My first 1911 "upgrade"

[Brandini]

About a month ago I bought my first 1911. RCGE had some RIAs in stock and I just had to make one of them mine. It is the standard GI model and is an absolute joy to shoot, except for the grip safety. It was just plain annoying. I was just going to suck it up and deal with it but then midway sent me a nice email informing me that they were going to give me 10 or 15% off my order because it was my birthday(woohoo!!) so I ordered up some parts and this is the result:


That was the first time I had ever done any work on any of my guns but it was highly enjoyable although a long process. I haven't had a chance to range test it yet but everything passed a function check. Hopefully in a day or so I will be able to get to the range.

[hawk1]

Did you fit the parts or just drop them in?

[What Just Happened?]

Nice. That's the same thing I want to do to my Springfield Armory Mil-Spec. Tho' I think I might just order an RIA Tactical instead.

[Brandini]

Did you fit the parts or just drop them in?

I had to fit the grip safety a little bit. That only took about 15 minutes or so with a file. However, when I changed the sear I had to completely re fit the safety and that was a PITA. But it was well worth it.

[TopGun2000]

Nice gun. Have you find out a good 1911A1 mag for this gun which can be bought in a buld w/o burning a hole in your wallet?

[aplinker]

You need to upgrade the sights. Hammer bite and no sight picture are why GIs blow.

Nice work. It's fun to do it, too. I'd have put an extended safety on at the same time to avoid having to refit again.

[trinydex]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yqCqeyvRxXw&feature=related

are these sights any different? because i didn't know anyone could use those this well...

[Mr. Meeseeks]

Nice work!

What brand drop-in grip safety is that. I like how there's very little gap between the frame tang and safety.

BTW, if you decide to change the sights check out the Heirloom (formally Yost-Bonitz) Retro Rear sight. I've been planning on getting one for my Springer GI, but just keep buying other stuff/guns instead.

[aplinker]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yqCqeyvRxXw&feature=related

are these sights any different? because i didn't know anyone could use those this well...

No, not even close. Those are target sights.

[RedDawn]

Congrats!
Hurray for birthday discounts...

[Brandini]

I'm still using the one novak mag that came with the firearm. I only have 50 rounds through this gun but so far I have not had a problem with this mag. There is a fairly large discussion on mag selection over at m1911.org.

Its the wilson combat "drop in" grip safety as well as their value line hammer with matching sear. I would highly recommend doing the work yourself over buying another gun, although its never a bad thing to buy another gun. I didn't even think of having to re fit the safety when I bought the parts otherwise I probably would have ordered an extended safety but I'm kinda partial to the original style safety.

So far the sights are working fine for me as long as there is enough light to see them. When I'm at the gun room its a little difficult to see the front sight post especially on a silhouette target.

[Ceemack]

I had the same problem with the original sights on mine--the front blade (if you can call it that) pretty much disappeared in less-than-perfect light. King's Gun Works in Glendale offers some nice high-visibility sights that can be used with the existing cuts on the RIA slide. I think the whole thing cost me $85, with installation, and they were a huge improvement.