Bit of a long story here – be warned!
When I came home from basic, I went to my local gunsmith and had him build me a 45. I always knew that if I could only have one pistol, it was gonna be a 1911A1. Problem was, there was no way I could afford a Colt, and so I got my “parts built” gun for $200.00. I had the ‘smith put millet fixed sights on a slide that came from who knows where – no makers name, only a serial #. The frame looked parkerized, but who cared? The trigger pull was guesstimated at about 30 pounds. It felt like you had the safety on when you were trying to shoot it. No discernible creep, though (like you would have been able to tell!). But it was a Gov’t 45, and it was MINE! I went off to college, and the gun served me well for a couple of years. Then, while cleaning the gun after running through some of the early CCI Blazer 200gr. hollowpoints, which seemed to be really hot, I found that both of the frame rails were showing distinct cracks. Instant despair! The reason that the ‘smith was able to sell me such a cheap (and that’s definitely the right word) 1911 was because he used an alloy frame that was probably not of the highest quality to begin with. Fortunately, I had bought my second centerfire by then – a 357 magnum police turn in, so I wasn’t without a weapon. But, a new frame! And, I didn’t want another repeat, so no alloy frames!
I finally scraped together enough cash for a steel frame, and decided on an extended guide rod, 16 pound recoil spring, and shock buffers as well. The new frame hasn’t cracked, and I don’t expect it to. But the trigger was still horrible. Then, a new problem arose. When you fire the gun, it cycles and feeds, everything looks right, but the hammer won’t fall when the trigger is pulled. As a matter of fact, the trigger won’t reset. Pulling back on the hammer a little bit (tiny fraction of an inch) resets the trigger and allows another shot to be fired. At first, this only happened occasionally, but then it became an every shot type of thing. I figured it was the sear not engaging properly on that terrible trigger, so I bought a Cylinder and Slide trigger kit. This dramatically improved the trigger, but didn’t solve the trigger reset problem.
By that time, as you can probably imagine, I was getting a little annoyed with my bastard child. I put the gun away, and other than to take it out and look at it, I haven’t done anything to it. But now the siren song of the Government is getting louder. I need to get the gun functioning reliably, just to shut it up (Not really, the better it works, the louder and more often it speaks, so to speak!).
Now, all of you 1911 fans who have made it through to the end, what am I to do? Is this something I can fix myself? Or should it just go into a gunsmith? Any suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated!
When I came home from basic, I went to my local gunsmith and had him build me a 45. I always knew that if I could only have one pistol, it was gonna be a 1911A1. Problem was, there was no way I could afford a Colt, and so I got my “parts built” gun for $200.00. I had the ‘smith put millet fixed sights on a slide that came from who knows where – no makers name, only a serial #. The frame looked parkerized, but who cared? The trigger pull was guesstimated at about 30 pounds. It felt like you had the safety on when you were trying to shoot it. No discernible creep, though (like you would have been able to tell!). But it was a Gov’t 45, and it was MINE! I went off to college, and the gun served me well for a couple of years. Then, while cleaning the gun after running through some of the early CCI Blazer 200gr. hollowpoints, which seemed to be really hot, I found that both of the frame rails were showing distinct cracks. Instant despair! The reason that the ‘smith was able to sell me such a cheap (and that’s definitely the right word) 1911 was because he used an alloy frame that was probably not of the highest quality to begin with. Fortunately, I had bought my second centerfire by then – a 357 magnum police turn in, so I wasn’t without a weapon. But, a new frame! And, I didn’t want another repeat, so no alloy frames!
I finally scraped together enough cash for a steel frame, and decided on an extended guide rod, 16 pound recoil spring, and shock buffers as well. The new frame hasn’t cracked, and I don’t expect it to. But the trigger was still horrible. Then, a new problem arose. When you fire the gun, it cycles and feeds, everything looks right, but the hammer won’t fall when the trigger is pulled. As a matter of fact, the trigger won’t reset. Pulling back on the hammer a little bit (tiny fraction of an inch) resets the trigger and allows another shot to be fired. At first, this only happened occasionally, but then it became an every shot type of thing. I figured it was the sear not engaging properly on that terrible trigger, so I bought a Cylinder and Slide trigger kit. This dramatically improved the trigger, but didn’t solve the trigger reset problem.
By that time, as you can probably imagine, I was getting a little annoyed with my bastard child. I put the gun away, and other than to take it out and look at it, I haven’t done anything to it. But now the siren song of the Government is getting louder. I need to get the gun functioning reliably, just to shut it up (Not really, the better it works, the louder and more often it speaks, so to speak!).
Now, all of you 1911 fans who have made it through to the end, what am I to do? Is this something I can fix myself? Or should it just go into a gunsmith? Any suggestions and advice will be greatly appreciated!