Ok questions for you 1911 guys. And Gun Smith Builder types.

[Mitty38]

As some of you know I like to build, or bring back to life, guns. To fully, properly , safely operational. Then cast and load for them when I can.
Any how have wanted a 1911 for some time.

Now this if just food for thought as a goal to look forward to after I get my 9mm loads running in my latest build.And twerk the cast round for the AR 15 a bit more.

Ye I know, it is a sickness

Any how,
Thoughts on Repair, Restore vs Build, or just buy a 1911. Officers frame, classic frame, ramped frame, ramped barrel, cost assessment. Safety issues, Quirks? Also casting and loading for it. All welcome.
Rolling things around in my head for the next project. Just looking for some food for thought.

 

[462]

I think every American gun owner ought to own some model of a .45 ACP 1911. Mine is the full size Randall
Service Model.

Can't imagine any safety issues, not when it was designed for use by mounted cavalry. Frame size will depend on your intended use.

If you decide to build one, spend the $10 and order a Brownells catalogue. Mine, dated 2015, has 58 jam packed pages of 1911 parts. The latest catalogue probably had even more pages.
Here's a link to their 1911 only parts list, all 919 of them:

Build a Better Rifle w/ Brownells - Serious about firearms

Brownells has 10,602 Gun Parts Products Up To 89% Off + Rebate including Rifle Parts, Handgun Parts, & Shotgun Parts From Top Brands like BERETTA USA, BROWNELLS, HECKLER & KOCH and more.

www.brownells.com

 

[RBHarter]

There are so many variations ...... It starts at alloy or steel . Then you have to pick a cartridge .

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I built my first one too!! Then realised a smaller version might be easier to carry. About that time Colt brought out the Officers Model! I bought a Stainless 45 Officers and had it for years. I realized between those two lied my absolute favorite! I was in a shop and found a Commander slide and barrel complete. Price was agreeable so I had my "upper". Over then next few weeks leafing thru Brownells, I ordered up all parts!! Even a jig to cut the high bevertail! I got thru that assembled the gun and sent it out for Novak sights with dovetailed front. And a tritium globe in front blade. Lastly It went for matte hard chrome. I carried that gun for almost 15 years daily. I still own it and never will sell.
Some where in there I built a Bullseye gun and sent it to Clark for a sight rib and shot that in Bullseye to this day.
Last one I built, I built because I only needed a receiver. I had so many extra parts and pieces from building the others I made my last one. Have never bought a 22 upper. Thats what I envisioned for this last gun.
Good times Emmitt!!

 

[Bret4207]

Well, I can tell you this much- If you end up going hog wild buying "cool" parts you may end up with a gun that needs fitting you need some help doing. I wanted an accurate 45, suitable more for woods carry than fighting off hordes of mutant zombie ninja bikers. (I know carrying an autoloader for woods work doesn't make sense, but I used to have access to a LOT of 45 brass.) I have a Star PD and a bunch of revolvers for that zombie biker stuff. To this day, a good 10-12 years later, I still haven't had time to get the stupid barrel to fit quite right and lock up correctly. Probably if I'd realized "drop in" doesn't really mean DROP IT IN AND IT WILL WORK I'd have gone a slightly different route. I guess I'm saying if you have a lot of extra time and patience (I don't), they're fun to mess with. If you want to shoot pretty quick after the fact, getting a running example might be the ticket. Of course at this time finding ANY gun for sale is quite a chore, so you may be at the mercy of the times.

 

[JonB]

I can offer my 2¢ worth of 1911 experience ...and it likely isn't worth 2¢.

I do like to disassemble stuff, and also repair things ...sometimes I do both at the same time

My first experience with a 1911, was with a couple Argentine clones. I couldn't shoot 'em accurately. I blamed the old wornout warhorses.

Then a few years later, I was in possession of a nice competition gun built on a Series 70 frame/slide for a few days before the deal was finalized between two friends. I shot a few boxes through it and couldn't hit anything. I started to think it was John Browning's grip angle design and my wrist not liking it.

