plating the rails?

i plated the rails on my 1911-a1

for anyone who is interested plated the rails on my 1911-a1.
as suggested i found a source for the nickle plating kit.
it was the texas plating company out of texas.....however i got the kits from an outfit in tempe arizona....that sells them for restoring old radios and the like. my stepson is in the air force in tuscon and i had him pick me up 1 kit and 2 refills of the chemical. it is a gel rather than liquid. the kit is designed for doing small parts at 3 volts....i had to play with the voltage and ended up at 4.5 volts d.c. i added .002" to the overall width of the frame rails and .002' overall in the slisde ways..so total i picked up .004". I also padded my hand by picking up some slide guide and started using it. i hand sanded the frame rails with some 1000 grit wet/dry just enough to smooth them out.
so far i have about 200 rounds and i have not noticed any break down. only time and lots of rounds will tell if this is going to be durable and permanent fix.
my thanks to all who provided input.
joe
 
Hunter's right about the slide and frame fit. The rule of thumb I was taught was that barrel lock-up was 70% of accuracy work, the bushing gave you another 20% of what was possible, while frame-to-slide fit, barrel extension fit, and other little tweaks all combined only provided the last 10%. The two main reasons for slide and frame fit are to overcome excessive lock-up height (as when you get a gun that even the longest standard link is too short for after cutting the link lugs) and to improve operating cycle consistancy in a gun that, for example, tends to rub the outside of the recoil spring tunnel against the edge of the dust cover.

In other words, slide and frame fit are not an accuracy essential, but they can promote functional consitancy and help get the last little bit out of the gun. With Russ Carniak's generous advice, back in the mid 80's I learned to fit up 1911's the old fashioned way, with TIG weld-ups on the barrel and a lot of pounding and lapping. The target below is what it shot with jacketed SWC's. The barrel was the original Colt, about half a thousandth out of round at the muzzle (0.451 on one 45° axis and 0.4515 on the perpendicular to that), but with a clean crown. From a Hoppe's pistol rest with sandbags, using an Aimpoint sight on a frame mount it shot 0.37 inches C-T-C with Hornady 200 gr. SWC's. I'm just sorry I hadn't put a fresh center and backer up when I shot the group. It is ragged because the backer was shot out behind it. However, on the original you can see the marks from the bullet perimeters and measure across them with calipers. It was witnessed by two people. I don't think it would have been quite this tight without the slide and frame fitting.

Nick

i5042_JacketedBulletGroup.gif
 
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thanks to both for the info

unclenick and hunter....thanks to the both of you for the information...i have saved both the text and the web site for future use. as i mentioned earlier....i did manage to get the frame rails nickle plated....not that much overall ....maybe .004" if i recall correctly....maybe it wont make a difference....in time we will see....i was able to after some research find the dimensions across the framerails and was only out a couple of thou....so i must assume that any extra play comes from the slide.....if that is the case i will either have to get the slide squeezed or get a diiferent slide....and of the 2 i would probably go for the slide. as far as the frame goes the tig or even mig approach does seem to have more merit...but i would think that the frame would have to be out by more than a couple of thous to make it worth it.

right now i am going to go out and put some more rounds thru it (my wife is) i will use the mill spec. as this progresses i will add to the thread.
thanks again and to all ...Merry Christmas.
joe
 
Joe,
You are certainly welcome for any help or info that I gave you.
Thanks for the compliment on the web site, I hope to update it some day.

Nick,
If Russ was helping you I can assure you that you had a very good Mentor. I'm sure you already know this but for those that don't Russ was one hell of a good smith and a damm fine person.
Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
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