1911 Project

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

Got the upper lugs and barrel fitting in the slide the way I want them to, so I slid it onto the frame and tried a few gauge pins in the slide stop bore until it locked up tight. Looks like a 175” pin is it, so now I have a pretty good idea of what needs to be removed (right around .025") from the lower lugs to fit a .200” Slide Stop.
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Apparently, I neglected to order a Slide Stop, so I’ll get fitting it once I have one here.
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

Finally circled back around to this and did some final hand fitting of the barrel to slide lockup using a sharpie to identify tight spots and stones to relieve them.
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Next was to dress an convex radius on a grinding wheel that perfectly matched the radius of the slide stop pin.
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Then the slide and barrel assembly was set up on the surface grinder to grind the lower barrel lugs/legs and take some material off as a start.
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The slide was then put back on the frame and a gauge pin selected to get the slide/barrel to lock up tight. The difference in diameter between the gauge pin and the slide stop pin is now the amount that needs to be ground from the lower lugs. The contact between the gauge pin and the lower lugs was also checked using a Sharpie to determine parallism and the contact appeared near perfect.
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Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

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Another iteration of the above and the lugs were taken down to within a few thousandths of the destination and checked again. Back on the grinder for the final time and taken down to the desired dimension. The lugs were blackened up with the Sharpie and the slide and slide stop pin installed on the frame. It’s tight, but I cycled the slide a half dozen times and then rotated the slide stop pin to check how it is nesting in the radius. The thumb safety was also fit for the final time.
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All looks good to me as far as contact, as it pretty much rubbed the black off.
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Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

I had a few minutes this evening and figured I’d just install the link on the barrel and see how it all fits into the frame.

Well, I soon discovered that the barrel link pin hole isn’t finished…so, off to the honing machine to get that set up and get the pin fit.
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Made it through that with a perfectly fit pin and plupged the slide stop pin in and it just sneaks around the radius as planned.
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Out of time again, but at least now I can see how it acts in the frame next time I get a chance to tinker with it.
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

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I was getting ready to order a barrel bushing and remembered that there was one around here somewhere. I dug it out and sure enough, it fit very snugly in the slide to where it couldn’t be rotated by hand. The bushing bore was checked and it was .0005” smaller than my barrel O.D. which made it perfect. So, off to the honing machine again to size the bushing to fit the barrel.
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It was sized to where I could just slide it on, but it wouldn’t fall back off by itself. Well under .001" clearance.
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Once assembled into the slide there was a slight bit of barrel springing, so I relieved the ID in to eliminate the springing without disturbing the fit.

It was assembled and installed on the frame without a spring, and all feels well. It takes a bit of a snap to lock and unlock the slide from battery, which was the plan. The lower barrel lugs were blackened with a Sharpie and the slide cycled a dozen times. 100% contact with the slide stop pin.
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Maybe I’ll get a chance to install a goide rod and recoil spring later this evening and see how it feels then.

Pretty happy with it so far!

I guess I had better get to work on the ejector and extractor now!
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

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Rainy day today, so I decided to work on the extractor. Had it in a and out a hundred times, and between stoning and marking with a sharpie, I believe it's going to be just fine. It's an EGW extractor, so everything needed to be shaped and fit.

I should have taken "before" and "after" pics, but I didn't think of it at the time...
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

The extractor. Needs a bit of final blending
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Started on the Ejector. You can see that the slide was lightly rubbing on it as it was cycled half a dozen times.
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Back to the surface grinder to remove a few tenths and try it again.
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Ended up taking .0008" off of it to get it to where the slide didn't rub any ink off of it. I'll get it cut to length soon, then I can blend the back of the slide and the extractor to match the back of the frame.

Ordered a Firing Pin Stop, so fitting that and finalizing the extractor will be next. I had an old Firing Pin Stop I used to get the extractor close, but it wasn't a very tight fit.
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

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The Firing Pin Stop arrived, so the fitting process began. It was inked up and tapped in as far as it would go easily. Then removed and examined to see where the ink was rubbed off, which was on the back side. I lapped it a bit to remove the tool marks and it then slid in a bit further. That was worked on a bit more until a pattern developed and it then went to the surface grinder as it was slightly wedge shaped. I had a few tenths ground off of it until it was basically flat. At that point it would slide in with a few taps with a very small hammer and aluminum punch.
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The edges were then cleaned up with a stone and it now fit pretty well. I couldn’t push it all the way in by hand. But a few taps with the aluminum punch seated it nicely.

The extractor was then checked and the firing pin stop would just barely fit into the groove in the extractor. The sharp edges of the extractor groove were lightly touched with a small very fine file and the stop would then push into the groove.

The extractor was installed in the slide and the firing pin stop tapped into place. At that point a .073” gauge pin would just slide between the extractor claw and the breech face.
That’s good enough for now until it has some rounds through it and check it again to see if further fitting is needed.
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Glenn

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Harold_V
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by Harold_V »

Just letting you know that I'm following your thread, Glenn. Keep up the good work.

H
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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

Thanks Harold!
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

I was a bit curious about how all of this was going to work out, so I installed the extractor and firing pin stop. Installed the barrel in the slide, put the slide on the frame, and installed a 10# recoil spring. Loaded one round of a .180 LSWC in a magazine, pulled the slides back and it effortlessly chambered the round. Effortlessly to where I wasn't sure it even picked up the round!

The barrel is chambered to .897" as it is now, and the chamber is quite surprisingly concentric with the barrel bore.

Interesting...

Still lots of cleanup work to do. The frame feed ramp is just rough machined and the barrel feed ramp needs a little attention as well.
Glenn

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GlennW
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Re: 1911 Project

Post by GlennW »

Had a few minutes so the rear of the frame, slide, extractor, and ejector all got a bit of blending. Then drilled the ejector pin hole, installed the firing pin and spring, and did the final fitting on the firing pin stop.

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Glenn

Operating machines is perfectly safe......until you forget how dangerous it really is!
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