JerryShoots Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 About 5 years ago a friend of mine called me and invited me to come and view several guns he had decided to sell. He was having trouble juggling his two hobbies (shooting sports and R/C planes) and had concluded that he should drop one of them and get really good at the other. Unfortunately for his fellow shooters he was a far better pilot than shot and the little barnstormers won out. When I got to his place he had a sweet 10/22 with a bag full of mags up for grabs and a nice revolver that was tempting as well. Two 1911's (both Springfields) where for sale one in 9mm and another in...well...pieces. My friend Henry was along to look and he fell madly in love with the 9mm and the revolver slightly less so. He ended up with them and I shelled out a bill for the 10/22. The other Springer was literally a coffee can full of parts and pieces and my friend told me to take a 50 dollar chance on it grab bag style. He swore I would not be disappointed and I am a natural born sucker for whatever is behind door number 2 so I paid the extra 50 and left with the rifle and the mysterious bonus can. When I got home I went through the can and found a fortune in parts from Wilson, Caspian, Springfield, Dlask, Ed Brown and even a few Nowlin bits and pieces. The gun itself once I found all the bits turned out to be a standard model .45 with two exceptions. One it had Novak cuts front and rear that I think where done by a smith since there was a hole in the front cut where the original tenon style sight had been staked in. The second was the original sights where missing and a set of MMC white dot adjustables where on the slide instead. I spent a few hours sorting parts and the end result was a Springfield Slide and frame, Ed Brown barrel and bushing, Dlask trigger, Caspian Grip safety, Nowlin hammer sear and disconnector, Wide thumb safety (I think Smith & Alexander but could be cyl and slide) and Wilson Combat grips. Not bad for 50 bucks! I ordered some parts from Brownells to finish it off as a CDP gun for IDPA. STI full length steel guide rod, a Wilson magwell, allen type grip screws and 4 0r 5 Chip McCormick Power Mags. All together I got this gun up for way under 5 bills and it ran like a top. It put about 10 club ribbons on my wall, a new division on my IDPA card, and even an MI State Expert CDP title on my portfolio! I also classified Expert with it out of the gate (5 seconds off of Master!) which made me very happy. Fast forward to present day and I have the gun hanging on my wall with even less finish on it and a folder full of wins it helped me get. I found out last week Steel Challenge is coming to one of my close by clubs and I wanted to whip up a single stack open gun to play with. I thought of that and looked at the springer that rose from the Maxwell House grave and said hey why not lets make this thing go faster. Now remember I have nil money wrapped up in this thing. Somewhere to the tune of 3 hundred I think and it's way more gun than 300 should buy. I decided to try and stick to that low cost when changing the gun to run in open. I hit the local gunshow and found an older Aimtech scope base for 1911. One of the type that replaces a handgrip and places a weaver rail above the slide. On top of that I put an inexpensive but tough Barska red dot with a 33mm tube. These things are great for the price and I've put them on all kinds of powerful guns without killing one yet. As for the compensator I was going to go with one of those busing replacement types but luckily I had a way better option fall into my lap. One of the gun shops I frequent had a nice Springfield standard with a Clark compensated barrel in it and an Optima red dot. I did some horse trading and got the gun very reasonable. After I pulled the dot and barrel I put in factory gear from my coffee can gun and fitted it up and ended up with a standard Springfield in original configuration that should either resell for more than I paid for it, make great trading iron at a future gun show or just stay on my shelf as a future project. Either way I don't count the cost of this pistol since I ended up with the pistol complete and shootable in addition to the parts I pulled. A 300 dollar barrel and comp from one of the best 1911 guys (all hail Jim Clark Jr.) and a nice dot for another project virtually for free. Total investment we're talking under 400 ! Now all thats left is a bunch of test firing and when all the kinks are worked out some kind of neat finish job. I'm a DuraCoat geek and I'm not afraid to drive a race gun that has more colors going on than a bag of Skittles. I also kind of like it as it is now with tons of holster where and poor mans checkering all over it(3M safety walk a.k.a. skateboard tape) I'll let you know how it shoots and post a breakdown of the final parts and specs. Also if anyone has any fun ideas to offer for a finish to put on it please reply them. The gun as it is now... Other side... This is what was left behind from the donor gun. Not a bad looking standard model. Absolutely worth what I spent on it even without the red dot and barrel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaGunner Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 IT'S ALIIIIVVVEE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
latech15 Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 People who can do a lot with a little inspire me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redmanfixit Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) Single Stack is the one TRUE path!! Edited March 31, 2011 by redmanfixit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryShoots Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 Test fired today and things went well. Gotta swap up a couple pounds in the recoil spring. The one that's in it now wants to let the slide chug. Also I think I may dig up another slide that has a bad ugly in it and lose some metal to reduce slide weight. I don't want to commit the slide that's on board now since I want to be able to turn it back into a CDP gun later on. Anyone got an Essex, Springfield or whatever slide laying around with a .45 breech face and some uglies in it? I'm looking for a cheap one and I don't care about finish (blue, no blue left, in the white, Barney Purple Whatever) Carbon or Stainless. Rust is o.k. Mil-spec, novak cut, no cut, bomar anything goes. Heck I'll even consider a bulged one from a kaboom as long as it isn't cracked. Post me up some pics and pricetags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryShoots Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Update. Heavier recoil spring did the trick no more chugging. Still digging for a junk slide to cut up for this project. Also a better quality lithium battery improved the dot dramatically. I've got a club steel shoot tomorrow that will be the official test drive for this beast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryShoots Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 Update. Lol I oversprung it now! Finicky bugger. Next trip out I'll take the whole spring set with and try em till I find em. More by weeks end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryShoots Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 O.K. so in the final analysis this thing worked out way way way too well for the kind of cash I had involved. So well in fact that I have a frame and slide on the way to officially build this beast. I'll get photos up once it's up and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now