ltwguns.com

A few months ago, I mentioned this project on this site. I finally got the pistol back and I thought I'd share details and pics.

Last summer, I was in a gun store in Woodbridge VA (Quantico Arms) and was discussing custom pistols with one of their part time employees. QA frequently hires young Marines to work a few hours a week in the shop. This particular Marine has an administrative job currently, but is friends with a Sgt. Albright who is a 2112 armorer at Precision Weapons Station, Quantico. PWS builds the sniper rifles for the USMC. They also build the DMR (customized M14) and the MEU(SOC) pistol. I'm assuming everybody here is familiar with the MEU(SOC) as its considered by many to be the holy grail of combat pistols.

Well, it turns out there is something called the "Hobby/Lobby" program. This is a program that allows the armorers to legally take on side jobs. They can't use government time nor parts, but can use the shop. This is actually encouraged so they can keep in practice on all the weapons systems they build and service.

This young Marine I met at QA agreed to help me get a 1911 built under this program. In short order, I had all the part to him. There was a long delay from Caspian on the frame and that pushed everything into the holidays.

I got the pistol back late last month. It wasn't quite what I wanted, but was close. The mag catch wasn't working well, but that was my fault. I selected a CMC part, not realizing it was MIM and the armorer didn't want to mess with it. The slide stop was also not right as it was a cast part and had a seam right where the the detent rides (EGW part). I replaced both with Ed Brown parts. The finish also wasn't quite what I was expecting. KG Coatings has a new ceramic based finish that isn't commercially available yet so my young Marine contact bought a bottle in satin black. The satin was very glossy and just didn't look right. The Marines have been playing with this finish for a while now and its proving to be VERY hard and durable, but the satin just doesn't make the grade. We got a bottle of flat black.

With the new parts and new coating, it went back for final fitting. I got it back on Thursday night and I'm stunned. Its perfect. The grip safety is nice and sensitive, the trigger breaks at 54 ounces, the back of the slide is blended to the frame and ejector, the beavertail is perectly fit into the frame, the mag well is beveled and the finish is flawless. Its exactly what I want in a combat pistol.

A couple of word on the choice of equipment... I chose the front serrations because I really prefer the press check from below. I chose the non-ambi safety because I'm not a lefty and don't need it. I chose the Wilson rear sight because I like its profile and the fact that the tritium is yellow so it contrasts with the front. I don't like sharp checkering on the front strap as it eats up my hands when taking a class but I did want some texture and selected the serrations. The Brown's grip safety is preferred for my grip and its also what the USMC uses on the MEU(SOC) so I knew they would do it right. The magwell is there because I shoot my carry gun at IDPA matches and this has really improved my reloads.

The specs:

Caspian frame with frontstrap serrations
Caspian slide with angled, Colt style serrations front and rear with Novak cuts and carry bevel
Bar-Sto barrel, bushing and link
C&S internals
Kings thumb safety
Brown beavertail
Brown slide stop
Brown mag catch
Brown extractor (and a spare Caspian one)
S&A magwell
Novak front sight
Wilson rear sight
VZ Gatorback canvas grips

Here's the pics:

Damn Cliffy,
I can't seem to escape the pics of that gat!

A real beaut. How's she shoot? Fit finish etc? Also, how much did it set ya back (you can PM me that) and would you do it again?


Thanks man,
Rich




PS I still haven't sent that USP to Bruce Gray yet

I did shoot it before it went back for final fitting. I wasn't able to really wring it out but it was showing signs of being every bit as accurate as I would expect a combat handgun to be. The slide was not locking back and that was a distraction so I never really got into shooting hollow points and other odd-ball ammo.

fit and finish? Excellent. Its tight, but not so tight that its hard to cycle by hand. The best word I can use to describe the slide to frame fit is smooth. Its glassy smooth. The beavertail and back of the slide are very nicely blended. Its actually a lot better than I expected. I figured the USMC would put more emphasis on reliability and not worry so much about aesthetics so I was pleasantly surprised at the details.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. I paid for all the parts and they cost me around $1400. Assembly wasn't free, but it wasn't bad either. Worth every penny IMHO.

I'm going to have it out at the range tomorrow. I'm bringing a pile of ammo, including some light handloads, some factory FMJ and a variety of defensive loads. I'm mostly concerned about reliability but I'll try a couple of 25 yard groups as well, just to see what it can do.

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Rev 1:8 "I am the alpha and omega" say the Lord, "I am what was, what is and what is to come..."

