rake60
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2007
- Messages
- 4,756
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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
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