My custom 1911. The receiver, slide and barrel were a present. I purchased the rest of the parts myself. Everything requires careful fitting. So far I have about one hundred hours into it. It still needs more work to remove some small machining marks.
Left side view. It's pretty plain.
A view from the back. I had to regrind the profile of the grip safety to make it match the receiver profile. After grinding I sanded it with progressively finer emery paper then polished it on a buffing wheel.
Right side view. The receiver, slide & barrel came from RemSport. They're great to work with and make a good product. The receiver and slide came from them already fitted. They had been bead blasted. I wanted the bright stainless finish so I polished them. Start with 400 grit emery then move to 600 grit. Polish on a buffing wheel finer in two more steps then finish with Flitz.
The sights are from Novak. They are also great to work with. Several emails exchanged with them helped to pick the correct sizes. Fitting these required work. The slide came with dovetails already cut but were undersized as expected. I opened them with a 65 degree file. The file is special, being cut on one side only. I chose fixed sights. The rear sight can be adjusted for windage and then locked with the set screw. Elevation is set by selecting the correct front sight height. Pressing these in must be done carefully or you will mar the finish.
A close view of the left side. The slide stop still needs to be polished to match the rest of the gun. I may pick another or polish this one. It's important to polish the back side of both the slide stop and the thumb safety or they will scratch the frame as you operate them.
The thumb safety required the most work to fit. This part will almost never be a drop in fit. It must be fitted perfectly or the sear will not be blocked fully when engaged.
I needed two special tools to complete the gun: a jig to dress the sear and a staking tool to lock the plunger tube in place. Both came from Ed Brown. The entire trigger mechanism and inside frame is polished to reduce drag. Trigger pull was finished at 4 1/2 pounds. There is much more fitting and work I haven't mentioned. Virtually every piece required some sort of fitting. I intend to use the gun for target shooting. This is the first gun I ever built.
Of all the handguns I've shot, there's nothing like a .45.
Of all the handguns I've shot, there's nothing like a .45.