Anyone know of a nice 1911 tutorial....

K

kdmoore

New member
I'm starting to feel the 1911 itch. I've learned a bit here and there on the web, but I would love to know of any "how to" or "tutorial" type sites.

The gun has a variety of starting manufactures and is probly the most tweaked gun in history. I'm wondering if there is any single site that would walk through the different parts and the available modifications and if a gunsmith is needed and what they do for the gun, and price ranges?

List of things that I'm aware of include:
bbl bushing, bbl, mag well's, sites, guide rods, msh, ejection port, hammer, trigger, mags, grips, grip safety, beavertail, a bunch of polishing, smoothing, stoning and a whole bunch of springs.:confused: I don't know what half the entries in the 1911 section of Brownels are for (searching on 1911 returns 555 entries!). Some mod's probly make sense for idpa, carry, bullseye, appearance, weight etc.

I probly don't need to know about all of this, but it's part of the mystic, right. I mean if I only wanted to shoot I'd pass on the 1911 and go straight to a (fill in the blank here, Browning,HK, Sig, Glock, Walther, CZ, etc) hehehehehe

I don't expect that yall need to answer about all of these parts, but would love your suggestions for good informative sights.

Thanks in advance.....
 
Sort of a different tutorial type question. Does anybody recommend those videos on 1911's, such as the videos by Wilson combat or those gunsmithing videos? Has anybody purchased or viewed these?
 
Thx for the suggestions....

I poked around in these sites and they have alot of info. But didn't see what I was looking for. I can hunt down each part of 1911 if I need to, but I'm looking for a shortcut site that tries to walk through all of it (it can be alot to digest). My hope was that with as popular as these are there might be some "John Doe's unofficial 1911 Tutorial" site and that someone here could help me find it. One that would point us who are starting to feel the "call of the 1911" down the right path.

Maybe digging into this 90 year old pistol is a rite of passage.:eek:
 
The best 1911 tutorial I ever had was in the U.S. Army.:p In all seriousness, I think that some of the old military Field Manuals on the 1911 will have what you're looking for. Try a local Army/Navy surplus store.
 
I bought "The Custom Government Model Pistol" by Layne Simpson.It tells you what all the parts are and what they do.Also shows different modifications you can make to customize your 1911 for carry or competition.There's also a good disassebly section.
 
Based on a bunch of years of experience and comments here at TFL for the last three years, I'm of the opinion that either a GI version or a Series 70 is one of the better choices. Personally, I look for rusty junkers to rebuild, since you can do a lot of stuff yourself and if you accidentally scratch something you haven't hurt anything.

I like Hallock's book on the 1911 for basic "how to" stuff for accurizing and the minor amount needed for enhancing reliability.

I've been shooting the 1911 since around 1950, and was active in IPSC around twenty years back. I've never had any problem with any of 1911 that wasn't due to such small stuff as magazine lips or bullet shape and overall length on handloads. But, I don't use quick-reload magazines for carry, or SWC bullets, either. There's "Carry", and there's "Games". :)

IMO, the 1911 is about the easiest on which to learn how to be a do-it-yourself gunsmith.

The most important thing, IMO, is don't be in a big hurry to "improve" stuff until after you've done some reading.

FWIW, Art
 
Unless I misunderstand your question, You want to know what all of the improved parts that you named are intended to do....Right? Well, in brief, when the competitive 1911 shooting contest started, the shooter's all tried to get a little bit of an edge on competition. You know, one smoke stack jam could mean the difference in winning or losing. So many of the modifications that you listed started there. They may not be entirely necessary, but they increase your odds of winning. Flared ejection ports are one such modification. The list is long as you have learned and I do not want to take the time to cover them (i.e.write a tutorial here) but just be patient and stay with me.

Each of these "improvements" are viewed variously as needed or not needed (or even advisable) depending the use you intend to put the weapon to. Chuck Taylor, in his book on the subject (I forget the exact name ) says that any modification done to the original 1911A1 is ill advised at worst or totally unneeded at best. For instance, tightening the slide, Barrel and barrel bushing which are aimed at improving accuracy, make the pistol "less tolerant to dirt and grit" found in combat situations (which the 1911A1 was originally designed for) IPSA shooters and Range dogs want brigging rights on accuracy on paper and aren't planning to get the pistol dirty....So they like these improvements.

Billy Wilson (a famous pistolSmith) also wrote a paperback book which he later modified and reprinted. I am not sure about the reprint, but the original covers item by item what each of these modifications are and what they are intended to provide. Try to find his book....call him up.

In order to keep this from exceeding the maximum number of characters I will try to list the reasons for each of the things that you have emntioned. They fall into two or three categories.

Modifications to improve accuracy.

Tight fitting barrels and barrel bushings .

Tighening the slide

Better sights (many kinds but all are improvements over Colts of old)

Improved light weight trigger and trigger job. If you only intend to gut shoot opponents at close distances (Like Taylor said) and use your rifle for everthing else you won't need this item. Most of us like it.



Modifications to improve reliability

Full length guide Rods (some say they just make field stripping more dificult)
Throating the barrel (making the entery hole bigger)
Beveled mag wells make changing mags. easier to do rapidly)
Wolf Springs are the best springs they is! If you have to know that you have the best buy Wolf.


