Derrick Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Hey y'all this will be my first post here after lurking and reading the information on here which is great by the way. But i have a question I have been trying to find out for a little while. I am taking a pistol class sometime next year hopefully in april with Bob Rodgers and we will be starting from a caspian frame and slide. Now that got me to thinking since school starts back in August and I will be in the machine shop class and have access to lathes, mills, CNC machines (4 axis-5 axis etc) and the permission from the teacher to do my own project as long as i buy the metal. How hard would it be to make your own frame and slide the dimensions are easily found . But what about heat treating the frame,slide etc Now i"m curious because it would be amazing knowing I had a gun that was built specifically by me from a block of steel but Im not sure how they heat treat them cant really find any info on it I found one that said they only did certain parts of the gun but would really like to know how it is actually done. So if anyone can shine some light on it id appreciate it. And I do know that if its built like that its not meant to be sold i accept that and also money is not the issue. So any help would be appreciated thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
APL-G35 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 By searching online you should be able to find some cad drawings easily enough that you can then tool path in a program such as mastercam. The real problem would be the magwell of the frame and the breach face in the slide. To cut those parts accurately you would really want access to an edm machine. Everything else should be pretty straight forward to machine other than possibly some specialized tooling for the extractor tunnel. If you decide to do it good luck and keep us updated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrick Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 I may do it eventually after I get a better working knowledge of them. I'm not sure whether my school has an edm they have Dam near everything. Now me learning them will be a fun task also. But even if I can't I'm sure I'll be able to make a couple gorgeous ones with the mill lathe and hand tools. May try to make a limited or open gun for uspsa . If I enjoy the building of the first couple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croomrider Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Now that got me to thinking since school starts back in August and I will be in the machine shop class and have access to lathes, mills, CNC machines (4 axis-5 axis etc) and the permission from the teacher to do my own project as long as i buy the metal. How hard would it be to make your own frame and slide the dimensions are easily found. I have been a machinist for 36 years, I have programmed CNC machine tools for 29 years and have owned a CNC machine shop for the last 25 years. I am also a gunsmith and have built mutiple rifles for various competitive sports and recently a 2011 from STI parts, that came out great. Having said that, it would be a major undertaking by someone with even my experience and resources to build a complete frame and slide. It would require fairly complex and expensive tooling to even get it done, much less do it right. I seriously doubt that anyone in a school shop environment with a couple of hours here and there could ever build a decent frame or slide for a 1911. There is no way you could ever save money by building them yourself, and it would be extemely expensive, even with free machine time, to do it just for the sake of pride. You would most likely end up with some useless hunks of metal and an injured sense of pride. On the other hand, the people like STI, SVI and Caspian have spent the time and money to do it right and are producing works of art for very reasonable prices. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caspian guy Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 You might look here http://www.cncguns.com/projects/stiframe.html For some info on a similar project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKT1106 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Derrick - While I admire your ambition, temper it with reality. Like Croomrider said, the tooling and set-up and be very time exhaustive and very expensive, not to mention the actual machining time for you to do the work. Does your teacher know you want to mill out a slide and frame for a firearm? That may be an issue with some other people in the school if word got out. Added on top of that is the federal stamp for manufacturing your own firearm, which would be the frame, and the wait time to get that approval could take a bit. Like I said, I admire you wanting to do it, and having access to the equipment to make it happen, but I think once you get into it, you will find it much easier to buy a slide and frame to build your gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leas327 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) You don't need a Federal stamp to make your own firearm for yourself. The thing is it can only be for yourself. I am not sure if you have to register it but I am pretty sure you have to be able to prove you owned it for five years before you can sell it. By prove I mean the government has to know about it. i.e. registered. The only reason I have any idea about it is I lurked on a home brewed AK style gun thread on another forum. There was a company selling plate steel with pre-stamped holes and divots. You had to add rails and put it in a brake and bend it to make it a reciever. edit to add When I was in school learning the machine trade they also said we could make anything we wanted. But then they shut down anyone who wanted do do anything firearms related. And I got questioned when I made a set of solid aluminum bushings for a car. They were ok with key chain bottle openers though. Edited July 13, 2012 by leas327 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croomrider Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 You might look here http://www.cncguns.com/projects/stiframe.html For some info on a similar project. He built himself an "STI" frame out of aluminum? Now there is a LOT of effort for a useless piece of crap! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caspian guy Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 (edited) You might look here http://www.cncguns.com/projects/stiframe.html For some info on a similar project. He built himself an "STI" frame out of aluminum? Now there is a LOT of effort for a useless piece of crap! Mike Wouldn't have been my choice, but they must work to some extent (STI did at one point sell aluminum frames). Edited July 13, 2012 by caspian guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croomrider Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 STI did at one point That says a lot right there! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKT1106 Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 You don't need a Federal stamp to make your own firearm for yourself. The thing is it can only be for yourself. You are correct, I was thinking NFA items(suppressors, SBRs), which do require it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrick Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 As I said I was just considering it and looking into the possibilities. As i said if its too hard to do I will just do it off a caspian frame/slide. And yes my teacher knows it will be firearm related I told him that's why I want to take his class. Not as a profession just a hobby. He also explained which machine would do slides etc I already knew that but it was nice of him to point it out when we were discussing the machines. 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