A Little Hobby Gun Smithing

[rake60]

I love poking holes in paper targets and knocking down threatening empty soup cans.

I recently purchased this import clone of a Commander size 1911 45ACP pistol.
(The grips and trigger are not original to the pistol. It may as well LOOK good.)



Out of the box accuracy wasn't terrible. Rapid fire at a competition size 21 foot target was respectable.



I thought it should be better and set out to find the cause.
What I found was the barrel bushing to barrel fit had a .006" clearance.
That's a little sloppy. So.. I ordered a new barrel bushing with a .001" clearance to the barrel.

When it arrived, I realized it was for a 5" barrel, not the 4.25" Commander barrel in my pistol.
ID and OD are great, but it's too long.



The back end of the bushing hits the barrel lug before the the slide can fully cycle.
Attempting to fire it like that would be damaging if not dangerous.

No Problem, I can make it work. Just part the excess off and hand finish the length.



NOW there's a Problem.
The material is too hard to cut. The parting tool just made a shiny ring on the OD of the bushing.

Plan B:



Lathe on slow speed, Dremel cut off held just inside the shiny line left by the parting tool.
The result left the over all length +.037"



Finishing the OAL was pretty low tech.



After that was finished there is no visible difference between the original and new bushings.



Now the slide will cycle fully but there is a slight bit of drag.
When time allows, I'll polish the ID of the bushing .0005" at a time to do the final fitting.

For another $12.99 I could have just reordered the correct bushing, but what would the fun be in doing that?

Rick

 

[enfieldbullet]

a .45 for plinking? i like your style!

i'm more of a rust blue finish my self but that one it a beauty.

also must say i love the 1911's

 

[jwcnc1911]

Great work Rick, way to overcome a problem.

What brand of bushing did you purchase? I do this semi-professionall. Building guns for IDPA and IPSC competition one at a time. It should not have been that hard - I've never had one give me any problem at all in the last 9 years.

Here's a few pics of some of my work:

did some one say rust blue:

some one was asking about anodizing in another thread:

what level of "custom" do i make? well i make my own STI frame inserts because they don't make their own aluminum:

Caspians are great but (before pic):

After pic:

My last 2 personal builds:

Aluminum grips CNC'd for an old Colt Mustang:

I love working on guns but the cost of guns and parts here in the States has slowed me down quite a bit - especially my own stuff. That's why I'm back into little engines. Cost less and make it out of scraps.

Hope I haven't bored any one.

By the way, next time just make your own bushing with the attachment. I've even made them out of brass. I know, against convention but you can get a tighter fit and wear the bushing and not the $260 barrel.

View attachment 1911 complete blueprints.PDF

 

[enfieldbullet]

bored no one at all!

love all of them.

don't feel discouraged by price, there's plenty you can do that's cheap . over where i live i can't buy, own, make, or pretend to make a gun without considering getting arrested. even airguns may not be manufactured.

so most of what i've done is drool on pictures and refinish airguns. never even got to fire a 1911 and that's a dream i've had for a few years now. that and firing a colt 1851 navy revolver.

 

[jwcnc1911]

enfield,

If you ever come to the States I will remedy that itch to shoot a 1911. What country do you live in?

 

[enfieldbullet]

I'm in Brazil but seriously considering moving to the states or to canada.

have a few things to solve first. currently i own a bike shop and that can take a year or two to run it's course until i can leave management.

thank you so much for the offer! i'm really honored. i'll let you know when i get to make the trip. what region do you live in?

 

[jwcnc1911]

Southeast, in the Heart of Dixie aka Alabama. I thought Brazilians could own firearms. I think there is an IPSC chapter down there. Google "IPSC" and see if you can own with a membership in a local club. Bike as in bicycle or bike as in Harley?

 

[enfieldbullet]

as in Harley. and other chopped things that don't have a clear name.

we can own them, if we are over 25(I'm 21) i think, own a house, and some other requisites. and guns here cost WAY too much for what they are. besides, they're all weird models/makes that don't appeal to me aesthetically or as far as reliability goes.

but forget about carrying it, that we can't do.

crime here has been getting out of control. and i'm starting to feel uneasy about not being able to defend myself. if they were only stealing things i wouldn't mind as much but almost every crime has excessive violence involved (a girl got set on fire last month because she didn't have enough money in the bank)

well, lets not bring up things that are unpleasant. back to the bikes!

i can post some pictures soon. we just had a Kustom kulture event that had quite a few beauties.(i'm very excited that a lot of people liked our work)

 

[jwcnc1911]

You'd give up the bike shop to move?

 

[enfieldbullet]

i'd probably start another one. or a machine shop.

but i want to leave my two mechanics in good shape, wouldn't just close, but get them to take charge. one of them has worked in the states for quite some time, in Arizona.

other reason i have to move is that my dream car is a 68 Charger and we don't have those here.

 

[rake60]

jwcnc1911,
Beautiful work! :bow:

I do a little bit of smithing for family and close friends, but liability concerns limit it to that.

a .45 for plinking? i like your style!
i'm more of a rust blue finish my self but that one it a beauty.
also must say i love the 1911's

Plinking with the 45 can be a little pricey.
60 cents a round for factory loads, but only 24 cents each for reloads.

I have an answer to that as well.
This German made 1911 22lr pistol.
Same size and weight as a standard Government Model 1911.
80% of the parts are interchangeable with any other 1911 parts.



It was crazy accurate right out of the box at 21 feet.



But, it needs a few little upgrades.
The recoil spring guide rod is short and made of some sort of plastic polymer.



It's great to have machines in the hobby shop that are the perfect size for making these parts.
I'm recovering from a little back surgery here and can't bend over the lathe just yet.
As soon as I can, I'll be making a stainless steel and aluminum replacement for that rod.

Rick

 

[enfieldbullet]

that gun looks great.

60 cents is a bliss. here they cost about 2 dollars a round. and you have a limit that i believe to be 50 rounds a year. (yes, 50.)

 

[BillyHill]

as in Harley. and other chopped things that don't have a clear name.

You'd give up the bike shop to move?

crime here has been getting out of control. and i'm starting to feel uneasy about not being able to defend myself. if they were only stealing things i wouldn't mind as much but almost every crime has excessive violence involved (a girl got set on fire last month because she didn't have enough money in the bank)

I sure would. I've got kids and I'd consider walking away from the shop and losing everything. Nothing is worth that kind of risk to your and/or your family. Mad props to Enfield for sticking it out to make sure his guys were ok.

Enfield, I read about that little girl. That's messed up. There are sick mo-fo's out there. There are some seriously stupid laws out there too. I just read about a guy here who was fined $1,000 dollars for shooting an unregistered weapon at a pack of dogs that were mauling a kid. Dude more than likely saved that kids life but he got fined. Think he'll be so quick to jump up and try to help someone else who's in need the next time? I doubt it.

It's a sad world we live in today. My pops was absolutely right.