Lowlander

Agreed, looks like the lower barrel lugs didn't get properly fit to the slide stop. I second this, if the lower lugs weren't properly fit I would be concerned about the hood and upper lug engagement also. Hopefully nothing that can't be fixed. Benny Hill is top notch.

I've carried a Commander in 45 for years. I can carry it in pretty much any position without issue. I recently decided to build a new Commander in 9mm. Gain the extra capacity going from 45 to 9mm. Plus my old 45 is all carbon steel and blued. It's well worn and needs to be refinished. Also in the summer between sweat and humidity anywhere the bluing has worn is rusting quickly unless I stay right on top of it. So I decided to build this Commander in stainless: https://ibb.co/DC2GM7G https://ibb.co/GMBh9L0 It's going to be a 4" Bull Barrel, 9mm, all the controls will be stainless. I have the stainless EGW HD safety, slide stop and grip safety pictured. All the internals are carbon steel which will get Ionbond/PVD coated once I fit everything up. Hoping with everything external being stainless it will be a little more resistant to rust. Though I know stainless will rust too. My hands are on the bigger side and I prefer the longer full size grip over the shorter officer grip. Though I do like CCO setups. I find the commander about the perfect balance. While it's a bit on the heavy side vs a comparable polymer/aluminum framed carry pistol, it's not unbearable if you have the right holsters. I still have to have the slide finished, rear serrations, flat topped and Novak sight cuts. I am a big fan of EGW HD parts for building with. They are high quality and always in spec. I wanted a stainless gun that's as reliable and tough as possible. Hopefully this one will be up to the task. I much prefer the slimmer profile of the 1911.

Search "Glock Slide Milling" and see if that turns up any more results. Or "Glock Slide Milling Service" to see the different designs offered by different shops.

Got it, will do. I appreciate all the advice and input from everyone.

This^^^ pull the BCG and verify the firing pin is protruding from the bolt face when the bolt is pushed back inside the carrier, "locked" position. The NiB may be a little thick and preventing the firing pin from protruding like it should.

Copy that, yeah I am going to build this one as more of a carry gun I believe. The other identical frame I have I would like to build into a race gun. So I'm just curious about the thumb rests and all that. I figure my best bet will be to try it out for myself and see how they feel shooting. I'm a novice when it comes to competitive shooting. I can build the guns and have a firm understanding of the platform. But I want to learn how to really run them. A 2011 is by far my favorite pistol to fire. They just seem to fit and feel perfect in my hand. I've always ran Glocks and I like them. I carry one every day but I'm just better with a 1911 or 2011 for whatever reason.

As mentioned you should be ok with most Ambi Safeties being compatible between the single stack and Para Hi-Cap platform. Same fitting procedure on both for the most part. As for the slide stop, I exclusively use the 10-8 Performance Gen 2 slide stop. The Para Hi-Cap frames had some extra material on the frame in the area beneath the slide stop. A standard slide stop can be used, but will need to be notched on the back side to properly travel it's full range of motion in a Para Hi-Cap frame. The 10-8 is already cut for this. It's a high quality part and will be the easiest to fit. The ones I have are very nicely made and I highly recommend them for the Para Hi-Cap platform. I'm not affiliated with 10-8, but they do make a great part that I've had great luck with.

Hey everyone, been starting to put this 2011 together and I wanted to get some advice from some of you who are more experienced. I'm thinking this is probably going to be a gun that gets carried from time to time, so not really looking to build a full on race gun yet. I may try shooting this in a match eventually so I'm going to build it to be able to do that if I choose to in the future. At least with minimum modifications. But for now I'm leaning towards building it more towards a carry gun. The frame is "supposedly" a STI/SVI blem. It took a bit of work to get it finished but I now have two of these frames, both are carbon steel, full dustcover, W/N ramp cut. The slide I used is a unique cut, bald, carbon steel, 5", 9mm slide. I have fitted it to the frame and will be sending it off to get tri-topped, rear serrations, Bomar rear and front dovetails cut. I picked up a 9mm Bull Barrel, EGW HD Thumb Safety, HD Slide Stop and .250 Grip Safety all in stainless. I also picked up an EGW 9mm Long Ejector in carbon steel. Here's a couple shots: https://ibb.co/vk1Lqcq https://ibb.co/FWvcncW I've been looking at mags. Unfortunately I haven't ever run a 2011 before so I'm not really up on which mags are best. I've done a little research but thought it may be worth asking. I'm looking at MBX, SPS, STI and the MPA DS9 mags. I understand there will likely be some tuning required regardless of brand. Or would I be better off just buying mag tubes, base pads and guts to build my own? Also, I've been curious about the "thumb shelf" parts I see on a lot of race guns. What benefit to these add? The ones that shield your hand from the slide I understand. I guess it would depend on how you grip and shoot. Same with Ambi-Safeties, when I grip and shoot a 1911 I just can't see any reason to have a wide paddle on the other side. But that's me, may be different for someone else but I'm just curious as to why?

