Customizing 1911

[Hitower]

I have had my Springfield GI for awhile now and I have gotten the bug to do some mods to it. I want to put a skeletonized trigger, skeletonized hammer, beaver tail, sights and grips on it. Obviously grips are easy but what about the rest. Will I need a gunsmith for all of it. i am thinking for the sights I probably will. And when shopping for the parts is there anything I should know or look for? These are the parts I have been looking at. Will I need anything additional? Thanks in advance

Sights: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=41672/Product/1911-AUTO-FIXED-SIGHT-COMBOS

Hammer: http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=24560/avs|Make_3=1911/Product/1911-AUTO-HAMMER

Trigger: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/746161/sti-trigger-1911-long-polymer-black

Beavertail: http://www.midwayusa.com/product/954488/wilson-combat-beavertail-grip-safety-semi-drop-in-1911-series-70-80-blue

[Dolomite_supafly]

I would recommend a smith to do the work.

Those "drop in" beavertails generally do not fit well and can actually pinch your hand. Adding a beavertail correctly to a GI requires the frame to be radiused and blended. This will make it neccessary to refinish the firearm. They do make a jig to make it eaiser but it is still not foolproof. And if you screw it up you need to find someone to tig the metal back in place. Then there is the fitting that must be done internally and although it isn't that difficult it is easy for the gun to be unsafe unless it is done perfectly. It literally is a matter of a few strokes with a file between safe and unsafe. The beavertail only prevent the trigger from being pulled. It is still possible for the gun to fire if the trigger isn't pulled if the gun is fired with the thumb safey not properly fitted.

The trigger is pretty much a drop in part but it will require the beavertail to be fitted to it. Then after that the thumb safety needs to be fitted to the new trigger and in most cases it requires a new thumb safety because the old one was fitted to the previous parts.. And if you make any major trigger adjustments after the other parts are fitted you may need new to buy all new parts. The thumb safety is what locks the sear in place and makes the gun drop proof. If the thumb safety is not properly fitted it is possible for the gun to be dropped and it go off. Or worst case scenario the gun is able to be fired with it engaged. You also need to make sure you leave the right amount of clearance or you will get the hammer riding on the sear which is not a good thing.

The hammer is about the only part that would be as close to drop in as possible but like all the previous parts it will require the parts that interact with it to be fitted.

You basically start with the trigger and adjust it with the hammer until you get waht you are looking for. Then you need to fit the beavertail so the hammer will not fall when it is not depressed and the trigger pulled. You do this by slowlt filing the leg down until it clears the trigger bow. Then after that is working how you want you must fit the thumbsafety the the new trigger position which is generally farther to the rear than the factory one. This, for me, is also the trickiest part of the whole process. When done it should lock the sear in place when engaged.

I know it sounds easy but it is not and this is the reason why most 1911 smiths charge what the do because it is a tricky, time consuming process to do it correctly.

It can be done by a novice and there are plenty of videos and instructions on the net. As a person who has ruined a lot of parts figuring out what works and what doesn't I will say that the odds of a novice getting everything right the first time is pretty slim. It is possible to do it but if you screw up you may not know it until the gun accidentally goes off.

Dolomite

[hipower]

Unless you are very familiar with the inner workings of handguns in general, and the 1911 in particular, have a good working knowledge of at least basic mechanical and tool skills...have a good gunsmith do it. Take the word of one who learned the hard way.

[gunrunner32]

Just remember, "drop-in" parts aren't always "drop-in" parts. It took me about 45 minutes of filing and polishing to fit a safety into my RIA. It was a Wilson Combat that was supposed to be a drop-in. I also spent another half hour working on the EFK compensator, it still needs work though. I'm still working on blending the S&A magwell, I'm about 30 minutes into that one. So far the only part that I have added, the only one I've called done is the mag release. It runs, but still needs work to be better. If you decide to do the work yourself, be patient, and a Dremel isn't always the answer.

[Hitower]

Thanks for the info. Looks like this build up may take awhile.

[graycrait]

My only cautions:

1. Make sure you are doing work that you have the right tools for or are willing to spend the money on. As Dolomite said, radiusing the frame requires specific tools, but what the heck, if you don't try you won't really know if you can or can't. Triggers, hammers, safeties, sear, disconnectors can be pretty much fitted with a small batch of tools that don't cost much.

2. Make sure you test the thing really well before the range and when you get to the range don't just load that thing up and let 'er rip. One bullet in the mag, then two, then three, just to make sure it doesn't run away from you. Then you need to shoot the tar out of it to see if your work will hold up before you let someone else shoot it or you carry it for self defense. I would caution against selling the gun.

Over the years I have had some guns I wouldn't let someone else shoot, not out of selfishness but because I had monkeyed around with the thing and didn't want anyone but me to get hurt. Having a pro do the work for you is one thing, but it isn't the only thing. I have a friend who has 35 1911s from handbuilt very expensive custom jobs to Rock Islands/Armscors to franken hybrid parts guns. I get a bigger kick shooting the parts guns. I got a RIA .38 Super one time, bought a very very inexpensive 9mm barrel from SARCO I think it was and dropped it in the RIA. It ran like a top. Another time I traded a Glock for a box of parts that once I assembled what I could it turned out to be acomplete Dan Wesson Pointman 9mm and well over 300.00 worth of extra parts, including KART, Caspian, Champion, etc. Most satisfying 1911 was an Armscor a friend had gotten as a gift and hadn't even shot the gun after having it 5 or so years. For some reason that gun had a horrible trigger pull. I gutted it, put in new beavertail, hammer, sear, disconnector and got it at a nice 4lbs for the 70-something fleshy- handed overweight diabetic. Designing a gun is rocket science, fiddling with them not so much.