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thinking of my first 1911 build

There was a thread posted here about building off these kits, the poster said he did it cheap and the gun worked. I had it bookmarked on my old computer as I have been interested in one of these builds since I read that thread, I will see if I can find it.
 
That was my thread, the Sarco kits are great but realize they take a bit of fitting and the build is far from lego like. I would only recommend them if it is a budget build your after or if you want to build a Military style clone. Takes a bit of experience and skill to build a 1911. That said if you decide to go for it, I would be glad to help or offer to answer any questions along the way. Lots of fun and the sense of accomplishment when finished is tough to beat...
 
pochito413 said:
thanks for pointing me to that thread. did you ever get around to building yours?
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I am am not trying to dissuade you in any way, but it is not as easy as an AR build. There is a fair bit of work to build your own 1911 made easier by access to a machine shop. Many people buy the kits or buy parts, only to not complete them due to the skill and patience involved.

fortunately, there are 2 companies in Ludlow that may slides and frames and the knowledge of they are still open Remsport is one, I have to find the second one.
 
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yes I understand they are harder than an ar to put together. I work maintenance so I have plenty of access to tools and the like. I also have much patience and am good with assembling things. It will be my first build and trust me I will finish it. and yes it is a budget build. one reason is that its my first build and if I mess up something to bad, it wont be as bad as messing up higher end parts. right now most of my money is going into buying a safe. my son is now walking and the old gun locked in a hard case or with a trigger lock on it aint going to cut it anymore. I will build a higher quality when the money is available and I have more skill building 1911s
usp45ct said:
I am am not trying to dissuade you in any way, but it is not as easy as an AR build. There is a fair bit of work to build your own 1911 made easier by access to a machine shop. Many people buy the kits or buy parts, only to not complete them due to the skill and patience involved.

fortunately, there are 2 companies in Ludlow that may slides and frames and the knowledge of they are still open Remsport is one, I have to find the second one.
Click to expand...
 
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pochito413 said:
yes I understand they are harder than an ar to put together.
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Everyone assumes that if you are asking about something, you aren't capable. I have not yet built one, but I am going to at somepoint. These cheap kits are probably a good way to cut your teeth on actual smithing, and if you screw it up, oh well. Better then tinkering on your $1k pistol.
 
I will only say this. For the most part a budget build with parts from sarco will yield you not much better than a inexpensive factory AR.
My build turned into a cluster **** especially when needing a gun Smith for a few things.

Any way for the I want to do it or at least as much of it as possible yourself it's fun.
Practical machinist had lots of good info also.
 
A budget build yields a cheap gun. Why bother? Use quality parts and you will end up with a gun you can enjoy and be proud of. Also, cheap parts require much more fitting so that in the end they are not necessarily cheap. I would do more research in preparation to the build rather than using a cheap build as training/preparation. Brownells is a good source of info and Kuhnhausen's books on the 1911 are invaluable.

A friend, on the advice of a so called expert, bought a cheap parts kit and attempted to build an AR. He failed and gave the parts to a gunsmith for assembly. Due to the difficulty of fitting the cheapo parts, the gunsmith charged him $250 for the job. Great, now he has a hand fitted gun built with cheap parts.

Sometime later I decided to build my own AR and he joined me to build another AR for himself. All of the parts were quality items out of the Brownells catalog. The ARs went together with minimal fitting and my friend was amazed. He realized that his cheap kit was by no means inexpensive and yielded an AR of low quality.
 
Gammon said:
A budget build yields a cheap gun. Why bother? Use quality parts and you will end up with a gun you can enjoy and be proud of. Also, cheap parts require much more fitting so that in the end they are not necessarily cheap. I would do more research in preparation to the build rather than using a cheap build as training/preparation. Brownells is a good source of info and Kuhnhausen's books on the 1911 are invaluable.

A friend, on the advice of a so called expert, bought a cheap parts kit and attempted to build an AR. He failed and gave the parts to a gunsmith for assembly. Due to the difficulty of fitting the cheapo parts, the gunsmith charged him $250 for the job. Great, now he has a hand fitted gun built with cheap parts.

Sometime later I decided to build my own AR and he joined me to build another AR for himself. All of the parts were quality items out of the Brownells catalog. The ARs went together with minimal fitting and my friend was amazed. He realized that his cheap kit was by no means inexpensive and yielded an AR of low quality.
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What parts did he use, I have used some cheap parts on some AR builds. None of them required a gun Smith to fit.....some parts did need a little tweeking but nothing a,Smith was needed for.
I do agree though cheap parts are cheap parts no matter how well put to gether
 
I got every thing done on my gun but finish fitting the barrel . I'm not sure if I messed it up or not. I put it in a box and slowly walked away . I would like to find some one local that could check it out and teach me to fit it if I didn't mess up .
 
