Your start in 1911 smithing and where you are now.

[theblackknight]

I'm looking to get into 1911 smithing. My dad is a machinist, had lathes at home and did a lot of side work for the local harley shop. He also makes alot of parts for the little .22s he has at the 4-H .22 rifle class he teaches. I used to watch him a lot. My uncle has his own machine shop, and I worked for him during the day after i got off my 3rd shift job. I mainly just ran the CNCs while doing final filing and grinding of parts in between cycles. I don't know how to run a manual lathe in anything Id claim and dont really know CNC code. I can just do basic file work.

Since enlisting, I really dont get much satisfaction at "work". While I don't miss my old jobs, I do miss building things. My small delve into smithing soo far has been fitting some Bowie Tac sights on my M&P and did a aggressive stipple job.

So where did you get started smithing 1911? Do you start on pawn shop specials? What fitting jobs did you tackle first? Lessons learned?What level are you at now? Post pics of you feel jazzy.

[joker581]

I've been learning from me stepfather. He was a member of the Marine Corps Rifle and Pistol Team for a while, an armorer, and then on the staff at MCLB Albany's small arms repair shop.

I started with a Springfield GI and doing small parts fitting and trigger jobs. I haven't had a chance yet to learn frame/slide/barrel fitting but I'm hoping to do that soon. His health isn't all that great.

[Corey]

I went through the gunsmithing program at Yavapai College in Prescott, AZ. Then I spent 5 years working at Gunsite when Ted Yost was running the gunsmithy there. That was a good learning experience.

[MarshallDodge]

I purchased a Norinco 1911 in the early 90's and put a Chip McCormick trigger, sear, and hammer in it. These were supposed to be drop in parts and I was VERY lucky. Back then I did not fully understand how the thumb safety worked to hold the sear but it worked out.

Later on I tried my hand on a Foster (Caspian second) and that almost turned into a nightmare. Terrible components to start on when you are just beginning. About halfway through a friend wanted the slide so I traded it off to him and later sold the frame which put me ahead.

The latest build I am working on is a Colt slide on a Fusion frame. So far it is going pretty well at about 90% completed. It runs really well but needs some extractor and ejector tuning to get the brass ejecting in the right direction.

My next build is going to be a 40 S&W based on an STI 2011.

[arbninftry]

My start was with my former father in law. He was a vietnam era Marine, and top rated Bullseye shooter. The gun was a very early Clackamas Kimber, 1996ish. We re-worked everything on that gun as soon as it was broke in. About the only thing i am unsure of is slide to frame fitting on a new slide and frame. I think I got a bug and have garage smithed everything I could after that. Learning the ins and outs of all my guns.

[ryn1523]

I started out in Small Arms Repair (45B) in the Army. That gave me a good but very basic knowledge of the system. After returning to civilian life in the mid-80's, I landed a job as a basic gunsmith for a retail shop and range in Washington State. The guy I worked for was pretty knowledgeable and passed a lot on to me. Of course as time goes by, you learn more from wanting to tackle bigger and more complex jobs. My big thing was concealed carry guns and chop-n-channel before most companies offered this off the shelf. Besides getting a basic gun to practice on, I recommend JERRY KUHNHAUSEN books that you can get from Brownells. They are excellent resource manuals with a lot of very specific data.
Start out doing as much by hand as possible and then start using machinery to your advantage. Measure twice and cut once. Mills and lathes are very unforgiving The only other piece of advice I can offer is, learn everything you can about the function of the weapon. The more you understand why things work, the better you will be.
Good luck and have fun!