New pics of my 1911A1

[amk]

Nothing is getting personal but thanks Vikram for clarifying penpusher's position.

AMK

[mundaire]

Great looking pistol AMK... next stop a beaver tail grip safety and bobbed hammer... maybe Novak sights?

I'd love a beavertail and bobbed hammer plus a skeleton match trigger but these parts are not easy drop ins (though often claimed otherwise). And I'm not sure who in Mumbai could do a good job working on the 1911 internals. Any recommendations?

I got a set of Meprolight night sights and was about to get them fixed when I misplaced the front sight, I'm now waiting for someone to bring me back just the front sight to complete my set.

The Novak's look great but I've read they need serious machining if your slide is equipped for the regular dovetails, I think the USGI ones are staked so fitting in the regular dovetails or Novak would be the same amount of machining; what are your thoughts? If the effort and machining is the same should I get the Novaks?

Well you are right, normally beaver tail grip safeties require the frame to be milled to have them fit. But Wilson Combat have a drop-in high ride beaver tail safety that does not require any modifications to the frame. I have this installed on my own 1911 along with their V-Grip Mainspring Housing. While they were not exactly "drop-in" fits, in all fairness they only required a minimum of TLC provided with a fine file and a lamp (to blacken the part with soot and check for fit). In all it took me 15 minutes to "fit" the beaver tail and about an hour to fit the mainspring housing. This modification really does improve your grip (by allowing the pistol to sit lower in your hand) as well as eliminate potential "hammer bite" and I'd recommend it.

You will need to replace the standard hammer with a commander style/ bobbed hammer to fit the beaver tail safety. The one I've used is a 201CS by Nowlin along with their improved disconnecter and their 202PRO pro-match sear. All of these parts fit perfectly without requiring any fitting/ modifications. For good measure I've also added a Competition Match Trigger from Wilson Combat - this too required next to no effort to fit, and was quite easy to adjust as well.

Yep, there is no way around milling your slide to fit a proper low profile Novak or Bo-Mar rear sight. I'm quite wary of Indian gunsmiths myself and opted in stead for a pair of Millett three dot tactical sights which fit the existing rear dovetail and front (narrow) tennon cuts. These I had fitted with the help of a gunsmith as I was told that the front sight is recommended to be fitted with a silver solder to firmly hold it in place. I don't see the need for adjustable sights on a non-match pistol so did not bother with the extra expense of getting an adjustable rear sight.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[amk]

Wow, loads of really useful information. Thanks Abhi. Besides the sights I will need to get all these parts in first, and I can't trust the post/courier method. I think I'll have to make a personal trip to the good old US of A

Could you give me some more info about how you fit the front sight? I've got the Meprolight night sights which are to be fitted. Also, doesn't one need to zero any new sight being fit?

AMK

[mundaire]

Wow, loads of really useful information. Thanks Abhi. Besides the sights I will need to get all these parts in first, and I can't trust the post/courier method. I think I'll have to make a personal trip to the good old US of A

Glad you found the info useful Nope, you are right post/ courier would be a complete roll of the dice... Get them yourself or have someone coming back carry them, legally speaking one does not need to be an arms license holder to be in possession of "small parts" of firearms which is what these are.

Could you give me some more info about how you fit the front sight? I've got the Meprolight night sights which are to be fitted. Also, doesn't one need to zero any new sight being fit?

AMK

The sights were fitted by a gunsmith and honestly I did not supervise the operation. But AFAIK he drifted out the old sight and friction fitted the new one in using a dowel. He also added a minor amount of solder (not visible) to make sure it stays in place. But this last bit (soldering) is optional really as the friction fit is usually good enough.

Yep, I do need to visit the range to zero in the sights... may do so next weekend, lets see...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[cottage cheese]

Yep, I do need to visit the range to zero in the sights... may do so next weekend, lets see...

Abhijeet... there you go wasting those precious 45's again

Hope the Kunhausen shop manual is being of some use...

[mundaire]

Abhijeet... there you go wasting those precious 45's again

I thought they were mighty expensive, till I realised what the .32 cal owners are paying for imported ammo these days!!

But I do need to get my quote increased from the measly 50/100 I have on it right now Licence is due for renewal this autumn, will probably put in an application at that time...

Hope the Kunhausen shop manual is being of some use...

That and all the other goodies you sent my way! Haven't gotten any of the eBooks to open successfully though, probably due to the fact that I have IE7 installed on my computer...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[cottage cheese]

I thought they were mighty expensive, till I realised what the .32 cal owners are paying for imported ammo these days!!

