# 1911 build project



## ScottD (Apr 6, 2010)

I have a few 1911's but wanted a new one as my main EDC.
My current EDC is a 1911 but is starting to show a little holster wear and although it shoots great, I just decided to get another.

I went shopping for a cheap well used Springfield - i found one for under $600 that turns out seems very new.  The parkerizing isn't worn off of the rails, hammer, or barrel/bushing areas - I'd say less than 50 rounds.  Its a little better than what I wanted but the price was right and it already had novak night sights, so that actually saved me some $ in the end.

Here's what I got.






no - i did not put the idiot scratch - it came that way.


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## ScottD (Apr 6, 2010)

From past experience, the first thing I checked was the bushing to barrel  to slide fit.

Barrel OD is .577 
Bushing ID .583

Bushing OD is .697
Slide ID is .701

this one is a lot better than the last one i bought - but i still think i will go with a EGW angled bore bushing with a .702 OD  and a .579 ID

That will give me .002 clearance on the barrel (was .006)
and .001 on the slide fit (was .004)

I may have to lap the bushing into the slide, as I don't want to have to use a bushing wrench on a carry gun.


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## ScottD (Apr 6, 2010)

OK - here is the cool part.  I plan on using Cerakote (two tone) and wanted to use the bake on version.

With some help and advise from JGlenn - i built my own oven.

I went to the thrift store and bought one of those hinged type electric grillers for $2.  Then i went to home depot and bought a 10" adjustable vent angle pipe and a piece of flat sheet.  I had the temperature contoller, relay, and thermocouple from an old project at work, but I think i could have used the temp control from the griller just as well.
I used a hammer and chisel, and after 15 minutes I had removed the heater element from the griller.

So here is what i ended up with.


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## DblTee (Apr 6, 2010)

Any excuse to buy another gun works for me.

That oven is pretty cool.  I like the grill thermometer in the top.  Post some pics of the pistol after you get done.

I do have a question though, why didn't you get a toaster oven at the thrift store?  I realize you could expand yours to do a rifle and you wouldn't get the satisfaction of building anything.  Just wondering.


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## ScottD (Apr 6, 2010)

I really wanted to be able to hang the parts so i needed enough space.  I looked at a toaster oven but just too small. 

 As a side note - if you run a thrift store and sell grillers - I would actually clean them before selling them - you might be able to get $4 instead of $2.  I don't mean really clean - but at least brush the food off.


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## jglenn (Apr 8, 2010)

Looks good Scott


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## no clever name (Apr 8, 2010)

ScottD said:


> I really wanted to be able to hang the parts so i needed enough space.  I looked at a toaster oven but just too small.



I was wondering the same thing, been saving an old toaster oven my wife wanted to throw away just in case I got the urge to coat a gun.  I've also seen people use smokers and metal trash cans as ovens.




ScottD said:


> As a side note - if you run a thrift store and sell grillers - I would actually clean them before selling them - you might be able to get $4 instead of $2.  I don't mean really clean - but at least brush the food off.


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## ScottD (Apr 10, 2010)

Well I completely disassembled the pistol. Ordered some parts from Brownells.  Decided I would get started on the "dehorning" or breaking of all the sharp edges.





once i started looking at this step, I was amazed at the number of edges left sharp.  On this slide - mainly around the ejection port and the ends of the front slide serrations.  I used only stones and a lot of time.


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## georgiaboy (Apr 12, 2010)

Nice work, marking this thread~


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## ScottD (Apr 14, 2010)

Got a shipment in from Brownells today.  Wolff springs, Bushing, Mainspring Housing etc.

Also sent the receiver to Dave Helton in Washington State to have the front strap machined.


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## Huntinfool (Apr 14, 2010)

I have no idea what you just said.....but I hope the build goes well.


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## bighonkinjeep (Apr 14, 2010)

That looks like a great starting point. Looks like that one already has a few goodies on her.Probably like a bunch of us project junkies didnt even shoot it first. Did ya?


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## ScottD (Apr 14, 2010)

Heck no.  I was afraid it would shoot better "before" than "after".  Easy answer to that is just don't shoot it till after.


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## DerrickT (Apr 15, 2010)

Looks sharp! I am in for updates... I have a dehorned cerakoted springer I'm working on as well!


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## BamaBart (Apr 16, 2010)

Very interesting!


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## ScottD (Apr 16, 2010)

The project for today was the barrel bushing.  I had purchased a prefit angled bored bushing made by EGW.  The fit on the barrel is good and required no fitting, but as expected, the fitting in the slide was a might tight.

Here is the raw bushing.





