Some specialized tools are required to build a 1911 from scratch. While these are all hand tools, they amount to a considerable expense when added together. This cost can be mitigated in two ways: First, if you find that you enjoy building pistols and wind up building several of them -- the cost of the tools is amortized over all of the guns that you build. Secondly, even if you never build another gun, you can easily sell the tools on internet auction sites for 70-80% of their original cost. Doing this minimizes the cost of these specialized tools for your project. We purchased all of our tools from Brownells because they specialize in gun parts and tools and had everything we needed, in one location.

To begin with, you have to chose a slide and frame (receiver). Frames come in all levels of enhancement from plain GI types to fully checkered and cut out for high grip safeties. You can eliminate the need for a lot of gunsmithing by buying the features you think you need up front rather than trying at home to do checkering and cutting of the frame. This sort of work is beyond the scope of the casual home gunsmith. For our experiment, we decided to see how cheaply we could put together a top quality, accurate pistol. We chose a Caspian standard frame as the least expensive style to base the gun on. Both carbon steel and stainless steel are available. From a final finishing perspective, stainless steel makes it simple. But we decided on a carbon steel frame and slide so that we could further pursue finishing options to try at home. We also chose Caspian for the slide. Again, there are many fine manufacturers out there of 1911 style frames and slides to chose from and you can't go wrong with any of these quality products. As with the frames, a wide number of features are available from the factory including various sight cuts and serrations. We again chose the standard slide in carbon steel. The total cost of these two items was under $450.00.

Frames and slides sold from most manufacturers must be fitted together and will not mate directly "out of the box". This is to allow the gunsmith to achieve a perfect frame-to-slide fit, for maximum accuracy. In order to properly make them fit together a couple of tools are required. We purchased a slide/frame file specifically designed for this task (picture #1). It costs about $32. Very carefully, we started filing away at the slide to try and get it to engage the frame rails. We did no filing on the frame because the frame is the part that is considered the "firearm" and has the serial number on it. Ruining this part would require going back to the gun shop and starting the firearms purchase process from scratch, whereas a new slide could be ordered by mail. Using a black marker, we were able to see where the high spots were. The file is designed with safe sides for when you need to file against an edge. It allows you to cut on one surface without enlarging the other adjoining surface. Another tool that makes life easier here is a slide lapping tool (picture #2). This connects to the bushing cutouts on the slide and has a big plastic ball on the other end. Grabbing the ball allows you to work the slide with sufficient force to get it moving during fitting. At this point, we had an extremely tight fitting slide that we could get about 2/3 of the way up the frame. The next step was to use a lapping compound to finish the fitting and achieve an ultra smooth and tight fit. Using an aluminum oxide, water-based compound we applied the compound and worked the slide back and forth. This compound breaks down as you use it and prevents over abrasion and results in a slick surface. We repeated this process many times as the slide slowly began to fit properly. Eventually, the slide could fully mate with the frame and, after washing the parts in soap and water and putting some light lube on the parts, we had a perfect fit. The nice thing about final finishing with the lapping compound rather than the file is that you can't really over do it. The compound cuts slow enough that you can't make a cut that is too deep.

Now that we had the frame and slide done, it was time to look at the other components that make up a 1911 pistol. The next major expense was the barrel. When choosing a barrel for this type of project, you have three choices:

     1) You can get a barrel that is a "drop in". This type of barrel is cut so that it will fit virtually all slide and frame combinations. However, because it is undersize in all the critical areas, it is also considered to be the least accurate choice. Accuracy is a matter of personal taste. Everyone has their own definition of accuracy. The drop in barrel will be your cheapest option because many types are available and you don't need to buy any tools to fit it.

     2) The next option is what is called "semi-drop in". As the name implies, this will, in most cases, drop in -- but might require minor fitting to get it just right. This type of barrel is cut to barely fit in the middle of the tolerance range. In some pistols it's going to fit like a dream and in others you will have to make some small adjustments. Typically these barrels are initially more costly and then the price of some tools must be added which makes it an even more costly solution. However, the plus side is that they have the potential for better accuracy in the finished pistol.

     3) The final possibility is a fully oversized barrel that requires extensive fitting. This is probably not a good option for the home gunsmith, especially the first time around.

We decided to try a drop in and a semi drop in in order to evaluate the difference. While a test of one of each style doesn't prove anything, it would give us some feel for what to expect from each style. We purchased a Springfield Armory Match drop in barrel for $60.00 and a Storm Lake Match semi drop in for $185.00. Both of these barrels come with a pre-fitted bushing, eliminating the need to do any gunsmithing in that area.

