anyone ever added light rail to dust cover on 1911??

Ironman6067

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hey all, just curious if anyone has ever attempted this and their experiences with it? thinking i might do it later on to the 1911 i have coming to me (yes i know could of just bought a railed 1911, but it's my first 1911 and didn't want to blow a bunch of cash on a fancy ninja one right off) post pics if you got them too! Cheers
 
I think KevinB built a 1911 in Iraq that had a Dawson rail attached to it (the gun was originally GI) He had posted a few pictures of it on here - I would imagine it's pretty straight forward, drill and tap hole, use loc-tite (lots of it). Try searching it.
 
Here are those pics (from the 1911's thread):
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19209&page=27

Brownells has two brands to choose from.
Both are available in (either) steel or aluminum alloy.

Novak
l_662000078_1.jpg


Brownells
p_078000076_1.jpg
 
The Dawson rail is the one everybody I know that's mounted one has used...but that's only a couple of guys and to be honest I have not shot their guns, although I can't see why there would be an issue. They are both 1000+ rounds a month guys.

I am not saying any other rail is not up to snuff; I don't know. I would probably use a Dawson myself, just on the strength of the recommendation of the couple of guys I know. But others might be equally good.

What I can say for sure is that not all 1911s are created equal (as we all know) and this is manifested in at least some instances in the dust cover grind. Some 1911s have the dust cover ground out of spec, and the rails will mount, but not line up properly.

I don't know how common this is; I saw one case on the internet on M4C. It might be rare, I'm not sure. I can't visually identify a problem in either of mine, but it might be hard to tell without a rail there to compare it to.

I didn't see you mention the manufacturer of your 1911...although I guess I would have to admit that I wouldn't know which manufacturers would be prone to doing out-of-spec dust covers anyway - however I bet I could give some good guesses.
 
it's a sti spartan, thanks for all the info,i havent decided yet if i'll do it for sure, just wndering anyone who has done it their experiences with it. cheers!
 
how sturdy does the rail feel??asked what Armco does and Gunnar over there said all he does is fasten it with hardware, doesn't weld it so i assume it's good since its good enough for him. thanks for the pics by the way looks awesome
 
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