Dranoel Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 (edited) After more than 5 hours of dealing with UPS and the police, I finally got one of several packages I have been waiting for. Parts for my new .45 build. Still waiting on the frame from Caspian and a few small parts, and I will be ordering a pair of Clark barrels, one compensated, one not. Also received some of the parts for my .38SC build, but the frame and slide, also Caspian, are still a few weeks out. I'll post updates on both builds as I go. Edited August 16, 2014 by Dranoel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chirpy Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 What was/were the problem/s? Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I'm guessing the 38 is an open gun. If so, which 140mm and 170mm mags are you planning on running for the Caspian wide body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 (edited) What was/were the problem/s? Richard One of my neighbors moved out on thurs but, unbeknownst to me, he had a package coming by UPS so he called UPS to have them deliver the package to his new address. But apparently the UPS rep wasn't paying attention, saw my package with a similar address and re-routed it instead. So this morning I get up and check the UPS tracking site and it says my package was delivered Friday. I call them and they tell me it was delivered to this guys new address. Now, understand, Someone walked into my apartment on Weds morning, while I was in the laundry room. They took my debit and credit cards. So at this point, I'm thinking this guy stole my cards and got the tracking number I had written down and re-routed my parts. Called the cops and the same one that had been here weds came back. Between the two of us we worked out what really happened but it took 5 hours of phone calls to UPS, The apartment complex mgr, the ex-neighbor, the police in the jurisdiction the ex-neighbor moved to sort it out. I was spitting nails the entire time and more than once asked the cop to let me just go down there and shoot the bastard. It turned out to be entirely UPS's fault. Not the first time by far. But I learned something valuable too. If you have the tracking number, and that is ALL you need, you can call UPS and have a package re-routed to an entirely different name and address and they do not even attempt to verify that you are the legitimate recipient. I swear by all the gods you can name and some you never heard of I will NEVER, EVER trust UPS with a package again. Edited August 17, 2014 by Dranoel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 I'm guessing the 38 is an open gun. If so, which 140mm and 170mm mags are you planning on running for the Caspian wide body? The 45 is dual purpose. It will be a carry piece (if I ever decide I need to) with Clark Match barrel and a bowling pin gun with the comp and a different recoil spring. And, yes, the 38 is an open gun. As far as I know, no one make mags for the Caspian wide frame but Caspian and they only make 2 versions. A tactical that holds 18, and a Quick Change that holds 21. I ordered 2 quick change with the frame and slide and will order 3 more when I get it shootable. I figure if I can't complete a USPSA stage in 100 rounds, I got no business on the firing line. So as far as longer mags, looks like my only option is to get two and cut&weld. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hotrodder Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 Try www.highercapacity.us for mags. They offer 28 round mags for Caspian high caps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 Try www.highercapacity.us for mags. They offer 28 round mags for Caspian high caps. Bookmarked and I will keep them in mind, but it appears that they have simply welded two mags together. And the video states that the baseplate is welded??? I think I would rather count on 22 I can trust than 28 that "maybe" I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 There are some options for 170mm mags: 1. Higher capacity, as mentioned. 2. Talk to Gary Smith or Ellen at Caspian to see if they have any 170mm mags in stock. They don't list them on the website but they have been having them made (weld-ups with the quick change base pads) and stocking them (usually in time for the Area 2 Desert Classic Match, which they sponsor). The mags come with a Gram's spring and follower, which is nice, and last time I checked they were selling for about $125 with the base pad and Gram's spring/follower. They will hold 28 or maybe 29 reloadable. Be aware they will need tuning to run 100%. 3. Get with Jim Anglin (jjanglin on this forum) at Sailor's Custom Guns out of Omaha and have him make you a 170mm mag from two old style Caspian 19 rounders. If you supply him with a couple mag he will weld them together, polish them in all the right places and fit a dawson base pad. They hold 29 reloadable and for me they ran very well right out of the box. 4. Tanfoglio large frame MecGar MGWIT38LFAFC mags can easily be modified to run in a Caspian frame. These are a good alternate if you have issues with the Caspian 140mm mags. The Caspian quick change base pads fit them perfect as do the Henning H-141 large frame mag pads (but the Henning seem to interfere with an EGW magwell if you use them with 140mm mags, not an issue for the 170 mm mags). If you are handy with a welder or know someone who is you can cut and weld two together to make a nice 170mm mag that can hold 29 reloadable. I don't know of anyone doing this as a service, but know that some individuals have done this with good results. 