I have always wanted to try my hand at building a 1911 and reading your post certainly renews that desire. I can only hope that mine would come out even close to yours. Very nice !!!
Shawn
Shawn
"Home Grown" .45 ACP...
2
Hello. I have a "thing" about long slide 1911 pistols. Through the most gracious help and assistance of two close friends who were building their second (each) 5" 1911 pistols, I opted to try my clumsy hands at a similar project, a 6" .45 ACP 1911 pistol.
My friends had taken an on-line class on building 1911's and to say that I was impressed with what they wound up with would be a gross understatement.
The work was done by hand, using files, stones, and varying grades of sandpaper. A dremel was used only to polish the inside of the dust cover.
My slide and frame are from Caspian and the barrel is a Kart "EZ-Fit" match. ("EZ-Fit" is a relative term, but it's quite doable IF you go slow and check fit OFTEN.)
I used a Brown sear and hammer and a Brown grip safety with the hump. A McCormick disconnector and trigger were used along with pins from Caspian and the narrow, single-side extended thumb safety from Wilson's.
The slide was ordered w/o foreward slide serrations even though I do use a two-piece FLGR in this gun; it just runs smoother than w/o. I don't remember where that came from. The slide had the Bomar rear sight cut and the front sight cut was for Novak sights. Top of the slide had the flat and the lenghtwise serrations.
Having used a Caspian cast frame for about 20 years with zero problems, I opted for the cast frame having 20 LPI checkering. The mainspring housing is flat and with the same.
I got extremely luck in that the trigger pull is very nice w/o the touches of a real gunsmith and the thumb safety required no fitting.
Anyway, after 70 to 80 hours of S L O W work and the occassional art form stringing together of profanities, I wound up with this:
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The light-colored parts are stainless with the exception of the McCormick aluminum trigger.
The slide was hand-lapped to fit the frame. It is a tight fit with no felt lateral or vertical movement, but glides as slick as glass.
![]()
I polished the slide flats by hand in an attempt to get a bright polished blue remniscent of the Python...I fell a bit short, but it's still quite nice in my opinion.
The gun feeds and functions flawlessly so far. I've got around 1K rounds through it. The very first round I attempted to fire in it did not feed from a full 8-rnd magazine. It was the old Speer 200-gr. JHP which is known for being sometimes problematic in feeding. After a few rounds were fired, it feed those fine, too.
This gun will be mainly for the range and paper, but I will have to try it hunting some as well.
The 6" version seems longer than the extra inch of barrel and slide actually make it, but of the 1911 genre, the long slides are my favorites for shooting. I'm not saying that they're more practical than the standard 5" guns by any stretch, only that I enjoy shooting them more.
The extra inch of barrel does provide higher velocities and the slide reciprocates as fast as the five-inch, at least to the eye.
If you've not had the chance to shoot a 6" 1911 and get the opportunity, do it. You might just like it.
Now, if Caspian would only bring out a Hi Power frame, standard slide, and 6" version, my world would be complete.
Best.
My friends had taken an on-line class on building 1911's and to say that I was impressed with what they wound up with would be a gross understatement.
The work was done by hand, using files, stones, and varying grades of sandpaper. A dremel was used only to polish the inside of the dust cover.
My slide and frame are from Caspian and the barrel is a Kart "EZ-Fit" match. ("EZ-Fit" is a relative term, but it's quite doable IF you go slow and check fit OFTEN.)
I used a Brown sear and hammer and a Brown grip safety with the hump. A McCormick disconnector and trigger were used along with pins from Caspian and the narrow, single-side extended thumb safety from Wilson's.
The slide was ordered w/o foreward slide serrations even though I do use a two-piece FLGR in this gun; it just runs smoother than w/o. I don't remember where that came from. The slide had the Bomar rear sight cut and the front sight cut was for Novak sights. Top of the slide had the flat and the lenghtwise serrations.
Having used a Caspian cast frame for about 20 years with zero problems, I opted for the cast frame having 20 LPI checkering. The mainspring housing is flat and with the same.
I got extremely luck in that the trigger pull is very nice w/o the touches of a real gunsmith and the thumb safety required no fitting.
Anyway, after 70 to 80 hours of S L O W work and the occassional art form stringing together of profanities, I wound up with this:
The light-colored parts are stainless with the exception of the McCormick aluminum trigger.
The slide was hand-lapped to fit the frame. It is a tight fit with no felt lateral or vertical movement, but glides as slick as glass.
I polished the slide flats by hand in an attempt to get a bright polished blue remniscent of the Python...I fell a bit short, but it's still quite nice in my opinion.
The gun feeds and functions flawlessly so far. I've got around 1K rounds through it. The very first round I attempted to fire in it did not feed from a full 8-rnd magazine. It was the old Speer 200-gr. JHP which is known for being sometimes problematic in feeding. After a few rounds were fired, it feed those fine, too.
This gun will be mainly for the range and paper, but I will have to try it hunting some as well.
The 6" version seems longer than the extra inch of barrel and slide actually make it, but of the 1911 genre, the long slides are my favorites for shooting. I'm not saying that they're more practical than the standard 5" guns by any stretch, only that I enjoy shooting them more.
The extra inch of barrel does provide higher velocities and the slide reciprocates as fast as the five-inch, at least to the eye.
If you've not had the chance to shoot a 6" 1911 and get the opportunity, do it. You might just like it.
Now, if Caspian would only bring out a Hi Power frame, standard slide, and 6" version, my world would be complete.
Best.
