Custom 2011 Builds

[T-DOGG]

EGW party pack!

 

[T-DOGG]

Decided on slide serrations for the STI. Going to use STI cuts! Surprised? Lol. They won't be 100% the same, but similar.

Aside from looking good, these serrations are highly effective in use. I love em. I plan on only do the rears.

 

[racegunz]

Cool thread and great tips, I am reworking my 1911 this winter and have re-barreled a few 2011's and never heard of "springing" I'll have to check my recent swap from a bushing barrel to a bull on the 1911 and see what it shows.

 

[T-DOGG]

Cool thread and great tips, I am reworking my 1911 this winter and have re-barreled a few 2011's and never heard of "springing" I'll have to check my recent swap from a bushing barrel to a bull on the 1911 and see what it shows.

When I first found out about springing, I discovered 3 of my bushing barrel guns had the issue due to the bushings being fit too tight to the barrel. Another .0005 - .001" removed fixed the issue. EGW makes a great barrel bushing with an "angle bore" cut that helps prevent springing when the barrel is in full battery and tilted, while keeping a tighter fit to the barrel than what a traditional bushing could achieve. Same principle with a bull barrel.


From EGW:

STRAIGHT BORE
A straight bored bushing is common and found in most stock firearms which use a bushing. The problem with this design is that the barrel locks up on an angle so you have a cylinder forcing its way up and down inside of a concentric circle resulting in wear and tear on the bore of the bushing. The disadvantage is the contact area is so small resulting in rapid wear. This design is fine for stock bushings which have maximum clearance from the barrel and slide resulting in a fairly loose sloppy fit.

ANGLE BORE
We have custom ground fixtures that hold the bushing at the angle of lock up when we bore to your selected size. This allows optimal contact with the barrel reducing wear and improving accuracy. By boring on the angle of lock up, we prevent accuracy robbing flex in the barrel often found in tight bushing setups. The bottom back is relieved for smooth bind free operation. This process is unique to EGW.

 

[T-DOGG]

Yesterday I sat down and inspected the two builds and checked initial fitment of the new parts, made a list of things to do (like a honey do list, but wayyyy more fun).

• Firing Pin Stop (fit to slide)
• Extractor (check breech to hook distance, adjust tension, fit to firing pin stop as needed)
• Ejector (EGW oversized piece, install and make clearance cuts for slide and hammer travel)
• Grip Safety (fit to frame, fit frame to safety)
• Thumb Safety (fit to sear, blend to frame)
• Slide Stop (modify lower contact area with a radius cut to give better traction when engaging, provide clearance to slide as needed so it doesn't drag on bottom of slide)
• Make clearance cut on frame just below slide stop engagement pad to increase access area to slide stop pad. Both frames have one, but they need opened up more with a ball cutter. Springfield did a good job of this on the Prodigy.
• Disconnector (EGW oversized ball head, fit to frame hole)
• Cut rear slide serrations (slick surface ground flats are not fun to grab a hold of with a 23lb recoil spring)
• Test fire (function check)
• Perform slide design/appearance cuts
• Blend slide to frame, front and rear, as needed
• Optics cuts
• Cerakote

 

[WebSnyper]

Yesterday I sat down and inspected the two builds and checked initial fitment of the new parts, made a list of things to do (like a honey do list, but wayyyy more fun).

• Firing Pin Stop (fit to slide)
• Extractor (check breech to hook distance, adjust tension, fit to firing pin stop as needed)
• Ejector (EGW oversized piece, install and make clearance cuts for slide and hammer travel)
• Grip Safety (fit to frame, fit frame to safety)
• Thumb Safety (fit to sear, blend to frame)
• Slide Stop (modify lower contact area with a radius cut to give better traction when engaging, provide clearance to slide as needed so it doesn't drag on bottom of slide)
• Make clearance cut on frame just below slide stop engagement pad to increase access area to slide stop pad. Both frames have one, but they need opened up more with a ball cutter. Springfield did a good job of this on the Prodigy.
• Disconnector (EGW oversized ball head, fit to frame hole)
• Cut rear slide serrations (slick surface ground flats are not fun to grab a hold of with a 23lb recoil spring)
• Test fire (function check)
• Perform slide design/appearance cuts
• Blend slide to frame, front and rear, as needed
• Optics cuts
• Cerakote

So that was today's task list, what ya doing tomorrow?

 

[T-DOGG]

Began fitting the EGW grip safety to the Cheely frame. The holes do not line up yet to allow the Wilson thumb safety to go into place. The shaft on the thumb safety is what retains the grip safety.




Thumb safety shaft measures .156" and initially a .148" gauge pin fits in place.



Use a blue marker and cover the frame tangs. Work the grip safety while in place with mainspring housing temporarily installed. Remove and check wear pattern, shiny spots worn away are high spots.



Lightly file the high spots down and get the pattern more uniform. As this progresses, a larger gauge pin can be installed as more material is removed. Need to maintain a nice round shape on the frame tangs as this goes as well.