5. There are some old Craig 170mm mag tubes floating around you might luck into. I think these held about 27 rounds. Just as a heads up, be prepared to spend time tuning mags - both 140mm and 170mm. If you haven't done so yet, search the forums as there is some good info about different ways to tune mags for your Caspian. Looking forward to progress reports on your builds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 Looks like the Quick change mags are 140s and I think in my case that should be enough. I may get some longer ones to experiment with eventually, but for right now I think 21 rounds each will be plenty. Most stages will require one change either way and I really can't see where the 6 extra will help on more than one or two stages a match. Frames for both guns should be here within a week and the slide for the 38 as well. Will prob'ly send it off to Gans for some slide lightening and maybe mill the rear to mount a Delta Point directly to the slide without a Novak adapter. Meanwhile, almost everything is here for the 45 so that will keep me busy for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted August 20, 2014 Author Share Posted August 20, 2014 Heh. Just got off the phone with Ellie at Caspian. They are back ordered on the 140mm mags so she is sending me the 170s for the same price. Order will ship today. Can't wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted September 2, 2014 Author Share Posted September 2, 2014 Just got my order from Caspian last week. One double stack frame and slide for a .38 Super Open pistol. And a Foster single stack frame for .45. I have to say I was expecting the double stack to take a few more weeks, so when Walt told me they would be shipping at the same time I was pleasantly surprised. Foster is Caspian's blems but honestly I cannot see anything on this frame that I would call a blemish.The frame and slide for the double are already fitted and working on the single now. I'll update the thread as I go.Walt and Ellie were great people to work with and Walt took the time to help me sort a few issues out and saved me several phone calls. They have my sincere thanks and appreciation, as always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaGunner Posted September 2, 2014 Share Posted September 2, 2014 (edited) Someone walked in your apartment? Edited September 2, 2014 by ParaGunner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 Someone walked in your apartment? Yeah. Silly me. I didn't lock my door to go to the laundry room 60 feet away. They had to be watching for me to leave and ran in an took my cards out of my wallet. It's ok. I have a pretty good idea who it was now. They won't get away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 Update time. First a little background on how this is being done. Due to events of the past two years, I now find myself living in a very small one bedroom apartment. No room for a CNC mill even if I could afford one. The Hi-Cap Frame I had fitted by Caspian. The .45 I had to do myself as I ordered a Foster frame from Caspian, but due to their backlog status I ordered the slide from Brownell's. In the past I have fitted a grand total of two slides and frames. These were done very carefully and tediously with files, stones and emery. The first one worked but it was a sloppy job. The second was MUCH better but still not perfect. The problem in both cases was keeping the rails straight, parallel and square. I have learned a lot from those guns and learned other techniques that would keep everything straight and square. But would still be very tedious and time consuming. Then I had an epiphany. I have three Dremel tools. I have several attachment that I thought would work as guides and keep it all tight. But after a few dry runs I realized it was just too risky. But I had heard of a router table attachment for the Dremel. And after calls a trips to Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Menards, I finally aquired one. (also got the drill press) With the flat surface and the guide fence I could see this was going to be very good working solution, both for the sides of the rails and the top. So after measuring all the slide dimensions a dozen times and doing a dozen dry runs, I started. With a grinding bit set to just touch the rails as it passed, carefully holding the top of the slide flat on the base and the side tight against the fence and making one pass at a time on each side I slowly made progress until the dimension was was only .001 off. Then I started on the rail height using the same basic principle. Again going down to .001 from spec. From there using 600 grit emery on a 1/2" square steel bar I took the rails down til there was just a slight resistance moving the slide all the way forward and back. Then switched to 1200 grit to finish it off. The result was much better than I expected. The Hi-Cap that Caspian fitted is tight and smooth, could not have asked for better. But the .45 is is just plain silky. And I haven't even given it the graphite treatment yet. The rear contours of the frame and slide don't quite match up but that can be cleaned up once the barrel is fitted. But I really wish I had a video camera with sound so I could show you just how smooth it is and no play in the fitment. :S Also working on the roughout for the grip safety and that should be done this weekend. Also polishing parts and areas of the frame on the Hi-cap to get it all ready for assembly. I'll update again when I make some more significant progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugerp89ipsc Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Awesome! Good work, I hope you get some video up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Robinson Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Ingenuity at its best. Great job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) Thanks, guys. Edited September 23, 2014 by Dranoel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Update: I have most of the internal parts for both guns fitted and set to work on fitting the grip safety on the .45. This I did on the router table as well as it allowed me to lay the frame flat and work slowly but constantly while keeping it all square. Once I got it down to a rough shape close enough to get the thumb safety in with the grip safety cocked upwards, I coated the back of the grip tangs with sharpie and moved the GS down into position. (Or as close as it would go) Moving it back and forth a few times wore the sharpie of the high spots and and I took those down with a coarse diamond stone. Recoated with sharpie and repeat process until it was getting pretty close to fit, the worked everything smooth with a fine ceramic stone until the GS has the proper range of motion. Sorry I didn't think to get pics of the process but here was the result: Now