At first i couldn't get the bushing into the slide more than about a 1/4".  First, using 400 grit paper, i polished the bushing OD and the slide ID just to make sure there were no burrs causing my problem.  After a little fitting, i realized that the bore in the slide was only tight side to side but fine up and down.  So again with 400 grit paper and a dowel i worked on the slide a little.





and lots of test fitting





Soon i had the bushing to were it would slide in, and then worked a little more so that it can still be installed by hand (sans bushing wrench).  The only concern is what will happen when the cerakote is applied?  Its not an area that shows but the fit is still pretty tight and the cerakote may make the fit too tight.

Also, while I had the bushing out, I beveled the edge severely.  Here is a picture of the finished bushing. 





And finally, installed with the barrel.  Looks like a good fit except i decided i need to also bevel the notch where the guide rod button sits.


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## bighonkinjeep (Apr 16, 2010)

You're on your way. Now watch the "light de horning" turn into a full carry meltdown.


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## jglenn (Apr 17, 2010)

not to worry too much Scott. Cerakote is Very thin.  About .001 when typically applied


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## ScottD (Apr 19, 2010)

Got a package today from VZ.

If you have a facebook account - (or make up one) you can go to their facebook page and get a $7 coupon.

these are Operators - full length with new screws from brownells.


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## DerrickT (Apr 20, 2010)

Black Desert Sand & Black correct?
That's the same set of grips I'd like on my build! The mil-tacs I have will do for now.
Have you shot it with the barrel bushing yet?


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## ScottD (Apr 20, 2010)

Yep - Black Desert Sand.  Right now the receiver is at D&V Small Arms in Washington (state) having some machine work done on the front strap.  As soon as I get the receiver back I will be ready for paint - I won't fire it until I get it completed and assembled.  I am worried about the trigger group - its factory and i don't need anything real light for a carry gun, but it still needs to be a nice trigger.  I can always go back in and replace the trigger group later so no big worries.

I have acouple of concerns right now.

#1  will the raw metal areas paint the same as the parkerized areas?  will the color be off?

#2  It has Novak tritium sights on the pistol - my first inclination is to do all the work with the sights in place. I dont want to chip the cerakote installing the sights and i don't see any reason not to paint with them in place, other than the cooking.  I have read of it being done (cooking the tritium) but its a risk.  I can always have the tritium replaced and these are about 8 years old anyway.

Next step - Bead Blasting.


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## ScottD (Apr 23, 2010)

I bought this blast gun from Harbor Freight - It was on sale for $16.99 in the store - can't beat that.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=95793

I used glass bead - puts on a nice even light matte finish.







this will give you an idea of before (left) and after (Right)





I have glass bead in every crevice of my body - hair, shoes, ears, underwear.  You would think I had spent a week living on the beach.

this weekend i will wash everything in my ultrasonic cleaner and then be ready for paint.  The only item missing is the receiver...not due back for a couple of weeks.


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## jglenn (Apr 23, 2010)

need a cabinet Scott...LOL


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## ScottD (Apr 23, 2010)

I actually have access to a cabinet at work - but i figured it was only a few small parts...and how big a mess could it possibly be?


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## 99Tarbox (Apr 23, 2010)

Apparently, one huge mess!  

I'm really enjoying this thread.


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## ScottD (Apr 26, 2010)

Wow! Guess what came in the mail today?  The frame came back from my pistol smith Dave Helton of D&V Small Arms.

Dave Helton is a pistol smith in Washington (state).  Yes, I know its a long way off, but mail is cheap and quick.  Dave is a fantastic smith with great communication skills.  I emailed Dave about my project and he had me send my frame.  He said "Tell me when you ship it so I will know to look for it"  Dave then sent me an email saying it had arrived.  Later he contacted me to discuss what my options were as far as the texture being applied and i told him what I wanted.  He then sent me another email with an explanation of exactly what he did and that my frame had been shipped - 2 weeks early!

Dave is a stand-up guy offering great customer service, a good price, and great quality work.  I would recommend Dave to anyone needing a pistol smith.  Don't let the fact that he is on the other side of the country bother you.

Dave Helton - D&V Small Arms
Federal Way, WA
206-898-5111
http://www.dvsmallarms.com/

Here is Dave's work
The frame was on older style Springfield so Dave had to first machine a "true" radius on the front strap before doing the pattern.  You can see where the front strap was machined and blended - great work.





here is a close up - you can see how exact each machine cut is.


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## goob (Apr 26, 2010)

that looks awesome!


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## georgiaboy (Apr 26, 2010)

goob said:


> that looks awesome!



 

Don't forget to pour mojo on it before reassembly and be sure to sprinkle vodoo on it as well.  Those are key to 1911 success right?