6 months ago, my neighbor saw me coming back from the range with a Glock t shirt. He always teases me about being in the Chair Force, and once he saw the Glock T Shirt it was on. He started with some sort of a tupperware comment. It was all in fun as I have great respect for him and he has taught me alot.

The point of the story is he is a retired 33 year Marine armorer who swears by the 1911. His Glock comment got us into the whole 1911 vs Glock debate. After much talk, we went to the range together the next week, and he brought his 1911s. Unfortunately, he can't shoot a .45 anymore due to arthritis, but he let me shoot all of his .45's, along with giving me some good instruction.

Talk about seeing the light! I think he quickly realized he had created a monster. I was rapid firing question after question at him. We have spoken daily since about the 1911. He has some of the nicest 1911's I have seen. They are very similair to the 1* series. Nothing too fancy, but very smooth and reliable. He is thrilled that the Marines are back to the 1911. He also said that they are also taking delivery of Caspian frames and slides, not just the Kimber.

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Hard work pays off

Great gun Cliffy! I really like the smoothing of the front of the Novak sight- I've never seen one done like that and it looks fantastic.

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Ted

One of the joys in life is getting exactly what you want. Glad you got to realize your dream gun.

Thanks for sharing.

Jerry

Are you referring to the front edge of the rear sight? That's not a Novak sight. Its a Wilson Combat. I put those on the rear because I like the profile better but mostly because its yellow.

Oops! I missed that part on the Wilson rear sight in your 1st post. Overall a great looking gun!

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Ted

Cliffy....FANTASTIC!!! I think I have met your armorer there at Quantico Arms once or twice. They are a great bunch of guys and girls there, I have talked to Walter many times about working part time, if I can just find part of my time to do it. Maybe if I take the job....hmmm, indentured servitude IS sometimes acceptable I think! Anyway, enjoy that beauty!

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"There is a true glory and a true honor, the glory of duty done, the honor of integrity and principle."--Gen. Robert Edward Lee

Range report time...

I got it out for a USPSA match this week. I had about an hour before the match to wring it out. I put about 200 rounds beofre the match. I ran a mix of light target FMJ reloads, factory FMJ and about 50 rounds of Winchester Ranger 230 (half of them +P). With Wilson mags, it ran 100%. With Tripp Corbra mags, it would not feed the second round with the Ranger ammo. Looks like the Tripp mags are only for range use.

The slide also failed to lock on two of the Wilson mags. I have since cleaned the inside of them and they now work fine.

My goal in this warm up was not to check accuracy, although its obvious that this thing is going to be my most accurate 1911. I just didn't do any slow fire to confirm that. This was all about reliability testing.

There was one annoyance and that is that the mags would not drop free. This continued into the match and cost me a good amount of time during reloads. That night, I took the gun home and completely disassembled it. I removed everything including the trigger and the mags were still dragging. I even removed the grip screws and the grip screw bushings. I played with it, cleaned it and kept sliding mags in and out and couldn't quite determine where it was catching.

Well, I put it back together and figured I'd clean the inside of the mags while I was at it. Once back together, I put an empty mag in and... its fixed. I don't know what happened, but now all my mags (except for one) drop free and clean. I think this was a combination of a tight frame combined with either a burr or a high spot in the finish that just wore flat while I was messing with it. Very strange, but I'm now happy with it.

Another problem at the match was that I discovered that the armorer didn't Lock-tite the rear sight. I discovered that with 2 targets left in a stage. I had scored almost all A zone hits but the last two targets had a C, a D, a hit on a no shoot and a miss. Big bummer. Again, the fix was quick and simple.

I'm VERY happy with this gun. I will be putting a lot more rounds through it over the next few weeks and I expect it will keep getting better now that the bugs seem to have been found and corrected. I'll also do a real accuracy test, but its clear that this will be every bit as combat accurate as I'll need.

That is a nice looking business gun. Congrats.

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Heirloom Precision, LLC.
480-804-1911

"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking."
- General George Patton Jr

Cliffy,

Nice looking 1911. Question. This Hobby/Lobby program. Is this something that is frequently done? Is there are big waiting list for work by the 2112 guys? What I mean is are there are bunch of 2112s sitting aroundf wishing they had more side work for extra cash? This is just something that I have never heard of before, but I think it's great!

Regards,
Greyson

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I do know that some of the armorers prefer working on rifles and some on handguns. I have a friend who owns a Remington 700 built up by these guys. If you're interested, send me an e-mail and I'll put you in touch with my contact for this.