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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.