JoeyMac

Thanks. Well I compromised… I figure clearance is clearance, but didn’t want to get too tight. So I cut the rib and ended up with .007-.008 clearance on each side and .006 at the rear… about 2X what I wanted but half of the instructions. Although the rear clearance will probably open up .001 or so as the radial lugs peen and wear in. Cut the hood width to .006 undersize (.003 clearance don each side) and machined the hood length .001 long to finish the fit with files.

What sort of clearance should there be on Scheumann or SVI island style barrels at the sides and back? I know there needs to be no contact or the slide/barrel can crack - I just don’t know how much. .003? .005? .010? I once read somewhere like .015-.020, and I remember it being from a reputable source… but I can’t find it now, and that just seems like a very very large gap. Much more than necessary on a well-fit 1911. My gut feeling is like .003 on the sides and .005 on the back verifies with feelers should be fine.

I hope that’s not the case… although I’m not too sensitive on grip angles. For years my two primary carry pistols have been a 1911 and a Glock and find neither disagreeable.

I’ve already got on order a Wilson eXperior (X9 double stack 2011ish frame); no need for a CS/C2. I mean based on approximate measurements, it should be doable to chop an ODS or VIP frame for 113mm SV magazines (assuming SV mag tubes ACTUALLY fit and function otherwise in current staccato or gen1 STI frames)… and it could be clean looking too. MS Paint showing a 7mm cut on ODS grip.

I’d like to put together a compact 2011 specifically for carry. I’m primarily looking at a staccato or Cheely grip on a Brazos or JEM slide and frame set. A round butt C2/VIP grip would be decent, but I noticed SVI makes 113mm mags. As cool as the SVI compact carry grip is, it’s got a pretty hefty price tag around $750+ with options… So I was thinking that using a 120 mm C2/VIP grip chopped to use SVI 113mm mags would be half the cost and lighter. People chop/notch out full size grips for 120mm mags all the time… So what’s to stop me from chopping a 120mm grip for 113mm mag’s? Does an SVI mag work in a VIP (gen1) or C2 ODS (gen2) grip? If not, why not; what else needs modified to make it work? I’ve seen varying reports of compatibility of SVI mags in STI/staccato/Cheely/etc grips. I’m not sure which to believe or if it’s a generational thing or what’s compatible and what’s not. Worst case scenario I guess would be to just shorten some regular 120/126/140 staccato or MBX mags tubes to 113mm… it shouldn’t be THAT hard. But I’d rather just buy a couple quality 113mm mags and then carry 140’s for reloads.

I don’t know why the Scheumann barrels aren’t more popular (not they they’re not), but when you consider shop costs of extra slide lightening and porting on top of installing a great barrel… they’re cheap. Installing a $350 schuemann gets you a top tier barrel, lighter slide, and effective porting.

If I wanted to make a top end for range and steel and stuff, would factory/typical 9mm have enough oomph to cycle a 6” slide with a Tribrid barrel? Perhaps modest lightening on the slide (the long hybrid cut and tritop). Or is that just too much porting with too much slide to have a hope of running typical ammo? If not, think the regular Hybrid 2-Comp or Hybrid 3-Ported could do it.

You wouldn’t HAVE to if you tapered and rounded the nose of the FLGR just a bit. It would still extend into the spring plug and be well constrained while in battery then easily be guided into the hole. Wilson Combat does this on some of their guns; the guide rod is about 1/4” behind the actual hole it goes through. But if you wanted a FLGR that sat all the way forward in the plug hole, then yes you need a longer than gov FLGR. But a 6” FLGR can be cut down easily enough. You’d also want to chamfer and slot the top edge of the FLGR like a commander Guide rod for link/lug clearance.

If building a gun from scratch, don't you pretty much get a free 0.080"-0.100" extra slide travel by putting a government slide on a commander frame? Yes, the commander-railed frame would need a long dustcover (which I think most do anyways)... But it'd be a way to basically get more stroke for free using an off the shelf frame/slide without having to cut the spring tunnel and extend the slide rail cuts. And this would still be true and doable whether it was a 4.25" short or 4.6" mid chopped-government slide, right? Is there something I'm missing here, because I tried searching for this using a few search terms and can't find much.

