what 1911 parts to replace?

Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
52   0   0
Location
Fraser Valley
I bought a Norc Commander as a learning/project gun. I plan to strip it and refinish it/clean it up as well as tweak it a bit, nothing major though.

I'm wondering which parts would be best replaced to improve function? Trigger, springs, barrel? I don't really care about form unless it follows function.

btw the pistol has been worked over by Gunnar, not sure what that entails but maybe that changes which parts I should be looking at?
 
A Norc Commander was the first gun I ever bought and I did absolutley everything I could to it.

The first thing I changed was the trigger and the grip safety though. I did this so I could shoot it more comfortably. I got a shorter trigger and a beavertail grip safety becasue I found the factory one uncomfortable. I remember thinking that I wanted a flat mainspring housing too but when I got it installed I found I just wanted a checkered, curved MSH.

Then I got myself a nice set of grips.

I put THOUSANDS of rounds through that pistol. I went to the range twice a week!

Basically. Make it fit you. I trust Gunnars work. I doubt that the sear or disconnector need any work.

Now I have an STI Ranger II. The commander sized 1911 is probably my favourite pistol.

*EDIT* Oh, and btw, it was Gunnar that I bought my STI from. He converted it to 10mm for me too.
 
I have a colt combat commander. What I did was replaced the grip saftey with a colt 45 grip safety and "milled" it out to fit the round hammer. This helps you avoid the hammer bite like the browning highpower. I also put on the dual safety, as I shoot left-handed. The slide got a set of millett fixed sights, which are better than standard sights. The slide release was replaced with one that has about 1.5 x width of original. This gun has served me well for almost 30 years.
 
I haven't started a project like this on a firearm yet, but from working on other things try it for a while and see what you like and don't like. Then just slowly change one thing at a time and try it out. Tweek it a little bit at a time. Don't go after big changes at first, but small changes and lots of time spent trying it out will create a firearm that you will hardly be able to wait to get back out to the range!
 
Redlight35 said:
I haven't started a project like this on a firearm yet, but from working on other things try it for a while and see what you like and don't like. Then just slowly change one thing at a time and try it out. Tweek it a little bit at a time. Don't go after big changes at first, but small changes and lots of time spent trying it out will create a firearm that you will hardly be able to wait to get back out to the range!
Click to expand...

If you buy a 1911 and tinker with it I will beat you silly with it when it breaks.:p
 
Last edited:
I just replace parts as they wear out, with better quality ones, after about 3000 rounds i replaced the return srping in the slide with an 18 lb one instead of a 16, replaced the spring on the firing pin, and replaced my ejector, and replaced the grip spring, also put a low mounnt thumb saftey on it, made wonders with my grip.
 
I replaced the sear spring with one from C&C, I changed the sear, hammer and disconnector from Fusion Firearms and added adjustable sights.

Its a pleasure to shoot now.

Brian
 
Replacing parts on a 1911....

Other than replacing worn or broken parts, swapping out parts on a 1911 is a very personal thing. For example, some prefer a long trigger with a flat mainspring housing or visa-versa, or even a long trigger with an arched mainspring housing or visa-versa. Or ambi safeties, extended this & that etc.

2007-10-27_091302_1aCoffee.gif
 
Are the sights stock? I'd start there, the stock ones suck. A 'tactical' extended safety is nice, and then the mainspring housing of your choice. Maybe a set of grips. As things wear go through and replace them with aftermarket stuff. I switched out all of my springs out a 3,500 with Wolffe's. Other than that shoot the *ss of it.
 
Congrats on your norinco commander,hope you enjoy it.I personally wanted to know more about the 1911 as well,and just as a suggestion would really recomend highly "The Colt .45 Automatic" a shop manual Vol. 1 and "The U.S. M1911/A1 Pistols & commercial M1911 type pistols" shop manual Vol. 2. Both are by Jerry Kuhnhausen, and these books provide an amazing wealth of information and have lots of very well illistrated pictures and diagrams.This book is also very invaluable as it also shows and recomends the tools Kuhnhausen uses and favour's another recomendation i would say is to get a nice micrometer as you would want to know which parts are "in spec".I would suspect Mr. Gunnar would have already done that.I can't comment personally on Mr. Gunnars work, but with that been said all i've heard has been extremely positive about his work.Sorry to go on,and on but i''ve also heard that many gunsmiths regard Kuhnhausen 1911 books kind of as the "Bible of 1911's".Wilson Combat also makes a great set of videos for the 1911.For some reason when i placed a brownells order one time they gave me 2 copies of Kuhnhausen vol.2, if you would like to have one copie i could probably part with it for a fair price Pm if interested,best regards 45alot.
 
+1 on Kuhnhausen books. You may find that pretty much all parts are salvagable from your norc. You can even oversize your barrel bushing if you got hands. I thought hard about accurising my Tanfo and eventually did a lot of things without buying any parts. trigger is the easiest part. Slide compression, rails drifting, lapping the slide to frame - it is all very doable and cost you nothing. And your norc is cheap enough never to worry about ruining it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom