New pics of my 1911A1

[marksman]

Mundaire,
a nice looking mean machine. Have you named her?
Congrets
Marksman

[mundaire]

Mundaire,
a nice looking mean machine. Have you named her?
Congrets
Marksman

Why, thank you Marksman! Though am not entirely done with her yet... she may look even prettier next year.

Nope, not named her... the last one I named was my old Royal Enfield Bullet and she promptly discharged me at 80 KMPH soon after... been a lil wary of naming 'em after than... women being touchy about such things and all...

She does respond rather well to my touch though, so I guess that's some consolation...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[cottage cheese]

Hey Abhijeet,

Nice piece...especially with the new stuff... the worn finish is making the whole look a bit tired though.... do give it a new coat will you.

regards,
cc

[mundaire]

Hey Abhijeet,

Nice piece...especially with the new stuff... the worn finish is making the whole look a bit tired though.... do give it a new coat will you.

regards,
cc

No plans for bluing yet buddy... I've already had it blued once (not 5 years back) and as you can see it was a shoddy job... wore out quicker than a chastity belt on Brittany Spears! The .315 I blued myself for my uncle (using Birchwoord Casey) has lasted far longer...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[marksman]

Mundaire,
Try "Blue Wonder" this time. It's as good as any beautifully done commercial hot blue I have seen. They also have blacking stuff if you like your pistol lethal flat black. It's basically meant for expensive double guns' barrels. Get Ed Brown parts for the innards, they are certainly better then many others like Wilson etc. especially the the four leaf sear spring. This certainly is NOT book knowledge. Just my unconditional love for this old Rampant Horse.
Marksman

[Hunter]

Realy nice piece u have there Abhijeet...congrats!

[mundaire]

Mundaire,
Try "Blue Wonder" this time. It's as good as any beautifully done commercial hot blue I have seen. They also have blacking stuff if you like your pistol lethal flat black. It's basically meant for expensive double guns' barrels. Get Ed Brown parts for the innards, they are certainly better then many others like Wilson etc. especially the the four leaf sear spring. This certainly is NOT book knowledge. Just my unconditional love for this old Rampant Horse.
Marksman

Hmm, will surely try out BlueWonder this time. If it's not too much trouble could you post a picture or two of something which has been blued using this product? I'd just like to see what the final finish would look like.

I've got ED Brown's 1911 rebuild kit (both in blue & SS finish) as well as their two piece full length guide rod (which I don't use due to it requiring an Allen key for field stripping).

But I was recommended Nowlin by two different gunsmith's in USA, so got those for the sear, trigger & disconnecter. I found their finish and (perceived) quality to be better than both Ed Brown and Wilson Combat. Not to say that either of those two makes shoddy parts, the Nowlin stuff just seems a shade better somehow.

The sear spring I have currently installed is an original Colt part which I purchased from Brownells.

I see you are in Mumbai... do you have a 1911 as well? Is it a Colt as well?

Realy nice piece u have there Abhijeet...congrats!

Thank you! I quite like what you've done with your 1911 as well... partly what inspired me to start "doing up" my own piece

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[cottage cheese]

No plans for bluing yet buddy... I've already had it blued once (not 5 years back) and as you can see it was a shoddy job... wore out quicker than a chastity belt on Brittany Spears! The .315 I blued myself for my uncle (using Birchwoord Casey) has lasted far longer...
Cheers!
Abhijeet

Hi Abhijeet,

As I found proprietary quick-job finishes like B&C, Blue Wonder..etc. all are nice and produce a very pretty finish. Unfortunately the very nature of their chemistry produces a very delicate finish. They will wear very quickly. Particularly so with handguns that are carried very often due to abrasion from leather, clothing, friction, perspiration, etc.

The same stuff will last longer on long guns since obviously the metal parts other than the bolt, trigger and safety are in contact with the 'abrasive' surfaces.

I've stopped using them for refinishing major parts for these very reason.

Phosphate is very practical and relatively easy but somewhat ugly for the kind of 1911 you have in mind. Plus you might have to deal with and annoyed wifey.

