1911 front strap stippling

[Greg S]

JSMJ, That stipping with the border looks tight. Nice job.

JHeath, interesting pattern. It looks really sharp. Have you shot it yet. If it is a little to aggressive, you could dull the points with some 220 lightly and check. I would bead blast first to see if that is enough and if not some worn 220 or fresh 320. I wish I knew how to post pics, I post some of a high cut for you to contemplate ticker ing with too.

[JHeath]

It's pretty aggressive, but Tok recoil is mild and my hands are tough from working ropes without using gloves. But 220 is a good suggestion if it becomes an issue, thanks. If this were somebody's prize 10mm I would "measure twice and cut once" i.e be more cautious.

[fecmech]

Some years back I stippled a front strap on a 1911 and did it as I was taught in high school metal shop using two people. I had my wife do the tapping with a piece of oak while I held the punch and moved it around. If you practice a bit on scrap you can do a nice job. I think it's a lot easier to do a good job with two people. You just guide the punch and the other person just taps consistently.

[dubber123]

Some years back I stippled a front strap on a 1911 and did it as I was taught in high school metal shop using two people. I had my wife do the tapping with a piece of oak while I held the punch and moved it around. If you practice a bit on scrap you can do a nice job. I think it's a lot easier to do a good job with two people. You just guide the punch and the other person just taps consistently.

Wow, either you are a trusting soul, your wife is more coordinated than my girfriend, or both. I see lots of bruised knuckles and not much stippling going on, followed by a very quiet evening.

[ole 5 hole group]

Wish I had pictures of my ole match 1911's, as the stippled front strap had sharp points. The purpose was so when you gripped the 1911 you would squeeze the grip to a set amount of discomfort - for lack of a better term - and this aided greatly in consistent grip and higher scores. That pistol never moved in your hand and you knew exactly when you had that same grip to begin each relay.

[wv109323]

I think Jack Best used and air tool with a four sided punch. His stippling was sharp enough to bring blood with 90 rounds of hardball.

[fecmech]

Wow, either you are a trusting soul, your wife is more coordinated than my girfriend, or both.

We've done 51 years together, nobody I would trust more.

[Love Life]

Update: I haven't stippled anything yet. I did end up buying a 1967 commercial Colt that had all the bells and whistles as a research item (that's what I told the wife...)

I now have a sample in hand to study. The sample is quite nice in that the frame rails were swaged, and lapped. A very light trigger, that had hammer follow. Easily corrected with a little spring bending...

All in all things are moving right along in my adventure to make a retro hardball gun.

I've got the punch and some bar stock on the way and will begin punching tiny dents into steel soon.

[country gent]

Once you get started and "learn' the process and feel of doing it youll be set to go. Start with light taps increasing to where you want the texture to be. The big trick is consistancy of the taps and keeping the punch at the same hieght. Work slow learning this as you go and increasing speed as you go. Pretty soon youll be tapping out very nice surfaces

[Mk42gunner]

So did you get the "Snort of Derision" or the "Look of disbelief" when you said "research item?" Enquiring minds want to know.

Just trying to judge how much trouble you are in....

Robert

[Love Life]

Haha. No trouble here. What I did find funny is the interior of the 1967 Colt Commercial slide is just about as rough as the interior of my Norinco slides when it comes to machine marks. My 2015 Colt Series 70 repro and Commander have much better finished surfaces.

[AF FAL]

Ok, dead thread revival...
I have been playing with the idea of stippling myself. I finally gave it a try with a project I am working on. I made a punch from 3/8" O1 drill rod, hardened and tempered it, and after playing with a piece of scrap 1018 for a bit gave it a go on a SA frame. Here are my results so far, I need to move the stippling up closer to the trigger guard a bit more still.

My tip is blunt which made it a little difficult to see exactly where I was placing the tip, so I ended up bouncing past the border a few times. I decided to wrap the stippling around to where the grip will cover it, not my first choice, but the best given my border violations I think. I tried using the power custom frame blocks, but my punch shape and diameter wouldn't allow me to get close to the border at all. I did use the power custom magwell filler. I started in the center of the front strap and basically worked my way out. I made a few randomly spaced hits, turning the punch about 1/4 -1/3 turn between strikes, then I filled in the area between strikes and continued moving along until I filled everything.

It looks way more aggressive than it is, in the hand it is a mild grip/texture, just enough to know it is there. I am going to play with tip shapes and strike angles more in the future to get variations in texture and aggressiveness.