Copy that, I like the idea of it. Great work all around, I like to see innovative ideas like that. I also have a bunch of ideas for different parts. Unfortunately mine have yet to leave the paper I've drawn them on. I came up with a similar concept for a "clamp on" type of compensator. Mine would use something similar to a Taper-Lock or Split Taper-Lock Bushing that grabs onto the barrel and is tensioned through the body of the comp. We use these at work a lot on shafts and it is impressive how they will grip a polished surface. Still needs work, but I like the idea nonetheless. Thanks for sharing the info, very interesting.

Glad to be part of the forum. I figured since I'm new I should post up here. I am starting to develope an interest in competitive pistol shooting. I also enjoy building my own guns so I joined up here to start researching what I'm going to need to do to get started. I've yet to shoot in any competitions. I have a Glock 35 MOS that I purchased a while back to cut my teeth on. I had the opportunity to shoot a friend's 2011 and immediately fell in love with it. So I started building a couple so I can figure out what I like. Anyway, I still have a ways to go. I still need to set my progressive press up and work up some loads. I'm also going to be loading and building a rig for my wife. The kids are getting older and leaving the nest. So I'm hoping this will be a productive way to keep us occupied going forward. I have two 2011 short blocks put together and I'm also building a RIA A2 frame up. The RIA frame has been really worked over and is what I'm going to start out with. I joined up here to learn from those of you already in the game so I can get some direction on finishing these pistols out. Hopefully I can give some help back in the process.

Great work, I like your setup. I'm building on one of those SA 6" slides too. I especially like that you finished yours in black. I like the look of it in a darker finish. I built mine on a carbon steel frame. I plan on bluing the frame and having the slide nitrided since it's stainless. Hoping that will give me a decent finish that matches. This is my first long slide, over 5", build. It's not finished yet, still have to fit the barrel, slide stop, etc. I have considered fitting a 40 Super barrel to it after I fit the 45 acp barrel. How do yours handle? Also curious why you went with the longer 7" and 9" barrels in 45 acp?

With the RIA A2 frame it is unfortunately not always a guaranteed fit. There are differences that prevent STI spec parts from fitting from frame to frame. I've never tried a Fusion trigger but I'm guessing it's made to STI/2011 specs. It would be worth it to try if you want that trigger. Try to buy from a vendor that allows returns if it won't work. I don't like the factory RIA trigger so I rolled the dice and bought an STI trigger and it worked.

Are you going to build this on a regular full length frame? The Commander length, 4.25" barrel slide can sometimes be problematic when built on a full size frame. It's been done a lot, with success but for optimal cycling the recoil abutment and frame rails need to be shortened. If your having this built it may be something that you want to check into. I've modified govt length frames to commander specs. If I remember correctly the recoil abutment and frame rails are cut back around 0.098"-0.100" to allow that extra bit of room for reliable cycling.

Yeah I've seen some excellent Tig welded rails, machine them down to a perfect fit. Another option, if you want to keep the frame, is send it to have Accu-Rails installed. The slickest slide fit I've ever felt had this done to it. $250 for the service and it provides a super slick action. Plus you can have the rails replaced as you go. Here's the link if it is something of interest: http://www.acc-u-rail.com/

I'm working on a RIA double stack frame and noticed right away the metal was a bit softer compared to Wilson, STI, etc. I expected it to be softer being cast. But I don't know what the hardness level is. Comparatively I would say around 20 or so. I would be interested to see if you can repeat that reading of 12. That's lower than I expected.