Thread: Rebuilding my 1911

Hello gents, I'm thinking of taking my old norinco 1911 and stripping it down and making a custom ccw out of it. It's an older one, though I don't know the specific year, it's a good heavy steel frame and slide, and only is very relable especially when firing decent ammo. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for working on 1911's or suggestions of alterations. This will be my first 1911 project but have done several AR15 builds. Thanks for the help gents.

The most common and comfortable modifications are extended safty and slide release, bever tail safty on the grip. For beter accuracy a steel guide rod works ( you will need a new barrel bushing that will accommodate the guide rod). You could go with new sights (3 dot, night sights, straight 8) but at that point all of the mods would probably be more than you originaly paid for you .45

I like the Kobra Carry by Ed Brown, you'll see a nice cool removal of the back end of the grip section. Other than that, maybe some better sights. There are some really cool "Alumina" grips around too.

Norinco made some real good 1911s. Too bad they don't import them anymore. I had a full size years ago. Shot great and was bone stock. I would recommend a medium or long trigger. I prefer the Videcki style solid without holes. You may have to fit it (which is no big deal). I did mine and it took about 15-20 minutes. This is on a SA Mil Spec that I have now BTW. I also put a flat MSH on it. other than that it is just plain jane.

This is when it still had the Wilsom Combat trigger I put in it. Like I said it has the Solid medium Videcki style now. This gun has been shot....A LOT!

The mods I have done are pretty tame. I did have a friend tell me all the things I "needed" to do to it like Ambi safeties and long beaver tail grip safety, extended slide stop etc. I don't get hammer bite so the the beaver tail was a moot point (I get a plenty high enough grip on the gun as it is) I am right handed and not an ambi shooter so the ambi safety was a moot point too. For the other "needed" mods I think it would be an unecessary expenditure because I like the fit and function as is. I shoot nothing but cast bullets in my gun and it will shoot better than I'm able to shoot it. I shoot a 200gr. SWC, 230gr. TC, and a 230gr. RN. They all do well.

Thanks for the quick replies gents. I'm a man who likes projects, I spent nearly 2 years building my M4. I was thinking adding some night sight, replacing the grip safety, better trigger, hammer and some new stock would make a pretty good setup for my ccw to start with. And Ikiers I bought it off my dad for the price he payed more than 19 years ago, $150.

A couple other simple things to check are the straightness of the frame rails and the slide rails. If there's a great deal of drag during slide movement, look for shiny spots where the metal parts rub against each other, you could hone them smoother. And warped rails are not unheard of. The smoother the action and less side to side movement (same principle behind the guide rod) keep the barrel pointed at the target.

I don't know if you've seen this or not but I stumbled across it while looking for AR & AK kits: AR Low Receiver, FAL Kits, 1911 Kits, A4 Kits, M16 Kits, Uzi Kits, 1903 Kits, Machine Gun Kits, Flat Top, Less Barrel, Spring & Pin Combination Kit & Receiver Parts - SARCO, Inc

This year I attended a Cylinder & Slide 1911 Pistolsmithing class for the love of the gun. Novak sights, flat trigger, C&S trigger group, etc. Hand fit beaver tail, sights, ambi thumb safety. We did a reliability polishing of slide and various internals to radius corners etc. The flat trigger is great when shooting at speed as the trigger pull is the same no matter where your finger gets situated.

I am just starting out in straight shaving and find it as satisfying as tuning up my pistols.



Merry Christmas,

Satch