okw

Welcome. I'm also from Morgantown. Haven't shot USPSA since you started competing (about 12 years ago). Back then I shot 9x23, as 9mm Major was just starting to come around. I used to travel around to all of the USPSA matches within a couple hours, but these days, I pretty much just shoot IDPA since it's the only game in town, with a few steel shoots mixed in. If you haven't shot there (I haven't met anyone there named Austin), you should come out to the Mason-Dixon range on the first Saturday of the month for their IDPA match. As for the 9mm Major gun, have you considered building your own? That's what I did for my Open gun more than 15 years ago. It can be a little work to get it running well, but it's a ton of fun shooting something you built yourself. Hope to see you at a match. Keith

Yep, that's pretty much my method.

I thought it would be interesting to go to that, especially if he's in the new shop by then, but I doubt I'll get there. Even though it would be slightly closer for me than you.

For the record, for a "home-built" firearm, you are not allowed to create the CAD or G-code files and send them off for someone else to machine the frame or receiver of a firearm for you. The person that will own the firearm must personally do the machining themselves. The only way you can send the files to someone else is if that person has a license to manufacture firearms and they transfer the finished firearm frame or receiver to you through an FFL dealer, filling out all of the necessary paperwork for purchasing a firearm. If the person that will be running the machine 3 counties away is one of your parents, then that will be fine. Otherwise, this could mean serious fines and jail time for all those involved.

You are correct that anybody who is not prohibited from possessing a firearm can manufacture a firearm for themselves without a manufacturer's license according to federal law (with some restrictions and exceptions regarding the NFA). Not having a license shouldn't be an issue for you. But what you may need to check into are the federal, state, and local laws regarding possession of a firearm (and specifically a handgun) by someone under the age of 18. That does vary from location to location. The gun may need to be "owned" by your parents. Which may complicate who can "manufacture" the frame. The other parts are not an issue. As far as the difference in parts for a 2011, the frame and pretty much all of the frame parts are common among the different calibers. However, many of the top-end parts are different. Those include the barrel, slide, extractor, ejector, firing pin, slide stop, and probably something else that I've forgotten. Also, the magazines are different (obviously). Good luck in your adventure! I'd love to see the progress of your build as you go. For reference, it took me 2 weeks of evenings to make my first 2011 frame on my manual machines.

Gary lightened an Open gun slide for me (back before I got my own machines) and did a fantastic job. He had it done in less than a week, but this was years ago, so that may not be accurate these days. I've seen several other guns he's built and they were all beautiful and ran flawlessly. One of those belongs to a friend (a Limited GM) who won't let anyone else touch his guns.

When I left the IDPA match yesterday, I topped off my mags (from 8 rounds for CCP division to 17 for carry) and was ready to go. However, since it had stopped raining, I changed my conceallment garment to a polar fleece from the raincoat that I had been wearing previously.