Double-stack 9mm 1911 Caspian Build- Work in Progress w/ PICTURES!

NightHawkIV,

Basically your parts lists looks ok. I would rather have an STI for 2011 project, that's just a matter of preference. I like to use STI titanium hammer struts with Wilson stainless steel hammer strut pins. I prefer C&S ignition sets if buying a set and suggest you do or spend a small fortune in stones and jig.

There is nothing easy about fitting a Kart Easy Fit barrel. The more drop in parts you use the more user friendly the project will be. A vertical belt sander will come in handy for barrel hood. I would suggest a set of Nicholson needle files. Sanding block with 220, 300, and 400 grit sand paper will come in handy.

You're in for a challenge. Building an AR is nothing compared to building a 1911 and you know this. I could easily add another $800.00 in tools to your total. Jigs, files, stones and miscellaneous supplies add up quick.

Good Luck with your endeavor, am sure it will be a success.

Thanks 1911smith,

Don't have experience with Harrison so I can't say anything. Do have experience with C&S, it's a true drop in, crisp, tuned, ignition set. I would suggest buying a trigger stirrup for trigger fitting.

Kart barrel for the first timer really requires easy fit kit. That and a vertical belt sander would do you well.


St. Louis is approximately two hours from my shop. Swing by on a day I'm there and not out fooling with livestock, we'll get you out of what ever jam you get into.


Free of charge.

With the Caspian doublestack frame, you're limited to using Caspian mags. You can use their grips or just cover the frame with grip tape like others do.

Be sure to buy the 9mm firing pin stop, otherwise you're in for some filing.

The Kart barrel fitting kit is a good investment, you will find a lot of uses for the included file.

I would also suggest buying a set of 5 different sized barrel links. A 1911 rail fitting file will also come in handy for fitting the frame to the slide.

Is there any difference between the Brownell's Rail fitting file and a set of bastard files? It's what it looks like

Here's to hoping nothing goes terribly awry...

Big difference. You'll need something that can get into the rail cuts and enlarge them, and this file has safe edges so you won't be removing metal where you don't want to.

Good luck Nighthawk,
It's great to see encouragement from guys like ken_, and 1911smith, instead of the "don't do it"-'you can't do it"-"it's too expensive"-"it's not an AR" crowd.

Take plenty of pics and keep us posted,
a-bare

Yes KnightHawk, that's like one of five you can buy. Have used 3.5lb tactical twice. By the time I price hammer, sear, sear spring and disconnector, considering what those parts total. C&S kit is a common sense buy.

Will have to do homework on Harrison kits.

Order placed!

Total w/ a sear-fixture/ rail file/ ez fit kit and 2x21-rd Caspian mags came out to $1250 shipped. (oh, and a random box of 9mm ammo so I could use a 10% off coupon code)
it'll be the same price as a Para P18.9 limited- but damnit, this is gonna be MY 1911.

Slide/Frame won't come in stock until the first week of March, but I can wait. Wait, no I can't.... COME ON BROWNELLS!


Thanks everyone for the help and encouragement! I'll make sure to take lots of photos of the work in progress.

If you build it right, it will be a better gun than anything Para Ordnance makes.

Your other option for your slide and frame would be to order from Caspian directly, and have them fit(for a fee) the slide to the frame. Otherwise, good luck and keep us updated.

Thought about that option- but to have a fitted slide/receiver directly from Caspian with the sight cuts that I wanted would've totaled slightly over $800- compared to the unfitted pair from Brownells which cost me $613.

Oh–– this may be a dumb question, but I assume a regular 1911 holster (both CCW and competition) would work for a 2011?

However, no idea where to get mag holders for a double stack mag...

Depending on the holster, you may be able to use a 1911 holster. The Caspian frame resembles a 1911 frame until you get to the grip.

Most doublestack mag pouches will work, if they are adjustable.

Caspian frame not equal to a 2011 frame. If you going to build a 2x stack, use sti frames.

Was watching this video of a disassembly of a 1911 and his 1911 seems to have parts I didn't order


2 additional hook/lever thingies with the fire control group- which from a basic search shows up as something that lets the hammer be 'conceal cocked.' Which I assume isn't critically neccesary.

However, when he was diassembling the slide, before taking the extractor out, he took out an additional plunger that I don't recognize. It was specified that this was due to the 1911 being a series 80 type. AFAIK- the slide and ejector I ordered are series 80. The extractor is marked as being series 80, but the Caspian Slide I was just working under the assumption that it was series 80.

Guess my question is- am I missing a part in my kit that I ordered?

ETA** With some more research, I'm starting to think that these parts are Colt specific parts... Series 80 specific parts.

ETA #2** Herp Derp- didn't do my homework well enough apparently when I ordered- Caspian slides are series 70 standard, and series 80 by special request. Guess the series 80 extractor I got won't work so well with the series 70 slide
Before I make any more herp derps- besides from the series 80 extra parts, and extractor/slide/frame which are series 70/80 specific, are there any other series 70/80 specific parts?

The firing pin stop is 70 / 80 specific. Either will work on a S70 gun, though. There's just an extra clearance cut on the S80 part to allow it to pass the S80 frame lever.

The S80 extractor will work in a S70 gun, too, so you don't need to send it back unless you really want to.

Grip safety is also different for S80, it has a clearance cut on the internal arm... but again this will work on a S70 gun if you want to use it.

Generally when ordering 1911 parts, assume they are S70 unless they explicitly state otherwise.

Thanks Ken!

Quick question about finishing the frame. It comes in carbon steel unfinished, and I was thinking of doing a coldblue using Brownell's Oxphoblue on it after I get everything put together.