Then a few years later, I met a fellow at a IPSC shoot, with a totally wild looking IPSC Racegun in 38 super. He let me fire it. I couldn't miss with that gun, if I tried. So ever since, I've been thinking about a 38 Super 1911...but we all know the 38 super caliber wasn't part of my success with that pistol, LOL.

A few years ago, during a conversation at the LGS, I learned they could get a new RIA 1911 in 38 super for $500. I said order it. RIA is assembling some fine 1911 pistols in the Philippines for the price. Nice looking, nice shooting. I was very happy with the one I bought. Only thing I wasn't crazy about, was the smooth factory grips. While 1911 guns are easily/highly customizable, I'm leaving this one stock...except for the stocks, LOL.

 

[Ian]

+1000, Jon. My dos centavos is just buy a RIA full-size .45 ACP and have fun with it. I have fired several and found them correctly sloppy, reliable, and surprisingly accurate.

On accuracy, remember that most of us are probably about 20 MOA shooters with a handgun, so a 10 MOA handgun is plenty accurate.

 

[JWFilips]

I have a Remington 1911R1s I got in 2012!
Did not shoot it much then but it was pretty accurate with my loads.
Recently have picked up this past year and took me a while to master it again ( I shoot S&W wheel guns)!
Big difference! But I'm holding my own the past few months...getting 20 of 25 shots into 3" bulls at 10 yards
(Back in 2012 I used to do this at 25 yards....but now I'm old and shaky)

 

[CZ93X62]

I already have one 1911-series, a Colt Series 80 Gold Cup. If I get another 1911-series arm, it will be of the "Commander" format--full size frame, slightly-abbreviated barrel length (4"-4.5"). A lot of my carry arms fit this description--I must like it a lot.

 

[waco]

I have a late 90s Kimber custom classic. I believe I paid $599 for it brand new in 1998. It is a great gun and I love it. I would never buy a new Kimber today because the prices are way too high. My brother has a stock rock island armory 19 1145 ACP and it is every bit as good of a gun in my opinion for a fraction of the cost. If I were to buy another 1911 it would be a rock island armory hands down.

 

[fiver]

I'd buy another 179 dollar Norinco in a heartbeat.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Thoughts on Repair, Restore vs Build, or just buy a 1911. Officers frame, classic frame, ramped frame, ramped barrel, cost assessment. Safety issues, Quirks? Also casting and loading for it.

So, to address Mitty's questions:

The 1911 Universe is HUGE. The design has been with us for well over 100 years and it has been tweaked, altered, modified, and refined over that time. We’ve learned a lot about that platform.
To avoid frenetically running though the proverbial forest – you must first decide WHAT you want to do with your 1911.

Target Gun? What type of target shooting?

Self-Defense?

Concealed Carry? Open Carry?

Alloy Frame? Steel Frame?

Full length? Commander length?

What type of ammo?

What Cartridge?

Etc.

And then there are personal preferences. Arched mainspring housing, flat housing, ambidextrous safety, type of sights, etc.
So, before you start buying stuff, make some basic decisions so that there is purpose and continuity to your process. Otherwise, you’ll just end up wasting money.

I will say this, there are a lot of things you DON’T need on a 1911. Don’t buy some part just because you can.

As for buying a pistol, I’ve been very impressed with the Ruger SR1911. I haven’t found the right one at the right price yet, but I think Ruger has a winner there in terms of value.

 

[JonB]

As some of you know I like to build, or bring back to life, guns. To fully, properly , safely operational. Then cast and load for them when I can.
Any how have wanted a 1911 for some time.

To avoid frenetically running though the proverbial forest – you must first decide WHAT you want to do with your 1911.

I snipped the OP's comments and P&P's...Because I believe Mitty already gave us what he wants to do with a 1911.

He wants a basketcase 1911 swapped for a couple chickens, a Chevy bumper, and three full length 2x4 studs, from someone who was unable to succeed in building a good one. That's how I understand it anyway?

So our job is to offer the things we know about the 1911 and it's design and quirks and what our experience has been with them.

