mulrick Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 (edited) So this year has been relatively a good one as far as work goes... Normally the holidays have me scrambling to close out a couple deals before the end of Q4. So needless to say I normally stay busy...Not this year, I actually found myself with a couple days, and as my friends would say "because he's obviously not right in the head" I decided I'd build a 1911.Now before a bunch of people jump on here to tell me to just go buy "X" gun... Well go pound sand... In the nicest possible way of course... I don't want to hear it, and that is not the point of this. So I had a bunch of parts that have been collecting dust, along with a couple 80% Tactical Machine frames laying around so I said i would give it a go. Now before I go too much further, let me say that I live in CA, so just going out and buying a frame isn't possible, so hence the 80% route. This thread however is not going to be about the 80% stuff since that could go off on its own tangent in itself. But if you want to learn more check out their website Tactical Machine. So I headed to my buddies house, threw the frame up on the jig, got a refresher in machine shop 101.. probably had been 15 years since I had run one. and with that I cut the Hammer and Sear holes, Frame rails, and barrel bed. Sorry but I didn't take pictures of this since I was more concerned with making my cuts correctly. Barrel Bed Slide rails Back of the rails- and the start of my beavertail fitting So at this point it is Christmas day and the rest of the family was off doing who knows what, so I decided id sit on the deck and start looking everything over, double check all my parts and get organized. As you can probably tell, the majority of the parts are Wilson Combat "Bullet Proof" stainless (which just means I am doing a ton of fitting.) The hammer and sear are the EGW billet, and the trigger is a Nighthawk custom. Magwell and mainspring are ed brown, as is the plunger tube. The slide is a 9mm Carbon steel Commander length, with a target rib and Novak sights. The Barrel is a Bar-Sto 9mm bull with no ramp cut. I spent the better part of 5 or 6 hours on Christmas day fitting the slide, trigger, thumb saftey, Mainspring housing and beaver tail. At this point my thumbs were practically bleeding and I needed a break so I put it all away to go eat some prime rib with the family. Sure enough a couple hours went by and I had it all out again, this time in front of the tv. I fit the sear, disconnector and hammer. and got it to drop the hammer before I called it a night. The ignition group works but needs more tuning. Breaks right about 4lbs now. Come Friday night, I decided to break out the files and again spent 4 or 5 hours filing and fitting. I stoned the tops and sides of the rains .001" to get the slide to fit the frame like glass. And I began the barrel fitting process. Now As it stands I am waiting on a couple parts (barrel hood guage from EGW and a barrel lug cutter from Brownells) to finish the barrel fit, as well as I need to throw the slide on the mill again to cut the relief cut for the reverse guide rod plug. I didn't manage to snap any pics of it together yet, but Ill update as I go along. Id say my about 80% done at this point, its just fine tuning everything and final fit before I put a finish on it. I have some ideas of where I want to take this, and it is ambitious... but stay tuned. Edited December 31, 2014 by mulrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulrick Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 (edited) So As it sits right now, I'm playing with a couple grip ideas, and a ton more blending needs to happen, but it is getting closer. Firing pin stop, firing pin, and extractor have all been fit now... Applewood VZ's Gator VZ's (I think, or might be aliens, I forget, but they were laying around) More blending needed Edited December 30, 2014 by mulrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulrick Posted December 31, 2014 Author Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) So I busted out the files today because I had an hour to kill, did some blending and messed with the ignition group. Did a little stoning and got the trigger breaking very cleanly at just under 3.25lbs, Reset is sort, over travel is minimal... so all in all the trigger is SWEET. Really couldn't be happier with it at this point. So that gets to blending... I didn't have a bunch of time, and it is slow going with the files, but i'm getting there. My biggest bummer at this point has been the finish of the TM frame. As you can see in the picture above, some gap on the thumb safety and Lots of rough spots that i just wont be able to get perfect. A prefect example of how a rough spot on the frame makes this one impossible to look pretty without adding material. Still needs a lot more filing Edited December 31, 2014 by mulrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KustomHolsters Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunker Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Great job so far. My Christmas was spent chasing after my one year old daughter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwhittin Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Looking good so far. Gotta add front strap checkering to the list of must dos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulrick Posted January 2, 2015 Author Share Posted January 2, 2015 Looking good so far. Gotta add front strap checkering to the list of must dos. So i have a 25lpi file and I am thinking about doing it with the jig but waiting on it to come in stock, or another jig that isn't $300+ I have found the first couple 1911's cost way more than the 30th does, so little by little Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Nice job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesman2a Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Nice job, thanks for the write-up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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