Filed under: Home Works, Misc Stuff, National Match 1911 by VGadmin [No Comments »]

So I’m finally getting a chance to get back to Rafe again and the building of his 1911. Let’s all remember that he is in college and also works, so there are a lot of ‘gaps’ in our time together and thus, his progress. Collectively, he’s spent about 9 hours fitting the slide to the frame. He trued the slide on the first day and has been working the frame rails for the past couple of meetings. We’ll call it days 2 – 4.

Days 2-4: The Slide and the Frame; Continued

Rafe did a really good job at truing his slide, so moving on to the frame to see how it would fit would be our next part of the ’slide and frame’ process. I feel it necessary to mention a thing or two about the mil-spec slides, like the one’s you can get from Sarco. They’re inexpensive and they’ll do the job – HOWEVER, they’re not oversized. That means you WILL have to work the frame rails and swage or peen them – unless you have the wherewithal to weld the bottoms of the slide. Yes, that can be done – but it’s A LOT of work. You’re almost better off spending the few extra bucks on a Caspian slide – but if you’re on an actual $$$ budget; elbow grease is cheaper than parts, I guess.

As I’ve mentioned before, there are numerous ways to fit the frame rails. Some are preferred by some smiths, some are preferred by others – but some are the only ’smart’ option. In a perfect world, with perfect parts, all you would have to do is stone the frame rails to the proper dimensions. In that world the slide would slip on with no play – done right, I haven’t even needed oil. That kind of fit is so beautiful it makes baby Jesus cry, hehe.

On our world, that’s not the case. Some would say that truing the slide caused our problems with perfect fit and caused the need to swage/peen…to wit, I would ask; would you fit a dimensionally atrocious slide to a true frame? If your answer is ‘yes’…then I don’t want you working on my guns, hehe. Seriously, some mil-specs aren’t bad and aggressive truing isn’t necessary – but as I said, that was not the case here. The biggest part of this whole ordeal is to teach Rafe how to get it done – so having a ‘worst case scenario’ situation is actually good for him.

I know I’m chasing bunnies a lot – but I realized not everyone may know what swaging or peening the rails means, or what the process is for. Real quick; the end goal is a tight slide to frame fit, right? In cases where the dimensions of the slide and the frame differ to a degree where there’s unwanted play, the rails of the frame have to be ‘moved’ to get tighter against the slide rails. This is done by ’swaging’ or ‘peening’ or both. Swaging is basically ‘dropping’ the rails, pushing them straight down, moving the metal…think of a set of stairs. Swaged rails will have a step down because the rail has been ‘lowered’ or ‘dropped’ to close the gap. Peening is basically ‘bending’ the rails. There’s no step but, rather, a bend – in many cases, it’s clearly noticed. Swaging is preferred because it lends itself to keeping the sides of the frame rails true, while peening effectively reduces the amount of surface contact between the sides of the rails and the slide because it creates an angle to the sides of the rails. That’s the real quick version – I’ll get more in depth at a later time.

Rafe started with swaging. First, of course, he had to figure out how far to go and which slide fitting bars to use. This is done a few different ways, primarily by measurement or feel. I chose to teach him both. Oh yea – you NEED slide fitting bars or you’ll screw the pooch royally. The slide fitting bars are pieces of ground tool-steel that you insert into the frame when swaging or peening. They are there to take the place of the slide and be representative of the amount of play which must be removed. Anyway…using a caliper, he took dimensions of his slide and frame and noted them via a little doodle he made in his notebook. I think, based on that, we were going to have to start with a .114″ bar to get us within .002″ fit. Then I had him install the slide, run it back to the ‘theoretical’ point of lockup, and give it a jiggle. Then, remove the slide and go through all the bars until he found one that felt like it had the same amount of play – that’s the ‘feel’ part. Yep – the .114″ bar seemed like a good place to start.

He installed the .114″ bars on the holder and set it in the frame and readied the swaging punch. Note: Dad’s – TEACH YOUR BOYS THE SIMPLE USE OF HAND TOOLS for pete’s sake!!! Single Mom’s – MAKE YOUR BOYS TAKE SHOP!!! What’s this world coming to? Poor Rafe had to get ridiculed for about an hour because he swung the hammer like a girL. My bad if you’re a girl who knows what you’re doing…BTW, if you are, and you’re single, drop me a line, LOL. Aaaanyway…Swaging or peening is not done ‘gently’, unless you want to be there for 10 years. You should always be ‘careful’ – but you’re trying to move metal. That’s not going to be accomplished with diplomacy and feel-good words, hehe. Use the freakin hammer.

