I feel like I've got the hard part done even though I only have a handful of parts so far.

That's awesome! So do you still need sights?

Thats because getting those is the hard part. The sights, while not common, arent difficult to find if you know where to look...

You gents with multiple OG Parts are killing me. I've been on a 2 year odyssey just try to find a Clarke Grip Safety.  

I'm glad some of you are finding them in the wild. Gives me hope that they are still out there.

I bought a Wilson off eBay that looks identical, think it was $27. I know it's not completely correct but I don't care.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wilson-Stainless-Steel-1911-Grip-Safety-Factory-Seconds-/121764828490?hash=item1c59bfd54a

I think this is what the above poster was referring to. The Wilson and the Clark can't be told apart. I have used both. Pick one up and save me from myself

That would be the one. I messaged the guy when I bought it and asked if he had proof about it being a Wilson. He said that he was a town away from Berryville and a local machine shop made them for Wilson and they weren't completely satisfied with them. Mine looked just fine.

I know there have been a few pages of information, so it's possible some of you have not made it back to some of the earlier pages displaying PWS2112's replica sights.

Having just received one two days ago, I figure it is worth a mention:

Backstory
Ben (as his username may imply) worked on the M45 pistols in the Precision Weapons Section and has built several 100% replicas for forum members in this thread. Understanding the issues many of us were facing with our builds, Ben ended up creating a batch of replica MEU(SOC) sights. To date, these are the most accurate replicas, and the only ones to have been made in-house at PWS

I have not had the opportunity to have him build an M45 for me, but he reamed several of my Springfield slides for .45 ACP firing pins, and he has supplied/ installed numerous sights for me. The work has been consistently phenomenal, turn around has been quick.

Below are a few crappy phone pictures of the sight

 
Thanks for posting.  I need to order a set of those while he is still making them.

He's great to talk with as well, really cool guy. Answered quite a few questions I had.

He is not making them anymore.  He has about 20 left, so you should get one while you can ;)

Interesting frame

Is it me or the picture?  The older M45 looks much wider

The pre a1 frame just looks fatter because of distortion from the corner of the picture.

The CQB looks worn out. Maybe you should just send it to me and I'll dispose of it for you.

Great family grouping. Probably overlooked this but trying hard to find a military issue M45A1 holster or THE holster made for THIS pistol, the first picatinny rail put on a sidearm.
Harder to find than you think. Please help if you can.

Safariland is the one I have seen most often in pictures (see link: http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=4275 ). The owner of this particular m45a1 uses a kydex belt holster though,  I believe.

Well that's different. I would think if it were an M1911 frame the US Property markings would still be visible on the dust cover. Caspian Classic maybe?

That particular one is a non issued gun. It is likely a Caspian frame based on the thicker dust cover. From what I have heard, pre-a1 frames did show up on at least one MEU(SOC)

http://soldiersystems.net/2015/10/06/bcm-gunfighter-history-travis-haley-an-exercise-in-compromise/

Cool read, thanks.

Thanks for sharing.

U.S. Marine Sgt. Jeanette Ventura, left, receives instruction from Sgt. Sean Bernstein on handling techniques for the M45 1911 A1 pistol during a female engagement team class aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Ventura is an airframe mechanic with the Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 161 (Reinforced), 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Bernstein is a member of the 15th MEU’s Maritime Raid Force. The Marines are participating in a week-long screener to assess their knowledge of skills such as marksmanship, detainee handling, patrolling, and teaching skills. The 15th MEU is embarked on the Essex Amphibious Ready Group and deployed to maintain regional security in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Elize McKelvey/ Released)

Cool. Spent a couple months on the Essex and deployed with that group in 98/99.

My son is onboard now






 

Began replica work on a sub-$450 springfield for a friend. Beautiful gun, and lots of potential. Phase 2 will possibly bring an Ed Brown, Marsoc Trigger set, and a Surefire

can you fit an ed brown grip safety to a springfield loaded that has the stock style grip safety? Wasn't sure if you needed a milspec 1911 lower or not. Would love to know, as I would just snag a loaded and swap the parts out, maybe have SACS do the ed brown fitting as im sure I would mess it up. Just wouldn't do it if you had to re-weld the tang.