You should try it yourself or get someone to rust blue it for you. Very stable and durable finish. It won't produce a mirror black finish but rather a lustrous deep satin finish. If the person doing it has his chemistry figured out, he can vary the deepness or rather blackness of the finish by some simple tweaks- (You can refer to the goodies I'd sent you )

Though it's more trouble than other methods (It can take 7-10 days or more)... I'm a big fan of RB and I personally find it very satisfying.

Hot caustic blue is the standard industrial process but it requires a fiddly setup to keep it going... too much bells and whistles to manage for a one time job.

I'd just completed rust bluing a Diana 35, Savage-99(Two barrels- .22HP and .410), a Cousins(HPM) 12GA... Now working on a BSA Sportsman5 .22... Very pretty results on old abused stuff.

Regards,
cc

[Happy]

Hey Abhijeet,
Thanks for those pictures. a beautiful pistol.
Regards

[Hunter]

Hi Abhijeet,

Thank you!!!...am on the look out for a beaver tail grip safety and flat spring housing like u have mounted on your piece. Install a guide rod ,oversized slide stop and safety lever if u can, it helps a bit and u dont fumble too much!

Take care!

[mundaire]

Install a guide rod ,oversized slide stop and safety lever if u can, it helps a bit and u dont fumble too much!

Well, I already have an Ed Brown full length guide rod (2 piece), which I don't much care for... it may provide more accuracy but I've found it takes away a lot from the simplicity of dismantling the gun (requiring an Allen key), besides completely doing away with my favourite way of checking the chamber by racking the slide back using my fingers to depress the recoil spring plug... and of course it ruins the original "ethos" of the design! So I'm staying away from it... at least for now. May just put it up for sale (at cost)... it is after all brand new... not that I expect many takers - considering the no. of 1911 owners in India!

I do intend to get a new slide stop and thumb safety but both will be tactical designs and not of the "extended" variety. I usually hold the pistol with a double handed thumb over thumb grip (not the IPSC style straight thumbs grip) and an ordinary tactical safety is quite handy for that sort of stance/ grip. This will never be, nor is intended by me to be a competition pistol - it's mostly for my trips to my village in U.P. and it's intended use is best served by features that make it a better "fighting pistol" not a super accurate and handy match pistol - and my choice of parts is dictated entirely by that.

This of course is based entirely on my own use scenario and is not meant to detract from how anyone else wishes to enjoy/ use their own gun,

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[kanwar76]

Sorry for going OT guys...

CC can you please post pics of the pieces you recently rust blued. I have got a old Diana which I want to reblue.

Thanks in advance.

-Inder

[OverUnderPump]

The pictures don't do much justice to this beauty, she looks smashing in person. I can hardly wait to see the other modifications.

regards

OUP

[amk]

Abhi, how do you drift your rear sight? Isn't it fixed? Why did you destroy the original parkerized finish for the blueing? Or did you not?

Marksman, most of what you said has gone over my head; but I will take these instructions to the gunsmith when I do get my sights fixed. Cheers!

AMK

[mundaire]

Abhi, how do you drift your rear sight? Isn't it fixed?

The rear sight is installed in a dovetail and can be therefore adjusted right/ left for windage. You "drift" it using a piece of wood which is struck gently by a hammer to slowly move it either left or right. Needless to say directly striking it with a hammer would mar/ destroy the sights.

Abhi, why did you destroy the original parkerized finish for the blueing? Or did you not?

When I got the gun it had already been reblued, probably by an army armourer. Besides the rebluing (which was wearing out) the thumb safety was broken and had been soldered together - in all fairness the fauji chap had done an ugly but pretty solid job about it. I still have that thumb safety with me and it still works! Somewhere in it's history it's striking pin had been replaced with an extra long one, which did ensure positive ignition every time BUT it also meant that one of the safety features of the pistol (short intertia driven firing pin) had been compromised.

As you can see NSP firearms may be cheaper than dirt but their condition is not always satisfactory

Since so many of you seem to love the 1911 - I have a decent video on how to work on the gun. PM me for more information. Just basic gunsmithing stuff, nothing advanced or too complicated.

Cheers!
Abhijeet