So after I got all that out of my system with Rafe he went to town. Swaging will generally take longer than peening (which is why a lot of guys go right to peening) because you’re trying to move more surface area. Needless to say – as I mentioned above – 6 of the 9 collective hours were taken up by swaging…coupled with my ridicule of his technique, of course. When he turns 21 I’ll have to buy him a beer to make up for it, LOL. Kudos to him though, he takes it like a man and presses on. He swaged a bit and then tried the fit.

Remember – after each swaging or peening process, you’ll have to return the width of the rails back to the correct dimensions. Since it’s not all that much in this go-round, Rafe was able to stone them back. After cleaning, he’d attempt to fit again. If there was play, he’d keep going – back through the process again. Now, I think I mentioned way-back-when, that when/if he comes to a point where he’s going to screw up – I let him do it and don’t stop him (baring something that would ruin the weapon, of course). I’m an instructor, after all, and sometimes people learn better by failure. A few times he’d not stone enough or fail to break the sharp edges and WHAM! – the thing would gall almost instantly. That’s when the metal kind of ‘rolls’ up on itself and creates a kind of ’skid mark’ – it’s pretty bad juju, but not irreparable. When that happened, Rafe would have to almost start over completely – find the gall, stone, re measure everything and get back to it.

On the 4th day, the fit of the slide and frame was pretty good and REAL close. So, I opted to have Rafe peen, instead of swage, the last .0005″ or so. It’s not ‘normal’ to do that – rather, it’s not a ‘usual’ step in the process. You generally do one or the other. However, I made the call because of how close we were to a good fit. In fact, most would have probably left it where it was, it was match-fit – but I’m not most. There was a slight bit of vertical movement which could be felt but not tested with a feeler gauge — that’s pretty damn small, LOL. So that’s where we’re at – he’s using the fitting bars and peening the last little bit out. He only does a few taps, then fits, a few taps then fits – toss on some lapping compound, fit it, clean it, fit it again. I think he’s getting tired of this part, hehe – but he’ll be happy when the thing marks under 1 1/2″ at 50 yards.

Filed under: Home Works, National Match 1911 by VGadmin [No Comments »]

A while back I started a series called “The 1911 National Match” which was a guide to how to match-grade a 1911 pistol. There were some great comments about it and some pretty good ’success’ stories – if we want to call them that. However, being the picky SOB that I am, I have decided to scrap it and start over. I was unhappy with the publication in general and felt that it didn’t say exactly what I needed or wanted them to. So, herewith, henceforth and all of that – it’s in revision.

Filed under: Home Works, Misc Stuff by VGadmin [1 Comment »]

Filed under: Misc Stuff, National Match 1911 by VGadmin [No Comments »]

The question of barrels has been asked of me a few times, so I figured I’d babble a bit about it. These days barrels sold as ‘match grade’ can get a bit tricky…some are more ‘match grade’ than others, while some aren’t even close. Unfortunately, I wish I could say ‘brand X’ sucks and ‘brand Y’ is the best…but I don’t really ally with manufacturers. I will say this, in the small circle in which I move, I can’t build a gun for any of them without using one of the three Kings; Kart (heck, I can’t even mention the “easy fit” model), KKM or BarSto…but apparently that only applies to certain groups of folks. Others are die hard BarSto or KKM (Marines currently use these religiously) or Kart. In the IPSC/IDPA world I’ve heard those who swear by companies like NightHawk Custom and Storm Lake – which a lot of ‘my folks’ have never heard of unless they pick up a Brownells catalog. My point is, barrels – while they can make or break a great gun – ALL have a few things which are necessary, no matter who makes it. Of course – you have to take into account the shooter. Most are prima donnas who’ll blame a barrel for their bad shooting just because of it’s manufacture mark, hehe. Give’em what they want and take the cash…that’s what I say, LOL.

Back in the day, before the amazing availability of ‘match grade’ barrels, the mil-spec was common. It often required welding of the hood and lugs so it could be re-cut to fit. Often it needed throating – which is NOT the same as re-dimensioning the feed ramp, as other guys may lead you to believe; the ramp and the throat are NOT the same thing. So, word of note – those of you dumping out cash to have your barrel ‘throated’ by ‘reliability guru’s’ (cough) who inevitably end up merely running a dremel over the feed ramp – you’re getting ripped off. That’s all I’ll say about that. Anyway…where was I? Oh yea – so mil-specs usually got their chamber reamed and throated (depending on the ammo) and needed the feed ramp enlarged to facilitate better feeding; especially/specifically for wad-ammo.

