1911 Frame recommendation.

J

Japle

New member
I recently acquired a 1911 that some shade-tree "gunsmith" had butchered.
I'm looking for a full-size stainless frame, front strap checkered and with the plunger tube installed. I don't want an 80% frame.
I see that Fusion Firearms lists them, but they're out of stock.
Caspian? No experience with them, but I'm willing to listen.
Advice?
 
You're doing the work, or you're having a gunsmith do it?
I have experience with two Caspian frames, and both needed to have the barrel bed lowered to fit the barrel.
One of the frames has 50k rounds on it, so no complaints about how it's performed after completion.
JEM Guns is another option.
 
Rick,
I'll be doing the work. I've built lots of 1911s, but not lately. Just wondering what the current frames are like - what to avoid and what's good.
 
While there's a big status thing on the forged vs. cast war, nothing on a 1911 frame is loaded to where it makes any difference.

Original Colts were forged because forging was the "near net" manufacturing mode of the day, and the frames were finished off on lines of single-operation machines, also the mode of the day.

Casting, back then, tended to be iffy as far as the final product's strength, and was mostly a feature of the cheapest guns.

Casting technology (mostly the temperature control and heat treating part) improved, and by the 1960s Ruger was casting almost every metal part of their rifles. Nowadays they not only still do, but their Pine Tree facility makes castings for several other gunmakers as well, along with a host of industry customers.

The only parts of a 1911 frame I've ever seen break are the dust cover and the bit of upper frame rail over the slide release cutout. Those generally require high round counts, and they're just as common on forged frames as cast ones, best as I can tell. For sure, they go back to when all 1911 frames were forged.
 
Around 1970, I saw a frame that an amateur "gunsmith" had tried to customize by squaring the trigger guard. It was a cast frame and he didn't realize that. The process he used didn't work and he ended up with a wrecked frame. The front of the trigger guard melted.
 
TRX said:
While there's a big status thing on the forged vs. cast war, nothing on a 1911 frame is loaded to where it makes any difference.

Original Colts were forged because forging was the "near net" manufacturing mode of the day, and the frames were finished off on lines of single-operation machines, also the mode of the day.

Casting, back then, tended to be iffy as far as the final product's strength, and was mostly a feature of the cheapest guns.

Casting technology (mostly the temperature control and heat treating part) improved, and by the 1960s Ruger was casting almost every metal part of their rifles. Nowadays they not only still do, but their Pine Tree facility makes castings for several other gunmakers as well, along with a host of industry customers.
Click to expand...

Do any of these 1911 makers use cast frames….Wilson, Les Baer, Dan Wesson, Gun Crafter, Springfield, Ed Brown, Nighthawk, Cabot?
I think not.
 
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