DIY 1911 accuracy job.

[mtgldr]

Excellent diagnosis, but I honestly never looked passed the two holes in the top of the slide.

Wonder if the instructions were to drill into the first or second upper barrel lug in the slide?

I have 2 RIA's and they are both tack drivers, they just tear one ragged hole in the target, they'll shoot 1" groups at 25 yards if I do my part, they are the shizzle, I said "My RIA is the $hit", he said Word.

I think it's time for me to go home for the day....

 

[Brian618]

Frankly this looks like a "Bubba" fix to an improperly installed aftermarket barrel. There is absolutely no way I would ever consider doing this to any firearm, let alone a 1911. I sure as hell wouldn't trust a gun that came into my shop looking like that.

 

[jglenn]

well,, not something I'd do but I do understand what he was trying to do.. match barrels have both the upper and lower locking lugs milled to be a bit larger than your std. drop in. this allows you to hand fit the barrel to the the slide and lower for a tight lockup.

many ways over the years to add material to the upper lugs on standard barrels.. seen a few match guns years ago that had brazing in the upper lugs to allow you to file them to fit.. even seen a Very Very good old bullseye smith simply put a thin shim in the upper lug and force it in place via the simple lockup of the action.. this actually worked and he said it never fell out..no where to go really. this was in the early days of 1911 accurizing..way before we had the match military barrels come along.. everyone simpy welded up the lower locking lugs on a gas welder then re-fit

when it comes to the best bang for you buck barrel fitting will do the most for a 1911's accuracy.


slide fitting amounts to about 5% of a 1911 total accuracy job..

As an old bullseye shooter who also did a lot of his own guns, I always tighten and lap the slide but it's just I can't stand the looseness of your typical 1911 after so many years of shooting tight guns.

 

[tobydog]

i feel certain that the reason this simply stunning piece of gunsmithing goes misunderstood is painfully obvious to any who know the 1911 and its one glaring shortcoming---the lack of a bayonet/taclgt---This genius (probably a NASA layoff) has correctly identified the one most beautiful and safety minded location to place said device---the bayonet will most assuredly come in handy now that the once proud 1911's reliability is no longer an issue!! The bayonet will be needed if this gentleman decides to do the honorable thing and remove the threat of him doing this to any other firearm--i am not suggesting a mortal sin--just something that would leave a hard to heal wound that might give him reason to question such absurd behavior in the future!!!

 

[DerrickT]

[Broken External Image]:

 

[philwil68]

i feel certain that the reason this simply stunning piece of gunsmithing goes misunderstood is painfully obvious to any who know the 1911 and its one glaring shortcoming---the lack of a bayonet/taclgt---This genius (probably a NASA layoff) has correctly identified the one most beautiful and safety minded location to place said device---the bayonet will most assuredly come in handy now that the once proud 1911's reliability is no longer an issue!! The bayonet will be needed if this gentleman decides to do the honorable thing and remove the threat of him doing this to any other firearm--i am not suggesting a mortal sin--just something that would leave a hard to heal wound that might give him reason to question such absurd behavior in the future!!!

Very interesting first post... Welcome to ODT

 

[Griffin Armament]

Was the barrel new or had it been on another gun?

The Jarvis barrel was a unmodified (except the hood) drop in barrel, that was sloppy in the RIA because they are oversized in several key dimensions (slide stop pin hole, slide locking lugs, slide barrel bushing area etc.

I just took a hammer and carefully tapped the rails while holding a caliper to check the progress and then lapped the slide into a decent fit. Not professional, but way better than stock which was significant vertical play. Vertical play is not good.

 

[Griffin Armament]

Was that aftermarket barrel fit properly to begin with? I don't see how this would be ever necessary with a properly fitted barrel.

It would not have been neccessary if the barrel was oversized and machined to fit. That costs $300, and the Jarvis match grade drop in typically fits quality firearms tight as is (Springfield/ Colt etc). Not so with the RIA. <Sloppy tolerances.

 

[Griffin Armament]

I believe that slide has been destroyed

Not as far as I can tell. On another forum I was discussing this with a gunsmith who worked formerly for Clark Custom for 7 or more years building 1911's and doing 1911 work. He mentioned that the concept was sound and that it should work if I was able to drill and tap the slide (it is very hard in that area).

He mentioned that he once match fit a gun by silver soldering shim stock into the lug recesses and it worked. Kart makes EZ fit match barrels this way (two fitting bumps in the vicinity ofwhere my screws interact with the barreland they work).

 

[Griffin Armament]

Yeah! I going to do all my 1911's like that. Should help the resale value too!

Didn't really care about resell value. I got this one for $425 with the Jarvis barrel and a trigger job with a new hammer and sear. I'm going to upgrade sights now and put in a trigger with an overtravel screw. Maybe I'll stop there. It depends on how the gun shoots.