At risk of thread drift, let's take a look at this.
There's perhaps two US shops that produce 1911 forgings. Colt, and Smith.
Springfield buys forgings for their frames and slides from IMBEL in Brazil.
Prior to being bought out by Kimber, Jericho bought forgings from Smith and finished them for Kimber and Wilson.
Caspian produced (finished) forged 1911 frames for some time, but now produces only cast frames.
Incidentally, Caspian made the early GSR frames and slides.
Ruger makes castings for themselves, and other makers, like Caspian.
So, if brand x says they "make" their own receivers and slides, are they forging or casting them, or machining someone else's forging or casting?
Per the Jan/Feb Am Handgunner, STI produces NH's frames (non-railed) and slides. Where these forgins originate from is anyone's guess. See http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...0/ai_n15862431
I would bet that STI makes frames and slides for other 1911 brands, as well.
Of course, where is STI getting their forgings from?
IIRC, the following use Caspian for their railed frames,
NH
Wilson
RRA (?)
Baer (formerly)
Brown
Sig (formerly?)
That Colt has gone the extra mile to procure a forging die and tooling to make forgings for railed 1911s will allow them to produce the end product for a lower cost in the long run than buying frames from Caspian.
I'm looking forward to the Colt railed frames, even though I'd rather they be non-series 80.



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