

Oh, well. Thanks anyway guys. Next time I come up with a crazy harebrained scheme that's doomed to failure, I'll keep y'all in mind.

 

[Machinist]

1911 Tuner,
How little is your smallest boring bar??? I might have something you need.