These days though, there’s myriad barrel types from which to choose. Drop in fit, Gunsmith fit, Sort-of drop in, Sort-of Gunsmith, and of course, mil-spec…the list goes on. As I’ve always said and written, the barrel you decide on will be based on your wallet, need, ability of installing it and – of course – your opinion. For a true match grade barrel, you MUST have oversized dimensions in areas like the hood and the lugs. It isn’t always necessary, these days, to ream or throat the barrel, or even to re-shape the feed ramp, for that matter – many can be bought good to go. That doesn’t mean that the barrel isn’t any good because you don’t have to ream it or throat it…just for the record. For the average Joe – a ‘drop in’ match barrel could be just the thing he needs; remember, if you have an old gun or shot-out barrel, a new barrel will ALWAYS help – even a drop in. Your need will determine that. If you’re a beer can shooter (empty, of course, we don’t waste here at VG ) you have absolutely no need to spend the money to get a barrel fitted. Conversely, if you’re a 2650 Bullseye shooter – you’d be a choad if you bought a drop in and expected to stay in your class.

Now – back to brands. “Jim” asked me my opinion on Fusion barrels. First I will say – mad props to “Made in USA”…I’d probably give 5 stars just because of that…if I didn’t have a little experience with them, of course Unfortunately, they only get “2″ from me…that’s not to say that I’m instituting a star system or anything; just thought I’d stick with the metaphor, hehe. The pro’s are that they’re sexy as hell (clean machining is always a HUGE plus), their ‘drop in’ is better than some and they have a very good variety for almost any 1911 type. The cons are; too expensive for what they are and what they can do. Questionable QC standards – I had two barrels brought to me whose lower lugs were sheared off; not broken – but completely shredded from the barrel. RC tests (hardness) were all jacked up and not even close to the usual mil-spec of 53-56.5. Yea, the guy’s ammo probably played a role, but surprisingly the chamber was fine…it was really odd. Finally, another barrel’s rifling at the crown was incomplete and horribly burred. It didn’t look like the shooter had messed with it – he might have; all customers lie – but there were clear signs of machining flaws. Now, I am NOT saying they’re trash – 3 barrels is hardly enough for me to form a real opinion; I’m an optimist. It just sucks if you’re the guy who bought the barrel that was made at 4:59 PM on a Friday, hehe. I didn’t have the pleasure of dealing with Fusion, these weren’t my guns and I have no idea if the shooters ever went to Fusion to rectify the situation – so I can’t speak to the customer service. I say – buy one. Yep, despite the former stuff – buy one if it meets your needs. If customer service is good, they should be able to fix any issues if needed – apart from that, I think my little window of experience is probably a tiny hiccup and not indicative of the products as a whole. Although, I’d put a KKM up against them any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Filed under: Home Works by VGadmin [1 Comment »]

Rafe is a member of the Texas state junior pistol team and attending college at UTSA. In a sport which requires many dollars, he has spent the last few years saving his money and buying parts to build his own 1911. He’s 18, so we (obviously) ran into the issue of being legally allowed to purchase a frame…we took care of it. It’s odd…the Texas team has won countless competitions, have national champions, are some of the most responsible and mature people I’ve met – more than many adults – but not a single one of them are allowed to own their own handguns…that’s so retahded.

He decided he wanted to build it himself…so I obliged. From 0900 – 1200 on Saturdays, until he’s done, he comes to my house and that’s what we’re doing…building his next .45. He already has one from me; an un-fancy, mil-spec 1911 which I built for him…his team took 1st place at nationals last year (with his scores near the top), so that makes me happy, LOL. It cost his mother under $400, held under 2″ with handloads and is a shining testament to my thumbed nose at the ‘idea’ that a 1911 has to cost $3000 to be any good. Of course, I didn’t charge labor – that was my ‘gift’ to the Junior program – so maybe that’s where the discrepancy lies, hehe. Makes me wonder how much is being charged for ‘labor’ these days…meh, gotta make a living, I guess.

Anyway the project was officially started on the 17th of October 2009. He was commanded (:P) to buy the Kuhnhausen book because, since I actually broke down and bought it, I find it to be a very good tool. Since Rafe has a sparse knowledge of what he’s reading, I’m there to explain it and show him how to complete what he needs to. That and I’m pretty sure his lovely mother doesn’t want him to build a “shop” in his bedroom, LOL. After some lessons in various techniques, we got right into it. For the record…I’m just instructing (translated: drinking coffee and laughing at his fear of hacking metal, LOL); Rafe is doing all of the work.

