Building a 1911? What parts?

[burrhead]

The cost will not be less than $1,000. May as well get that straight right now. Cheaper to buy than build. Example: a proper trigger job done by a GS is $100-$150 for labor or do it yourself with $200-$300 worth of jigs and stones. https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...ools/index.htm And it just goes on and on from there. For a decent build, nothing fancy, you can figure $1,500 +/-.

[44 AMP]

Generally speaking,the more designed in clearance,the more forgiving a design is in assembly.
In large part,this realization evolved from wartime production of aircraft.

I would agree if you said widespread realization of this came from wartime aircraft production.

The 1911 was designed, the way it was, years BEFORE there were ANY wartime production aircraft, and decades before metal bodied aircraft were made.

I would also point out that the GI .45 was not "flawless and never jammed". It did. I have read many battlefield accounts where .45s jammed. The .45 got its reputation for "never jamming" (which, like everything else, increases the more often the tale is told) not because it never jammed, but because, under harsh conditions, it jammed significantly less often than every other contemporary service pistol.

As a defensive pistol, I think the only thing a GI .45 needs is better sights (more easily seen). A better trigger pull doesn't hurt, but its not needed for combat use, and a match grade trigger can actually be detrimental.

If you want to build an "improved" .45, to shoot small groups and win matches, then you will be fitting parts to get the best performance, but it will usually come at the expense of (slightly) decreased reliability under the most adverse conditions. Not that big a deal if you aren't crawling through the mud of Flanders fields, or the jungles of Guadalcanal, but a big deal if you are.

I have my father's Colt Government Model, which was fitted with target sights and a sweet trigger job in the late 60s. That gun will put 5 shots in one ragged 2-2.5" hole at 25yds. I had a 1943 Remington Rand 1911A1. It would put 5 shots in 8" or less (but usually not much less) at the same distance. Minute of man accurate, if you aimed COM. (yes it was a bit worn) Not target accurate, but accurate enough to hit the enemy, if you did your part right.

And that's what the buyer (US govt) demanded.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by burrhead

For a decent build, nothing fancy, you can figure $1,500 +/-.

My first 1911 build ("assembly") was on a Caspian frame, and the whole thing cost me somewhere around $400 to $450. It's not the equal of a Guncrafters 50 GI or even an Ed Brown, but it's completely reliable and more accurate than I can shoot it. At the time I could have bought a new Rock Island GI for about $375 so the build did cost more than buying a complete pistol -- but the value in the added cost was in the learning experience. I can't put a price on that.

[reddog81]

I found a good deal on a match grade threaded barrel summer of 2016 - $100. I found a good deal on a PSA blemished frame a couple of months later $125ish. After getting these 2 components I decided to go all in and finish it.

Over the next couple of months I found a Remington slide. It happened to be an early from when they restarted production a couple of years ago and had proprietary dovetails for the sights. That cost $150 plus $75 to have standard dovetails cut. I bought a "parts kit" from Ebay for around $150. I ended up buying a different hammer and sear combo for around $100. The sights I had laying around but would have been $75 to $100 for those. $50 for grips. $50 for the tool to install the plunger tube. I ended up replacing a number of the parts from the parts kit I bought - probably another $100.

I'm probably leaving out a number of items.... The gun functions great, but all the parts have a different finish. The lock up is pretty good. I got lucky and the slide to frame fit was great. I had to fit the barrel bushing and tried a couple of different barrel links. IMO Jerry Kuhnhausen's book is a necessity. I've shot a couple hundred rounds through it and the accuracy is OK but probably worse than average. It was a fun learning experience, but I could have saved $100's and got a better 1911 buying something off the shelf. I already have half a dozen 1911's ranging from a WW1 Colt to Kimber TLE to a Colt Delta Elite so I viewed it as a fun project more than anything else.