So who's the 1911 sensei?

[bluesman2a]

OK, much like the recent "Tutor" thread, I'm looking for somebody who can take me to school. Specifically on the 1911, and preferably in the Lawrenceville/Buford-ish or nearby areas.

I do lots of metal fabrication, have my own shop with access to tools. As the other poster noted, not a kid looking for a handout, I'm 40+ with my own shop and access to tools like sandblasters, parts washers, plasma cutters, belt sanders, bandsaws, and have a decent area setup as a large gun-bench. What I don't have is any idea where to start with a 1911. I have several available to work on and for "training purposes".

My goal here is pretty straightforward: I consider the 1911 to be one of the venerable "Chevy 350's of the gun world", everybody should learn how to work on in their lifetimes. I would like to tune the ones I have, make them more pleasant to shoot. Perhaps learn enough to build one of my own from parts and tune it as well. Thus far, I've built Ruger Mark III's, Ruger 10-22's, AR's, and fooled with others.

My latest toy is a Rock Island 1911 high-cap frame with a rail in 9mm:

I haven't had it out to the range yet, but the trigger seems pretty sloppy with a lot of grunge/creep compared to my other RIA/1911's. Ultimately, I'd like to try for about a 3.5# trigger on it.

 

[inkdaddy]

Sorry bro....and with all due respect......THAT is not a real 1911...........it's a 9mm wannabe!!

 

[land_surveyor]

Works the same as any other 1911 platform just double stack and 9mm

 

[Gunfighter]

Shoot me pm with your schedule and contact info and I'll be happy to pass along what I know

 

[bluesman2a]

Sorry bro....and with all due respect......THAT is not a real 1911...........it's a 9mm wannabe!!

No, I get it, there are purists in every area of interest. I can respect that. While I HAVE .45 1911's, unfortunately, I cannot afford to shoot them as often as I would like. I won't even mention that I also have a .22 "wannabe" that I also shoot a lot too. Both are options that let me train with a gun that is nearly the same as my .45 at a much lower per-shot-cost. It sure is nice shooting for about 4 hours and only racking up a $20 ammo bill with .22. On the 9mm side, I can get 1K rounds for $170. Would any of them be my preferred tool for self defense? No. Gimme the flying ashtray any day.

Call me crazy, but I own Snap-On tools AND Harbor Freight tools, I own more than one screw driver too. They all have their place and it's a question of economics too.
In a perfect world... how does the saying go? "all handguns would be 1911's and all 1911's would be .45..." and I could afford to shoot .45 as much as I'd like.

 

[bluesman2a]

Shoot me pm with your schedule and contact info and I'll be happy to pass along what I know

Thank you sir, pm inbound, much appreciated.