1911 Aftermarket parts and upgrades? which ones?

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xopher

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With school ending and summer approaching, I want to start on working on a few projects that i've had sit on the back burner. Ever since I purchasing a very high quality Dan Wesson 1911, I have been mesmerized by how everything is so precise and how it just "clicks" into spot.

I've always considered purchasing blank slides and frames from the states and hand fitting my own 1911, however, it seems like the working on a norc might be a better economical choice. With all the tutorials right on youtube, I hope to turn this into reality shortly.

If i do decide to go with the Norc route, what kind of upgrading do you guys recommend? With the high grade parts and some hand fitting, i hope to replicate that awesome feeling i get every time i hold my Dan Wesson.

I also hope to blank all the norinco marks and hopefully engrave me own "brand" once its done.

ZERO COMPROMISE TO QUALITY!
 
Are you very comfortable with the inner workings of the 1911 and how to fit parts on them? If not, your experimentation could lead to disaster. If you want to go this route, get proper training first before attempting to fit/fine tune/custom build your own 1911. But that's just my opinion.
 
what constitutes properly trained? does youtube count?

I honestly have 0 experience stripping my 1911 beyond field stripping however, i have all the material, schematics, and tutorials handy. Im not the type of person who will remove,dremel,over polish something before I know im 99.9% doing it correctly.
 
The critical parts to ensuring a nice and tight, accurate 1911 are the barrel to slide, slide to frame, and bushing to barrel/slide. Properly fitting a barrel is not an easy task. Fitting a slide to a frame is also not an easy task. Even properly fitting a bushing would require a lathe. In the end, you won't have a hand fit Dan Wesson quality 1911.
 
I say go for it. Carefully. You're not worried about losing money, but it would be a serious bummer to lose part of your hand while test firing.

AGI has a terrific series of videos on the 1911, much more professional and confidence-inspiring than the many punters on youtube. Add Kuhnhausen's book, get signed up over at m1911.org, and you will have a great time learning about a true classic.

Norincos are a great way to do this. But I think barrel-slide-frame fit is on a different plane from fitting the rest of the parts on any 1911. If it were me, I'd keep the frame, barrel (including link pin) and slide intact, and refit everything else. The frame and slide are good contestants for modification externally, however, like dehorning, checkering, and refinishing.

I don't think you'll get any Norinco to feel like that Dan Wesson, unless you're really into rocket surgery. But you can make a damn fine pistol, and learn a heck of a lot while doing it. As for which bits and pieces... I'll generally say use Ed Brown parts and Wolff springs.

You might have trouble finding aftermarket sights to fit the dovetail cuts in the slide, and grip bushings I think are non-standard threaded, so you might be stuck with those pieces unless you want to do some serious metalwork.
 
Just a heads up the norc steel isnt very forgiving too work with its very hard thats why alot of custom guns are built off the norc 1911
 
xopher said:
it isn't forgiving therefore custom guns are built off the norc? Are you sure its not the other way around?
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The steel is hard as hell thats why they make custom guns off them but for a average guy with hand tools....
My buddy is a machinist and he flat topped his and it chewed up endmills like crazy compared to my old remington he did.
 
Try not reinventing the wheel. A hammer and dremel tool kit and youtube videos make you a hazzard to anyone else at the range. Good luck to you, heaven help all those nearby.
 
In my opinion one of the best things about 1911s is how customizable they are.

If you are confident in your ability, I say go for it BUT I would advise that you don't yet touch the sear and hammer hook notches, and be really careful when doing anything to any of the safety mechanisms.

Pics of progress are always welcome here :)
 
The number one way to improve a stock norinco is to work on the trigger. Don't mess with the notches as mentioned above, but you can put in a new trigger and polish the trigger track , trigger bow , tune the sear spring and the main spring. You can also take the dimensions of the frame and outside diameter of the barrel and get a custom bushing from EGW. Replace the sights if you wish and you are good to go.
 
heres what i would do

- use a lapping compound, polish all internals
- have the slide milled for para/clark/lisner ramped barrel
- have the frame front strap checkered
- replace the barrel with a schuemann aet bushing barrel and egw bushing (have an above competent smith do this part, timing is critical for a 1911)
- replace trigger (any), hammer (konig), sear (egw), disconnector (egw), strut (egw), extractor (aftec), MSH (S&A or STI), grips (VZ)
- if 45- replace recoild spring for 14 lb, 8 lb for 9mm

do all this and you should have a very soft shooting pistol that is smooth as butter and will beat most 1000-1800 guns hands down.
 
Since we're getting into specifics: Rebuilding with quality aftermarket internals is going to help a lot, but the single biggest change I made to mine was to return the 1911 to John Moses Browning's original specifications:

23lb mainspring
14 or 15lb recoil spring
flat bottom / small radius firing pin stop (EGW)

Incredible difference in how the pistol feels and recoils.