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## ScottD (Apr 27, 2010)

Time to fit and blend the magwell.  Its an Ed Brown magwell and the fit was great - just a little filing and sanding to get the fit perfect.

This is what the fit looks like when i started.
you can see how much of a mismatch there is .





this side is completed.


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## Fro1911nut (Apr 27, 2010)

Scott u are giving me idea's and that is dangerous! I'm working on bedding the 308 now..so if it comes apart then I might fill frogy enough to play with my Springer...

Hillbilly


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## ScottD (May 9, 2010)

Well work the last couple of weeks has interfered with my project - but I finally got finished blasting all the parts.

One mistake was trying to clean all the parts in an ultrasonic cleaner after blasting - this induced a very fine rust on the surface and i had to go back and re-blast a bunch of parts.

So time to spray paint.





Cerakote goes on easy - I used an airbrush.  Goes on evenly and thin no problem with runs.  I started with the black parts painted them all and in the oven.





2 hours at 250F.  U used electrical tape to mask off the tritium sights and the barrel hood.  Electrical tape will melt at 250F but wasn't too bad - left a little sticky residue I had to clean off afterward.

The 250F temp didin't seem to hurt the tritium at all.

So the Black is finished. I will go with the next color this week.


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## contender* (May 9, 2010)

Looking good so far, can't wait to see the final product. I like the "homade" oven. I've been using KG Gunkote and my wife's oven. The smell dissipates in a couple of hours if you leave the doors open and the vent fan going. Gotta get pretty creative with the parts stands though.


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## jglenn (May 9, 2010)

gotta love Cerakote don't ya Scott.


darn stuff is almost run free... dang near impossible to make it run as it goes on so thin.


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## obsession (May 9, 2010)

ScottD said:


> So the Black is finished. I will go with the next color this week.


itll be interesting to see if the trigger bow still travels freely between that magazine and the frame. you have done some nice stuff so far though.


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## ScottD (May 10, 2010)

OH Crap!   I think I am going to be sick.

I painted my second color today - Sniper Grey.  I thought it looked funny when i was putting in on, but you know how paint can be sometimes.  So i went ahead and sprayed all the pieces and cooked them.

It is green!  OD green!  I talked to NIC and Brownells - it is believed to be a mismarked container.  I was also told by both that sandblast will remove the wrong color cerakote. 

I see if I can get a picture up.

Here is a Black next to the "Grey" under fluorescent lighting





again in natural sunlight





Brownells is going to physically check the color before shipping the replacement.  Back to the blasting.


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## Wiskey_33 (May 11, 2010)

Did you bead blast the frame before painting it? I'd like to see how the "snakeskin" smooths out after blasting.


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## ScottD (May 11, 2010)

Yep - i bead blasted the frame before paint.  The bead blasting removed all the tool marks on the snakeskin and made it look great.





this picture is after blasting a second time - removed all of the green cerakote - brownells has replaced the cerakote. UPS has it now - maybe done by the weekend?


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## Wiskey_33 (May 12, 2010)

Wow. Looks great. I'm going to look into getting my DE front strap checkered from them. Seems a good price for the work.


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## Apex Predator (May 12, 2010)

Looks like you forgot to bead blast above the scales though! 

Just poking you.  It all looks great so far.  I'm really enjoying this thread.


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## ScottD (May 15, 2010)

Well its done.  Finished the paint and did the assembly. A couple of issues.  One is the trigger seems very light.  I polished the surfaces but that's about it - I will have to measure to see what the actual weight is.  The cerakote is smooth but the color is funky on the forged frame in relation to the other parts.  For some reason the steel and MIM parts are more gray and the forged part is a little darker.  Still looks good though.

Here are what was done.
Dehorned entire pistol.
Added Ed Brown Mainspring housing with Magwell.
Blended in magwell.
Wolff springs all around including a 18.5lb recoil spring and  a 19lb mainspring.
Cerakote is Graphite Black & Sniper Gray.
Chip McCcormick Power Mags.
VZ Grips
EGW barrel bushing.


Well here are the pics.


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## ScottD (May 15, 2010)

More pics.


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## ScottD (May 15, 2010)

And finally some outside shots to show the color a little better.


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## ScottD (May 15, 2010)

The holster is on order - still about 3 months out.  From Tt Gun Leather.  This one.


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## DblTee (May 15, 2010)

Great looking gun, thanks for posting the progress


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## Nitro (May 15, 2010)

I think you did an outstanding job!!!!!!

Great looking pistol that will serve you well. A 1911 will always be my #1 choice for a carry gun.