Ironically the cheap parts for the AR for the most part are great quality without the "name". 1911 parts that are cheap can be downright poor quality. Everything for the 1911 is part for part way more expensive than AR's. Plus there is a more elitist mentality with some 1911'ers.
 
warwickben said:
I got every thing done on my gun but finish fitting the barrel . I'm not sure if I messed it up or not. I put it in a box and slowly walked away . I would like to find some one local that could check it out and teach me to fit it if I didn't mess up .
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Ben, I may need to have my rear sight slot enlarged to fit a Novak sight. My local smith says it is smaller than a Novak slot. Have you done many Novak slots?
 
Navy Moose said:
Ben, I may need to have my rear sight slot enlarged to fit a Novak sight. My local smith says it is smaller than a Novak slot. Have you done many Novak slots?
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Never done sight dove tails. I've done them at work on a few parts but not enough I'd want to cut a slide .
I mess a part up at work it's no big deal .
 
Building a 1911 that works, and holds up, is a totally different beast from the barbie doll like construction of an AR15. You have to deal with fitting the slide to frame; fitting the barrel hood and lugs to the barrel; fitting the link (you need an assortment of link sizes so you can be sure to have the right one); and fitting the safety. Note the repeated use of the word "fitting".

Fit the link too tight and the slide stop hole will "egg" and crap out your gun. Fit it too lose, and accuracy will suffer.
 
Navy Moose said:
Ok, thanks. Is this kind of work really specialized?
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A dove tail is a dove tail . Any machinist could do it. Doesn't need to be a gun smith . I personally rarely do them and don't want to mess a slide up. You might get a better price from a gun smith .
Machinist shops for the most part are 50-100$ setup 50$+ a hour.
 
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warwickben said:
A dove tail is a dove tail . Any machinist could do it. Doesn't need to be a gun smith . I personally rarely do them and don't want to mess a slide up. You might get a better price from a gun smith .
Machinist shops for the most part are 50-100$ setup 50$+ a hour.
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True, but a gunsmith will, for example, understand the importance of positioning a dovetail for a sight so the rear of the sight has the exact correct alignment with the rear of the slide.
 
This thread certainly hits close to home. I think building a 1911 has to be a labor of love... Case in point: I have built several ARs, a bolt gun, tricked out Glocks etc. I decided in May that I wanted to build a 1911. I took advantage of Palmetto State Armory's 1911 frame and slide (I guess the bastard child leftovers from a failed PSA initiative). The price was right, the fit/finish; excellent.

I also took advantage of their stainless barrel with link installed. I have read in most places that with a budget 1911 (as others have pointed out in this thread) normally utilizes many cheap, out-of-spec parts requiring a ton of fitting and frustration. In an effort to curtail this, I loaded up my Brownells shopping cart with everything I would need to finish the build using either Ed Brown or Wilson Combat parts (I am a huge Wilson fan and one of my 1911s is Wilson's Classic). What did my total come to? $596.00. Granted, I went with VZ grips and Trijicon HD sights, but damn! I have not checked out my shopping cart yet..Im going to let it simmer for a bit. The real kicker? Add to the cost of parts the price of the slide/frame/barrel (which I got a great deal on) plus cerekoting the slide/frame ($120) and price of transfer ($30) and it comes to right around $1200. For $200 more, I couldve bought a brand new TRP....[puke]Not sure if I am going to pull chocks on this build and move on.... Lesson: Build your own (first) 1911 if you love building and are going to go full budget and deal with out of spec, mil-surplus parts. If you go the premium route, it will cost you!!
 
This actually just popped into my head. Want to build something REALLY interesting? Convert a regular-framed TT-33 to Yugo M57 safety so that it can still be comfortably carried and give it a 9MM barrel. Cost you less than a 1911, unusual as hell, still fires something useful.
 
bbarer said:
Nope, only .45 I am of the mindset that is the only caliber for a 1911,,,,,,[smile]
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I hear you bbarer. I prefer my Browning Hi Powers when I shoot 9mm, but I'm thinking of getting into action shooting..steel challenge, IDPA etc. and a 9mm 1911
might be better suited for that. Other than S&W there doesn't seem to be many 9mm 1911's available in Mass.
 

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