Details HERE:
h ttp://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=13060
 
alpining said:
Since we're getting into specifics: Rebuilding with quality aftermarket internals is going to help a lot, but the single biggest change I made to mine was to return the 1911 to John Moses Browning's original specifications:

23lb mainspring
14 or 15lb recoil spring
flat bottom / small radius firing pin stop (EGW)

Incredible difference in how the pistol feels and recoils.

Details HERE:
h ttp://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=13060
Click to expand...

personally I wouldn't go that heavy on the main spring if you get a decent low mass hammer - just adds to the resistance of racking the slide with hammer down

that being said heavier mainspring won't really hurt anything as long as its not too heavy
 
mshundal said:
personally I wouldn't go that heavy on the main spring if you get a decent low mass hammer - just adds to the resistance of racking the slide with hammer down

that being said heavier mainspring won't really hurt anything as long as its not too heavy
Click to expand...

There is a reason that Browning designed it that way. Yes, it's harder to rack with the hammer down. There is a significant change in how the pistol recoils (increases dwell time). All of the details are in the m1911.org thread that I linked. I was a complete skeptic before I tried it, and now I wouldn't be without it.

I think ease of hammer-down-racking is a poor reason to change from Browning's design. But that's what every major manufacturer seems to have done, it's true. I'd guess they mostly do this because it's easier to get a lighter trigger pull with the lighter mainspring. But frankly, that's a cheap way to reduce the trigger pull, not the best way.
 
alpining said:
Since we're getting into specifics: Rebuilding with quality aftermarket internals is going to help a lot, but the single biggest change I made to mine was to return the 1911 to John Moses Browning's original specifications:

23lb mainspring
14 or 15lb recoil spring
flat bottom / small radius firing pin stop (EGW)

Incredible difference in how the pistol feels and recoils.

Details HERE:
h ttp://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=13060
Click to expand...

This has me extremely intrigued, and I just may try it.

It seems everyone who has tried it says it's amazing but it does make me wonder why this isn't more common knowledge if it is so great.
 
Xopher, if you don't have a history of working with metal then this is simply NOT the place to start. At least not on the level you gave of frame and slide and fitting the rails and such. This sort of work requires a "feel" that you simply can't get from You Tube videos. It takes learning how the metal deforms when you hit it and how hard to hit it and how to test fit and alter the placement, direction and stregth of the peening to adjust the fit.

It also requires a rather nice workshop set up with some basic power tools and some nice hand tools, an array of stones, a good solid bench and bench vise. It's not the sort of work you do on the door set on some sawhorses in the corner of your basement.

If you want to get some appreciation for the sort of detail that goes into a top end 1911 I'd recomend you find and read "The Colt .45 Automatic - A Shop Manual" by Jerry Kunhausen. Some you can do with basic items in a simple home shop setting with some basic tools. The rest is the sort of stuff you simply do not do on a first time ever basis on the actual gun parts. When you start peening slide rails it's simply much too easy to screw it up and snap the pieces off or otherwise damage then. You want to have some related experience and aquired skill doing stuff of this sort in other projects first.

It's sort of like the apprentice body repair guy. You don't get handed a Ferrari fender and told to make it right after reading the books. You get handed an old Chevy fender that no one wants and told to make it look like new. That way when you make a mistake you sigh, toss it back in the scrap bin and grab a Ford fender and try again. You learn your lessons and skills in this manner first on other stuff and things other than guns first. Then when you understand what you're trying to do and have some idea of how best to do it THEN you try your first 1911 slide and frame fitting.

Another job that is frequently done on 1911's is fitting and polishing the sear and hammer to produce an excellent short and light trigger. But here again this is not the sort of stuff you do with a hand held Dremel or handheld stones. When you start working the engagement hooks down the angles and other shaping details become critical if a full auto experience is to be avoided. This has led to specialty jigs that are used along with extremely fine ceramic stones to produce the desired results. You can buy or make your own such jigs. But either way to use such jigs and to shape the parts so that the trigger, disconnector and hammer all work together to produce a nice crisp release and a short but not too short reset requires care, understanding and skill you don't get from a You Tube video. The details and understanding can be found in books such as the one I suggested. The care and skill parts come from other forms of metal working history and making mistakes that you fix. The first time you do this job on a 1911 you need to be prepared for the idea that you could well ruin the parts and have to buy new ones.
 
BCRider said:
The first time you do this job on a 1911 you need to be prepared for the idea that you could well ruin the parts and have to buy new ones.
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Couldn't agree more. Buy two of everything, xopher. Including the pistol. :) And learn how to thoroughly safety check the 1911.

Have you SEEN the current Canada Ammo 1911+ammo special?! I thought I had enough 1911s. I was wrong.
 
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