Posted: 3/9/2010 3:45:23 PM EDT
|
I am thinking of building a 1911 from a kit, what is a good frame and slide and barrel to purchase?
Thanks John |
|
Quoted:
I am thinking of building a 1911 from a kit, what is a good frame and slide and barrel to purchase? Thanks John Fusion offers a complete kit. Caspian would also probably fit your needs, along with a Kart barrel. I just finished a Fusion kit, and just waiting to get it back from IONbond. Everything seemed liked great parts, and it shot very well before I sent it in for finishing. Plus, they are there every step of the way, if you have any questions or problems. good luck, hope you enjoy building yours as much as I did building mine. |
|
I used a Caspian slide and blem receiver (Foster). Fusion seems to be getting the thumbs up as well and they will do the slide fit and ejector. I think Caspian also offers that as an option but at the time I want to do everything, silly me. Slide to frame fit is probally the most frustrating part of the process and requires some big hammers and wood blocks. My guess is that the Fusion needs just a little work to get the slide to frame fit to ultra silky.
I've used a Kart ez fit barrel w/ fitted bushing (upgrade on existing 1911) and a Nowlin barrel with matching barrel bushing on my build. Both weren't too bad but the barrel bushing can be a pain to fit to the slide. I think if you want to choke every last bit of accuracy you will want to do a hard fit but that seemed too hard for me hence the semi pre fit route. Use small parts of your choice. Ordered from Brownells and Midway due to one being out of stock of what I wanted. I like the Brownells discount but some things are actually cheaper at Midway. Good swiss files are the shit. Can't believe how sharp those bastards are. I've finished mine initially with an electroless Nickel finish but it was too shiny and ghetto like. Bought more chemicals and removed that crap. Winded up going with Wheeler Ceramic spray. That stuff coats on thick so you have to watch out for your tolerances. Down the road I'd like to get it ion bonded or melonite but for now it's ok with the $30 spray job. I should have spent a few more bucks and just bought a new Wilson for the amount of money I dumped into mine, but then how many people can say they built their own 1911. It took me a complete year to build from the time I put in the order with Caspian to it's completed state but then it was not a priority for me and just something to do when I was completely bored. Was shooting it in the white for many months to break in. Have fun John and watch your money fly away. ;) |
|
I'm in the beginning stages of a Fusion build. I specified a kit with a different frame and slide combo than Bob offers and I had them fit the slide to the frame. I didn't ask for it, but they also fitted the barrel and bushing that I also purchased from them.
You get a 15% discount on parts when you buy a kit from Bob. Pick and choose from the parts list and buy other brands as you see fit (re: material and construction technique). I'm the end, I could have asked Bob to build me the pistol I will end up with for the same money, but being so particular I wanted to do it myself and learn along the way. Bob has been responsive since I bought the parts from him. A tip- go to Harbor Freight and buy the tools you need their. You can get files, scribes, punches, etc for cheap. You won't be using them for daily production, so any lack of quality shouldn't matter. Obviously so tools you'll want to get from Midway or Brownells. Look for "nutnfancy" YouTube videos (2 part) with Terry G the gunsmith at Impact Gun Ogden. Terry goes over the fitting of the finer details - sear, trigger and safety. Good video if you focus on Terry's work. Get the Kuhnhausen Volume 1 manual. I bought the second book too. Probably don't need it, but my techincal library needs growth :) |