 

[Charles Graff]

What the basic old 1911 or 1911A1 or Govt. Model needs is a good solid lock up of the barrel to the slide, which involves attention to the matting of the locking lugs, link and barrel bushing. The existing trigger can be cleaned up to give decent performance and better sights. That is all...over and out!

 

[358156 hp]

If you're not already familiar with 1911s, I'd suggest purchasing a good running 1911 and focus on modifications to suit your wants/needs. 1911s are machines with hand-fit components, unlike Glocks, late model SIGs, FNs, and the like that I've come to classify as devices, which can be mass produced by lesser skilled labor, and/or machines. Building a 1911 often requires hand fitting of parts, and specialty tools. Here's a guy who used to build 1911s by hand at home until Calif. tried to reclassify him as a manufacturer. He's really quite a guy, just working on his own guns. https://www.youtube.com/c/MosinVirus/videos

Here's a site for some of the 80% builders for contrast. https://www.1911builders.com/product-category/80kits/

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I’m not sure I buy into the machines verses devices distinction.

The 1911 was a good design that met the test of time. There’s nothing “magical” about a 1911 and sometimes I think the reverence for that platform is a bit overblown.

Charles is correct, the key to accuracy in the 1911 platform is the fit between the barrel and the slide. Consistent lockup equals consistent accuracy. Get that parts relationship too tight and reliability suffers. Get it too loose and accuracy suffers.

1911 pistols are mostly forged steel parts, lots of machining and lots of fitted parts. That works but all that machining and fitting is expensive in today’s world. Plus, the 1911 is a single action, semi-auto pistol. There’s nothing wrong with a single action pistol but it does require a fair amount of dedication and devotion to training.

Today’s more common polymer framed, striker fired pistols, Alloy framed DA/SA pistols, DAO pistols and higher capacity pistols are vastly different from the 1911 platform. However, many of the modern pistols still use a version of the Browning short recoil / tilting barrel locking system. They typically use a SIG style barrel to slide locking arrangement (locking via a squared ejection port instead of lugs on the barrel) and the swinging link has been replaced with an integral cam – BUT it’s still a Browning tilting barrel locking system.

You can label a 1911 as a “machine” and not a “device” but that label doesn’t change much. I’m not denigrating the 1911 but sometimes it gets placed on an altar when it should just be in a holster.

 

[Ian]

Sooo, basically you agree with 358156HP's distinction, except you say you don't. SMH.

Emmett, I have a few extra Chevy bumpers if you need them....

 

[358156 hp]

Most work on 1911s require specialized tools and experience doing the work, and an understanding of how all the individual parts interact with each other. I feel it is best to start out with a functioning pistol, and learn how to work on it one piece at a time. Change one thing at a time, and make certain everything works properly before moving on to the next update.

"Drop in" parts, rarely are. Even trigger and action kits. Many parts are returned because they didn't simply drop in and function correctly. Col. Cooper famously said that the only things a 1911 needs are "“sights you can see, a trigger you can manage, and a dehorning (a smoothing of sharp edges). I don't fully agree or disagree with his findings.

 

[STIHL]

Buy one with a nice ramped barrel. I have been successful with a Lee 452-230 with a fair charge of titegroup behind them. I like to build things too, but as others said unless you want to spend some money on special tools, buy them and enjoy shooting. It’s Hard to beat a 1911 I love them.

BTW: I never knew a cast load could “TWERK” I may need to see a video of that one.

 

[Mitty38]

He wants a basketcase 1911 swapped for a couple chickens, a Chevy bumper, and three full length 2x4 studs, from someone who was unable to succeed in building a good one. That's how I understand it anyway?

You have me figured out.
Is that a bit of kindred spirit I am picking up on from your comment?

Emmett, I have a few extra Chevy bumpers if you need them....

I could use a rear one.
I still have the old brackets and some shims, so we could put a Chevy rear bumper,on my Ford.

BTW: I never knew a cast load could “TWERK” I may need to see a video of that one.

Tweak, that darn auto correct gets me every time. My ammo don't dance. Accept maybe around the bullseye a bit.


Thank you fellows for all the info so far, I have been keeping my replies minimal because I am in learning mode. You fellows have given me a lot of food for thought so far..
Emmett