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1911 80% jig for steel
- Thread starter Mike8623
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2023
- Messages
- 40
I have only built on one 80% 1911 frame and it was aluminum, and TBH I don't remember who I bought it from. I did buy a jig but it was mostly useful for milling the frame for the slide rails. It had a sliding car thingie with a carbide cutter in it, and you would slide it back and forth and every once in a while, advance the cutter another couple thou. It actually worked great, and the finished gun shoots flawlessly. I used a Rock Island slide, barrel, bushing, recoil spring, etc and a kit of parts for everything that mounts to the frame, The most tricky part was staking the plunger tube.
So this was before I bought my mill. After getting a Chinese Mini-mill and then after milling out an AR lower 80, I decided no more 80% stuff. If I ever build another gun, it will be made from whole cloth, so to speak. One thing I will do differently is make the plunger tube of a 1911 integral to the frame, instead of staked in place. The way to have a proper jig for making a 1911 frame, whether from an 80 or from scratch, is to make the jig yourself. This would generally just be a block to hold the part true and level, and a stop for indexing. Oh and maybe a steady rest of some sort for drilling/reaming the plunger tube bore. There are a lot of 1911 blueprints online. Any reasonably skilled home/hobby machinist ought to be able to make a good frame in a few days. If I ever do another one, I will probably go with steel, but 6061-T6 works, and the Aluminum does weigh a lot less, but I am actually thinking any future 1911 project will be an Officers Model and the weight of steel will actually be welcome for holding down the muzzle flip you otherwise get from shooting .45ACP with a little bitty gun.
The little cutter in the jig would probably not last long enough to do the slide rails on both sides of a steel frame, but if you have a mill, you really do not need the slidey jig to cut the rails. Your mill will do the job just fine. If you want a jig for spotting the holes that will be drilled, you can even use a plastic jig. Aluminum frame? Steel frame? Doesn't matter. The only part that a steel 80% would be tougher is the rails, and that is if you don't just mill them out.
So this was before I bought my mill. After getting a Chinese Mini-mill and then after milling out an AR lower 80, I decided no more 80% stuff. If I ever build another gun, it will be made from whole cloth, so to speak. One thing I will do differently is make the plunger tube of a 1911 integral to the frame, instead of staked in place. The way to have a proper jig for making a 1911 frame, whether from an 80 or from scratch, is to make the jig yourself. This would generally just be a block to hold the part true and level, and a stop for indexing. Oh and maybe a steady rest of some sort for drilling/reaming the plunger tube bore. There are a lot of 1911 blueprints online. Any reasonably skilled home/hobby machinist ought to be able to make a good frame in a few days. If I ever do another one, I will probably go with steel, but 6061-T6 works, and the Aluminum does weigh a lot less, but I am actually thinking any future 1911 project will be an Officers Model and the weight of steel will actually be welcome for holding down the muzzle flip you otherwise get from shooting .45ACP with a little bitty gun.
The little cutter in the jig would probably not last long enough to do the slide rails on both sides of a steel frame, but if you have a mill, you really do not need the slidey jig to cut the rails. Your mill will do the job just fine. If you want a jig for spotting the holes that will be drilled, you can even use a plastic jig. Aluminum frame? Steel frame? Doesn't matter. The only part that a steel 80% would be tougher is the rails, and that is if you don't just mill them out.
Well, in my case I needed to machine the inside of the hole where the thumb safety goes, which required the purchase of a tiny woodruff cutter - which cost enough to neutralize any savings. Comparing apples-to-apples you wont' find a frame that's significantly cheaper other than frames without rails are usually cheaper than frames that have them, and frames with non-traditional cosmetics are often more. There are sales occasionally, and that might be the exception. If you're not in a hurry get on everyone's email list and wait...
The only consistently cheaper supplier (and I am certainly not recommending them) is Sarco. Very mixed bag. I've seen a few that were built into working pistols, and several that were never going to be any good.
GsT
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2018
- Messages
- 1,340
As much as I wanted to finish my own 80% frame and assemble my own 1911 it was MUCH more economical to buy a RIA GI 1911 and fix it up. I bought a 9mm Ria 1911 GI for ~$200 (I think it was $209) a few years ago. The front site is staked on the GI version. I should have gotten a version that had a dovetail front site. Buying the serialized pistol saved me the expense of having a FFL serialize and record the pistol when the Oregon law changed (about $70). Deburring and polishing the fire control parts carefully to not change their geometry really smoothed out the existing trigger without spending a fortune on high end parts.
Have you considered a 2011 they look considerably easier to finish?
Matrix Precision Arms
1911 Build Tools – Matrix Precision Arms
www.matrixprecisionparts.com
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Starting from "80%" they're really the same - right down to the same operations (cutting the rails, drilling pin holes, cutting the barrel channel). If you do a scratch build though, the 2011 is much easier. Also worth noting that the 2011 grip frame and magazines add considerably to the cost of the finished pistol if that's a consideration.Have you considered a 2011 they look considerably easier to finish?
Matrix Precision Arms
1911 Build Tools – Matrix Precision Arms
GsT
