1911 commander with a new gunsmith fit barrel barrel

M

mulespurs

New member
I posted a thread some time back about if I should splurge on a new barrel for my $400 ATI commander.

This is what I learned. Should have read the product description more carefully.

I saw Kart barrel and thought all good, didn't read the gunsmith fit part, my bad. I did see the barrel did not have a link or pin so at least I ordered them .

Didn't order a bushing, so that was the next thing. I watched a few video's and started filing away. Got the hood fit pretty good, then started fitting the lugs.

I went for reinforcements at a local gunsmith who helped immensely in fitting the lugs and also finishing the chamber.

Then when I get my barrel bushing, find out that commander bushings are shorter the 5" standard so I was in another dilema.

Not to worry,my gunsmith says, I just happened to have my well worn Kimber CDP in 5" along that has over 15,000 rounds on it. We just hard fit it in that old worn Kimber and help it out.

Ok cool. So I head home with a tuned up Kimber and a Commander with a new barrel and sloppy factory bushing.

Ok, I says to myself, what can I do till I get

a bushing from the bushing store?

I put a couple of wraps of teflon tape on the bushing assembled and shot a little.

Did it help? Quite a bit I would say.

My informal testing results are

we went from minute of milk jug at 25 steps to
minute of beer can at 25 steps.

Good enough for me
 
As you have a Smith,I suggest you let him fit the bushing.

It can be one of those "simple little jobs"

It helps if you have done a few.

I'm glad you had good results!

A Kart barrel is my first choice!
 
Measure the barrel OD and slide ID, provide those numbers to EGW, and they will make a precisely-dimensioned bushing requiring little or no fitting.
 
I’ve built dozens of custom 1911s in the last 40+ years and figured I had a good handle on it.
Then, I decided to fit a ramped 9mm barrel and new slide to my STI 2011. All the parts were, “Gunsmith fitting required”, but that didn’t bother me.
It should have.
Smiths who do this for a living have all kinds of jigs and fixtures. I have files and – good thing – a lot of patience.
Not only did I have to fit the hood and the lugs, I had to finish-ream the chamber.
$100 for the reamer.
I finally got it to where, when I eased the slide forward, it would stop just short of going into battery. Then, a sharp snap of the wrist would pop the slide closed. That was what I wanted. A couple of hundred rounds finished wearing it in and from then on it was super tight and accurate and 100% reliable.
I’ve been shooting it in the weekly pistol league for a few years and doing well.
 
Invited into this one from afar, so here goes.

First, a few points if I may.

The link has nothing to do with accuracy or "lockup." Its sole function is getting the barrel out of the slide. If the barrel is standing...or "locking" on the link, either the link is too long or the lower lug is out of spec and the former will be a detriment to accuracy. The latter, less so, and generally shows up as vertical stringing.

Going from a .198 to a .200 slidestop crosspin will position the barrel exactly .002 inch higher in the slide, and that's all it will do. You'd need a machine rest to see any change. The variation in ammunition from shot to shot would make more difference.

Get the cataract surgery done before proceeding. The difference is nothing short of astounding.

Whenever I'm approached about accuracy work, I tell the shooter to take a little test.

Throw the first shot away, and fire three 6-shot groups carefully from a sandbag under your wrists, again throwing the first shot from the magazine away. Measure, and take an average.

Then, repeat the drill from offhand...slow fire. If your offhand groups nearly match your sandbagged groups, you're ready for accuracy work. If there's a large disparity, you need to accurize you...not the gun.
 
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