SharttStrike
Regular
- Location
- East Coast
Like many of you out there the Canada Ammo Norinco 1911 deal was too much for my weak soul to pass up. I ordered it with the idea of seeing what I can do with the gun physically. I saw the other thread "Turning my whore into a lady" I thought I'd give it a try! It was very attractive because if I screw up its only 170 dollar gun. I received it just before I I went away on vacation which drove me bonkers I wanted to start on it. Got back today and started working on it. I opened it before I left and it was nasty. Lots of heavy grease the slide was anything but smooth. Pulling the slide back was difficult.
Look at that grease! At least if I were to toss it in storage it would be good to go in two or three hundred years
I started to strip it down as first thing that needed to be done would be degreased and cleaned.
So the barrel bushing won't turn. I had to use a brass punch and a hammer to loosen it up gently. Not how I wanted this to start off as. Added a little wd40 and got it loosened up and removed.
Now on to the cleaning. Some hot water, simple green and a toothbrush. Oh and the bathroom sink haha
After I got the grease off it I test fit the slight and it moves! Not smoothly but it moves a hell of a lot better than before.
I had plans for what I was going to do with this gun before I received it. I wanted to do a two toned with a polished slide. Step one remove the bluing. I headed up some white vinigear in the microwave so it was hot and poured it into a pan. A bread pan in this case. No turning back now! I tossed the parts in
Slide, slide stop, beavertail, safety, MSH, mag release.
The picture above was like 3 minutes in and it was pretty much done. I ended up leaving it for probably another 20 minutes while I waited I cleaned the grease off the frame. The bluing on the slide, beavertail and MSH housing was very very thin. The mag release on the other hand was very thick bluing and I still have some on there. I guess it got forgotten to be removed from the big ole bluing pot at Norinco
Here we have bare metal ready for polishing. I picked up a 18 piece polishing kit from PrincessAuto and some extra buffing compounds. I started with the trigger as I figure I can test out. I started with wet sanding at 600 grit. Probably should have started at 400 but hey I'm experimenting here. I polished one side to a shine. The metal is very grainy so getting all the grain marks out is going to be close to impossible.
Unpolished side of the trigger
Polished side of the trigger
I tried to give it some objects to reflect against but that kind of failed. You get the idea. Its shiny now!
Fitting the beavertail and MSH housing just to see how it looks
For the slide I'm going to polish the sides to a high shine metal permitting. The top of the slide is very very rough with a lot of grain to it. I'm going to use that as part of the look. I'm going to smooth it out probably only to 400-600 grit sand paper and leave it.
Here's the slide after being hit with green polishing compound and a buffing wheel, 600, 1000 and 2000 grit wet sanding. It needs a lot more attention but its getting there
Notice the brown grips are missing. Broke when I unscrewed the screw. Thanks for Canada ammo for supplying replacements in the box!
As you can see the grain is still showing a lot. So lots more work to do here.
I'll keep posting stuff as I go along. So far I've got an afternoon into this. I want to replace the MSH as I don't like arched ones but we'll see how the rest turns out first.
Questions, suggestions comments let me have them
Imgur link: http://imgur.com/a/F7hqJ
Look at that grease! At least if I were to toss it in storage it would be good to go in two or three hundred years
I started to strip it down as first thing that needed to be done would be degreased and cleaned.
So the barrel bushing won't turn. I had to use a brass punch and a hammer to loosen it up gently. Not how I wanted this to start off as. Added a little wd40 and got it loosened up and removed.
Now on to the cleaning. Some hot water, simple green and a toothbrush. Oh and the bathroom sink haha
After I got the grease off it I test fit the slight and it moves! Not smoothly but it moves a hell of a lot better than before.
I had plans for what I was going to do with this gun before I received it. I wanted to do a two toned with a polished slide. Step one remove the bluing. I headed up some white vinigear in the microwave so it was hot and poured it into a pan. A bread pan in this case. No turning back now! I tossed the parts in
Slide, slide stop, beavertail, safety, MSH, mag release.
The picture above was like 3 minutes in and it was pretty much done. I ended up leaving it for probably another 20 minutes while I waited I cleaned the grease off the frame. The bluing on the slide, beavertail and MSH housing was very very thin. The mag release on the other hand was very thick bluing and I still have some on there. I guess it got forgotten to be removed from the big ole bluing pot at Norinco
Here we have bare metal ready for polishing. I picked up a 18 piece polishing kit from PrincessAuto and some extra buffing compounds. I started with the trigger as I figure I can test out. I started with wet sanding at 600 grit. Probably should have started at 400 but hey I'm experimenting here. I polished one side to a shine. The metal is very grainy so getting all the grain marks out is going to be close to impossible.
Unpolished side of the trigger
Polished side of the trigger
I tried to give it some objects to reflect against but that kind of failed. You get the idea. Its shiny now!
Fitting the beavertail and MSH housing just to see how it looks
For the slide I'm going to polish the sides to a high shine metal permitting. The top of the slide is very very rough with a lot of grain to it. I'm going to use that as part of the look. I'm going to smooth it out probably only to 400-600 grit sand paper and leave it.
Here's the slide after being hit with green polishing compound and a buffing wheel, 600, 1000 and 2000 grit wet sanding. It needs a lot more attention but its getting there
Notice the brown grips are missing. Broke when I unscrewed the screw. Thanks for Canada ammo for supplying replacements in the box!
As you can see the grain is still showing a lot. So lots more work to do here.
I'll keep posting stuff as I go along. So far I've got an afternoon into this. I want to replace the MSH as I don't like arched ones but we'll see how the rest turns out first.
Questions, suggestions comments let me have them
Imgur link: http://imgur.com/a/F7hqJ