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## Apex Predator (May 15, 2010)

Fabulous job on that one!  Thanks for taking us along.


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## ScottD (May 15, 2010)

Well scratch that....
now has a 21lb mainspring along with a little tweaking on the sear spring - finally got trigger pull up from 2lbs/2oz to a nice 3lb/7oz.

I think that will do.


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## STONEWALL0628 (May 15, 2010)

Sweet............................................


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## fuelman1 (May 16, 2010)

That gun is a thing of beauty. Very nice work. I see a pair of those grips in my future.


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## jlweems (May 16, 2010)

Nice work.


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## bowbuck (May 17, 2010)

Not a 1911 guy, but that is one sweet piece. Very nice job, I wish I had skills like that.


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## EMC-GUN (May 18, 2010)

Great project/build and great write up!


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## Dub (May 22, 2010)

Outstanding work!!!!!

Pistol looks spectacular!!!!!!


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## mashley707 (May 22, 2010)

very nice, how does it shoot?


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## Dub (May 23, 2010)

mashley707 said:


> very nice, how does it shoot?



The suspense is building!!!


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## Cleburne (May 23, 2010)

Very nice, congrats.


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## blpbxyf (May 30, 2010)

Very nice


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## shakey hunter (May 31, 2010)

Makes me want a 1911. Super work keep us posted please.


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## ScottD (Jul 7, 2010)

Well after many trips to the range and hundreds of rounds, i think i have it finished.  Here are some 25ft targets.  It does feed reliably now (after a few spring changes), with no FTF's in the last maybe 700-800 rounds, and actually none since the last spring change from a 18lb recoil spring to a 16lb. 

Here is a target with some LSWC that i use for practice.






and another where i tested my carry ammo.  This stuff is a little more snappy but i feel like it shoots better than the LSWC even though the targets don't show it.  I need a little more trigger time to fix that problem with pulling shots low.  Can you say anticipation?


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## jglenn (Jul 8, 2010)

Scott,   nice job with you build.. we used to call that something other than ...anticipation. 

you rarely need anything more than a 16 lb spring as you found..

this is the std. spring for a 45 ball gun and most all jacketed bullet loads. the 1911 was built around this spring for it's timing.

  I had an old friend( allen fulford) who was a NRA national champion several times over  ask me one time why I couldn't do better than mid 80's in slow fire bullseye at 50 yards... I could fire high 90's timed fire and mid 90's rapid fire ( 25 yards) but struggled big time with slow fire until..... he asked me this....

he asked me if I thought I could walk up to the target and hold the pistol steady enough to hit the ten ring from 1 foot.. I said sure, so he asked me why I couldn't do it from 50 yards.. it certainly wasn't my ability to hold the pistol steady enough to keep it in the 10 ring(2 1/2").  it was ALL about sight picture and trigger control...mainly sight picture as I had trigger control down from many years of shooting NRA bulleye.. After that one thought, my scores improved almost 10 points in every slow fire  leg and I went from a very average shooter to the expert class. (never did get to masters....)

if you concentrate on the front sight and the overall sight picture, almost anyone's score with an open sight pistol( or rifle) will improve. if you look at the target and forget the sight picture  you will continue to struggle. it's unbelievable how far a bad sight picture can throw a round off the target.

sight picture ...sight picture... sight picture and then trigger control.. let the pistol float  where it wants..that movement will be within the overall size of your 10 ring. 

BTW folks,most bullseye 45s are guaranteed to hold 2 1/2 " at 50 yards so if you do your part the pistol is capable  of 10 ring scores...

Not you everyday 1911.

if you all ever really want to learn to shoot a 45(or 22) then try NRA bullseye shooting. One hand at 50 and 25 yards...


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## ScottD (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks Jimmy.  You are right - i used to shoot a few action pistol matches and was always amazed at how well i could shoot when its "run and gun".  This past year has been busy with work.

Previous years i shot rifles, shotguns & pistols at least every other week - if not every week.  This past year its been once a month.  Not only pistol shooting, but my Benchrest shooting has not been up to par either.  But things are looking up and maybe soon i'll drop back to one job and have some more time to play.

Now if I can ever figure out the trick to shooting on the move......

Scott


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## Gentleman4561 (Jul 9, 2010)

AWESOME! I wish i knew how to do this kind of stuff.


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## crab0000 (Jul 16, 2010)

Awesome work! Maybe one day...............


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## Gentleman4561 (Dec 14, 2011)

Just thought I would bump this up for how awesome it is.  I duracoated one of my guns and am looking at cerakote for the next application.


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## jglenn (Dec 15, 2011)

you'll love cerakote.. much thinner than Duracoat..

I find it easier to spray


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