it's down to hand work: Used the Dremel with a coarse grit sanding drum to reshape the GS and frame to match up then switched to a fine drum to even it all up. After that it was all sanding sticks. I have it down to 600 gr now and will prob'ly leave it at that for now, 'til I decide whether to polish it all or take it across the street and have it bead blasted. Also fitted up the slide stop on the Hi-Cap. I had ordered a Wilson extended slide stop but then found the plunger tube was wider than a singlestack frame and I would need to remove material from the back of the lever extension to fit it. The Wilson wasn't wide enough to be able to take enough off and have any width left to the lever. So I ordered a John Masen slide from Brownell's and it had plenty of width to work with. So that leaves me waiting for the mainspring housings and the barrels to get these ready for the initial test firings. Hopefully That will all come in the next couple weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 BTW: I also had my first and hopefully ONLY Oooops with these projects. While fitting up the trigger for the Hi-Cap frame, I forgot to check and ensure the trigger pad was in proper alignment with the stirrup. It wasn't. It was tweaked to the left about 5 degrees. So there I was rubbing the sides of the trigger pad on a sanding block and test fitting and it just didn't seem to be getting any better. So I coated the entire trigger pad with sharpie to find just where it was rubbing. Lower left front and upper right back of the pad. :S So I tweaked it back and it all slid into place just fine. But now it's a little looser than I would like. Si I ordered a new one from Caspian and I may experiment with this one and try to fit an SVI pad to the Caspian stirrup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 Sorry it's been so long without an update but sometimes other things get in the way. Had a few guitar repairs for paying customers. (Money comes before hobby) And with people taking vacation at work I had some overtime. Overtime is good when you also have some medical bills to pay. (don't need them repossessing my spleen. :shock: ) Anyway, through all of this I did make some progress. The .45 is now fully fitted and ready to fire except the grips. With everything that has been going on I only had an hour or less here and there to get things done and didn't get pics. :? But most of what was left to do was all with files, sanding sticks and stones. I did put about 20 rounds through it test firing (before I mounted sights) and everything functions properly. I did have one hitch with the grip safety. Never seen or heard of this before, but the hammer would not cock at all unless the grip safety was fully depressed. Part of me said that was a good safety feature, the rest of me said it wasn't right and needed to be corrected. What happens if I loosen my grip just as the gun fires and the slide tries to move a hammer that says no way? Thanks to Log, who made the obvious suggestion of coating with sharpie and looking for the wear marks. Found where the hammer was rubbing at the strut pin and relived the grip safety accordingly. I still need to clean up some lines and do a little polishing on the feed ramp and the mag well before I blue it, and I have ordered a new set of carbon fiber grips. I have a set of Pachmayr wraparounds that I was going to use but they don't want to stretch around the frontstrap enough to get the screws in both sides. So this is the set I ordered from Prestige: But here it is as it stands: I've also got the Hi Cap .38 Super frame all fitted up. It is just waiting for a barrel and some slide lightening from GansGuns. ( as soon as the budget allows. But I have kind of put the .45 as the priority for now and hopefully the .38 will be shootable by the end of the month. I'll get some pics up of the .45 as soon as it's finished and try to get some pics of the .38 once the barrel is fitted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted November 13, 2014 Author Share Posted November 13, 2014 (edited) Ya know... I kinda feel like the guy with a big piece of spinach stuck in his front teeth. Everybody's looking but no one wants to say anything. Did I totally botch something and no one wants to tell me? Edited November 14, 2014 by Dranoel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike cyrwus Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 couple things, the grips are pretty, but I cant imagine very practical. just my .02. the router table thing for the rails is pretty cool. but mostly, use that dremel table on your thumbnail; that scared the hell out of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc5 Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 Great thread !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted November 15, 2014 Author Share Posted November 15, 2014 couple things, the grips are pretty, but I cant imagine very practical. just my .02. the router table thing for the rails is pretty cool. but mostly, use that dremel table on your thumbnail; that scared the hell out of me. The finger groove grips give me a more consistent grip. I actually ordered them with no finish. so no glossy look. I have a couple knives with bare carbon fiber scales and they are surprisingly non-slip. My hands are fairly calloused from work, but I don't need cheese graters on my guns to make it worse. As for the thumbnails, leaving them a little long is actually beneficial in my line of work. Helps push wires into 110 style punch-down jacks and such. Sorry if my lack of manicure offended you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rugerp89ipsc Posted November 15, 2014 Share Posted November 15, 2014 I may have missed it, but what comp and barrel are you using?I always wanted to build up a 1911 comp'd like the Punisher uses in a lot of his comics and the movie with Travolta. I know, lame, but I have purpose built guns for competition and I have guns for fun. I'd like to do a matching set for fun and enjoyment. Not sure I have the brass ones to throw it all on a dremel table like you though! This is a cool project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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