Fail.

Well... I went to range today... And I must say... thanks to EN's rambling foolishness I found my mind wondering off to thought of pins shearing off as I looked through the sites of the new 1911. But before I get to far along... let me assure you... this is a true one hole shooter.

**BANG**

Oh...

That felt sweet. Easy big fella... we're testing for function here... it hit the target... don't bother looking to close... just move on. We'll worry about accuracy in a few minutes.

Ok.. so now I load two 230 grain hardballs into the mag...

**BANG**

Oh...

That felt sweet to... umm... why is the slide still back?

Hrm...

Failure to eject.

Clear.

Try again.

Failure to eject.

Dammit.

Excellent! Now we get to tune the extractor! sweet! see? Told you it was a one hole shooter. Oh well... let's check accuracy for shits and giggles. No bench available... kinda raining... 35 degrees outside... not the best conditions...

Still... 3 shots in an inch at 25 yards. I dare not speak ill.

Tease

Now... first things first... when you're making the decision to build your very own 1911... you must realize one immutible fact... drop in parts don't drop in. Not even when they all come from one place in one kit. Oh... there may be reviews raving about how nothing required fitting... in fact the kit I got had 10 such reviews. Ya know what?

Almost everything required fitting. In fact... if I were to start listing all the parts that required fitting... you'd realize we worked on the majority of the parts on the weapon. If we didn't work on a specific part... odds are we worked on something that touches it.

There is another undeniable fact... You will lose something. You will. Period. Just spend the money in advance and by like 3 spring kits... 3 pin kits... ect ect. You will lose something... and it will happen when you are almost done and have a ton of momentum... and you will not want to stop and wait for a part to come in.

Things you will need:

1 1911 frame

1 1911 slide

1 1911 completion kit

extra pins and springs

emory cloth

complete drill set (we didn't have one... but we wish we did)

1 dremel tool and all the do dads that go along with it

1 bench vice

emory boards (you know... girls fingernail files. We couldn't have finished it without them)

1 google video showing the entire process

1 lap top on your work bench

roughly... 10 hours... maybe 20.

Now... I had 2 slides... one mil spec... and a fancy government from Caspian. Ya know what I learned really quick? Caspian drills all their slides for #38 firing pins. The parts kit I had didn't have a # 38 firing pin. It was much larger. So... Order firing pin from Caspian. Ya know what else I learned? Caspian firing pins don't necessarily drop into Caspian slides. Even the right sized ones. This is where a numbered set of bits comes in handy.

Other parts were of considerable difficulty as well... for example... the link pin. The link pin was the devil. If link pin fit is a factor on accuracy, and when accurizing a 1911 those pins are tighted up considerably, then this should be a one hole pistol. Because we actually had to heat the barrel up to press fit the damned thing in. I can assure you... that at least will not wiggle free.

I think that's enough for now.