build your own 1911?

[Mity2]

I have been seriusly thinking about doing this for sometime, eversince I discover that Caspian can build me a frame with my personalised serial number.

And I think after I pick up my snubby thats on layaway, I'm gonna do this sort of new year project. Hoping to be complete by the summer time

My plan is:

Build 1911 commander(4.25")
build for occasional carry(reliability is must)
Cambered in 45ACP
8rds capacity
Series 80 style(I like 70 style better, but I think 80 is must if your gonna carry it cocked/locked)
Stainless steel as much as I can(so that I can polish the hell out of it)

And I do admit I havn't dicided on some details, and I have never build any firearm

Now, I'm no gunsmith. I know of the inner working(mechanical aspect) of 1911.
But I can not do:
Slide/frame fit
any sort of machin work
Barrel fitting

Now I know that most works can be ordered in to frame/slide when you buy from Caspian, like slide/frame fit, F/R sight cut, .250 radius for beaver tail. Which would grately reduce need of machining. But barrel/safety fit must be done by gunsmith, since i will not going to order it all at once.

Rest of stuff(springs, pins, disconnecter, sear, hammer, safety, etc) can be ordered from any manufacture.

Other manufacture like Fusionfirearms.com have attractively priced kit(comes with frame/barrel/slide fitted already along with guiderod, slide stop fitted. Sight cut alrady done with 20lpi checkers on front strap). But their commander size does not come in Stainless, and I do believe they do not do personalised serial Number(which is the entire reason why I want to do this in the first place).

I'm planning to do this in steps:
Get frame/Slide fitted. Sight cut, surration done when order frame/slide. Polish to mirror shine.
Get barrel. have Gunsmith fit it in to frame/slide. along with ejecter and plunger
Get internal stuff(trigger, safety, hammer, spring, extracter, etc), and install it. Gunsmith to fit/check the function of safety/disconnecter/sear).
Take it to the range, cross my finger and hope for the best.

I'm assuming its gonna take several months, and ultimatly cost more then already made commander 1911 would cost in the end.

Now I know there are alot more to build your own 1911's. I think in some sence, its harder to do then build your own AR's. because of the need of machining, and fitting is more with 1911 then that of AR. But plenty of first time people build AR, and while they may not have enough money to do it once, its perfectly acceptable to do it over time. Right? Not to mention there is a first time for everything.


Now any input/encouragement/suggestion is grately appriciated.

[Frenchy]

If you buy from Caspian or any of the other frame selling people out there, be prepared to do all the fitting.
Although they will come to a close fit, some finishing will be in order, not that is is hard, but it is tedious work.

I once built a Mod 1911, made to fit .22 .32 .38 9mm and .45 one frame 5 slides and barels. It was a summer project that I did not need to finance. But a very good exercise in hand work and polishing.

Although I dont actively do guns the way I did before, I can say it is quite a fun thing to do, mind you, if you are paying the parts, you might find it easyer to just buy a ready made gun unless you intend to do a multiple caliber gun. The springs are just assembly as they come precut to size, but the frame, slide and barrel fiting is quite a bit of work, you will need some sort of experiance in machining by hand.
I suggest buying a couple of pieces of steel stock from the hardware and practice filing and polishing to see how good you are at making a nice straight surface before you attempt to play inside the gun.

[Mity2]

Thanks for the input frenchy.

I've already figure no matter what I do, buying shelf gun will be cheaper. Its something I want to try.
So even some highend name like Caspian still need finishing huh?

I am pretty much thinging anything that requires machining or fitting, i'll pay gunsmith to do.
But what you suggested about getting some scrap metal and practce to see what I'm capable of is great idea.