Lessons Learned

I wanted to call this section "For the Love of God, At Least Read This Page Before Building a 1911", but it wouldn't fit in the menu bar. Here are listed all the hard-learned lessons that I wish I had known before beginning. They are provided for the edification of those who would otherwise have made the mistakes I had a chance to avoid. A wise man learns from his mistakes, but a wiser man learns from the mistakes of others. Be smarter than I was by learning the lessons from me that I had to learn the hard way.

Buy Cheap, Buy Twice

When reading about parts selection for 1911 builds or repairs, the common theme to all advice given is, "buy quality parts." I distinctly remember snorting at such advice: "What a bunch of name-brand parts snobs," I thought. "Surely it is possible to build a functional 1911 without resorting to fancy-schmancy overpriced name-brand components!"

I was right, sort of. It is possible to build a 1911 out of el cheapo components, just like it's possible to fall out of an airplane at 30,000 feet and survive. That doesn't mean making one's plans contingent on a possibility is at all advisable.

It's not fitting that was the big issue for me; that was expected. The problems came from parts that were simply of bad quality, which no amount of fitting can fix, or cheaping out when replacing these low-quality parts and ending up with equally deficient components. In other words, if you have to upgrade, take the opportunity to make it a significant improvement; your life will be easier for it.

Then there are some parts that are important enough to warrant not even trying to make the budget alternative work. Although others' experiences may be different, I wish I had invested a little more in the slide, frame, barrel, and ignition system right off the bat.

The slide that came with my parts kit was unmarked, but I later learned it was probably a Rock Island Armory part. My guess is that Sarco got a lot of them for cheap due to dimensional issues, the same ones that ended up giving me grief. For starters, the rear of the slide was cut with the wrong radius, so it sits forward of the end of the frame and there's nothing I can do to fix it. (I'm not the only one who ran into this problem with these slides.) There was also the width of the breech face, which required extensive modification to even get the gun working in the first place.

Then there's the whole barrel saga, the pain of which owes a lot to my own poor choices in replacement barrels and gunsmiths. The parts kit barrel was pretty low quality, with casting seams on the lower lugs. The replacement Auto-Ordnance part came with rust on it and didn't engage the upper lugs too deeply. Fortunately (sort of), it got mangled by the guy I paid to finish the chamber. The Kart barrel, though expensive and difficult to fit, turned out to be far superior to both of the prior choices. A good part, even if it requires effort to get working, is ultimately less painful than a low-quality part, because properly-directed effort actually produces good results.

The frame was supposedly a step up from the no-name frames, but it wasn't without its headaches. The frame ramp was cut too steep, and although Essex recut it, the shallow magwell angle remains unfixed. Unfortunatley, the market for 1911 frames doesn't offer a lot of outstanding good choices, as people have reported issues with Essex frames, and even buying a 1911 for its frame and slide doesn't guarantee in-spec parts.

The ignition system saw every part but the disconnecter replaced in pursuit of an acceptable trigger pull. The Colt hammer I eventually ended up using was head and shoulders above the one that came with the kit, as was the Ed Brown sear, whose factory-set primary angle needed just a spot of polishing.

In fact, the only pieces in the parts kit that saw neither extensive fitting nor ultimate replacement were most of the pins, the firing pin stop, the grip safety, the recoil spring plug and recoil spring guide rod, and the grip screws. Everything else either saw the file, the stones, or the rubbish bin.

I have to emphasize, though, that if I could go back in time and advise myself on parts selection, the only thing I would change is the choice of replacment barrels (I would have skipped the Auto-Ordnance barrel entirely), and maybe the frame. The parts kit itself made for a great learning experience and I heartily recommend it for anyone who wants to dive in the deep end and doesn't mind carrying a bag of cement while doing so. Just be sure not to cheap out when the time comes up get a better part. And if your goal is to just build the gun with minimal pain, then spending a few extra bucks will save you many extra hours of fitting time.

So if you sneer at what appear to be parts snobs, know that I did the same and now have the scars on my knuckles to prove me wrong.

