I am new to the 1911. I have never owned one but was looking to get into it. I have build a few AR-15's but from what it looks the 1911 may be more involved. Just seeing what other people think about buying the first one to get to know the gun then build. Also what kind of specialty tools will I be needing?  Still have not decided on type (Commander, Officer or Gov.) but will mostly be used at the range for plinking.

From what I have learned in just a short amount of time in the 1911 world. I would advise against building unless you're already an armorer or gunsmith due to 1911s needing almost all critical components fitted accordingly. I too have built ar-15s and they are plug and play. 1911 not so much

This.

I've considered it a few times but as JD stated, unless you're pretty handy, you're going to end up taking it to a 'smith for fitting, bluing, etc.

And you aren't going to save any $ doing it, either way.

I guess I would say I'm handy. I've done about five 80% lower's on a mill and Cerakoted some personal guns. I might  buy one finished first and save some money not buying the required tools.

Good luck. Filing is one thing, know what and where to file is another. Ever wonder why you hardly ever see a home built M1911?

You're going to need to be more than just a little handy.  This is not impossible but it is not easy.  Assume that every single part of a 1911 will need fitting and tuning of some sort and unless you are a gifted machinist it will not always be evident how the part needs fitted.  Mis-fitment of one part can and will affect the function of many other parts.  



Best to start with a lot of reading.  Jerry Kuhnhausen's, (sp?), books and Bill Wilson's books are a good start.  Check out sites like Heirloom Precision, The Action Works, Stan Chen, Jim Garthwaite, Alchemy Custom and Wilson Combat to get an idea of what can be done to a 1911.  You may not be trying to build a full house custom gun but you will need to be doing things like trigger jobs and reliability work.  Notice what these fellows get paid to do these things.   There's a reason for that.  






Brownells sells most of the tools necessary to build a 1911.  The list is extensive and expensive.  Especially if you're only going to do this as a hobby.  I would say most of the people who do this successfully have access to a machine shop and most of these sorts of tools and don't just rush out and spend several thousand on tools for one time use.  






A quality mill will be necessary to complete some of the process like dovetails for sights.  Fortunately, some gunsmiths, Stan Chen comes to mind, offer sight cutting and installation for a reasonable price.  






As I said, it's certainly not impossible but it may be very cost and time prohibitive.  




 

Good choice.

If you just want the experience of building, start with a good quality Caspian frame and fitted slide. Add C&S parts and purchase a beaver tail fitting jig. Cerakote to you hearts content.

I'd buy your first 1911 for sure. Now if you want to swap out parts, then you can see how much fitting is required. Expect to mess up a few times before getting it right also. First time I swapped out a trigger on my 1911, my grip safety would not longer work. I screwed up and took too much material away, had to order another trigger and try again. I swapped out my hammer and sear and then my thumb safety no longer worked, had to get another safety and fit it to the new sear. Messing with springs you will learn there needs to be enough tension in certain areas, too weak causes issues. I still haven't tried to fit a barrel myself, knowing how difficult it can be. Takes a lot of experience to build a decent 1911.

There's nothing wrong with learning to build your own, but understand this; a 1911 takes a lot more experience in gunsmithing to be a carry weapon. Find a good course to take some weekend. Spend the $ and never look back. The mergence of accuracy and reliability is a very fine line. But no handgun is comparable to the beauty of our 1911s.

Read up on all the factory guns with problems. While it's usually something simple that needs fixed, sometimes it's not.

It seems like the folks using budget parts (especially frames) or do 80% builds have the toughest time.

I built mine over time as needed starting with a factory gun that eventually needed a frame replacement. What remains from the original gun is the slide and a few small parts. Mine was lucky as everything fit with just a few file strokes and everything was dimensionally correct to start with. Many references were used as a guide but ultimately everything was fitted by trial, feel, and visual inspection. Back in the day any part purchased came with comprehensive instructions. These days they just come with a warning that it's a gunsmith fit component.

Along the way I broke a fancy sear spring, took too much off a thumb safety, and almost messed up a Colt frame installing an ambi mag release. It is not for the light hearted or inexperienced. A mistake on a slide, frame, or barrel is permanent and will cost some $$ to repair or replace.

