Building First 1911

[Guest justinbelcher13]

Hey guy, I am considering building my first 1911. First off, is it very difficult? I have assembled ar15 parts kits before, but thats about the extent of my "gunsmithing". Would I need any special tools to do it? What sort of price range am I looking at. I know you can spend thousands if you want, but I dont want anything too fancy. I am looking for just the basics, no bells and whistles. I do however, want it to be accurate and reliable because it may be a carry gun sometimes. Any reccomendations on different brand parts for frame, bbl, etc would be nice. And any pointers that might be useful for someone doing it the first time would be too. Thanks!

[Curiousgb]

I would say go to Brownells.com and do a search of 1911 parts. You will be there for a while. I would also look into some sort of instruction manual. Personally, I would start with a fitted slide and frame. Just because that is, in my opinion the hardest part of building a 1911. Prices for an STI fitted slide and framehttp://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=23750&title=1911%20AUTO%20PRE-FIT%20SLIDE%20&%20FRAME%20COMBO are around 560 (dealer discount) add another 500 or so for the rest. I installed a Kart Barrel on my SA it is Very accurate and pretty easy to fit. http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=7611&title=1911%20AUTO%20EASY%20FIT%20KART%20BARREL%20KIT

Edited February 17, 2009 by Curiousgb