American Handgunner July/August 1982

of this in the 'hard fit of the barrel.
Starting with my G.!. barrel, the hood
over the rear of the chamber was extended
by silver soldering a piece of steel strapping
material onto the existing barrel
hood. This was then carefully filed down
and contoured to match a,ll of the original
dimensions except the length. This dverlength
barrel hood was stoned and then
lapped to match the fit between the barrel
hood and breech face. A close fitting barrel
bushing was selected and mated to the
slide and barrel. The last step in the barrel
lowered the bottom edge to clear the ejection
of the fired cases so that they do not
have the dent in the side after firing. Slow
accurate use of a Dremel tool was necessary
for this application. Next I took the
slide to my local gunsmith for a Vs" slot to
be milled for my front sight installation.
Using a piece ofcold rolled Vs" steel plate,
I cut· out a front sight blank and silver
soldered it into place. For a rear sight I
chose the new high fixed sight by Armand
Swenson.
Once the sights were installe4, the gun
much more funnel-like area. With a 20­
line-per-inch checkering file, the mainspring
housing was cross checkered to give
added grip security. After all the final
polish and mating of parts, the trigger was
adjusted to a crisp 4 pounds. I had a local
gunsmith reblue the slide. Other parts of
stainless were hand polished with .Simichrome.
A pair of the new Bianchi .45 stocks
were modified so that the front panel was
cut off. With just the side panels of the
Bianchi stocks in place, the front strap
Left, barre' hood, after silver so'dering of strapping materia's, is fi'ed and
shaped to ~rigina'configuration. Above, lO-shot group fired at 25 yards with
Federa' 230-grain hardball ammo is tight and in the b'ack. Obvious'y the
home-crafted handgun is (J) a testimony to skill and (2) an accurate shooter.
Pos.itioner's fit shows increased contact
area on the back 'ocking recess.
fit was to soft solder a piece of shim stock
into the rear locking recess of the barrel.
This shim was then filed and carefullY-4"
mated to the slide as the pistol is hand
cycled so the barrel is forced down solid
against the slide stop each time the pistol
goes into battery. This is a slow and deliberate
process. Impression blue is used to
insure good contact between slide/barrell
slide stop.
I carefully relieved t/:1e ejection port and
Disassemb'ed, the "from-scratch" .45
disp'ays exquisite finish an~ detail.
was taken to the range and test fired. A
small bit ofadjustment was necessary. The
rear sight is easily drifted for windage, and
the front sight was filed down for a proper
2-5 yard zero. I prefer that my pistols be
sighted in for a six o'clock hold and 25
yards. This way the pistol will be right on
for a dead on hold at fifty·yards.
A great deal of time was lavished on the
final fit and finish. The magazine well was
already beveled, but I enlarged it to a
finger groove standard on the Safari Arms
frame provided a secure gripping surface.
Using one of Bill Wilson's rp.odified Laka
magazines, the pistol was 'tested with a
number of bullet shapes and loads. The
barrel and feed ramp were carefully
throated as part of the handy work, and
my "parts .45" works like a champ.
I now have a .45 auto that equals many
ofthe expensive combat pistols used by the
practical shooters of the day.
It shoulq be noted however, that this
work may be well over the head of most
gun buffs. Unless you have above normal
working skills, it may be wise. to use a
competent gunsmith for many of the difficult
fitting operations. .
It is possible to assemble a pretty fair .45
out ofcomponents, especially ifyou have a
supply of spare 1911 pistol parts. Cost will,
of course, depend upon the amount of
spare parts you have to purchase. If all the
parts must be purchased from the various
parts and surplus dealers, the final price
tag can be very close to·tpat ....
of a new Coil. ~
38 AMERICAN HANDGUNNER . JULY I AUGUST 1982