Great looking pistol. I'll never get over my MEUSOC bug...

previously posted but up again for nolstalgia.. my SACS build and among one of my favorite 1911s... need to beat her up for character to fit in...

Ed brown thumb safety is what I meant. The pre-cut .220 Springfields will have too much of a gap with the .250 Ed Brown.

awesome, great to know, I think I remember you saying that long ago. thanks for the update and looking forward to seeing your next project complete!

~H

If you want a Ed Brown Memory Groovy Beavertail to fit Beautiful get Springfield Armory Custom Shop weld-up the 220 and recut it for a 250 like they did on my MC Operator. It looks like you could belly fit a sheet of typing paper. that is what I plan to do to a brand new unfired Springfield Loaded after I send it to Bar-Sto to fit their Match Grade barrel I ordered from Brownells.com  with the whole list of MEU SOC parts list and Flat Serrated mainspring housing they supplied to the USMC Armorys.

Thought I'd share a couple of M45's and a MEUSOC in some family portraits.   All authentic living pieces of history.  First time they have been together since they left PWS.

Enjoy....

SHIT.... I DO NOT need another 1911... like, at all, and then you guys go posting these pics and I start scouring the forums for loaded models, M45 CQBPs, and pricing out how much it would be for SACS to build a gun on a Caspian frame so I can do it right and order a custom SN with an "MC" prefix...

Great looking pistols lear... very cool

I have since realized that the last gun I truly needed came quite a few guns ago.

1. The most cost-effective way to do an M45 is to get a new-style loaded, have SACS weld it up for the Ed Brown memory groove and then install the other parts (Thumb safety, hammer, and mainspring make the biggest visual difference).

2. Most accurate way would be to buy an MC-Serial build that Ben is working on at the moment (I believe it still isn't accounted for).

3. Most patient was is to build a meusoc and carefully find all the needed parts. This may be a good way of spreading out a build cost over time, because you won't be able to find everything in one sitting.

4. Most gratifying way is to buy a used gun that has potential, and rework it to a blaster that brings you joy.

I have done #4 several times. It has been a very gratifying  experience. #3 tries my patience sometimes, but I still enjoy it too.

Poll question: Do you like the PWS built M45 or the new Colt M45 better?  I am too bias to give a fair answer to this question,  but I would love to get some good feedback about why you may like one over the other.

PWS M45.  The Colt looks awful in my opinion

PWS M45. First of all, it is a true custom built 1911 from all quality aftermarket parts. And I like non-railed 1911better.

I have CCS version of Colt M45A1 as well. It perform great. Althought Colt called it custom shop version, other than hand fitted barrel/bushing, the rest are all production parts that drop in without much custom fitting work done.

Hey guys, a couple of clone fiends and myself created a rifle clone Facebook page and just made a pistols one as well. Figured some of you M45 addicts would like to participate. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1509628066028574?tsid=0.21435216558165848&source=typeahead

M45 for nostalgia. .250 radius grip safety thinned out a bit is so much nicer for me, and at speed normalizes my grip. The gun will come up where I need it to with no fuss. The left thumb safety is nice too. The right presses against my trigger finger knuckle and causes inadvertent activation. Grips feel great until trying to access the tiny mag release during a 4-600 round shoot. No light capability sucks. Gun likes to rust in humidity, with salt water or blood due to high carbon steel content. Frame ramps generally very shallow (literally don't care what old build procedures say. Angle may be on the money, but they are too damned shallow. Period. Doesn't help that Caspian locates their magwells a bit far forwards...) and causes hell at times. Especially towards the end of the day during those long shoots. Damned feed cycle is so difficult that it robs the slide of velocity, causes massive bullet setback and causes a FTB. I've seen a lot of them have rounds (A475/A483) impact underneath the ramp. They are supposed to glance off a ramp that's 31.5 degrees or so, not a magwell at 17 degrees.

