Can you build a 1911

Press each plate onto either side of the frame. Lay the frame and jig assembly on its side. Your assembly must be perfectly flat and leveled under your drill.

If not, the holes will not allow you to assemble your finished frame and parts kit. Insert the 22 bit in your drill's chuck and tighten it. Next, orient the bit so the hammer pin hole on the jig side plate is lined up with the bit, pictured below. The drill bits will flex, and the finished pin holes will not be aligned.

Instead, drill each side of each pin hole by only going half-way through each jig plate. Drill the hammer pin hole using bit 22, then repeat the same step for the sear pin hole with bit With your pin holes drilled, half your machining is already completed! Pretty easy, right?

This next step isn't difficult, either. Grab the cutting car and look underneath. Note the set screw holding the guide boss and slide cutting blade, pictured below. Push the loose blade up into the guide boss, so it's sitting just slightly inside the bottom opening. Orient the cutting car so it's top-down with the front facing away from you. Insert the handle in the bottom-right hole and thread it in place until tight. Next, insert the cutting blade's adjustment knob in the top-right hole and thread it in place:.

The adjustment knob will thread down onto the top of the guide boss until it's seated. Once threaded on completely, rotating the adjustment knob further will adjust the depth of the slide rail cutting blade underneath. Before cutting the slide rails, the jig and frame blank need to be secured in your vise. This applies pressure to the assembly. To keep the integrity of the jig, insert the spacer block into the side plate that are you are not cutting.

If you want to follow the illustrations, insert the spacer block into the LH side plate as shown:. Next, grab your vise and get the work bench ready for cutting.

Be sure to have plenty of lubricating oil and make sure your work area is well-lit. Orient the frame and jig assembly so the LH side plate is secured in the jig. Ensure the barrel end of the frame is pointed toward you:.

Once secured, apply plenty of lubricating oil to the entire surface of the RH side plate. The cutting car will be directly contacting and rubbing against each site plate.

Oil will ensure the cutting car glides freely atop the plates. Rest the cutting car atop the RH jig side plate, but don't move it yet. The guide boss containing the blade should sit inside the open slot on the jig's side plate:.

We need to "zero" the blade, which means getting the blade just touching the frame. This will be our starting position. First, make sure the car is resting flat on the jig, as pictured above.

If the car isn't resting flat, the blade is probably sticking out. Back it off by rotating the knob counter-clockwise. Once the car is flat on the jig, slowly push it away from you.

This is the cutting direction. Stop moving if you feel any friction. This means the blade is touching the frame. If it's touching, back the blade off by rotating the knob counter-clockwise. Do this until you can't feel the blade touching the frame. Then, reset the cutting car by bringing it back to the barrel end of the frame, nearest to you. Once again, slowly push the car forward while turning the knob clockwise to lower the blade.

Do this until the blade is just touching and you feel a little friction. Stop moving when this happens. Compressing the hammer spring into its housing is a chore but you can use your vise to hold it in place. We placed a small ball bearing over the top when compressing it to push the plunger low enough to get the cross-pin started. Wear safety glasses, lest this powerful spring slip its bonds.

Fiber-optic inserts funnel light into the device under daylight conditions. These steel sights are simply superb, and they are available for most any handgun whether you built it at home or bought it in a store. Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat: 9mm vs.

This nifty homebuilt heater grouped phenomenally well right from the outset. The slide-to-frame fit feels like greased glass and the crisp single-action trigger is simply divine.

I had to tweak the safety a smidge with my Dremel tool to loosen it up, but I left everything else as it came. Reliability was percent with three different brands of ammunition and maintenance is awfully straightforward once you literally know every piece of the gun, inside and out. The resulting pistol is remarkably light and accepts any standard accessory on its railed dustcover. I was genuinely amazed at how well this homebuilt pistol looked and shot.

It takes a little mechanical aptitude to pull off this project, but it really requires more patience than skill. You do need a small drill press but only for about five minutes. At the end of the day, it is incredibly satisfying to carry a gun for personal protection that I built with my own hands.

Truth be known, anybody really serious about guns should build one of these just for the novelty of the thing; legally building a sterile firearm that has no markings or serial number adds mystique to any collection. I have seen some cool stuff in my time. However, the Phantom Jig from builders. The end result is utterly professional and the extraordinary sense of personal satisfaction is tough to describe.

The gun actually shoots as well as the high-end commercial s in my personal collection. Additionally, the overall price, even with the Phantom Jig, is comparable to a mid-range commercial pistol.

Build one yourself or get together with a few like-minded friends and share a jig. For purposes of clarity, I consent to Athlon's collection, storage, processing, and transfer of my Personal Data and Non-Personal Data as defined in the Privacy Policy for the purpose of signing up for the email newsletter. The Ruger American Pistol, a polymer-framed, striker-fired semi-auto, was built with input from top The modular platform enables shooters to build up their rifle or carbine to meet most any specific need.

For those looking for an economical, lightweight AR-based carbine, the new American Tactical Alpha meets that demand. This list set out the steps I used to complete a pistol. I have used a Colt schematic from the Brownells website and have chosen the basic parts needed to build a Government 70 series type In the table below, a variety of stock parts are listed, but I did choose a Storm Lake barrel and bushing, various Ed Brown and Wilson Combat Factory Plus parts, and a Wilson 3-hole match trigger.

I will be using these parts in this series. I have long fingers and I like the look of a 3-hole trigger. No sights were chosen as everyone likes something different for the intended application. As mentioned before, the assumption is that you already have your choice of slide and frame. I should mention that if you do not have a quality dial caliper, you should purchase one as this is an invaluable tool. Building A - Part II. Enable Accessibility.

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