want2race

Harbor Freight has a hand held, vertical feed (hopper) media blaster. Normally sells for about $20. Add some compressed air, aluminum oxide (they sell those too) and some free area to blast in (back yard) and you're set. Not ideal, but it will work for a couple pistols. The media is use and lose since it's not in a cabinet. Here's a before and after. Blued turned to black via Brownells Manganese Phosphate at 190* for 6-8 minutes.

"The F.O.N." agrees. I tried to "just shoot for score" on the classifier. It nearly worked, AND my times were still right there. Have you told you how much I LOVE MY SS? I can't believe I never had one until now.

I'm thinking shim stock between barrel and slide. Cut thin to fit in the groove. Reinstall barrel with holding fixture. I'll just file to fit, I can't seem to do it without leaving the tool marks anyway.

Thanks. I use the lug cutter as well but was told "it could never be as precise" as using a mill.

"...whether 'tis nobler in the minds..." to use a lug cutter (brownells/wilson) or clamp it up in a Weigand style jig and mill the lower feet. I've only used the lug cutter but now I'm considering getting the jig.

Yeah, but that Aero thing has stealth technology. AND it's Carbon Fiber. How can any of you resist? If those were legal for Limited I'd be ALL over it. Having it reciprocate with the slide would be so cool. Using aerodynamics to reduce muzzle flip.... Who needs Red Bull? [attempt at humor off]

The hammer should have been back when the thumb safety was installed. Eh, hack. J/K.

Update on the contacts. I went from a prescibed 5.5 left, 4.5 right down to 4.75 left, 4.25 right without correcting for the astigmatism. It's better. I can still see every bit as good at distance but now I can see better close up. I'm going to go down more, at least in the right. During dry fire I see the double image but when I actually shoot my right eye really takes over and all I see is sight and one blury target. I'll wear the contacts for this weekends matches and see how the HF looks.

My suggestion: Check the operator headspace and timing. I couldn't resist.

That's right, when I hear a "Whoooomp" at my front door I know my bullets arrived. Mailman doesn't bother to set them down. Just gives them a heave.

Think about having your home forcably raided, by masked thugs, while your 3 children are asleep in their beds. I bet it was a "no-knock" entry. Nice job Fed's. You certainly got yourself a die hard criminal there. Unbelievable. No, it is believable. Idiots.

I've been struggling with this lately too. I have 20/200 and 20/400 uncorrected. Can't even see the sights without my glasses. Nice huh? With hard lenses (glasses, old prescription) I can see the sight AND the target in very good focus. If I focus on the target, the front sight is still very clear. My lenes are a bit out of date as my left eye is only 20/40 corrected vs. 20/30 right eye. My presiption is 2 years old. Tried Contacts. Completely different effect. Focus on target, can barely see the sights. Focus on sight, double image downrange (both eyes open). I realize some of this is due to the power factor bump of my prescription. I've dropped down .5 power factor in both eyes from original prescription (nice thing about contacts, the demo's are free) and it's better but I'm still haveing issues. I have Rudy's glasses. My eyes suck so bad that the inserts have to be so thick they hit the lenses of the frames and that alters the angle, thus changing my perceived correction factor. My next change is to drop down another .25 power factor in my R. Maybe .5 in my L. This is will make it easier for my right eye to take over (I am most definitely R eye dom.) and see the target/sight. Dropping down the power reduces the focal length. I don't need to see the perfs at 25-50 yards anyway. I do have astigmatism in my R, dominant eye. I'm using Toric lenses to correct for this but it's still no where near as good as my current (old) glasses. I just want to be able to shoot in my super pimp Rudy's.

Cheaper than the C&S class is the 1911 courses offered by the NRA at various colleges around the country. Cost is MINIMAL. You can even stay in the dorms for like $60. It's a 9 day course. This is the route that Wiegand refered me to. If you look at the instructors, they ARE some of the top smiths.

No reset, maybe the grip safety. Also, may not have enough tension on the center leaf. Swapping out the grip is pretty major, basically like starting over. Make sure all the grip screws are tight and in place, even the little one up front.

Assuming STI, or at least plastic MSH: I had this happen to me. I simply "enlarged" the hole slightly to allow the Main spring cap to travel freely. I used a small round file.

Thanks for the Hi-power was his idea, the 1911 was built for the army info.

Thanks for that little tidbit of info. I'll put it good use.

I feel your pain. I made A right before Area 3 last year. It's bitter sweet isn't it?

How many times have you heard, "If JMB didn't design it, the 1911 doesn't need it"? I'm so sick of hearing it. Full length guide rods, mag wells, big mag buttons, extended slide stop levers, adjustable sights, bull barrels etc. I drive a Ford, but not a ******* Model A! It's called evolution, or at the very least..progress. Fine if these so called 1911 purists don't need them, but then I expect them to go outside to use the outhouse; bathe in a bath tub filled with water from the wood burning oven; drive a horse drawn buggy and call me SIR when they speak to me. All things of the past. I myself will take the 1911 platform as far foward as my little nugget of brain housing group will take it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Balderdash!! If it ain't broke, you haven't tried to advance it further.

I've used burner's. I like them, but the last batch I recieved had issues with the glue not holding. Couldn't find what I was looking for so I made them. Total width across grip is 1.30", same as an STI. They are flat across the sides for a more full feel. I went nuts with the 20LPI checkering file one night. $3.50 for the material.

Utili-Kilt! Nice.

Thanks for that, and thanks to Brownells.

I've used the Brownells Mag Phosphate with pretty good results. I blast with "what ever's in the cabinet" since I have no other choice. Last time I used water jet media, pretty fine grit, worked very well. The thickness is around 3000-5000 (microns?), can't remember. It's listed in the free instructions that come with the solution. You must pre-iron the solution before your first park job though. Iron powder, or I'll blast a spare "dead" slide" and park it first to prep the solution. The only thing I do different than listed in Carlos' post is that I use a hot water bath immediately after the acid. Then before the part cools I do an oil bath in post treatment oil.

I'm still waiting by the phone...

That's it. I'm gettin' one. Been threatening to get one for about 4 months. Now I gotta.