Posted: 11/10/2008 4:44:11 PM EDT
| How hard is it to put together a 1911? Is it worse than an AR, if so, by how much? I would like to try it, but have no clue how to do it. Thanks |
| No doubt about it being more dificult to build than an ar. The 1911 needs to have ALOT of parts hand-fitted and filed for smooth,reliable function. I thought of doing one myself,hell,I'm still gonna do it,but I want to get a little more proficient at fully disassembling mine. |
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If you want to do the "easy part" and let someone else do the hard stuff, I would recommend Fusion Firearms.
I recently "built" my own. With Fusion you can order one with the frame, slide, barrel, and bushing already fitted, and you do the rest. Or you can let them do as much mo the assembly as you want to pay for, Plunger tube staking, Grip screw bushings, fitting the fire control parts, adding the sights, what ever you don't feel comfortable doing. They are also helpful in answering questions before you purchase and as you build. With the frame, slide and barrel already fitted the rest is not too difficult. there are a lot of specialty toos out there that can get pretty pricey, and if you don't plan on building several, you're probably better off letting them build the gun for you. Definitely not a simple modular design that you can just swap out parts on, like an AR, but it ain't rocket science either. The hardest part for an AR builder to get into is patience, and the go slow approach to hand fitting parts. Fusion |
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Do you mean build one or detail strip & re-assemble one? If it's build one, then I strongly urge you to skip that one, sir. 
My .o2 +1 building a 1911 and building a AR are not nearly the same; w/ 1911s, you have precise things to worry about, including the proper fitting (as in hand fitting) of a lot of parts to ensure function and safety with ARs, most about everything is in "spec" and can be slopped together |
| Ive taken my dads 1911 completely apart and put it back together several times. Its an amazin machine. Later this week im gonna buy an 80% from ar15plus.com and try my hand at building my own. Im waiting on some 98k parts that arent due for a while and need something to take up my time. Even if itsruined, it will still be a learning experience. |
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Ive taken my dads 1911 completely apart and put it back together several times. Its an amazin machine. Taking a working 1911 apart and putting it back together is not even in the same ball park as actually building one from parts. Quoted:
The 1911 is a 97 year old design, from an era when the labor of skilled craftsmen hand fitting parts was cheap. There is a reason that the good smiffs get top $$$$$$$$$$$$ when it comes to 1911's. 
Your next project should be building your own Lamborghini.  Guys, listen to SGB on this, he knows what he's talking about. |
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"have no clue how to do it."
Not sure what your skill level is with tools and fitting parts, but this is an area that can result in disaster if not done properly(mechanically and cosmetically). Sure parts can be bought as "drop in" style assembly, but they more often than not, need to be fitted in some way. |
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Ive taken my dads 1911 completely apart and put it back together several times. Its an amazin machine. Later this week im gonna buy an 80% from ar15plus.com and try my hand at building my own. Im waiting on some 98k parts that arent due for a while and need something to take up my time. Even if itsruined, it will still be a learning experience. Wow, nothing like grabbing a huge fork of "bite off more than you can chew". It's one thing to start with a virgin frame, it's another galaxy to start with an 80% frame. If you have prints and machine tools, kick ass and have fun. If you have a drill press and files, i'd consider a completed frame from Fosters, Caspian or STI. With todays CNC and EDM should we be able to produce 1911's that fall together like an AR? Sure, they're called production guns and the fit and finish is rightfully bad (loose). I have good friends that are well versed in their 1911/2011's and they still bring them to me for work that requires fitting. |
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I would not advise someone to attempt a 80% build unless you have proper tooling, i.e., a milling machine.
Can you do it with less? Yes, it's been done, but it usually could be done better, and in the end, you'd have been far ahead by simply starting off with a 100% receiver. I've built a few on 80% frames, and while they turned out about as well as I could have asked for, I still find myself wishing, now, that I'd just bought a regular frame. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Ive taken my dads 1911 completely apart and put it back together several times. Its an amazin machine. Taking a working 1911 apart and putting it back together is not even in the same ball park as actually building one from parts. Quoted: The 1911 is a 97 year old design, from an era when the labor of skilled craftsmen hand fitting parts was cheap. There is a reason that the good smiffs get top $$$$$$$$$$$$ when it comes to 1911's. Your next project should be building your own Lamborghini. Guys, listen to SGB on this, he knows what he's talking about. I understand that, but everyone has to start somewhere right? I figure if i go slow and take my time it will be ok. Plus ive got a whole world of info right here on arf. |
If you get a pre-fitted frame slide and use a drop-in barrel it isn't that bad...........More skill level than an AR................but having done two from scratch and working on a third.................it takes more patience...........and only use parts from folks like Brown.......Wilson......Nowlin........etc.......for less headaches..........
