MY Money Pit...

K

Kermit

New member
I bought a 1991 not too long ago and it quickly became a project. 1st, I had to get rid of the hammer bit. :eek: Then, since my 'smith was into it anyway, I had trigger work done, new trigger installed, beavertail, thumbsafety done during this trip. Now, I'm have the sights replaced & a one piece msh/mag well done. So far, I've spent about $1200... :eek: I know, I know, I should have bought a Kimber or Loaded Springfield, but to me there is just something about having a Colt in the stable :rolleyes:
How about you guys, what is your money pit?
 
My Springfield V-10

But, see, if you'd bought some "Loaded" Springfield, Para-Ordnance Limited, or Kimber Custom, you'd have had some collection of parts on it that somebody else figured the pistol needed; just another assembly line gun. This way, the gun is yours, and that's half the fun of 1911's.
 
My money pit...aka project gun :D ...got a new addition. I picked up a 22 conversion kit for it. Taking it out tomorrow. Sure the old favorites have their place, but it's always fun breaking in new stuff :D :D :cool:
Oh, and regarding that damned Brownells' catalog. :eek: That is how it started with my smith. He broke out his copy of the catalog and "recommended" a few things & I put in my 2 cents worth. When I'm not here on TFL, I'm at the Brownells site looking for parts "I need" :rolleyes:
 
The only money pit I ever owned was an older Colt commercial Government Model I wanted to get reblued. It ended up being refinished three times! The first shop did okay, but the bluing came off in an area the size of a dime when I cleaned it. That looked hideous, so I sent it to another place that also did a good job, except that their blue was a greyish-black. I wasn't 100% pleased with the finish, so I eventually sent it off to Colt to be reblued. It came back mutilated. The whole gun was so over-polished it looked like it had spent time in a blast furnace and partially melted. To make things worse the thing received a big scuff mark across the slide when they reassembled or packaged it!

In the end I sold it off for $250! Total cost, including the initial purchase was about $1700. :(
 
Huh. No surprise here...

That title on a thread about 1911s. Go figure.

:D

Mike

PS Not busting on 1911s, but I knew that was the topic prior to reading.
 
Kermit
Tamara
And every one else with a "project" gun

Please post pictures of the finished project(if it's ever finished).;)
 
Springfield 1911. Had two different Smiths mod it and it still shot worse than the Glock 30 that I had traded for it! This was also my last 1911.
 
Well , lets see - Basic Springfield 1911a1 so far : commander hammer, Brown grip safety, Videki trigger, Wilson thumb safety,Curved mainspring hsng., fitted bushing, 18 # spring, Novak tritium sights, Ciener .22 conv., Brown .45 barrel, Brown .400 CorBon barrel, assorted 8 rnd mags, leather.
 
Glock 23, bought a stainless steel spring assembly and extra power spring ($35) then decided I could not get used to the finger grooves that didn't fit my hand just right and sold it for about a $100 less than I paid for it.

Guess I should just be quiet huh :p
 
I like a money pit!! I love the aftermarket, guns and cars, it's nice to have something different. 1911's offer a lot of choices, I recently bought a Colt C.C.O., I've been putting my Brownells wish list of goodies for it together!
 
No "before" available, but here's with the grips, STI trigger and frame re-contouring done.

v10.jpg



Here's after the Novaks, Wilson flat checkered mainspring housing and Wilson beavertail.

v102.jpg
 
Funny you should ask. My money pit is a Kimber Custom that just wasn't custom enough. I had a S&A mag well/mainspring housing (stainless), a Clark fully supported barrel(blued), front strap checkered, Dlesk trigger and trigger job(stainless), Kings Match barrel bushing (blued), PT night sites , high luster finish (blued) and a slide to frame fit. I also bought two Wilson 8rnd mags. So far I'm in at $1200, or $1775 if you include the pistol.

