Thoughts on Brazos Custom Open Short Block

[zzt]

Learned the hard way I needed a real Open backup gun.  My 1911 Open Steel gun is not the way to go.  I also needed it in a hurry and I didn’t want to spend weeks fitting everything by hand.

 

That brings us to Brazos.  Bob offers an Open short block that he fits.  I talked to Bob at length about it.  I decided to order one, even though I had to pay retail.  His short block comes with his Open frame and Lightning Open slide with cuts, a Barsto one piece barrel/comp chambered in 9mm, a zig racker and a fitted and blended slide stop.  At the same time I ordered a Cheely e2 grip, BCG trigger group kit, STI gunsmith trigger and a BCG tuned ejector.  I wanted to see just how well a pre-fit trigger group would work.

 

I picked the package up from my FFL, went home, opened it and stared.  I expected everything to fit perfectly, but what I didn’t expect was the quality of the external finish and the attention to detail.  If you wanted a mate finish you could literally send it out as is for coating.

 

The slide was fitted with no play.  I burnished it by running it back and forth with oil.  That didn’t do it for me.  I stoned the bead blast off the surfaces, cleaned and spent about 3 minutes lapping with 50% 4000 grit diamond polish.  Now it is as smooth as silk.  After stoning and lapping there is a minute amount of play.  That’s okay, because I learned a long time ago that if you want an Open gun to run in Winter you better not make it super tight.  The barrel fit was perfect with about .005” clearance between the comp and the slide.  The upper surface of the dust cover was relieved for the first ¾” to reduce bearing area, and so was the bottom of the slide in front of the spring tunnel.  That is just classy.  The comp was perfectly blended to the slide AND it was align reamed.  Bob had hand lapped sear and hammer pins and included them.  No matter how hard you shook the gun on its side they would not fall out.  The rear of the slide and the frame was not blended, but will not need much.

 

The slide weighs 10.5 oz.  That, IMO, is the perfect weight for an Open slide.  All of mine weigh that. The barrel/comp with link and pin weighs 8.75 oz. 

 

I pulled out the Cheely grip and put it on.  I had to line it up just right and push.  It is a medium slip fit.  It sits high on the frame.  The nice thing is it stays that way after repeated removals and replacements.  With some other frames you might have to tap it on the first time, but the second time it goes right on and you are depending on the grip bushings and screws for all the tightness.  I fit the trigger, then started on the GS and MSH. 

 

That done I turned to the rest of the frame build.  I tried the sear and hammer on the Brownells exterior fitting pins and everything was right on.  I’m used to discos coming with trigger group kits, and this one didn’t have one.  My bad.  I used an EGW long nose disco.  It works but is it a little too long in this frame.  Since I borrower it from another build, I didn’t want to mess with it.  I ordered a Brazos and it works better.  I like the EGW ambi safety with the captured right side.  So replaced the hammer pin with the special EGW pin.  I had one exactly the right size.  I literally dropped everything in and came up with a crisp, no creep 2.5ish trigger.

 

Up to that point I had done nothing to the frame or parts except assemble them.  Everything was that good.  I fit the thumb safeties and had a fully functioning lower.  BTW, the BCG ejector fit perfectly.

 

Next I turned my attention to the slide.  I was out of Cheely long firing pins, so I dropped in a Dawson.  The Dawsons are a little too long to use in a Ser 70 slide, IMO, so I’ll swap it out later.  The Cheely FPS went right in with a slip fit (just like the last six I used).  The trouble came when I tried to fit an EGW HD 9mm extractor.  It is a tad long in a Brazos slide.  That required reprofiling the front of the hook so it didn’t touch the angled portion of the case groove.  It works fine.  I ordered two Atlas length EGW HD 9mm extractors. Atlas has EGW move the hook back a tad to make it 9mm/38SC specific (no 40sw) and the move the forward face of the firing pin stop slot is moved forward by .005”.  I can use them without reprofiling.

 

Bottom line I’m very happy.  What I got was a level of fit and finish Bob could have used as a base for one of his custom guns.  Forgetting the grip parts, because that was a Cheely problem, I had to fit the trigger, the thumb safeties, and the extractor.  Everything else was assembled from first rate parts that dropped in.

 

FWIW when I need a 2011 frame in the future it is going to be either Cheely or Brazos.  It is a shame neither makes 1911 receivers.  If a slide to frame fit, Brazos, because his external finishing is much, much better than what I’ve been getting elsewhere, and Cheely doesn’t offer one.  If an Open short block with a one-piece barrel/comp, Brazos, because after the last one I swore I’d never hand fit a one piece barrel/comp again.  It can be done but it is frustrating and requires the patience of a saint.

 

Leaving out the GS and MSH fitting, I assembled the entire gun in less time than it took me to remove all the external tooling chatter marks from the last 2011 frame I received.  I test fired it today and everything worked fine.  I’ll start blending the rear of the frame to the GS and the slide and blend the extractor and ejector.  I’m going to shoot it for a couple/three more sessions to experiment with recoil springs, and hopefully decide whether I want to add poppels or not.  After that I’ll polish everything up for finishing.

[donno]

Love mine.

[Rnlinebacker]

I just recently built one myself and it is my match gun now. Runs without a hitch. I'll be building a second soon