If your time is cheap and you have the patience and skill go for it. As a first timer it is a daunting task. Literally everything but grips and some springs have to be fitted unless you do an all GI build. If I made a living of it I'd go broke in no time.

Most of the time working on mine had me sweating profusely, not for the effort involved, but in fear of destroying a $250 part

I love my gun as it is all mine and is reliable, smooth shooting and accurate. Unfortunately it is next to worthless as a home brew mixmaster only it's owner can truly love or appreciate.

It's pretty much the opposite of building an AR-15. Almost nothing is plug and play. "Drop in fit" almost never actually just drops in.

* I will add that doing it wrong, especially barrel fit/timing, sear/hammer interfaces and safeties can result in a dangerous gun and possibly one that destroys itself in short time.

Buy your first one.  

Get a good one for your first - loaded with all the goodness you want.

I can highly recommend Dan Wesson.  

I bought the Specialist in December and I wish it were my first 1911.

It's perfect.  Top quality even in the details.

Avoid MIM parts.  

Nobody requests MIM parts.  If people tell you there is nothing wrong with them, make them happy and let them buy them all.

After you have had the one you bought for a while and learned to shoot, clean ,and maintain a 1911 you can look into building one or rebuilding one because you know what "right" feels like or should feel like.

I never owned a 1911 till I built one from the frame up and fitted everything myself.  I then built 11 more.  It's nothing like doing an 80% AR-15 at all.  If you are a mechanically adept person and you don't mind buying the tools needed it's a fun journey. But if you only build 1 it's not worth it. Modding a factory gun you will need fewer tools, and have fewer headaches since you can always go back to the last known working configuration.

I built my first and the tools are key.   They aren't cheap either.  Already planning my next few builds.

I've had about 8 1911s and have moded everyone of them to some extent. I've spent many hundreds of dollars on tools, fixtures, parts, books, etc.  I learned to do my own trigger jobs, fit new safeties, slide stops, mainspring housings, mag chutes, etc. I've had a great time doing it and got the pistols the way I wanted them. But you need to read, read, and read some more. It's not hard to make a totally untrustworthy 1911!! If not done correctly they will bite you badly. Buy your first one and learn to mod it one part at a time. Spend money on good tools, books, videos, and fixtures as you go. Then give building one a try.

How about this; buy a cheap new pistol, and over time, make improvements with new parts, finishes, etc. You will slowly accumulate tools as you need them and the knowledge needed to use them. At some point you might decide you're ready to start with a finished slide and frame, or even 80% frame and slide. In other words, you can enjoy having a 1911 at a low initial cost while you work through all the various stages of parts replacement and modification. Many known pistol smiths have started in just this way. Even veteran 1911 owners who have no interest in 'building' one will have the capability of doing a lot of it just through owning and repairing/modifying them over many years.

A 1911 is nothing like building an AR.

Simple answer.  BUY!  The skill level to properly build a 1911 is a skill acquired over either a long period of time including a lot of trial and error and money or a large expenditure of money over a shorter time period.

An example of the second point.

http://www.rodgerspistolsmithing.com/1911class.html

I shot IPSC many years ago and my 1911 mechanic was a master tool & die maker if that gives you any idea of the skill set to be a good 1911 smith.  My smith was a parts changer by some peoples standards because he wasn't a shooter and didn't understand the finer points of melting sharp edges and how sharp checkering should be and similar finer points.

OP, are you getting the picture? Nothing wrong with learning the skill set. Just understand the difference with the 'drop in' AR and Brownings 1911.

I say go for it, but don't expect to pay less the first few times. And for Gods sake, don't use it as carry for the first ~1000 rds. or so.

I just bought some tools to build my first one (still probably not everything I need) and when I realized how much I was going to be spending to build one gun, I went ahead and bought a second slide and frame.

That being said, I'm building a Jim Hoag esque longslide, and the closest I know of to what I want is the Nighthawk Heinie longslide, so (not counting tools) it's probably the one case of it actually being cheaper to build it.