Hey Thats My Gun!
I am the second owner of this 1911.
This Officers model started life as part of the NES Caspian slide and frame group buy in 2009.
It was completely assembled and fitted by Greg Derr in early 2010.
Parts list was as follows:
Storm Lake barrel and bushing
Ed Brown heavy duty firing pin
Ed Brown pin set
Grieder match trigger
Wilson 2-piece guide rod
Wilson extractor
Wilson beavertail
Ed Brown tactical ambi safety
Wilson hammer
Wilson slide stop
EGW front sight
Wolf spring kit 22lbs
Champion rear adj site
Wilson stainless ejector
Wilson plunger
Chip McCormick CMC mags
Late this summer I traded a 2005 Honda Shadow Aero here on NES for the 1911.
The value invested by the original owner of the 1911 was equal to my asking price on the bike and we made an even trade.
The original owner had indicated he probably put 300 rounds through it and that it did have some jamming issues but they were related to the magazines and were resolved with the help of Greg.
The gun was fitted very nice with no rattling and the trigger was ok with a little play.
On my first outing with it using just Winchester White Box the gun functioned but was finicky. I tried 6 different mags from various companies and they all had their issues but nothing consistent. At least 1 round of every mag would jam on loading. The number of that round was random. I tried Hornady Critical Defense and had the same results. I upped the ante with Hornady TAP +P 230gr HP. Nothing would feed properly. It was a mess. It was all seriously jamming even deforming the case sometimes and gouging the nose of the round.
Disappointed I brought it home and attempted to field strip it figuring it needs cleaned. The barrel bushing would not release. Could not get it to turn at all. I disassembled it like a Glock. Inside I found a mess. Heavy grease with metal particles in it mixed with soot. Some had hardened into the cuts in the slide that allow the barrel to lock.
I worked on the slide first using Gum Out carburetor cleaner. Once the grease was all gone the barrel and bushing started to loosen up.
Eventually I was able to break them free. The bushing had developed a burr on the lug and that was causing it to stop rotating. The spring bushing also showed signs of mushrooming. I removed the burr and the raised edge of the mushrooming and things were slipping together nicely and the barrel bushing was removable with just fingers.
I continued into the frame. The rails had been galled and still had bluing in low spots on then from the fitting process. This bluing had attracted grease and the metal particles creating a glue like area that was sticky. The bluing was even down into the feed ramp/mag well area with the same results. The Gum Out quickly cleaned all this out and removed the bluing. With it all cleaned up I sprayed it down with Remington gun oil as the Gum Out removes every drop of oil on the metal. During reassemble I re-oiled all the parts with quality oil. She was happy once again. Everything was sliding properly and seemed like it was ready for another test.
Another test fire resulted in the same results, although it was easier to operate, the rounds seemed to jamming on the feed ramp and now were more consistent than random. There was evidence in the soot where the rounds were jamming into the ramp. The rounds even showed the gouges on the nose where it was grabbing.
And this is where I took it to Lou at BEC.
I knew I had a quality foundation that just needed the little extra work to make it function flawlessly.
I showed Lou the issues and he pointed out additionally that the ambi safety which was popping out as it was operated was not fitted or blended to the frame. Also the grip safety was not finished and still had burrs on it the edges. The front sight was also visibly off by a 16th to the left. The rear sight was adjustable but also was unfit for carry as it was catching on anything it could when drawn. The feed ramp was visibly the wrong angle match for the barrel as well. I also pointed out how sharp the beavertail was. I could use it to tenderize a steak!
I gave Lou free reign to do as he pleased to fix the issues and make it a special 1911.
Lou has done the following:
Full rounding of all the sharp edges
Welded up & refit the loose grip safety.
Installed and blended a new Wilson thumb safety
Fixed barrel to give .032 from the feed ramp
Polish the feed ramp & breech face
Tune the extractor
Install 10-8 rear sight
Round butt treatment & blended the MSH to bottom of the frame
Hit with Armorers Black Cerakote
I originally wanted to keep it stainless but Lou insisted on the Black. I am glad he did. It looks awesome
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
Put 250 rounds through it. Ate whatever I loaded into it! Not a single jam.
Used 200 rounds of Magtech and then a mix of Hornady Critical Defense and Hornady TAP 230gr +P HP (my carry choice)
Nothing could make it fail. Slow fire to full mag dumps.
Lou has done an amazing job.