Day 1: The Slide and Frame Fit

Rafe uses an Alpha Precision rail guage, installed into the slide, as a foundation for measuring the height of the slide rails. He measures them with a caliper fitted with a depth base – a depth micrometer works best, but I don’t have one, LOL. He marks some points on the slide with a marker so he knows where he took his measurements, with the idea that he needs to ‘cut’ the slide rails to a uniform height…this is called ‘truing the slide’. I had him measure the points three times each, ensuring the caliper was ‘zeroed’ each time. This was to make up for his having never used a caliper before.

After he took his measurements, he needed to ‘true’ the rails to a uniform depth. This can be done in a few ways, but it depends on the amount of metal that needs to be removed. It would make very little sense to load the slide up in the mill to take of .001″ of material…it’s just a waste of time. Stones might not take enough and a file might take too much – you have to find a happy medium. Luckily, Rafe’s slide measured out where he could afford using a file and finishing up with carbide paper and stones to clean it up. It was a perfect time to teach Rafe how to draw file…muahahaha. Of course, I’m nice (*cough*) so I let him practice on a piece of steel before I let him go to town on his slide.

Once he was confident and understood the filing method, he put his slide in the vise and started cutting. He cut and measured, cut and measured until he got to within a tiny breadth of his goal. Then he went to a stone to clean up his filing and paper marks…yes, I know the gauge is still in the slide It is imperative that all ‘metal chips’ be cleaned from every part, in every step of the process…so I gave Rafe a rag, hehe.

Of course, not all projects run completely smooth…Rafe decided that he was going to lose one of the tiny screws for the rail gauge…so I made him look for it. He never did find it, so he owes me one screw…I’m still waiting for it LOL.

So, that was day 1.

Filed under: Misc Stuff by VGadmin [No Comments »]

I’ve heard this guy’s name for years and often sluffed off what people told me about building a .45 when they prefaced it with “…well, Kuhnhausen says this…” – especially when said individual has never built a 1911. Of course, I mean “built”…not “assembled”, LOL. I’ve been fairly successful with guns I’ve built using the methods I was taught and figured out through trial and error…at the time, I had the resources for trial and error…not so much now, hehe. Anyway, I never understood why the guy was regailed – then again, I never read his books. I equated it to those who try to cram the Bible down your throat…you might dig the message or the theme, but the method by which it’s force-fed is a distasteful turn off. Last June/July however, when I had the chance to mingle with the ’smith’s of the various services, Kuhnhausen’s name popped up again. So, I decided to give it a whirl and bought both of his books; ‘The Colt .45 Automatic – A Shop Manual’ and ‘The U.S. M1911/A1 Pistols & Commercial M1911 Type Pistols – A Shop Manual – Volume 2 in the Kuhnhausen .45 Auto Series’.

Holy Crap!

Talk about in depth! These books are the most in depth publications I have ever seen…and I read A LOT. If you’re a fan of the 1911, these are a must-have! In print, I am pleased to write that I was wrong for sluffing off people’s praise of the man – I’d have probably saved countless man-hours had I read these a long time ago. From detailed specs to theory of operation, this series it loaded. It only lacks in ‘employment’, that is: when it talks about a task, it speaks to the desired outcome but doesn’t often address ‘how’ to do it – i.e. how to actually ‘cut’ or ‘file’ or ’stone’ etc. Often that is appeased with pictures and, if you have any experience, you can usually figure it out. Conversely, I’d like to offer a hearty ‘piss off’ to the Kuhnhausen droids. The books address most, if not all, popular methods for fitting and the like, citing (quite often) his ‘preferred’ method. He is great at justifying why he does things the way he does, but also makes concessions for varying opinions and practices on the matters at hand – based on his experiences. Except in matters where such things are a necessity, he rarely presents his methods as the ‘only way’. To wit; the series encompasses a ‘complete’ persepctive – which is very refreshing to see…in anything, these days.

Gripes and Grins…

If you’re going to try to use Volume 1 to actually build a 1911 – you’ll come a cross a bit of a snag. There are some fixtures and tools he uses which are no longer in production. So, you’ll have to discern the desired outcome of the task, figure out what it is you’re trying to accomplish and either a) find an equivalent tool or fixture or 2) fabricate the fixture on your own. That’s a bit of a bummer because some of the things he uses are better than what’s currently available and making your own takes the ability or the funds. On the other hand, there are things he uses which are still available, but only made by one manufacturer and not offered by Brownell’s (the gun guy’s Mecca). So, again, suck up the cost of the minor-monopoly or fabricate your own. Either way – if you dive right in and go for it, you’re definitely going to need a bigger tool box, LOL. The bright side of it is, if you’ve been doing this for a while (and have never read these books), you’ll find that some of his methods are far easier and produce a better result. It’s one thing to be told there’s a better way, but it’s a different thing entirely to be ’shown’ there’s a better way *grin*. My way is still better for some things, but for others I’ll bow to Kuhnhausen – and that’s the goal, isn’t it? Learn what you can, take what you need, employ what works.

