Springfield Linkless 1911 Build up

[want2race]

This first post will be a bit wordy:

I made a bit of an impulse buy after some discussion about the SA Linkless guns. I was curious about them so I bought one to mess with. Is it the holy grail? No. Is it more accurate than a standard barrel? Not yet. Is it an old design that fell out of flavor because it offered no "real" advantage? You bet! More on that later.

The barrel is interesting, and not just for the linkless design. It has polygonal rifling and appears to have been treated with a Melonite like process. The throat was fine for standard length .40 but my 1.180 would not fit. I tried to ream it but my reamer would not fit into the bore. The bore diameter is smaller than standard .40 barrels. I have a few old modified reamers so I took my throater and thinned down the pilot to fit. Now my 1.180's fit.

After a few tweaks and stones, the hammer falls at 2.25#. Good enough to test accuracy. First 5 rounds went into one ragged hole at 15yards. That was the only group that was that tight. LOL. I was able to keep 4 inch groups, off hand, rapid fire at 25 yards so that's good enough for now.

My 185gr .45 and 180gr .40 loads are the same power factor. My .45 fits my hand like a well worn glove and will be my standard to compare to. For initial testing the SA has a 12.5# recoil spring and standard main spring. The .40 felt a hair softer and was as flat as my .45. Shot to shot, the sight travel looked the same to me. The .45 is lighter so that may have something to do with it.

After initial test fire, I got the tools out. The slide to frame was a bit sloppy. Not the worst I've seen but it needed to be tightened. After some hammer time, it's much much better and the barrel doesn't have any vertical play. Cycling the slide is much smoother, it was a bit clunky before.

Next was the front strap, high undercut and 20lpi. I cut the checkering to full depth, with nice and pointy tips, then I crop the tips of the pyramids to reduce the sharpness. Sharp 20lpi checkering is really only good for photos and magazines (IMO). It will match the grips I plan to make. I still haven't decided what I want to do about a magwell. My magwells aren't in production yet so I might just fit a 2011 main spring housing to open it up front to back. A Stan Chen bolt-on is my second choice, and I believe it uses a MSH that is very similar to the 2011 style.

I haven't blasted the frame yet so the checkering is still shiny.

Next up, opening up the ejection port and to fit a grip safety.

[Mr Player]

What? No hacksaw? I'm dis appointed. What is your final plan with this gun? Are you trying to build an awesome SS gun? It would be cool to shoot just to say you were shooting something different.

I just bought a regular old normal Springfield 40 Trophy Match and can't wait to shoot it. :-D

[want2race]

Fairly inexpensive, BAMF SS. I used to say no hacksaws were harmed....can't say that on this one. I broke my blade making another grip safety jig out of 1/2" bar stock. So far I've used a drill press, dremel and files. Oh and a chamber reamer if you're keeping track. When the time comes, I WON'T be tri-topping this with files.

Progress:

MSH is temp. Considering doing something I said I wouldn't. Making another set of grips from Micarta. It's 8 hrs with my tool set.

[steel1212]

What? No hacksaw? I'm dis appointed. What is your final plan with this gun? Are you trying to build an awesome SS gun? It would be cool to shoot just to say you were shooting something different.

I just bought a regular old normal Springfield 40 Trophy Match and can't wait to shoot it. :-D

so you bought my gun!

This will be a real neat build I'm sure once Shaun gets done with it.

[latewatch]

I had a SA linkless .40 sometime back in the mid 90's. I ended up swapping out the linkless system for a conventional barrel.

[Mr Player]

What? No hacksaw? I'm dis appointed. What is your final plan with this gun? Are you trying to build an awesome SS gun? It would be cool to shoot just to say you were shooting something different.

I just bought a regular old normal Springfield 40 Trophy Match and can't wait to shoot it. :-D

so you bought my gun!

This will be a real neat build I'm sure once Shaun gets done with it.

I actually saw one of the 40s you bought before you bought it. I was considering buying it and you snatched it up. It is why, when I saw one for sale I snatched it up. I think I have only seen one other 40 Springfield for sale ever.

It was exactly what my Springfield collection needed. :-D

[JakeMartens]

Very nice checkering

Yep 20lpi is nice to look at, but is very sharp, that looks really good

Now a GM in single stack making his own super single stack gun, I like it!!

[Sean Gaines]

This first post will be a bit wordy:

I made a bit of an impulse buy after some discussion about the SA Linkless guns. I was curious about them so I bought one to mess with. Is it the holy grail? No. Is it more accurate than a standard barrel? Not yet. Is it an old design that fell out of flavor because it offered no "real" advantage? You bet! More on that later.