While waiting for the barrel to arrive, we finalized the other components needed to finish the gun. We will break this down into slide and frame:

In order to complete the slide, we needed the ignition components such as the firing pin, spring and stop as well as the extractor. There are dozens of choices for these parts. Buying from a reputable manufacturer is the best way to go as there are a lot of junk parts floating around that will cost you more in the end. While we could have bought all of the internal parts from a single manufacturer, we decided to try parts from different sources. For the ignition components we chose parts from Ed Brown and an extractor from Wilson Combat.

On the top side, we had to decide on what sights to use. After looking over all the options we decided on a set of Tritium night sights (picture #3). Installing the sights was a snap using the slide stake tool that we bought (picture #4). It was easy to stake the sight on but, since we were using a slide with a narrow tenon that's notorious for breaking off, we decided to add a little Loctite E-120HP epoxy to the slot to insure that the sight stayed in place. When using tritium sights be aware that the glass vials that contain the tritium can break under stress. It is important to not put any pressure on the working parts of the sight.

In order to complete the frame, several small parts were needed. First, we had to decide upon an ejector. As with the slide, we decided to mix and match parts from various vendors to see how they would work out. We chose a cylinder and slide extended ejector for this project. We also ordered a EGW Ultimate Trigger Kit which includes the hammer, sear, disconnector and sear spring (picture #5).

One part that has to be installed on the frame is the plunger tube. We purchased a plunger tube made by Ed Brown and also the Brownells plunger tube installer (picture #6). Essentially this is a modified vise grip tool with a flat upper jaw and a hardened, adjustable point screwed into the lower jaw. The tool is used with a block and pin that fits over and inside the plunger tube to prevent crushing. The jaws simultaneously press the tube against the frame while the hardened point stakes the tube into place. This tool makes for very simple installation of the plunger tube (picture #7).

We selected an Ed Brown flat mainspring housing; beavertail grip safety; and 2-piece recoil spring guide rod.

Our slide release, safety, trigger, recoil spring and slide release came from Wilson Combat as well as other small parts like pins, springs and grip bushings.

Other than the slide receiver fitting, little else will require any significant fitting when assembling the pistol. However, sometimes the safety needs to be fitted and a bit of metal removed to make it work properly. Our advice here is to go slow in removing metal. A couple of light strokes with a file and see if it fits. Do this over and over again until you get a nice tight fit and good safety lock up. There are several excellent books and videos that show the proper assembly and fitting of these parts. If in doubt, get a couple of them and make sure you understand the function of the parts. We did and were quite happy we did.

With a semi-drop in barrel you may need to remove a little metal from the lugs for a tight lock up. In our case, both barrels fit perfectly from the start. Once we had all the parts, we assembled the pistol and checked for proper functioning. All of our parts were carbon steel except for the barrels which were stainless.

Since we went to all the effort to build this pistol with no professional services, we were determined to finish it the  same way. We chose to use the Brownell's Teflon Moly epoxy cured paint. Before painting the gun, we parkerized it with a Brownell's parkerizing kit. The parkerizing adds corrosion resistance and it also provides a porous surface for the paint to adhere to. Complete details of this finishing system will be in our next article on gun finishes.

Finally, the grip screws need to be installed. These just screw into the frame and provide threaded holes and pins to align the grips. However, if they are not secured in place when you try to unscrew your grips you will end up removing the entire assembly. The traditional approach is to stake the back side of the grip screws using the grip screw stake (picture 8). However, many people these days find it just as easy to use some permanent adhesive like Loctite to set them in place. Both methods seem to work well. If using the adhesive method, be sure to degrease the threads and holes in the frame for good adhesion.

After finishing, we reassembled and lubricated the pistol and headed for the range. After firing about 200 break-in rounds, we cleaned the pistol and started shooting for groups. We shot white box Winchester 230 grain, Remington Golden Saber 230 grain and Hornady 230 grain +P. The Springfield drop in barrel had the best grouping of 1 1/4 inch at 25 yards with the white box Winchester load. The Storm Lake barrel gave us 1 inch even at 25 yards with the Hornady 230 +P load. The gun had 100% reliability and has had no malfunctions in over 2000 rounds to date. Extremely pleased with these results, we felt that what we achieved for around $900 was on par with off-the-shelf guns costing just as much, if not more. While a custom gunsmith could do better, you have to ask yourself if that extra 2 or 3 thousand dollars is worth the additional 1/4 inch of accuracy you might get. The answer depends on your needs. If you're looking for a self defense pistol with excellent reliability, either would get the job done just fine. If you are looking for that last bit if accuracy, want a custom finish, hand checkering, and other custom features -- then the gunsmith will serve you well.