Visit with 1911 Tuner

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ken grant

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Jan 10, 2004
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middle Ga.
Paid another visit to our friend 1911 Tuner and brought two of my problem children, a like new full sized Norinco and a Series 80 Combat Commander.
The Norinco had been shot very little but was beginning to beat up the barrel lugs. The slide was a little loose but not bad .
He checked headspace and found it to be excessive and needed another barrel. He had a used Colt barrel that would fix it with a little fitting. So this is what he did.
1--- fitted the barrel
2--- swaged the frame rails
3--- lowered the slide and lapped to the frame
4--- installed o/s FPS
5--- reworked trigger
6--- reworked G.S. tang so it didn't hurt the web of your hand.
Now to the Colt
It had not been fired a great deal(less than 2000 rds) and one of the first things he pointed out to me was a crack in the frame. Also the frame was battered very bad by the rear of the recoil spring guide.
Using his files he corrected the frame battering and said shoot it and watch out for more of this. Now for what else he did.
1--- fitted a new recoil spring
2---O/S FPS
3---Kart barrel bushing
4---tweaked several of the magazines for FTF and early slide lock
Both pistols work great now and the failures I had have gone away.
Before the visit, I asked him about bringing a friend along with me and he said O.K.
Tuner impressed him a great deal with his skill and knowledge about 1911s.
He showed him how to detail strip an older 1911 with parts of the pistol and show him how various things can stop the pistol and what caused them.
Then in comes Matt with 2 git-tars and wanted Tuner to pick with him.
Both my friend and I really enjoyed the picking and singing.
Then in comes Kelie and Connie and sat with us and carried on conversation with us. Matt picked music he made up and Kelie sang the words that she made up to go along with Matt's tune.
My friend Mike was very impressed by the whole family and talked about them most of the way back to Georgia.
 
A Colt frame cracked in > 2,000 rounds?

A Colt frame cracked in > 2,000 rounds? That is a shocker! How old is it? I wonder if the shock buffs will really make much difference in mine. I broke my pistols in w/o them. Now, after 3,000 or so rounds, I use them always.

This was an interesting read. Thanks for sharing!

Doc2005
 
Yeah,if ya take a nork up there,it's gonna come back with a new barrel.You didn't try to move in on any of my dogs did ya?:)
Tuner has helped me out with a bunch of things-too bad ya live so far away.What part of GA. are you in?My mom is from GA. and I still have a lot of friends down thta way.Joe
 
I live in Griffin,about 30 miles south of Atlanta.
I was in N.C. for the RWVA's "Boot Camp for Riflemen" and spent 9 days camping on the range and taking cold showers from right out of a deepwell.
Had a ball!!!! But it wore me out and now a week and a half later,I am still tired,sore and stiff. At 68 yrs old,it takes a long time to get over things.:cuss:
Wish I could go back right now.:what: Shot the 25M AQT,Shot the full range AQT at 100,200,300 and 400 yds. Also shot popups at 200,300 yds.
My eyes don't seem to work well with iron sights and I see a scope on my M14 in the near future.:cuss:
 
My mom is from Conyers.Next time you're coming this way,holler..maybe we can all get together.You didn't say anything bout the dogs,Tuff is mine by proxy,with Elvis coming next...Tuner just don't know it yet.:D
 
I live about 5 minutes from Johnny. I need to take my new-to-me Combat Commander over there and get his blessing. I didn't think he would ever let me back in after I showed up with a Safari Arms 1911 in pieces in a box. I sold it, after he gave me his assessment of it. His dogs seem to like me, so he gave me a break.:)
 
Dogs

I don't what it is,but my wife and I felt a connection the first time we visited Johnny and Kelie. Not only with them but also with the dogs.
Pepper(the part Yorkie) stole Sandra's heart and now we have two of them:what:
On the 2nd visit,we met the kids(Matt & Connie),they sat around and talked with us about many subjects. Not many teen's will do that today.
Sandra(my wife) is upset because she didn't get to go with me this time and she wants to go back there as soon as possible.
We are waiting for the weather to cool off and for Kelie to have a four day break from her job. Then she and Sandra can fool around together with shopping or so forth and Johnny and I can go to the range for several days.
I am in hope of having some of Johnny's skills with a pistol rub off on me.:D
Also may take a GLOCK for him to shoot.:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:
 
Visit

Howdy Ken! Glad ya'll enjoyed y'selfs. Ever'body likes Travispickin'. (That's Merle Travis...not John Travis.) For those who don't know...Travispickin' is a more raw version of Chet Atkins' early fingerstyle, with muted alternating bass lines. Chet took Travis' style...aligned it and refined it...and many people call it his style...but it's just a cleaner version of Merle's.