Kudos to Kuhnhausen. You can get the books at Brownell’s…but I’m not trying to sell you anything, so no links, hehe.

Filed under: Misc Stuff by VGadmin [No Comments »]

A lot of bullseye shooters consider the end of Camp Perry as the end of their season. For many others, it’s simply the beginning of the next…such is the case for me. I have finally been reinstated to shoot by my doctor (following an entire season down due to neck surgery) a few days after I got back from Perry. Yep – I couldn’t shoot, but I went to Perry anyway and to Interservice at Ft. Benning the month before that. Hey, I gotta support the AF Team even if I don’t pull a trigger, y’know? So I’ll get back on the line ASAP…as soon as I get my bench cleared of my projects, LOL.

At Interservice and Perry I had the pleasure of mingling with the Marine Corps gunsmiths and the guys on the AMU truck. Mad kudos to SSgt Sunday and Sgt Poston of the Marine Corps and SPC Travallian, SFC Grieve and Mr. Brad Throllson (sp?) of the AMU. I’ve been at the USAF Gunsmith shop for almost 6 years and have NEVER seen the skill that those folks possess. It was a great learning experience – but also made me jealous because the AF gave up on marksmanship eons ago and all the trade skills which go with it. I did get to have my hands on a few guns…simple tasks due to workload (Perry can be insane on the trucks). At one point I was in USAF uniform, fixing an Army MSG’s model 41 on the Marine truck – I picked up on the humor in that, but don’t know if anyone else did.

My thanks to both services will be service specific grips for their service pistols, the M9 (Beretta 92). The Army one will have the star and “US Army” on both sides while the Marine versions will have the EGA on one side and their bulldog mascot on the other. They’ll all be rendered in plastic and I’ll get some pics up when the prototypes are done.

Anyway – I can’t wait till next “season”.

Filed under: Misc Stuff by VGadmin [4 Comments »]

I finally got my second Hammerli 215 yesterday – I’m pretty excited. Sure, its the same as the other one I have, but everyone’s happy when they get a new gun – or, at least, a gun that’s new to them. All I gotta do now is get it set up the way I like it.

In case you’re interested, the price tag was about $1800 and I got it from RoCo Firearm Technologies in Bandera, TX. If you’re ever in the area, and are a shooter, I highly recommend a visit.

Filed under: Home Works by VGadmin [2 Comments »]

There are a few really good options for the do-it-yourself gun guys, when it comes to refinishing firearms at home. I’ve done a lot in the comfort of my kitchen or garage, with very little effort and not much in the way of cost – when compared to having someone do it for me. Therein, of course, lies the heart of it for me – if I can do it myself, I’d rather.

The bake on coatings are awesome. Personally, I use the Teflon/Moly from Brownell’s (083-048-801). I get it in the aerosol can because it’s low-volume and I don’t have the need for much more. However, if you do – then you can get the larger product, but you’ll just have to get an airbrush; an inexpensive Badger will do the trick, provided you own a compressor of some type. Many of the coatings sold by Brownell’s, in this category, can be used “over” existing finishes like (more…)

Filed under: National Match 1911 by VGadmin [12 Comments »]

There are many differences between an ‘out of the box’ 1911 and a National Match (NM)1911 – most competition shooters will tell you that. A lot of work goes into creating an NM, but the secrets of the trade tend to be closely guarded…which, I believe, is complete hogwash. Out of the box, a 1911 is meant to be versatile with any kind of ammunition – despite the fact it was originally created with military hardball in mind (230gr round nose, full metal jacket) – and under any kind of circumstance. It’s reliability was paramount and continues to be, but an NM 1911 ends up being quite picky about its diet – which sometimes gives it a bad rap to the ignorant class of shooter. There isn’t a more popular style of handgun, in the world, when it comes to competition shooting; be it Conventional Pistol, IDPA, IPSC or any of it. Hundreds of companies turn out the 1911 in one form or another, all fitting for what they’re intended. From ‘beer can’ guns to ‘race’ guns to the famed ‘2″‘ gun – the 1911 wears many faces. Its calibers have changed over the years as well, and even the loads of those calibers. No longer stuck in the ‘.45 ACP 230gr FMJ’ arena, the 1911 can be found eating steady diets of (more…)