If it's for looks (and that's about all cold blue is good for), I'd just do the outside.

a bit for rust prevention

It'll work better than nothing. At some point you'll probably have a more permanent finish applied, and it will be easier to prep the gun if the cold blue isn't everywhere.

Dont' wate your time on cold blue.

might just get it atronite finished by freedom gun works. At $150 for the slide/frame (and any or all small parts), it would seem to be the best value. What'd you guys think?

Not a bad finish for the price.

that's a very good price for ferritic nitrocarburizing aka melonite aka Isonite aka Hard Hat, probably the best black finish for firearms, ...but....

i hope that this experience is atypical....

(sorry it's a long thread)

Coal Creek Armory do it for $200 and they are very experienced with it....

nvm

Guys, got my Caspian Slide on Friday, and I'm wondering–– did I get a dud?

I'd send that slide back. I think your sight is an LPA-type anyway (similar to Bo-mar except the location of the dovetail).

Caspian uses a 38 super firing pin not 45.

Yep- I got the 38 super firing pin, and the dimensions are completely round.

cant see your pics (blocked). but I would return it as well if your using the right parts and they don't fit.

I've started my 9mm double stack project and I think I just finished fitting the barrel hood to the slide. The barrel is a Kart 'ez-fit' unramped, and the slide is a Caspian 9mm.

Question about the hood length though- I've filed it down enough where the barrel can now go into battery and I have upper lug engagement. However, I can see that the hood is not completely square- it looks as if the middle of the hood is slightly longer than the two edges, where the length tapers off a bit. However, I'm afraid if I file the middle down more to make the hood square with the breech face, I will over-cut the hood. Currently, the clearance is pretty good- the Kart supplied 0.003" feeler gage will not go in.

What do you guys think? Is making the hood square more important than having minimal clearance of hood/breech face in battery?

I'd be inclined to leave the hood where it is. Removing more material isn't going to help at this point. Make sure the barrel fits all the way into the upper lugs (with the bushing installed) without wanting to spring back down. If the barrel tends to spring back down after you've pressed it all the way into engagement, you will probably need to relieve the bottom front or top rear of the bushing bore a bit to provide clearance.

Thanks Ken- Yep, with just the barrel/side, the barrel will stay in engagement without any help. I have to tap the top of the barrel hood to get it loose and out of the slide.

I'll be starting the frame/slide fit and the upper lug fitting next week when my receiver finally arrives from Brownells...

Actually, I also just finished the sight fitting too and tuned the extractor - if you can't tell, I'm pretty antsy to start working as soon as possible...

Here are some pictures:

With the bomar rear sight cut on the slide, the firing pin stop is now a bit too tall, since in its fully engaged position, it contacts the rear sight.

Yes, that's the usual modification for the FPS with a Bo-mar.

Now that I have the firing pin stop filed down where it's flush with the surface of the slide, I notice something about the firing pin itself-

The FPS hole may not be lined up properly. This tends to happen when the FPS is a tight fit. Move it up or down until the FP protrudes through the hole.

I can't seem to move the FPS any higher up- something's catching it that won't allow it to move further up. Moving it downwards does not allow the firing pin to protrude through.

Give the bottom of the FPS a light tap with a brass drift or similar tool. If it's not going high enough, you may need to take a bit off the top shoulders of the FPS.

Filed back the shoulders a bit, and now the firing pin protrudes :) Thx Ken

Got my frame in yesterday, and finished fitting it to the slide. I think I got it pretty good- no wiggle, or motion, but glides back and forth like its on ball bearings.

Also finished up the barrel lug fit- got contact at the right points on the lower legs to the slide stop. However, this was not as pretty of a job as I had hoped... I don't think I cut the upper fitting pads as squarely as I should've... We'll see how much that affects accuracy down the road- but for now, the gun goes into full battery and out without locking. (there's a chance I may have filed the upper fitting pads down beyond what they should be... will that affect function or is that just bad for accuracy?)


However, I ran into an issue trying to install 2 parts to the frame: the magazine catch and the ambi safety.

1- the magazine catch will not fit into the hole... the inner cam pin even when turned into the full lock position won't clear the hole in the frame. As far as I can tell, the cam pin/spring should be installed in the magazine catch assembly before inserting it into the frame. Before I break out the file tho, I thought I'd best check to make sure I'm not doing anything stupid....

2- The ambi safety will not fit all the way down when the firing control group and beavertail is installed. It locks up about 1/4" from the surface of the frame. I can only assume the safety block is making contact with the sear and that's what's preventing it from seating in fully. Can you guys point me to which parts of the ambi safety I need to file back in order to fit it in?

Thanks! (pictures to come later)

It should work fine. You may have affected accuracy very slightly, though if the barrel hood feels firm and you can detect no movement while in battery, you probably haven't affected anything to the extent you'll notice it while shooting.



Sometimes you'll have to knock a corner off the mag release latch with a file to get the assembly to slide into the frame. It shouldn't take much.



First, determine whether the safety has a full range of movement within the frame cutout when the fire control parts are not installed. Sometimes, the inner lug on the safety is tight and will drag on the frame. Next, leave out the beavertail and install everything. Get a flashlight and operate the safety until you can see what is interfering. If all else fails, mark up the inner safety lug with a Sharpie or candle soot, install and operate, and remove to see if you find contact marks.

hmm... never mind. with only the sear and disco installed, the thumb safety moves just fine....

maybe i'm being an idiot and not cocking the hammer to the right angle or something...

You will need to install the hammer, sear spring, and MSH to get the sear into a position to be blocked by the safety. This is the surface of the safety that controls sear movement:

I'm almost too ashamed to admit it... but it was because the leaf spring was underneath the sear and propped it up rather than lying on top of it....

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