Use the Right Tools for the Job

1911s can be detail-stripped using nothing more than the gun itself, but the same is definitely not true of building one from parts. Anyone who builds things for a job or hobby knows that the right tools make a hard job easy, and now so do I. Initially, though, the purchase of each additional tool was done with gritted teeth, instead of the jubilation that should rightly accompany the acquisition of tools.

This was really stupid, because every time I bought a specialized tool, or even a general-purpose tool of decent quality, I was amazed not only by how much quicker and easier it made things, but also at how much better the final product became.

Initially, I tried to get by with my set of hobby files and sandpaper. This worked okay for most fitting, but then my descriptions gloss over the time and frustration involved. "I fitted the slide stop," just rolls off the tongue better than, "I filed on the slide stop for 45 minutes while swearing under my breath, inhaling metal shavings, and skinning two knuckles on my left hand because the file was too big." Toward the end of the process, though, I wised up and starting getting the tools I needed, such as the #2 pillar file to widen the breech face and the plate glass for flat surface sanding. Thankfully, I'd learned my lesson before trying to do a trigger job or move the barrel ramp back, since I shudder to think of what would have happened if I'd tried to do those without stones or a scrape, respectively.

I just wish I'd known from the start, though, how many special tools were needed so that it wouldn't have been dismaying to discover. Here's a short list of the equipment I had to buy, borrow, build, or use to make this 1911:

• caliper with thousandths precision
• hobby files
• #2 Swiss cut pillar file
• smooth mill file
• machinist's scrape
• 300, 400, 600, and 800-grit sandpaper
• plate glass for the sandpaper
• sear jig
• medium, fine, and extra-fine stones
• GO and NO-GO gauges
• brass punches
• steel punches
• roll pin punches
• Kart barrel-fitting kit
• .45 ACP chamber finishing reamer
• tap wrench
• tapping fluid
• magnifying glass
• sear and hammer frame pins
• 800-grit lapping compound
• cold-bluing liquid
• gun-scrubber (or non-chlorinated brake cleaner)
• feeler gauges
• trigger pull gauge
• barrel vice
• Dremel and assorted attachments
• 0.7 inch diameter long wrench socket
• Aluma-Hyde finishing spray
• Play-Doh
• graphite
• lipstick
• Sharpie markers
• brass hammer
• bench block
• tweezers
• small vice
• large bench vice
• Band-Aids; lots and lots of Band-Aids
• solid vertical wall against which a head may be banged

A lathe, mill, and drill press would also have come in handy, but I had to make do; hence, the bandages. Note that the above list is just for fitting parts, with no major alterations required on my part. Had I wanted to do stuff like install new sights, recut the frame ramp myself, or tighten the frame-to-slide fit, any of those would have made the above list much longer and more expensive. Another thing to note is that when you're done building a 1911, you'll be left with a number of tools that aren't useful for anything but working on 1911s. This isn't a problem if you plan to do more, but the additional expense might make it not worth it for just a single pistol.

Remain Process-Oriented

The most frustration I ever experienced while working on this gun came when I started caring more about producing a working 1911 than the act of building a 1911. When that happened, problems became obstacles blocking a goal instead of opportunities to learn more and do interesting things.

This was a lesson I learned over and over again, although one could argue that if the principle had to be rediscovered multiple times it was never really internalized in the first place. I just kept getting excited at the prospect of having a working 1911 and forgetting that if I just wanted a 1911, it would have been quicker, cheaper, easier, and less frustrating to just go out and buy one.

But that wasn't the point. At the risk of stating the obvious, the point of building a 1911 is not to have a 1911, but to build a 1911. The work involved in doing so can be frustrating, and anything that multiplies that frustration (e.g. a tight budget, short timeline, or strong desire for the result) will quickly turn an enjoyable journey into an arduous trek.

Maybe it's cost-effective for professional custom 1911 manufacturers to toss together a gun for their own use, but the economics of large-scale manufacturing being what they are, an amateur would be hard-pressed to build a bargain, especially when factoring in the cost of his own time. For those with a borderline-pathological interest in the internals of the M1911, though, keeping eyes on the process, not the goal, will make it worth the effort.