Honestly the wait bothers me more than the $900+.

So I found out; cost is around $950 for the cut, one optic plate and a DLC slide refinish … AND a 4-6mo turnaround. I really dig the mechanics and look of the IOS system and was pretty dead set on getting the modification and was expecting to hear something in the $600 range. Now I’m having second thoughts. That’s probably over a grand with shipping each way when a Chambers Custom RDSM sits low enough for a cowitness, costs $300 out the door, and takes less than a week.

Anybody here send a non-Nighthawk slide to Nighthawk Custom for their IOS optic plate setup? What did the cost and lead time look like on that work for sending in a slide of a different make? I’m not too interested in the whole “swap the plate out to seamlessly shoot irons only again” feature … but mostly because interchangeable plates future-proof optics selections. And the IOS just looks awesome: a) It’s LOW. So low in fact that you can cowitness the short factory iron sight … meaning it presents your dot with a natural draw and presentation. b) It (should be) STRONG. Most plate setups and many direct mounts rely on very shallow screw thread engagements… especially on the extractor side. A precision dovetail should offer more shear stress area than a couple of screws holding on with just a couple threads AND without the fear of stripping out tiny screws either. And even cooler is that the IOS wedged shape dovetail is self-tightening in recoil against the slide rearward travel and forward stop.

well, that’s one way to make sure you sell all of them immediately…

Are the “120mm” mags what the C2 uses (ie: the 16-round ones)? im a little confused because all those above talk about using government mainspring housings… wouldn’t that be a full size grip?

Yes, that’s it. I just want to keep the gun a bit flatter to help with keeping the dot in the window faster. I don’t really care about the 9mm “recoil” at all… it’s for a carry gun, not matches. sounds like v-comp, magnaport, or popple holes down the top is going to better for keeping length versus a thread-on comp.

I don’t know that there’s enough meat on a .550” TS/TSO barrel to thread the 40 tube … most 40 barrels are threaded 9/16”, no? Groove dia is .400 and 1/2-28 min minor dia is going to be .451 and even a 1/2-32 thread only gets your minor up to .457 … that’s not a lot of material. You could probably use some sort of custom shoulderless .550” thread and then index on the muzzle, but you’d have to custom make (or rethread) the comp. I had one of the 9mm threaded barrels dropped into my .40 TS and it works awesome.

Also, you never mentioned… DID this pistol have cycling issues for you before modifying it? Did the modification cure the malfunctions (if any)? did the factory mags need work/tuning? I hear the slides and prodigy is fit well… it’s just full of MIM junk that needs replaced and hand fit.

Be sure to clean out the loctite from the extractor hole again in a few days. It won’t cause an issue now, but if more seeps out it could cure in/on the extractor and channel (even if it doesn’t leak all the way out onto the barrel) and cause issues. Or creep to the rear extractor/slide interface and glue the extractor in place.

And then he’d like to thank BP, for selling him the Premium Gasoline to make the trip to the range; BP premium fuels come supercharged with Invigorate(TM) additives that help clean the engine on his 2022 Ford F-150 he bought at Park Ford, where finance rates are second to no one. Go see what Park Ford can do for you today. Use promo code EnosForums and get 10% off your next blinker fluid refill.

When thinking outside the box keeps you from fitting in the box well done!

And is the front sight supposed to be lose (able to be wiggles a little) in the front dovetail? Both of my Les Baers are like that; if you got the pin out the would be able to be slid out of the dovetail by hand (if not slide out on their own). Unfortunately, Les Baer doesn’t have through holes on the roll pins so I figured they’d have to be drilled out or he front sight tip cut off.

I’m looking for a comprehensive list of all the shops that make a metal (aluminum, steel, stainless) 2011 grip that is a little shorter (like the stacatto C2 length). I like the C2 grip length, but just looking for a non-polymer upgrade.

“I can’t get it off but I’m prepared to go forward anyways” OMFG… I’m dying.

How do you remove the front sight on a Les Baer? It’s pinned in with a blind roll pin.