Before the custom work the Kimber was rather dull looking, flawlessly reliable and resonably accurate. Now it feels great in the hand, looks fantastic, is more than resonably accurate and jams on the first and last rounds in the magazine. The smith says it needs a few hundred rounds through it for break in. I think he's right, the more rounds I put through it the fewer failures I get.
Untill the failures cease this is a range gun/conversation piece only.

Here's the thing. I used to be a die hard anti-1911 guy siting the need for customization as the fatal flaw of the 1911 design. For what I have put into the Kimber, I could have bought two "name your brand" that would have been reliable out of the box. However, this particular gun was a Christmas gift from my wife, which adds sentimental value. The customization process was fun and now I have a gun that is unique (at least to me). Maybe this was just a waist of money, but it is the first pistol I've owned that I would consider engraving with my initials (i.e. not for sale).

Sorry, I don't have a digital camera yet, but trust me she's pretty.

JJCII
 
One of My Money Pits...

...is a Glock 26. $599 w/ Trijicon night sights. My birthday was coming up, so I treated myself to some customizing. Aerotek hard chrome extended slide release, $36. Aerotek hard chrome extended mag release, $36. I'm a lefty, and the mag release had a sharp edge that needed to be relieved and refinished, $25. Barrel bead blasted and polished, $45. Aerotek titanium guide rod, $32. 3.5 lb connector w/ 8lb trigger spring, $40. Additional trigger work to improve feel, $70. Brass Seattle grip well slug, $25. 2 extra factory mags, $29 ea, $58 total. 4 Scherer mag extensions, $10ea, $40 total.

Total cost for my G26? $1006.00, not including tax!

Then there's my Glock 34... oh, never mind!
 
My money pit is a Walther P99 Military 9mm.
Damn thing keeps eating case after case of 124gr. FMJ @ $75 per 500 rounds. I'm up to 2500 rounds, without a hiccup. :D

Very soon it'll cost me, threaded barrel $395, Walther factory suppressor $895 and $200 to Uncle Sam.
$2100 silent-varmit-killer. :D
 
Kermit, don't you see, that's the beauty of a 1911. It's never "finished". You've just got to add that newest whiz-bang and then of course another couple of trips to the range for function and accuracy testing.
 
NMGlocker,

Funny you should mention that, as that V-10 has been 100% reliable, too. :)
Every bit as reliable as all four of my Glocks; however, unlike my Glocks, it is now a unique handgun fitted to my hand and my tastes.
Sometimes you do things because you can, not because you have to.
To steal a line from the Harley crowd, "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand". ;)
 
I have spent a lot of money on several different hanguns and for the most part I would do so again. To me though, "Money Pit" means throwing good money away on bad decisions and my two biggest brain farts are as follows:

Colt Gold Cup, Series 80, bought NIB, would not feed anything more than three rounds, sent it to a smith for some light customization ad reliability work, $500 later - fed better but not great, was not worth the 800+500 I had put into it

Bought a Glock 20 and sent it off to Arotek, hybrid comp barrel, ghost ring sights, laser sight, competition trigger, extended slide stop, extended mag release, blah blah blah, $750 of piss poor workmanship later and I had turned a great pistol into a POS.

I was quite the newbie on both occasions and at least learned to leave Glocks as is. I had to give Colt pistols a few more tries but finally learned that to be flawed thinking as well.
 
Worst money pit was/is a second hand Parra P16-40. The Aussie government had banned pistol importation, and I needed a Parra for an IPSC gun. Two weeks after I bought it the government reversed it's regulations and new guns came into the country. :(

Anyway, pinned beavertail, filler plate deactivating the firing pin safety (to improve trigger pull-it didn't), full length guide rod, machining of barrel link, recoil buffer, Ed Brown ambi safety (it fell out)and an STI Ambi Safety ( it didn't fall out) later, it's still not reliable ( the front sight has come loose and the grips need replacing with Limited model grips to stop the safety working out of the frame). I've shot exactly one stage with it.
meanwhile my glock 17 has had only one modification (3.5 pound connector) and one replacement part (front sight) and it keeps on cranking them out.
I still love the 1911 though. *sighs*

Radagast
 
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