Custom 1911 Build

This 1911 did not start off as a pre-built firearm from a company like Kimber, Springfield, or Rock Island Armory. Instead, the slide and frame were bought through Caspian. The other components were bought through websites like 1911 Builder and Brownells. When you do a full custom 1911 build, nothing fits together, even when you get all the components in, including the slide and frame.

It takes me about a day to get to the point where the slide and frame would interlock and move freely without binding, but still having no excessive wiggle room. After that, the barrel bushing and Barrel hood are fit to the slide. The barrel is ramped but the frame was not set up for a ramped barrel, so I had to cut the frame to accept it. This required a very precise machine setup and specialty tooling. After that, the barrel link needed to be fit to allow the barrel to tilt back smoothly without any binding. Then, the rest of the internal components are sized to fit. Things, like the trigger, sear, hammer, and mainspring housing, all come oversized in width so they have to be filed down then polished to sit inside the firearm and function properly. Once the main spring housing can be put in place, then comes the beavertail or grip safety. A standard frame has to be cut to accept a beavertail safety. Most companies will do this by machine, but to get a tight and high quality fit it's best to do it by hand.

Now that the functioning internals are all installed a trigger job is done to set sear engagement and trigger pull weight. Once that is done, the safety can be fit and installed. The ejector and grips are installed next. On this firearm, the grips were oversized so they were sanded down to match the curvature of the flared magwell attached to the mainspring housing.

With the frame finished, I go back to finish work on the slide. The extractor requires fine-tuning and the firing pin retaining plate must be sanded down to ensure a secure and tight fit. The firearm is then fully assembled for the first time. This entire process from start to finish can take anywhere between 20 to 40 hours depending on how oversized each component is and that's just to get it functional. After that it is test fired multiple times and put through its paces to make sure there are no issues with function.

Once that is done, I start cleaning up the fitment of each component. This makes sure that all the components are flush with each other to have a smooth finish, with no parts extending out more than others. Then I can add texturing on the front strap, main spring housing, and on the bottom of the beaver tail grip safety. This texturing was all added by hand as well as texturing to the top of the slide. Then slide serrations were cut into the slide along with a border for the texturing to give a sharp appearance. The slide is finally cut for sights, then both the slide and frame were Cerakoted black. The slide was sanded to bring the flats back to "the white" and all the controls and grip screws were polished. The grips are rubbed down with tounge oil and the firearm is fully assembled; ready to be used and enjoyed for generations.

- James Caldwell, Grand Prairie Gunsmith