The barrel is interesting, and not just for the linkless design. It has polygonal rifling and appears to have been treated with a Melonite like process. The throat was fine for standard length .40 but my 1.180 would not fit. I tried to ream it but my reamer would not fit into the bore. The bore diameter is smaller than standard .40 barrels. I have a few old modified reamers so I took my throater and thinned down the pilot to fit. Now my 1.180's fit.

After a few tweaks and stones, the hammer falls at 2.25#. Good enough to test accuracy. First 5 rounds went into one ragged hole at 15yards. That was the only group that was that tight. LOL. I was able to keep 4 inch groups, off hand, rapid fire at 25 yards so that's good enough for now.

My 185gr .45 and 180gr .40 loads are the same power factor. My .45 fits my hand like a well worn glove and will be my standard to compare to. For initial testing the SA has a 12.5# recoil spring and standard main spring. The .40 felt a hair softer and was as flat as my .45. Shot to shot, the sight travel looked the same to me. The .45 is lighter so that may have something to do with it.

After initial test fire, I got the tools out. The slide to frame was a bit sloppy. Not the worst I've seen but it needed to be tightened. After some hammer time, it's much much better and the barrel doesn't have any vertical play. Cycling the slide is much smoother, it was a bit clunky before.

Next was the front strap, high undercut and 20lpi. I cut the checkering to full depth, with nice and pointy tips, then I crop the tips of the pyramids to reduce the sharpness. Sharp 20lpi checkering is really only good for photos and magazines (IMO). It will match the grips I plan to make. I still haven't decided what I want to do about a magwell. My magwells aren't in production yet so I might just fit a 2011 main spring housing to open it up front to back. A Stan Chen bolt-on is my second choice, and I believe it uses a MSH that is very similar to the 2011 style.

I haven't blasted the frame yet so the checkering is still shiny.

Next up, opening up the ejection port and to fit a grip safety.

Nice work Shaun!!

I know briley played with a linkless system back in the mid 90's. I can see a difference in the way Briley did it compared to springfields way. The briley linkless system the barrel looked more like a cz design. Seems that springfield incorporated the guide rod into the system. Intresting idea!! I know the briley system was a failure, because it was putting too much strain on the frame. From what people said it was the softest shooting gun, unfortunately after about 4k rounds the frame would break. I guess there is a give and take with everything you do, especially with 1911's. Hope this one works out for you!! Keep us informed on the progress..

Great job on the checkering!

[want2race]

Thanks. I've got my checkering time down from about 8 hours to 4. That doesn't include the undercut time though. I cut the horizontals first, which is backwards from most. The verticals go quicker once the other lines are cut. This frame got the down and dirty, make it functional, checkering job.

I think if Briley redesigned their linkless, it would gain some traction now. There are a LOT more gunsmiths with CNC capabilities these days. I saw some pics of theirs, I'll see if I can post them up. As you can see in the pics, my SA barrel is a standard ramp. It functions perfect as is but I haven't inspected the brass for bulging yet. Can't be worse than a Glock though...LOL.

[Sean Gaines]

Thanks. I've got my checkering time down from about 8 hours to 4. That doesn't include the undercut time though. I cut the horizontals first, which is backwards from most. The verticals go quicker once the other lines are cut. This frame got the down and dirty, make it functional, checkering job.

I think if Briley redesigned their linkless, it would gain some traction now. There are a LOT more gunsmiths with CNC capabilities these days. I saw some pics of theirs, I'll see if I can post them up. As you can see in the pics, my SA barrel is a standard ramp. It functions perfect as is but I haven't inspected the brass for bulging yet. Can't be worse than a Glock though...LOL.

It seems like hand checkering is a dying art. I am glad that you are able to do it, and do it right! People don't realize how much work it takes to do it correctly. I have seen claduio do it, and its not something I would like to do all the time. Its alot of freaking work!!

[Nichvegas]

Fairly inexpensive, BAMF SS. I used to say no hacksaws were harmed....can't say that on this one. I broke my blade making another grip safety jig out of 1/2" bar stock. So far I've used a drill press, dremel and files. Oh and a chamber reamer if you're keeping track. When the time comes, I WON'T be tri-topping this with files.

MSH is temp. Considering doing something I said I wouldn't.

Making another set of grips from Micarta. It's 8 hrs with my tool set.

I have some grips that will save you 8 hours if you want to undercut my trigge guard (jut straight)

[StravIs09]

cute

[JerryShoots]

I have one of these in a .40 as well. Mine is blued over stainless and unfired in the box. Would this gun be considered collectable to the point that I shouldn't do anything to it or even fire it for that matter? I'd love to put the slide on a wide body frame and modernize it but I also don't want to blaspheme.

Good luck on this build I'm very interested to see the result!

[canadianbacon]

Very cool, I'm glad I ran across this. I didn't know there was such a beast. Nice gun