rdmosley

Dan, I was wondering why the spitfire had 5 cuts on each side of the slide instead of the 4 that I have seen on some of the other spitfires you've built. Would it have anything to do with "year" coding the gun? (2004, 2005) I have seen custom knives coded in this manner. Anything else you could tell me about the gun would be greatly appreciated. I took the spitfire to the range today and shot it for the first time. It ran flawlessly. The really interesting thing was the first 3 rounds out of the gun made one ragged hole at 25 yards off a rest. I took that as a good omen I was able to get one more double hole during the session but the average was about 1 inch groups. The gun is much more accurate than my ability to hold it steady. Rich

JL, Thanks for the tip. I went back and adjusted the lockup and am getting just a frog hair under .045. Although the barrel and slide lockup reliably with the recoil master, it is still pretty stiff that last 1/8 inch. Also when the slide is locked back, the barrel does not have nearly as much play and looseness as my other STI. Should this ber a concern? Rich

Thanks for the advice guys. It looks like what was needed was a shorter barrel link and some careful filing on the feet to make it snap right into place. Rich

I was the guy who won this gun at the Area 6 match. Still can't believe my luck. The gun is absolutely amazing. Although I have not been shooting IPSC long, I have handled quite a few top end guns and this one has the smoothest action and sweetest trigger of any that I have touched. The attention to detail on the frame and slide cuts is fantastic. All of the premium parts are greatly appreciated! Bedell Custom is at the top of their game! Rest assured the gun has a good home and will shoot lots of matches. In fact, I have signed up to shoot Area 1 out in Montana next month. I was (and still am) in the middle of home building an STI. I wanted something of top quality and decided to try my hand at building a gun. Obviously I will not get anywhere close to the fit or finish of the Bedell gun but it has really given me a prime example of how a top notch gun is supposed to look, feel, and shoot. I will be selling my home built when it is finished but not the Bedell The guys I shoot with at GPSL in Atlanta are really a great bunch of folks. Everytime I have needed help or advice, they have been right there. Not only are they some of the best shooters around, they are real gentlemen! Thanks all you GPSL guys for your support! Rich

Novice here. Advice needed. Experienced gunsmiths…..please HELP!!! I am building an STI Limited gun. I purchased a Nowlin pre-fit barrel for it and have checked tolerances. The Barrel fits very nicely into the slide with almost perfect tolerence on hood width and length (cannot see any light between surfaces). The locking lugs engage about .22 hundreths. The back of the foot engages the slide nicely and touchs the frame with the barrel link installed the way it is supposed to. When I put the barrel and slide on the frame, it comes within 3/16” of an inch of going into full battery. The Slide and Frame are already fitted and very smooth and tight. My question is: what is the next step to fit the barrel properly? I think my options are: 1) file a small amount of surface from the barrel locking lugs (am a little unsure which surfaces to file) 2) fit a shorter barrel link 3)remove a small amount of material from the center of the slide stop pin to reduce its diameter about 3 thousandths on an inch. (But I think slide stop and barrel link should be tight to ensure accuracy.) Any advice is greatly appreciated!!