1911 Bare Frame Build and Parts Availability

Fusion firearms out of the states will sell everything but the frame (unless you get someone to import it. Their website is about 100 pages long, just 1911 stuff.
 
dogzilla said:
Fusion firearms out of the states will sell everything but the frame (unless you get someone to import it. Their website is about 100 pages long, just 1911 stuff.
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Isn't there a US law preventing the exportation of all firearms parts? You would have to register somehow as an importer of firearms parts wouldn't you? Forgive my ignorance as I have never looked into this. I think someone mentioned this at the start of this thread actually, I'll go back to page one and look.

Thanks.
 
deadman said:
You can also import all the parts you need from the US, as long as export permits are in place. Some manufacturers don't have them, but if you can be satisfied with say Wilson combat, you're good to go. Order the free brownells 1911 catalog. There are a couple other distributors as well, I just use them.
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Okay here's what was said. I have to go back and do some reading on importing parts from the States. I read a bit before but didn't look to hard because at the time I had no intentions of buying parts from the states.

I asked Brownells about selling into Canada and they will only sell tools, no firearms parts. I called them a few months ago and I'm pretty sure that's what they told me, although my memory is sh!t.
 
BCRider said:
From the reading I've done there's a lot of small fitting work to truly make it into the custom gun with the light "glass break" trigger that you would want to expect from such a gun. If you lack the knowledge, jigs and tools to do all this then you're far and away better off to just buy something off the shelf.

For example some time back I got to shoot a couple of mags from a bone stock STI Range Master. Of the dozen or so 1911's I'd handled this had by far the nicest trigger of the lot. It came stock with a match grade bull barrel finely fitted to the slide. It shot as good a group as anything I'd done before with any gun on the first magazine. The second mag's group was even smaller. I was totaly gob struck at how nice a gun it was to shoot.

All that comes "stock" right from the case for a measely $1560. I'd suggest that unless you REALLY know your 1911's that you would not be able to achieve half of what this gun does and still keep the final price under $2000 for the full custom parts gun.
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You guys are missing the point, we want to LEARN how to customize them, doing anything custom to any firearm is more costly than just buying it off the shelf. Those gunsmiths that work on them learned through EXPERIENCE also. In fact I am sure that they made extra work for themselves. Every expert starts at the beginning. And nothing is better when you get it right, and can say " I did that"
 
twig_40 said:
You guys are missing the point, we want to LEARN how to customize them, doing anything custom to any firearm is more costly than just buying it off the shelf. Those gunsmiths that work on them learned through EXPERIENCE also. In fact I am sure that they made extra work for themselves. Every expert starts at the beginning. And nothing is better when you get it right, and can say " I did that"
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This is precisely my point, although I do appreciate all input and there has been lots of excellent information passed along.

I have always wanted a CNC milling machine and I am a gear head at heart and will use it on many other projects I have on the go.

I would rather CNC or partially machine my own frame and build up from there than just buy the stuff and put it together. I will figure it out if I decide to do it, and it will be top notch work. There may be some F%ck ups along the way but that's how you learn. It will cost me 10 times or more the amount of money but that's not really the point for me. It's the enjoyment of building it, and the more I build myself the better.
 
Most parts are no problem (for the 1911) any number of gunnutz have dealt with fusion, myself included, Brownells will also ship, so you got your wires crossed somewhere.
 
pringles said:
This is precisely my point, although I do appreciate all input and there has been lots of excellent information passed along.

I have always wanted a CNC milling machine and I am a gear head at heart and will use it on many other projects I have on the go.

I would rather CNC or partially machine my own frame and build up from there than just buy the stuff and put it together. I will figure it out if I decide to do it, and it will be top notch work. There may be some F%ck ups along the way but that's how you learn. It will cost me 10 times or more the amount of money but that's not really the point for me. It's the enjoyment of building it, and the more I build myself the better.
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Hurco makes a nice machining center that takes up the same footprint at a standard bridgeport.
 
twig_40 said:
You guys are missing the point, we want to LEARN how to customize them.......
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Fair enough. But in that case the most expensive possible way to do that is to buy every piece from a different supplier and try to put them all together. Ever add up the cost of building your car from the parts department of your local dealer? OK, guns aren't quite as bad. But it would still be a HUGE factor in the cost.

Want to learn? Fine, I'm all for that since I've done it myself.

Buy a Norinco 1911 and some honing stones and some other tools along with some Wolff springs from the US and a book on tuning 1911's or go with the variety of web sites about this stuff and custom tune that Norc to Armco or better standards. You'll end up learning a lot and have a pretty nice gun in the end. Even if you go too far on the hammer or sear or some other part nothing inside will cost a huge amount to replace. The biggie would be peening the slide and frame for a nice fit if it's needed. You can make it even better if you get a match grade barrel and do all the fitting needed to meld the barrel, link and slide together like they grew up as one. This last bit will add to the cost but if the rest of the gun comes out well it would be justified. But tune up the stock stuff first. THEN if you feel it's worth it get a match barrel and fit it using the skills you learned getting to that point.

The custom jigs are handy but if you have a drill press you can make your own stoning jigs for the sear and hammer. The key is to get some NICE fine honing stones to dress the contact points and do so with good accuracy for the angles. Some CAD and/or basic geometry skills will be called into play to figure that stuff out.

Some decent metal shop working skills will be a big aid. Without them you may have trouble in some aspects of the gunsmithing and certainly you'll run into trouble trying to do a nice job on making up the jigs to let you accurately stone the action parts.

Still up for the challenge?
 
YOU BET!!

I love working with my hands and metal! I am just getting into the 1911's but have some basic metal working skills and that's where I am going to start. I have some friends that are in the trades, welder, machinist (sp?), millwright and gunsmith, and they are willing to help. If you can help me find a steel solid medium/long trigger that would be great. All I seem to be able to find are the aluminum ones. Wilson has them on their ultralights but not for sale by themselves it seems. I can appreciate what your saying... but I already have a nice 1911 that shoots great, and I'll leave that one alone, but what can I say? I have been bitten by the bug, and have the urge to change things. I'll start with small jobs and work my way up. Maybe end up getting 60 or 80% percent frames and ending up with beautiful heirlooms. One can only dream.
 
pringles said:
Okay here's what was said. I have to go back and do some reading on importing parts from the States. I read a bit before but didn't look to hard because at the time I had no intentions of buying parts from the states.

I asked Brownells about selling into Canada and they will only sell tools, no firearms parts. I called them a few months ago and I'm pretty sure that's what they told me, although my memory is sh!t.
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Incorrect, unless something has changed in the last month (when I received some 1911 parts from Brownells). They have a cap of 100 dollars per order on firearm parts, unlimited as far as I know on tools, literature, etc. As well as the 100 dollar limit, they will only ship parts that are from a manufacturer who has an export permit. The exception to this is if you (as the buyer) are willing to pay the necessary fees to get the export permit in place. If this is the case, I'd suggest finding an alternate part, or talk to a Stateside buddy who can buy them for you and ship them sort of like an ebay purchase.

There are other American distributors who sell parts with a higher dollar limit per order. There may be some with no limit, not sure because I typically use Brownells or Midway.
 
Finishing an 80% is not difficult. Adding custom features might be fun and expensive to tool up for, but oh so rewarding. My dad has a real nice custom 1911 I built from a 80% and when it got reggied I had Joe Dlask look over the work. All he said was, nice pistol and he smiled.
I got the hankerin to build another so if you have an 80% kicken around and you want top dollar for it.... Ya know who to p.m. , a dlask or KTO , I'm not fussy :D
 
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