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I understand that, but everyone has to start somewhere right? I figure if i go slow and take my time it will be ok. Plus ive got a whole world of info right here on arf. Well, if one is hellbent on building one, then they should get ahold of Jerry Kuhnhausen's (sp?) book(s) on the 1911. It's chock full of pics & detail on what to do with sear/hammer angles, etc. Worth its weight in gold to someone who doesn't do this sort of thing everyday for a living, IMO. |
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What about the kits that include a pre-fitted frame and slide? Are they still just as difficult to put together from scratch? No they are not that hard but you have to go in with the understanding that part's don't drop in, and that fitting some parts can take hours of polishing, and light sanding or filing to fit. This includes disassembling and reassembling to check function. The word Dremmel should not enter your mind because it is too easy to make a mistake too fast that is not easy to fix. (Though you will be tempted, resist the urge.) The slide to frame fit is a good head start, but barrel fitting is another vital part, that affects function and accuracy. Small mistakes are easy to make and can have a huge impact, that can make you regret any choices you made in the build process, and make youwant to redo the whole barrel thing over again. That can get expensive. The frame, slide and barrel are your most expensive parts , and they are the easiest to make horrendous mistakes with. It is a worthwile experience. It is achievable. There is a lot of good information out there in books, and on the internet. There is a lot of bad advice on the internet. I chickened out and bought a frame, slide, and barrel that were all prefitted. I'm very happy with the end result. I took a month to complete the pistol, here are my take-away points of wisdom that I will pass along: -Don't try to work through the whole thing all at once. -If you feel yourself getting tired, or you are getting frustrated, walk away for a while. -If you try to rush through something you will be sorry later, and end up redoing it. -Go slow when fitting parts. -"It is easier to remove metal than to put it back" should be a silent mantra running through your head at all times. -Try the fit, disassemble, remove a little more, try again, will be repeated A LOT OF TIMES. -When fitting parts remove metal from the cheaper part when ever possible. -If you are trying to decide between filing, or stoning to fit, go with the lesser abrasive. It's slower, but harder to 'F'-up. -get good tools for the job. - Prepare to get on a first name basis with the folks at Brownells if you order by phone, they have everything you need. (Really, they do) -if you check the internet for ways to fit a part, check several sources, and methods, and figure out which ones are really the best. You can tell when several things sound the same in all of them, that there might be some truth to it. |
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Okay, which gun mag had the "Build Your Own 1911" article this month? Because it seems everytime they run out of ideas they trot this one out and lo and behold everyone reads and wants to build a 1911.
Its not hard to do, but its very hard to do it well. Get Kuhnhausen's video for starters watch it about a dozen times. They rethink this whole idea. Seen it done before. It almost never comes out the way you want it. |
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I understand that, but everyone has to start somewhere right? I figure if i go slow and take my time it will be ok. Plus ive got a whole world of info right here on arf. Well, if one is hellbent on building one, then they should get ahold of Jerry Kuhnhausen's (sp?) book(s) on the 1911. It's chock full of pics & detail on what to do with sear/hammer angles, etc. Worth its weight in gold to someone who doesn't do this sort of thing everyday for a living, IMO. Im sorry. I really didn't mean to come off as saying "f&^% you im doing it". At least, thats how i feel my posts sounded. But there are several books including Kuhnhausen's(i dont know how to spell it either, its saved on amazon wish list) No i dont build guns for a living, but maybe someday. I really just want to see if i can do it. ETA: Ive noticed the gun mag trend too. But my wanting to build one comes from a love of shooting, and pride in what i can do. Not because its cool, which it is. |
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When fitting parts is most of the work done with just sandpaper and small files? I was thinking of trying to build a 1911 in my spare time but was afraid that it would require a large investment in specialized tools. I enjoy projects that require tedious sanding and fitting together small parts. Even if it takes two or three months the fun is in getting the job done right. I have only spent a little bit of time looking through my Brownells catalog, but I do have a pretty good idea of what I will need for a complete pistol. If you take your time to fit everything well can you eventually end up with a 1911 as good as you can buy? Also, would you be able to put together your own for less money than buying a complete custom or semi custom gun? |
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When fitting parts is most of the work done with just sandpaper and small files? I was thinking of trying to build a 1911 in my spare time but was afraid that it would require a large investment in specialized tools. I enjoy projects that require tedious sanding and fitting together small parts. Even if it takes two or three months the fun is in getting the job done right. I have only spent a little bit of time looking through my Brownells catalog, but I do have a pretty good idea of what I will need for a complete pistol. If you take your time to fit everything well can you eventually end up with a 1911 as good as you can buy? Also, would you be able to put together your own for less money than buying a complete custom or semi custom gun? Make sure you have a complete understanding about how the parts you are fitting work with each other.... Kuehnhausen's books will get you there. If you buy a Kart ez-fit barrel you can fit that with hand tools, and probably a chamber reamer and some go- no go head space gauges. Drop in Cylinder and Slide trigger group might work, might not.... what-ever you do have a competent gun smith check your work. |
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When fitting parts is most of the work done with just sandpaper and small files? I was thinking of trying to build a 1911 in my spare time but was afraid that it would require a large investment in specialized tools. I enjoy projects that require tedious sanding and fitting together small parts. Even if it takes two or three months the fun is in getting the job done right. I have only spent a little bit of time looking through my Brownells catalog, but I do have a pretty good idea of what I will need for a complete pistol. If you take your time to fit everything well can you eventually end up with a 1911 as good as you can buy? Also, would you be able to put together your own for less money than buying a complete custom or semi custom gun? It's a bit more complicated than that. There are many specialty tools as well, like grip screw bushing stakers, triger track stones, Sear jigs, Slide fitting tools, barrel alignment tools, Lug cutters and files. To get all of the tools to do a "from the ground up" build, will cost as much,or more than a entry level pistol, of good quality. A compromise like the Fusion that I assembled, took a lot of the tools out of the equation. I still ended up spending around 20-30 hours on it, and over $1000. I got exactly what I wanted, and it works and shoots great. I knew my limitations did not include my fitting of the frame and slide and barrel. Those tools would have cost about as much as letting the manufacturer do the fitting, and if I messed up the fitting, there was no warranty. |