Sunday Night Rock Island Project

[Delkal]

You don't need to fill or tig weld those pits. Knock out the rear site and continue what you were doing. Put it in a vise and hit it back and forth sideways with a long strip of sandpaper. Like you are buffing your shoes. Just hit the rounded top and watch your lines. The whole rear section. Not just the pits. The rear section should be even and flat . You won't be able to make it exactly match the thinner part of the slide but it will not be noticeable.

Get 70% of the pits out then stop. You don't want to take much metal off. A freckle or two or 10 you can live with.

[bravo30]

You don't need to fill or tig weld those pits. Knock out the rear site and continue what you were doing. Put it in a vise and hit it back and forth sideways with a long strip of sandpaper. Like you are buffing your shoes. Just hit the rounded top and watch your lines. The whole rear section. Not just the pits. The rear section should be even and flat . You won't be able to make it exactly match the thinner part of the slide but it will not be noticeable.

Get 70% of the pits out then stop. You don't want to take much metal off. A freckle or two or 10 you can live with.

thanks for your help! ill work on the sanding today. i just got everything washed to see what needs to be replaced internally and everthig seems fine except for the side release, plunger tube and a few trigger components. i dont know what they were made out of but it feels like a hard graphite that you could crack in half with your fingers. the barrel also needs to be replaced, its almost smooth but ill do that at a later date if at all. do you know a good place to source individual Rock Island parts?

[HKusp 45]

looking great so far though bet its fun

[bravo30]

looking great so far though bet its fun

its turning out better than i anticipated. i just ordered the parts that i needed so lets hope they drop right in. after that its off to get Cerakoted/Parkerized. i prefer parerizing but i cant find anybody local to do it yet, seems like everybody only offers Cerakoting. I would do the Pakerizing myself but i dont trust my prep work with the tools i have available here but things are changing daily here as i research more and more so well see how it all ends up.

[bravo30]

kind of bad timing on my part here. im supposed to be cleaning the house out and selling stuff, not taking on new projects. when i move ill be ordering a media blasting cabinet for sure.

[Xringshooter]

thanks for your help! ill work on the sanding today. i just got everything washed to see what needs to be replaced internally and everthig seems fine except for the side release, plunger tube and a few trigger components. i dont know what they were made out of but it feels like a hard graphite that you could crack in half with your fingers. the barrel also needs to be replaced, its almost smooth but ill do that at a later date if at all. do you know a good place to source individual Rock Island parts?

All the parts I see are standard 1911 parts, get replacements at Brownells, MidwayUSA, or just about anywhere 1911 parts are sold. Nothing special about Rock Island 1911 parts.

When you say the barrel is almost smooth, do you mean like a gazillon rounds through it? 1911 barrels aren't heavily rifled. I just looked at 4 replacement barrels I have in stock, from different manufacturers and they aren't rifled as heavy like say a .357 mag barrel. I would fix it up and shoot it first to see if you really need to rebarrel (unless the barrel was heavily pitted).

[Delkal]

All the parts I see are standard 1911 parts, get replacements at Brownells, MidwayUSA, or just about anywhere 1911 parts are sold. Nothing special about Rock Island 1911 parts.

When you say the barrel is almost smooth, do you mean like a gazillon rounds through it? 1911 barrels aren't heavily rifled. I just looked at 4 replacement barrels I have in stock, from different manufacturers and they aren't rifled as heavy like say a .357 mag barrel. I would fix it up and shoot it first to see if you really need to rebarrel (unless the barrel was heavily pitted).

This.............. Its almost impossible to shoot out a .45 barrel. And the barrel is one of the few parts that usually doesn't just drop in. It will probably take some fitting or tuning. Do a search and know what you are getting in to before you buy a new one.

Heavy pits inside are another story (especially in the chamber). But moderate freckles in the barrel or even some light frosting is not likely to hurt accuracy. If it bothers you you can try fire lapping it later.

[bravo30]

i pulled some of my other .45's out and the barrels all look the same. seemed odd to me at first but then again i havent handled any .45's in a long time. good call!

[bravo30]

parts arived today and everything looked good except for the Sear. I ordered a 1911 Rock island Sear but it looks larger. is this alright? i though 1911's all used standard parts etc? im still waiting on disconnector so i cant even assemble the gun now to see if this sear works.

[Brian Ahearn]

The sear on the left appears broken or defective. 1911 pistols still require some hand fitting and all parts are not interchangeable.