Gunsmith recommendations in West Texas.

[WestTex]

Hey guys. I need a recommendation for a gunsmith in West Texas. Just got a used open gun. It's an SVI frame and slide. The slide has the rear shelf cut. My question is, Can anyone in the area cut it for a slide racker with it having the removable breach face taking up real estate?

I also would like a new mount installed as the current one uses an oddball single sided 6 screw hole mount. I'm guessing the frame would have to be welded and re-tapped. 

Any pointers in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking!

[WestTex]

Oh, and if it matters, it is a Doug Jones Acc-u-railed gun.

[Steve RA]

Jimmy Mitchell in Breckenridge does good work.

 

https://www.facebook.com/Mitchell-Custom-Guns-The-Bulletworks-505649922863587/

 

They also have excellent cast bullets.

[WestTex]

Thanks Steve, I'll contact them today. 

[BeerBaron]

I had this issue (sv ibf slide with shelf cut) I managed to fit a Brazos zig racker. I had to cut the dovetail partially into the swoop part of the rear cut. Worked out well though. 

 

The best bet is keep the frame holes as they are and buy a new mount un-drilled and drill the new mount to match your frame holes. 

Edited May 19, 2017 by BeerBaron

[WestTex]

13 minutes ago, BeerBaron said:

I had this issue (sv ibf slide with shelf cut) I managed to fit a Brazos zig racker. I had to cut the dovetail partially into the swoop part of the rear cut. Worked out well though. 

 

The best bet is keep the frame holes as they are and buy a new mount un-drilled and drill the new mount to match your frame holes. 

I actually read that thread! That was kind of the inspiration and I was hoping to get someone in my area to attempt the same on mine. I'm going to take my gun into Mitchell Custom soon for him to check it out. Which racker would you recommend for this application?

As far as the mount, not only is it an oddball hole pattern, it is slightly canted down in front and kind of bothers me aesthetically. I think Mitchell was hinting at doing the same thing to the frame. If that's the case then it is what it is. I was just hoping to fix that.

[WestTex]

Is it a big job to weld and retap the holes? I'm not really worried about finish because I was planning on refinishing the gun in black. I just wanted the frame and slide work done before I did it. BeerBarron, are you by chance a gunsmith?

[BeerBaron]

Im not a professional smith. I'm just an 'enthusiastic amateur'.  

 

Welding the holes up would be my last resort. In my opinion. 

 

If you go to someone with a half decent mill they can correct the problem. 

 

Typically when you drill an existing hole the cutting bit will pull and try to self centre on the old hole. But if you set the frame up in a mill (or even a good drill press) you can cut the new, larger hole off centre of the old hole. In that way you can make small corrections to the spacing between the holes and any relative offset. 

 

My sv frame was drilled with holes that went 1-2 10mm, 2-3 9.53mm (.375) and 3-4 10mm again. 

 

By increasing the hole diameter I was able to correct the spacing to 10mm between them all as well as introduce the usual 1 degree slant. I then tapped the now larger holes to accept a m4 metric fine thread. 

 

Nice sharp cutters, decent vice/fixture and a mill head that holds tight tolerance make it a fairly simple job. 

 

Talk to the local smith and see what they say. They will likely have a good solution. 

 

For the racker I really like the brazos zig racker (I now have them on 3 of my pistols). 

 

I much prefer the racker on the left side (helps for table starts and easier to grab with my left hand) which means it must be easy to remove. To me set screws are less than ideal. Using the spring and ball detent to retain the racker works well. 

 

You can fit the ball and spring in the slide then use any racker and just drill a dimple in the racker, or use the brazos racker which has the balls in the racker (drill dimple in the slide). There are pluses and minuses to each option. 

 

Brazos plusses:

Fairly easy to fit. 

Nice retention with dual balls

no need to drill a pocket for the spring and ball in the slide. 

It's nicely shaped and nicely finished 

the one sided dovetail looks neat. 

 

The downsides are:

its $30-$40 more than 'regular' rackers 

the dovetail it needs is deeper than most 'conventional' rackers (this is because it has the springs and balls inside it). 

Regular dovetailed racker can usually be swapped from left to right if you like, the Brazos cannot because of the dovetail cut not going right across. 

 

My 2 choices of racker would be the Brazos or the Matt cheely racker. Matts racker has a very slim dovetail piece and is beautifuly machined. But it will require a set screw or fitting the ball detents in the slide. 

 

The difficulty is with the ibf you have to move your dovetail back a little and there may not be much 'meat' between the top of the slide and the firing pin tunnel. You want to avoid breaking into there if you can.

 

i solved it on my particular slide by cutting it partially into the rear swoop cut which meant the front of the racker was actually below the top of the slide while the rear is about 1mm proud. It was a compromise but it worked well and actually looks quite neat. 

[WestTex]

Thanks for the reply BeerBarron, this should help me on my quest to get this slide racker done. I like the way yours turned out so I've saved the pictures to take to a smith I've been in contact with. I just need to get some down time to take it to him. Im hoping he can replicate yours.  I really like the way this particular gun shoots and just want to bring it up to date. 

[BeerBaron]

That was my motivation too. I had a great sv that shot nicely and had good 'foundations' but needed updating. 

 

It had an aim point scope (with the messed up 'custom' hole spacing) and no racker. 

 

It now has nice even hole spacing (still not standard cmore but easy to get blank mounts), 90 mounted and setback cmore and a big long removable racker. 

 

Not only is the gun more functional but it looks more modern now too. 

 

In fact I'm about the remove the 90 cmore and update it to the current generation with an rts2 on a Brazos mount (bought undrilled). Then it'll match my other 2 opens in optic choice at least. 

 

I'm sure yours will come out nicely.

 

 

[WestTex]

On 6/2/2017 at 8:31 AM, BeerBaron said:

That was my motivation too. I had a great sv that shot nicely and had good 'foundations' but needed updating. 

 

It had an aim point scope (with the messed up 'custom' hole spacing) and no racker. 

 

It now has nice even hole spacing (still not standard cmore but easy to get blank mounts), 90 mounted and setback cmore and a big long removable racker. 

 

Not only is the gun more functional but it looks more modern now too. 

 

In fact I'm about the remove the 90 cmore and update it to the current generation with an rts2 on a Brazos mount (bought undrilled). Then it'll match my other 2 opens in optic choice at least. 

 

I'm sure yours will come out nicely.

 

 

I'm hoping so. It's got clean lines and a hybrid barrel but I may have some slide lightening done whilethe racker is cut. I did order a deltapoint pro and a new blank mount for it so that should solve that problem. 

Since its an older plastic grip SVI, research tells me the frames are identical to sti so a pt evo grip may be in the cards as well. I haven't handled an aggressive SVI signature grip so im not sure which direction to go. Have any suggestions?

[BeerBaron]

I've handled a pt evo but not shot one. I think is a very nice product. Sv should also be able to sell you a grip that fits if you tell them you have an older sv with plastic grip. 

 

Ill probably go ck grip on my sv as my other 2 open guns already have that grip. At this point it'd be pretty pricey to swap all 3 to a pt. but I do think the pt is a better product. 

 

Try and handle one if you can. Not everyone likes the really aggressive texture.