M45A1 for work. The tang is a .250 but slightly overcut, and the grip safeties are very low, and isn't sensitized (requires more than 1/2 travel to deactivate) A perfect draw stroke is required and there's always a bit more lag to my first round. The thumb safety is the crappiest part on these guns, but at least the right side (although bigger) is small enough to prevent accidental activation. Light capability is nice, live round ejection cut in slide is nice. Drop in parts replacement is nice. Novak sight still irritates me, should have been and very well may be a ledge sight soon. Frame ramps are cut very nicely, depth and angle. Makes a big difference for reliability. No rust due to predominant use of stainless steel. Cerakote sucks until its worn away from internals, Ion Bond guns FAR nicer. Series 80 I'm indifferent towards but is okay for use, makes it drop safe especially if someone doesn't swap hammer springs often. Far better than other 1911 firing pin safety systems. Gun needs checkering in the front, but the high cut trigger guard is very well done.

Both accurate, I give the accuracy/precision edge to a well/properly built M45, but as a service gun, the M45A1 has shown freakish reliability and very good accuracy. The one exception being sand in from the rear when units are fast roping in desert environments. The M45A1 is built mostly off of CNCs, so build quality is identical from gun to gun. I love the jet black oxide finish on the M45s, with gleaming silver mags. Its just cool looking to me, and I like all black guns. But the performance of the new guns is hard to beat.

You still build those ol' MEUSOCs?

S/F

Best run down ive read in a really long time... thanks!

Im really enjoying your posts the last couple days.

S/F

GS5414, great information as always.

More pictures never seem to hurt

Something to consider for your M45 builds.  C & H Precision Weapons does full spec M45 builds for $600 if you supply all the parts.  They are run by a former 2112 and specialize in M40 sniper rifles but also do pistols.  They are relatively new, but their they have a great reputation.

"Dave retired in 2013 after 26 years of service as a 2111 (Small Arms Technician), 2112 (Precision Weapons Technician) and 2181 (Senior Ground Ordnance Maintenance Chief). He is formerly the NCOIC of the famed USMC PWS (Precision Weapon Section) at Quantico VA."

C&H Precision

That's a really good price, I wonder if that is based off of the later variants, I could see the millet front sight installation costing more than Novaks. At this point all I need is a frame and slide to get started.

My recently built MEUSOC.  Completely accurate, love this thing...

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beautiful pistol... did you do it yourself or have it built?

No, was built by my buddy who's a 2112...

Same. Every post he makes seems to just have very good info.

My work in progress. This thread alone compelled me to seek out a Loaded for my first 1911 and start a clone. This is Phase 1 so far (i.e. all the easy stuff - Ed brown guide rod/plug, grips and screws, Caspian MSH, Novaks, Wilson mags and shok-buffs). Sent the factory barrel/bushing to Robar for Blackening and had them park the MSH as well. After my next round of fundraising, I hope to send it to SACS for a tang re-weld and proper grip and thumb safeties fitted along with C&S hammer, trigger etc. installed.

Nice build, looking good so far. Did you install the Caspian mainspring yourself? If so, how did the holes line up with the frame?

Just FYI... this is what deb had to say about the fitting of an ed brown memory groove grip safety when I asked her about re-welding. The work plus the other parts (thumb safety, C&S ignition set, blacken barrel, gi plug, grips, etc), plus a loaded model for 700 bucks came to about 1700 bucks or so total... and that's with no barsto barrel or fitting."

"Cost to weld up the frame and recut for an Ed Brown Memory Groove beavertail grip safety would be approx. $125-150, plus refinishing of the frame after the work is complete.  Since this does involve welding which changes the steel, it is possible that you may be able to see the area where it was welded even after it has been refinished.  This work is very labor intensive and involves a large amount of welding."

2.      Cost to install would be approx. $65, in addition to the welding in #1 above.

3.      Cost for the part &  installation would be $135.

***lear told me about a guy (old 2112 pws guy) who builds them... and the there is the post above from the smiths at C&H who will build one for 600 bucks plus parts... anyone price one of those builds out?