Turning a whore into a Lady: My Norinco 1911 rebuild

[wayupnorth]

Brother Spanky

im beating you to getting some pics up!!!

haha, some of my stuff came in, so instead of making a post i thought id taunt you with what i did to mine.

Hogue Grips
Dlask magwell (main spring housing)
Dlask mags
recoil buffers.
comp trigger (not on yet)

i am totally in love with those Dlask mags!
they are sooooooooooooo nice!
my first mag well, i got it for this build to see if i liked them enough to put on my ruger or my kimber.
so far im realllllly liking it!

trigger.
same problem as you i think, it dosnt fit!
i sanded down the top and bottom a bit, but now it looks like im gonna have to sand down the sides as well, which im not happy about, i ordered a black trigger to keep the gun all black and sanding it is gonna take all the paint (anodizing?) off.

grrrrr!

looking forward to seeing your next batch of pics from your build bro!

 

[Spanky]

It's starting to take shape!

I ordered some of those same mags from DLASK, I hope they get here soon. I also spent quite a bit of time smoothing the parts that needed to be smoothed, breaking the sharp angles and polishing rough surfaces. It took a few hours with fine files and some 1000 grit sandpaper. I'll post pics as soon as it's put together again with its new parts

Cheers
John

Brother Spanky

im beating you to getting some pics up!!!

haha, some of my stuff came in, so instead of making a post i thought id taunt you with what i did to mine.

Hogue Grips
Dlask magwell (main spring housing)
Dlask mags
recoil buffers.
comp trigger (not on yet)

i am totally in love with those Dlask mags!
they are sooooooooooooo nice!
my first mag well, i got it for this build to see if i liked them enough to put on my ruger or my kimber.
so far im realllllly liking it!

trigger.
same problem as you i think, it dosnt fit!
i sanded down the top and bottom a bit, but now it looks like im gonna have to sand down the sides as well, which im not happy about, i ordered a black trigger to keep the gun all black and sanding it is gonna take all the paint (anodizing?) off.

grrrrr!

looking forward to seeing your next batch of pics from your build bro!

 

[Spanky]

Further to my last, I found polishing the inside of the magwell, and the crude edges around the bottom really made a difference. It's smooth and free of burrs and machine marks now. Same thing with all the parts that have friction. I've ordered some specialty stones from Brownells to de-burr the trigger track and the hammer slot as well.

View from magwell:


Underside of slide:


Disassembled parts:


> Note: ALL the parts on the right side are going to be replaced

Cheers
John

 

[Dawg]

You are an bad influence according to my better half!!! I must get a Norc and have fun building it up now. LOL

 

[Spanky]

You are an bad influence according to my better half!!! I must get a Norc and have fun building it up now. LOL

I am a bad, bad man

 

[wayupnorth]

so now that youve de-horned your gun (took off all the sharp edges and machine marks) are you gonna re-blue it?
arma-coat it?
paint it?

or just polish it and call it good?

ive been tossing around the idea of de-horning mine (and my other 2 older Norc's) but i dont know what i would do after that to re-seal them up.

 

[Spanky]

so now that youve de-horned your gun (took off all the sharp edges and machine marks) are you gonna re-blue it?
arma-coat it?
paint it?

or just polish it and call it good?

ive been tossing around the idea of de-horning mine (and my other 2 older Norc's) but i dont know what i would do after that to re-seal them up.

I'm still on the fence about that. Right now most of the de-horning has been in the internal parts so the gun looks fine when it's assembled. But I'm thinking of smoothing the outside as well. If I do, it will be once this gun has been turned into a lady that I deem to be a keeper. Then I''ll look at options... like re-blueing or having it nitron coated.

Cjeers
John

 

[Paulinski]

Something to keep you guys goin...Norinco 1911

 

[Spanky]

Pauli,

I was hoping you would post those! This is the all-time best Norinco build... yet

Cheers
John

Something to keep you guys goin...Norinco 1911

 

[nza]

spanky. you do realize the amount of paperwork to do just one order over $100, is basically 3 pieces of paper right? And its all digital, right? I'd hate to see how much shipping you have to pay for each day.
My tutorial tells you exactly which manufacturers are registered...