Convenience Items:

Original Colt Grip safties dug into the web of your hand after firing many rounds. The design on the beaver reduces this proclivity.

MSH come in arched and flat. Usually folks with a fat thenar eminence like flat. Some others like arched. It tends to change the initial height at which the pistol naturally points in "your" hand.


On maintanence, repair and other tinkering, the definitive authority is "The 1911; A shop manual" or something close by Jerry kuhnhausen. It costs about $25.00 at the Heritage Web site. (I don't recall the exact URL but if you can't find it send me Email). In it he explains the parts their inner working and tells you some maintaince. The good thing about either of the three books that I have mentioned is that they are the recognized "AUTHORITIES" on their respective subjects and cannot be discredited.

Enough all ready....My wife says come eat dinner now or else. I hope it's a satrt for you and that you find the books that I mentioned. Certinly learning about one's new hobby is rewarding and you should learn all of the things that you asked. The trouble is, I have presented an overly simplistic answer. Instead of a phrase of explanation, most of these items deserve a paragraph or two (sometimes three). :)


PigPen
 
I got bit by the 1911 bug a few years ago myself.

If you go to the wilson combat arms site and look at all of the parts they have for the 1911 you can compare and ask around. Thankfully there is a fairly small number of parts (you just about named em all in your post) and their function is relatively easy to understand. But, in deference to the 1911 guru's and true experts out there, there is a lot to learn when you get into the nitty gritty details.

There are as many opinions and opinions on combinations on the 1911 as any gun you will find.

But the good news is that even a beginner, as in my case, can take one completely apart and get it back together again. You have to purchase a few tools, but nothing too exotic.

After I got mine my goal was to do just that. Take it all the way down and put it back together. After that, I started adding goodies (guide rod, new slide spring, new firing pin and firing pin spring, new extractor, new trigger, extended beavertail, extended slide release, extended safety, comptition mag release, machined main spring housing, tuned trigger spring, etc etc) until I turned a plain Colt 1911A1 into a more expensive Colt 1911A1 that was a little bit better. The satisfaction of doing it yourself is worth the time and effort and my Colt is one of my keepers. But if you ever sell it you may do better returning it to stock and selling off the goodies individually over time. I think I added up a total of around $1200.00 when I decided it was expensive enough and any further work would be beyond adding parts and minor fitting.

If you are trying to find a tutorial on what makes a good 1911 you may find somthing on what makes a good 1911 out of a particular combination of parts. You will get into endless debates with other believers who will find fault or omission with any particular combo.

AGI makes a tape for about $20.00 that is pretty good. If you combine it with the little booklet that wilson sells for a few dollars you can fully take one down and put it back together.

Once you have gone that far there is no turning back because the comfort level you will have with the gun will make you want to tinker and there is always somthing new and cool you can do to it to make it more expensive, err make that better.....:)
 
Excellent advice all....

Sorry pigpen, I was really hoping not to make you or others type so much. But it was exactly the kind of breakdown that I need. I was just hoping that it already existed online.

The book references seem to be more of the way to go. Oh well, guess that they will keep me busy for a small bit.

Coltdriver, I can see myself following your experience! At the root of my question was me wanting to know if I should start with a plain jane and build up, or if there were packages that had my interests in mind (I don't even know all of my interests yet) that would bundle them together and save me time/money. Reading your post I realize that time/money is half the fun of the hobby. Still, my pistol preferences are wide and I can't help think that tying up alot in one pistol keeps me from others:p Maybe a package deal would be a good 2nd (or 3rd) 1911 purchase.

Art, like the suggestion on junkers for a new starter... have any old scratched up specimens that don't hold sentimental value? .... :cool:

I'll check into the books listed. Looks like Simpson's book would be a good place to start. Thx KPS


The depth of knowledge on this board is amazing:p
 
Wow....

That is quite a site! Thx for pointing it out for me Clemson....it's now one of my bookmarks.

I don't use pistols for long distance accuracy I'd only end up with a gun that would outshoot me (worse than my others)

The combat accuracy of IDPA matches, and that type of quick shooting drills is what I currently enjoy)

So I'm starting to focus on:
Sights
trigger

Possible changes would include:
Throating/polishing only if the gun hiccups.
Flared magwell only if I get better (to where it matters)
grip safety if it feels harsh (or do replacements function any better, how much shooting would one need to do for it to "dig in" My typical session would only be a couple boxes.
MSH should be able to get this right by trying before purchase --- BTW Congrats pigpen, I checked and you are the first to ever use "thenar eminence" on this site! ;) :p :cool:

Probably won't do:
rails, bushing (may even slightly decrease reliability).
bbl

Still don't understand:
Full length guide rods -- I'll research this next

Starting to think that a base model is the way to start since I don't need extensive mod's done.
 
Some feel that a full-length guide rod helps accuracy and/or reliability. It depends upon whom you ask.

I don't think they do anything but make the 1911 harder to field strip. I have seen accuracy improvements, with a stock gun, by installing a Dwyer Group Gripper because barrel/slide lock-up was improved. This has not been the case with standard full-length guide rods. YMMV.
 
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