My first 1911 purchased was a brand spanking new remington R1. I had the gun for 1 week, put 100 rounds through it. Liked it a lot. No problems and great accuracy, however I purchased this gun because I like modifying or improving or whatever you want to call it. So,week two and so far I have fit a Ed Brown grip safety, Wilson Combat Commander Hammer, Wilson ultra light trigger, Wilson barrel bushing, and a full length guide rod with 18# spring. I still have more plans for this thing, I want to fit a nice magwell to it, some VZ grips, extended mag release and safety, night sights, and then send it off to have a little gold ball checkering done on the front strap and a nice finish re-applied to the gun. As of right now, I have just cold blued the frame and grip safety where i had to sand and file to get the fit right. I am pretty proud of her. Save the flak for buying a lower end pistol to throw money at, thats exactly what I wanted, a well made starting point for me to play with and hopefully not screw up.
Starting point:
And Now:
Nice work.
Some people like to tinker and if that is your thing AND the gun runs just as well after your work as it did prior, great. Trouble is too many people think they can just drop in parts and expect them to function like in the vast majority of ar type rifles when this is simply not the case.
ok, i didnt update this as i had attended to do, but better late then never. So, let me first cover everything, and how it has been working out. She has had 850 rounds since all the work has been done, not one hickup and everything is very tight. It took a lot of time to fit the wilson combat barrel nut to the barrel and the frame. It is extremly tight fit now. There is no way you could take this gun down without the tool. However the accuracy from this gun is unlike anything i have shot before in a hand gun. I am running the 18# spring on the full length guide rod. It is pretty stiff but with the barrel and barrel nut fit being so tight, the factory 9# spring would not put the gun into battery if you rode the slide down, it would just stop and sit with the slide open at the end of the stroke. The 18# spring will push it into battery if you ride it down. I read several things both pro/con on the full length guide rod. Most people said they really didnt make any difference, well to me the best thing i find about them is the fact that i can pull my slide off the frame, oil the rails and slide it back on, with out having to deal with springs or anything else. anyhow. She is one of my favorite guns now. Trigger is supper smooth and i am guessing somewhere around 3#'s. I still have work to do, but thought i would share a few more photos of the gun, I did not send it off for refinish, instead i use brownells Aluma-Hyde II and baked it @ 170 for 6 hours. The results were great. I am very happy with this stuff.
Pics of the frame and grip safety being sanded to fit each other better.
as she sits now, with finish and all done.
A couple of dirty pics and one of her company lol.
So Aside from the roll marks, why have you chosen to go this route inst-id of just building from scratch?
honestly just because it was available locally.