Sarco 1911 Build

General Firearms Handguns - 1911
1

Its been years since I built a 1911. The last one I built from the ground up was a Fusion Firearms frame and slide with an oversized Wilson barrel and mostly Wilson internals. So this past christmas I decided it was time to build one using as many extra parts I had in my parts box and the most, lets say, economical parts I could find. I was recovering from shoulder surgery so this was to be a form of physical therapy to make up for my severely limited range time.

Now mostly everyone knows to stay away from Sarco no-name parts because they represent a big unknown, but when I saw they had RIA full size 1911 frames for $100 at the start of the year I figured at least it wouldn’t be the worst place to start. I built up the frame without any major headaches, my limited arm movement being the only aggravating part. But a week after that, my surgeon cleared me back to the range. So fast forward to August I stopped in and one of the guys working was a friend, so he hooked me up with a deal for their upgraded slide with the front and rear serrations, and novakish sights, and a 5" barrel (I wasn’t originally planning to use the barrel but for the price I figured it might make a good experiment). I also bought a hammer, sear, disconnector, hammer strut, extractor, and trigger at that time. And this is what it looks like:

Not a stellar example of the 1911 but functional nonetheless. It’s a work in progress, some further touches need to be made before it’s complete. To assemble the frame and slide, I needed to gently file the rails to get the slide to move freely. Once that was accomplished the barrel dropped in with almost perfect lock-up and brought the rear of the slide and frame together pretty close to perfect.

Here’s the breakdown of the parts:
Sarco: frame, slide, barrel, hammer, sear, disconnector, hammer strut, extractor, trigger, grip screws
Springfield take off parts: firing pin stop, mainspring housing, barrel bushing, magazine release, extractor #2
USGI: thumb safety, firing pin, ejector, grips
S&W: slide stop
Smith & Alexander: grip safety
Wilson: spring kit, pin kit, plunger tube

I fully assembled it this week and took it out to the ranger today. This is the first 50 rounds at 15 yards, with Tula 230 grain FMJ no less:

All in all I’m pretty pleased for a budget 1911. The only issue I had was the Sarco extractor broke at round# 26, so I installed the Springfield take off I brought along for just such an event. After tensioning the “new” extractor it ran like a top through the remaining 150 rounds of Tula. The barrel shot extremely well, I don’t know how long it will last but at least it locks up tight and is timed correctly.

All in all I’m pleased with it, but I still have some finishing work ahead of me.

2

That is pretty cool. If you do not mind sharing I would be interested in knowing the amount of money you have spent.

3

Awesome build. One of the things I can say about RIA, is as cheap as their stuff is, the more important stuff, barrel, slide and frame are built like tanks. The barrel should last a long time. The only issue I ever had were the feed ramp. My double stack had almost no feed ramp, and the officer had a rough one. A little polish and throating of the barrel, they ate anything I fed it. It’s an awesome little project that I plan on tackling after I build my first AR or two.

4

Without going into specifics on the deal I was able to get through my friend. I spent just shy of $300 for the parts I had to purchase, that’s including the frame.

5

I’ve had good with armscor stuff myself as well. The most recent one and the only i still have came with a slide stop that was “fitted” a little too much and wouldnt always lock open on the last round with some mags. dropped in a wilson and it has run fine ever since.

6

Yeah, agreed. I was reading a lot about 2 piece barrels from Sarco, but this is a 1 piece barrel. It’s a pretty good barrel as far as my experience goes with it.