Man even the fodder is so expensive. Wonder if it pinches anybody at KF/IOFB that people are still ready and willing to pay a premium for imported ammo because their fodder is so poor...

...which reminds me... I haven't fired my Browning in ages mushrooms must growing on the ammo packs... haven't bought ammo in so long. Maybe I'll go out and rip off some of the stock from the shop

That and all the other goodies you sent my way! Haven't gotten any of the eBooks to open successfully though, probably due to the fact that I have IE7 installed on my computer...

Pity about the ebooks.. they are really good. What I do is I use Firefox all the time and check off any update or upgrade that has to do with IE... thus I'm still in IE 6.something... of course thats assuming your XP installation(Hope you're still not Vista) is pre-IE7

regards,
cc

[mundaire]

Going completely OT but nope, no Vista here... my notebook used to run on Linux up till about 2006, then I finally had to cave in and switch back to XP as one of our own software products is Windows only and it was just embarrassing not to have it installed on my own machine! Guess I could have dual booted, but I'd be damned if I had to frequently spend 5-10 minutes to reboot into another system to run just one or two pieces of software.

I do believe Vista is going to be the begining of Microsoft's slide away from it's dominant position in the desktop operating system market. If I were to buy a new PC today I'd rather buy one without an OS and either install XP or a flavour of Linux on it. OR (if I had the surplus cash) I'd splurge a bit and buy myself one of the new Apple Mac's...

Man even the fodder is so expensive. Wonder if it pinches anybody at KF/IOFB that people are still ready and willing to pay a premium for imported ammo because their fodder is so poor...

Oh sure, all the IOF boffins, factory workers and QC inspectors etc. are racked with guilt and their (IOF's) own high cost of production (and sale price) is partly due to the high cost of providing expensive psychoanalysts to ease their staff's burden and make their lives a bit more liveable... We all know that mass produced .22 LR's of crappy quality should not cost $0.25 per pop... it's all those medical claims that just keep adding up!!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[amk]

The sights were fitted by a gunsmith and honestly I did not supervise the operation. But AFAIK he drifted out the old sight and friction fitted the new one in using a dowel. He also added a minor amount of solder (not visible) to make sure it stays in place. But this last bit (soldering) is optional really as the friction fit is usually good enough.

Yep, I do need to visit the range to zero in the sights... may do so next weekend, lets see...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

I'm wary of getting it fixed as my friend's front sight flew off never to be found again on a shooting trip.

If your sights are not zeroed and you need to make corrections how would you do it with fixed sights?

AMK

[mundaire]

I'm wary of getting it fixed as my friend's front sight flew off never to be found again on a shooting trip.

Hence my extra precaution of getting him to use some solder...

If your sights are not zeroed and you need to make corrections how would you do it with fixed sights?

You can drift the rear sight for windage adjustments. You cannot really do any elevation adjustments at all, but that is more than compensated by the fact that fixed sights are sturdier and therefore better suited for tactical purposes. For elevation you will just have to get an understanding of where your pistol shoots at different ranges and compensate accordingly.

Do keep in mind that even with adjustable sights, the elevation adjustments can be precisely zeroed only for one chosen range and for other ranges you would once again have to compensate for elevation.

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[mundaire]

A picture to show you how it looks with the new beaver tail and v-grip mainspring housing. I've stuck to all stainless steel replacement parts, as they are easier to refinish after the fitting is done (no need to blue them), and also they don't rust...

[img2=http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s311 ... 008023.jpg][/img2]

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Sakobav]

Nice cat Abhijeet

best

[Happy]

Hey Abhijeet,
some more pictures please......
Happy

[mundaire]

Hey Abhijeet,
some more pictures please......
Happy

Don't have many, but here are a couple...

[img2=http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s311 ... 008018.jpg][/img2]

[img2=http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s311 ... 8022_b.jpg][/img2]

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[marksman]

AMK,
The best way to install any after market Tennon sight is to anchor it firmly by peening the tennon from inside of the slide with a special tool. But in order to achieve that, one has to grind out a wee bit of metal from around the front site hole from inside the upper slide. Dramel tool comes in pretty handy if one has one.Spread the metal of the Tennon base into the cavity by peening it carefully. One could do this with the help of a steel rod and a hammer if used tactfully. Apply some powerful glue as well for extra insurance. Grind off the excess metal carefully so as to seat the barrel bush with ease. and you are done. Oh yes, one should improvise some kind of a soft metal seat to rest the front sight while peening it upside down in order to avoid damage to the front sight. more so if it is a tritium sight. Hope this tip helps.
Marksman