Oh yeah...Pistols! Almost forgot.

The problems:

First the Colt. The burps were intermittent...which can be maddening to shooter and tweaker.

The impact damage to the frame looked to have been caused by many rounds with a too-light recoil spring. Colt Commanders typically come in with springs that measure in the 14-15 pound range. After several thousand rounds, they get pretty soft. Not all buyers realize that the spring should be changed peroidically, and just shoot the soup out of the guns. Ken bought the gun used, so it ain't his fault. That's likely what caused the crack at the rail/tunnel junction too. A Wolff 16-pound GM spring, trimmed to 24.5 coils set it right.

The bottom of the barrel ramp was flush with the frame ramp, which was a player in the feeding and RTB issues that Ken had with the gun. Surprising that it wasn't worse than he reported. Set the gap and reshaped the barrel ramp. Opened up the breechface guides to .486 inch from .480 and added a little bend to the extractor. Odd thing. The extractor had a mod that I've never seen. The bevel that allows smoother rim pickup was asymmetrical...cut on an angle that made it deeper toward the back. Actually worked well, but gave slightly erratic ejection. I left it alone, since it was working...but it does kick the brass out in a fan-shaped pattern, but without producing any "head shots." I played with an old extractor a little, and decided to just stick with the old method.

I had a Kart bushing left over from an Easy-Fit kit that I used a different bushing with, so I cut it down to length in the lathe and adapted it to his Commander. It required very little fitting to the slide. The second test-firing showed a definite accuracy improvement, and the little Colt ran the falling plates at 25 yards in fine fashion.

Two of his magazines...new Metalforms...were a little too wide at the top, which was letting the rounds nose up as the slide hit the rims, and letting the rounds shift to the left and bumping the slidestop lug...producing occasional premature lock. I set the follower angles to spec and put a little squeeze on'em in a vise to bring'em to spec width. Once in a while, Metalform will throw a curve...but not often.

A little late timing problem with the firing pin plunger release was resolved.
****************************

The Norinco:

Battered lugs caused by insufficient vertical engagement...and .020 inch of endshake! Pistol
went to battery on a NO GO gauge like it was a snap cap. The barrel had to go. Colt barrel
showed just over mid-spec headspace, but was little better on the vertical engagement at .034 inch. (The OEM barrel gave just .030) Hammer and punch time! Brought it down and lightly squeezed the slide to tighten up the sideplay...filed and lapped to fit. I didn't make it "Bullseye Tight" by any stretch...Ken likes to shoot'em hot and hard...but it's much better and very smooth.

Final vertical engagement with the Colt barrel is .045 inch with lugs 1 and 2 taking the brunt.
Pressing on the hood in battery gave no barrel drop...which is a good sign...
He'll be back next year...probably with Kart barrel in hand. :cool: With the frame to slide specs, he can get by nicely with an Easy-Fit barrel. If I know Ken, I'll probably have to retighten the slide a bit.
 
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I think making a pilgrimage to visit Tuner and have him work his magic on my 1911's will defintely have to be one of the things on my "must do before I die" list. :)
 
I reckon' I'm a LuckY GuY :cool: Reason being, it's exactly 2.9 miles from my driveway to a great cup of coffee at 1911Tuners...right thru the countryside!

I have to go on my defenses though, and not because of his dogs either. Johnny says, "do you want to sell it?" to everything I take over there.

Well, almost everything. I took one day before yesterday that he didn't offer to buy...can't say that I blame him! :scrutiny:
 
Tuner , one of us is going to have to move so I can get work done.
maybe some day I will have to go on a road trip with 1911's in tow.
 
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