Good 1911 action improvment kit?

[Tackleberry41]

The 1911 I threw together, the internals were from my box of random parts, it goes bang. My other 1911, I built it back in the 90s, seem to remember buying some drop in Chip McCormick, Ed Brown, parts. Nothing to serious, but better than whatever random GI stuff was in the pistol to begin with. Wasnt looking for a match set up. Not gonna be buying a jig and stones, or taking my cheap project gun to a smith. Also things have changed I know plenty of stuff is that MIM casting anymore. No way to differentiate whats what that I have seen.

Midway has several 'kits': hammer, sear, disconnector, the spring, maybe a hammer spring. Again not looking for an ultra light match set up, more of a carry set up. Not looking to spend a bunch of cash on the project gun. Midway has a cylinder & slide tactical 4.5lbs 5 pc set for a little over a $100. Never used cylinder and slide before, is it decent stuff? Something a little better I should look at? Or just buy things by the piece?

[truckboss]

The Cylinder and Slide stuff is fine.I like the EGW stuff myself.That being said I believe any of the major brands will do you just fine.

[seagiant]

Hi,
It seems you don't have some things you need to make an educated guess. One thing you need bad is the Brownell's catalog! With this you can decide if you want to buy your C&S kit or a jig to use the parts you have.

To find out if the parts you have are "in spec" to begin with and worth buying a jig/stones for you need Kuhnhausens 45 shop manuals vol. 1&2! These are not "cheap" but a lifetime investment and will save you money in the long run, IF you like working on your 1911's!

[MtGun44]

First, I have to say that your distrust of MIM parts is misplaced. If done properly,
which it is by most of the gun companies, it produces high quality, durable parts.

Regardless, I have never had a gun that didn't benefit from dropping in an Ed Brown hammer,
sear and disconnector. Typically the trigger pull is very good with just those parts
being changed out. Highly recommend this route.

Bill

[Houndog]

I rebuilt an old Charles Daily (RIA) combat commander beater gun with Cylinder and Slide trigger components, an Ed Brown extractor and springs, and some off brand short reach trigger as a winter project. This thing turned out extremely well! I wound up with a 2 1/2 pound trigger pull, NEVER skips a beat with any reasonable reload (REALLY likes 452460 over 5gr. Bullseye) and shoots around 2" at 25 yards with boring regularity. The Wife liked so well it became HER gun the first time she shot it!

[Tackleberry41]

The basic cylinder and slide kit seems to be the way to go. If I was going to use the tools more than once might consider buying some to do the work, but I dont see me buying anymore 1911s any time soon. The parts I have are questionable at best, some came out of the 1911 parts gun a guy from a gun show thought he was screwing me on in 1989, other stuff a friend trying to save money building a officers model, gave me a handful of used parts he picked up at a gunshow not knowing what he was buying. They were enough to get the gun functional. I also prefer the commander style hammer vs govt style currently being used. $100 for new parts I can drop in and be on my way or closer to $200 for tools might only use once.

And no I am not opposed to MIM, my little bodyguard 380 is apparently packed full of parts made that way. Not sure Im to hip to a barrel made that way, maybe its just as good or better, but I will stick with ones made the old fashioned way for now. But from what I read MIM doesnt work so well for something like a firing pin, lots of broken ones in body guards. Just be nice to know if a part is MIM or made old school when you buy it, and since it is a cheaper method the parts should be sold cheaper also.

[Green Frog]

The one consideration I see you and the rest of the folks here ignoring is the frame itself... if you have a quality frame with all the holes drilled in the proper location and to spec, drop-ins will work, otherwise maybe not so much. If you are satisfied you have a good frame, then look for the reputable seller of parts (Brown, Wilson, McCormick, etc) who has the configuration you want. If buying a drop-in hammer, it would be logical to get the drop-in sear from the same person. Beyond that (springs, trigger, safety, slide stop, ad nauseum) can come from whoever has the parts you like.

You didn't mention accuracy issues. Is the barrel locking properly into the slide and do the bushing and link do their job properly? Oh yeah, there is also the matter of mags to make sure you will be getting a perfect feed every time. How much time and money do you want to devote to this gun? The possibilities are endless.

Froggie

[Tackleberry41]

Its a parts build, the frame was govt issue at one time. Friend got it in a box of parts somebody gave him 'see if you can get a gun out of all these parts, rest are yours'. It looked pretty bad, nothing structural, just tons of rust. He was gonna toss it was so bad, he gave it to me. Slide somebody won at a shoot, had no interest in using, STI in the white, $120. If I couldnt do it in the garage with tools I had it didnt get done. It isnt a target gun by any stretch of the imagination. Never could get it to work in 40 S&W, but a 45 ACP frame, so now its 7.62x25. Wouldnt be hard to improve the trigger. A matched drop in kit and Im ready to go.