Info on putting together my own 1911

You can assemble a 1911 if you have moderate skills.

Your FIRST move is to buy a copy of Jerry Kuhnhausen book "The Colt .45 Automatic: A Shop Manual, Volume One".

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=13805/ttver=2/Product/JERRY_KUHNHAUSEN_THE_COLT__45_AUTOMATIC

Your second move is to get a copy of Brownell's catalog. They sell everything you'll need.

Advice: For your first build assemble a working 1911 without any custom features.
Figuring everything out is made much harder when you're also trying to alter things to include custom features.
Match parts and custom feature parts almost always require significant fitting.
Build a working gun first, then add the custom items later, or build a second gun with all the custom stuff.

For the first build, stick with name brand, quality parts from Brownell's.
Cheap kit parts, gun show, and Shotgun News parts are all cheap castings.
They're all out of spec in some areas, and trying to figure out why something isn't fitting or working correctly is only made all the harder when the parts are substandard.
When the parts are out of spec, the mis-fit tends to "stack" and get worse as parts of the assembly are added. This can make it extremely difficult to figure out what's wrong.
Name brand parts are in spec and will usually require minimal fitting.

Once you've built a properly working 1911 and know how the gun works, then you can branch out to custom items and fitted Match type parts.
 
Yup I built one a couple months ago off a Caspian frame and a parts kit from Sarco. I bought the one without a barrel because I heard rumors that the barrels they sell with the more expensive kits wear out. Mine's pretty good, I had issues with loading and had to take the frame to a smith to have the feed ramp machined a little.

But it's a easy build if you got a set of precision screwdrivers, a small (1/8'') punch and a 2 oz. hammer.
 
I bought a few books on it and plan on finishing the reading and then i will venture into putting together a parts list together. I hope to get a basic model up and running within the next month.

wish me luck
 
I started to then priced the parts compared buying a finished Rock Island Armory 1911.

Still might attempt it at some point in time just to say I built it myself.


Doug
 
Some people have gotten the wrong impression about assembling their own firearms, IMO. With some (like ARs) you can save a bit of money by assembling your own. With most (like the 1911A1), you can actually spend more by buying parts and assembling your own. Kinda like building a car with parts from the parts store, it would be prohibitively expensive because parts sellers really mark up their parts. But if you do build a firearm from a kit, you often end up with something better, as you will learn a bit about the firearm design and operation as you assemble it.
 
I was reading on a site that i could use a frame from another 1911 and build off of that. I have and older smith & wesson that is just beat to p!&& and was thinking of building of of that frame.
 
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