 

[dallasm]

NZA is right - I used his tutorial and it wasn't a big deal at all to import over$100

Nitron is a surface hardening treatment, not a coating like arma/cera/dura-coat.

Barret @ Arma-coat did the nitron treatment on my 'lady':

 

[Spanky]

spanky. you do realize the amount of paperwork to do just one order over $100, is basically 3 pieces of paper right? And its all digital, right? I'd hate to see how much shipping you have to pay for each day.
My tutorial tells you exactly which manufacturers are registered...

nza

Thanks for posting this guide! It's too late this time around, but I will use this process on my next build

Cheers
John

 

[Spanky]

@ dallasm: That pistol is a thing of beauty!!

Indeed, I meant nitron hardening.

I'm currently waiting for my nitron M14 to ship from Barret... I think it's going to look great

Cheers
John

 

[dallasm]

Thanks. She was never really a whore, but is now much more classy!

 

[Dawg]

Made the big leap and placed the order today plus 3 Dlask magazines. Spanky, I will make use of your experiences on my build. Cheers for sharing this with us.

 

[NAA]

Something to keep you guys goin...Norinco 1911

Just got that funny hankerin' for a coffee ice cream in a waffle cone, again!




----------
NAA.

 

[condomboy]

@ PharoH - don't get butthurt, this isn't about you.

@ enefgee you nailed it. I don't care who's on there, any event that ties up ALL the ranges at the club for an entire week and doesn't let the members shoot is going to be subject to my rants. I don't care what "thing" it is, IPSC, PPC, IDPA, cowboys, or the local 'grannies with guns' club - I pay almost $400 a year to be able to shoot my restricted guns somewhere.

I'd just be upset if I had to pay $400 a year for a membership... how are you able to sit down?

 

[condomboy]

I've heard some people having issues with Paras... never had an issue with mine and it's the most accurate handgun I've ever fired... by a long margin. It's a tack driver. Also very reliable. But mine was custom made and it's got almost 3K worth of parts in it...

soooooo ... $3k in parts... so the slide and frame are the only Para parts left? does that still constitute being called a Para?

 

[Spanky]

soooooo ... $3k in parts... so the slide and frame are the only Para parts left? does that still constitute being called a Para?

It came that way from Para... the only change I made was an extended slide catch and some Hogue grips

 

[Spanky]

Made the big leap and placed the order today plus 3 Dlask magazines. Spanky, I will make use of your experiences on my build. Cheers for sharing this with us.

Glad to hear it! I will definitely keep posting my comments and lessons learned on here as I go, but here are a few already:

1. CLEAN the bejesus out of it, learn to take ALL the parts out, and how to reassemble it over and over... once you understand this, the rest of the build will be easy. I have owned a few 1911s but it had been a while since I detail-stripped one, this was a good refresher.

This is an excellent guide with step-by-step pictures (PDF):
http://www.surplusrifle.com/pistol1911/fulldisassemble/pdf/1911fulldisassembly.pdf

2. Get good mags. The Norinco ones are a weak spot, and should be kept as spares IMHO. Sounds like you've got this covered already.

3. Grips - Everyone knows about my love affair with Hogue, but use what works

4. Spend the time to work the mag well with 1000 grit sandpaper and WD40 - it's a long and messy job but the mags go it so smoothly after this is done.

5. The trigger needs to be replaced (match trigger from Brownells with 5 star reviews was about $20) or at the very least, polished on the rails and the back

6. Replace the pins and springs. $17 for a complete "rebuild kit" from Brownells, and it makes a huge difference, especially in the main spring housing. Also, my Norinco slide stop plunger/safety plunger spring came with a kink in it, so this was a good thing to replace as well.

7. Don't rush, and don't force anything. Resist the urge to reach for the hammer when something won't fit. Example: my firing pin stop wouldn't go in, and I finally figured out it's because my extractor was pushed down just a hair too far.

8. Research everything before you do it. This is the carpentry equivalent of "measure twice, cut once"

Cheers
John