This is where I'm at for the moment. A .151" gauge pin fits. Still more to go, slow process. Want to make the seam look nice and not take off too much material creating an unsightly gap.

 

[wingrider1800]

Dibs

 

[T-DOGG]

Worked on this during lunch break. Got to a .154" gauge pin and the thumb safety went into place. Cleaned and smoothed the surface with some 600 grit and she's beautifully smooth now. Other than final blending to match the lines of the frame, this is operational and function checked that it works. I'd say maybe 2 hours total at a very slow pace. I could do the next one faster and get the final fitment a little tighter too.

 

[T-DOGG]

Custom made some tactical slide stops! Fun money is running thin, so instead of ordering extended slide stops from 10-8 Performance or EGW, I milled a nice little ledge into the currently installed pieces. Turned out well and very functional. The STI piece was a little taller to begin with, so it turned out a little better. Both are easier to push up and engage the notch in the slide to hold it open. I might mill out the pocket in the frame just below the slide stop a little with a ball end mill, but will decide on that later.


Before





After

 

[wingrider1800]

Very nice.

 

[T-DOGG]

Ejector for Cheely gun is installed and fitted. First time with oversized EGW ejector. Height of ejector was perfect, everything else needed material removed, clearance cut for the hammer, etc.

Blued ejector on right is what the oversized EGW ejector looks like when new and uncut.




Required a bit of planning here on the cuts. Anything with numbers and red got cut.

 

[T-DOGG]

So, learning as I go here. In the middle of shortening the ejector length on the
above Caspian slide, I realized the slide doesn't have a bevel on the inside of the ejection port. Looked at all my other 1911's and they have it. Hmmm. Researched and like most things mixed opinions.

A) The port is already lowered from GI spec and it's the area of the slide with the least structural support. Gun is 10mm/.357 Sig, so extra strength and weight is a good thing. Leave it be and cut the ejector back instead. Worst case, ejection sucks and I start over. Install another ejector, bevel the slide port and leave the ejector longer to start with.

B) Add a bevel, keep ejector longer, but sacrifice a little weight and structural support.

C) Some builders do a live round relief cut at the front of the port, so the nose of the round can get out sooner. Have not researched that in depth yet. I think that's a Colt design?

I went with option A on the Cheely. Now the STI slide already has a bevel in place, so I'll compare where I end up on ejector length on that gun to the Cheely. Of course live fire will tell me more, but I adjust ejector length just until a live round will eject.

Why the live round check instead of an empty? Because you may need to unload a loaded gun and that would be mighty difficult without the ability to eject a live round.



In this picture you can see where the bevel comes into play with a live round.

 

[T-DOGG]

Thumb safeties and grips safeties installed and initial fitment to allow test firing (no blending yet).

Both grip safeties are EGW. I incorrectly ordered the one for the STI the first time. It uses a JEM high cut .250 radius instead of a standard .250 radius. The correct safety required no fitting of the frame tangs, only some material removal on the sides to fit the grip module. That was nice, it's a good initial fit out of the box.

 

[wingrider1800]

Sure looks like fun. Keep up the good work.

 

[T-DOGG]

Found a picture of the live round clearance cut to allow using a longer ejector. I think it ruins the lines of the gun for me.

 

[T-DOGG]

STI ejector installed this morning. Ejectors fill the groove well in the slides. Both guns are now ready for some assembly, a few minor adjustments and function checks. If all good there I can do some test firing. Might have to use some grip tape as temporary slide serrations.

 

[T-DOGG]

Bevel on inside of ejection port on the STI didn't even factor in. Ended up trimming ejector to basically same length as the Cheely. The Atlas mags have tall feed lips. And most importantly the bullet nose has to clear the end of the barrel hood before anything can happen. So, bevel or no bevel, didn't matter after all. YMMV.

I suppose a person can find the right combo of shorter OAL rounds, lower feed lips, and a bevel to gain ejector length. But I want to be able to run any combo of my mags with any of the ammo I have.

 

[drillsgt]

Bevel on inside of ejection port on the STI didn't even factor in. Ended up trimming ejector to basically same length as the Cheely. The Atlas mags have tall feed lips. And most importantly the bullet nose has to clear the end of the barrel hood before anything can happen. So, bevel or no bevel, didn't matter after all. YMMV.

I suppose a person can find the right combo of shorter OAL rounds, lower feed lips, and a bevel to gain ejector length. But I want to be able to run any combo of my mags with any of the ammo I have.

View attachment 320812

I wouldn't stress out about ejector length too much, too long can be a problem too. Nice job on the ejectors, those oversize EGW's take it to the extreme, usually just need those for older Colts with huge gaps.

 

[T-DOGG]

I wouldn't stress out about ejector length too much, too long can be a problem too. Nice job on the ejectors, those oversize EGW's take it to the extreme, usually just need those for older Colts with huge gaps.

I'll definitely rethink using those again. A lot more work than anticipated. But they did allow a nice fit.