Long slide 1911 ideas and thoughts

So I've posted a few times about 1911s and gotten alot of good feedback and would love to get your guys thoughts on some ideas. I'm looking at starting one of the build ideas I've been thinking about. I have what I've heard called a fully loaded 1911 (standard government size,with all the upgrades, 45acp) and I love it. But I would love to have a carry size 1911,as well as a long slide 1911. I've already decided that the carry size I'm going to eventually build, is going to be a 9mm. I know, the horror, a 1911 chambered in something other than 45acp. As much as I love a 45acp, the 9mm is just far more accurate out of a short barrel (thinking a commander or officer size frame with a 4ish inch barrel and the rounded butt). But I'm still kinda debating on the long slide I want to build.

Now in a perfect world I'd love a 6in 1911, chamber in .357 mag, however I don't have like 1200+ to drop on a 1911, on top of them being hard to come by. So my options come down to 45acp, 40S&W, 10mm or 9mm, but I'm not really sure what to go for so I thought I might ask you guys and get some feedback on things.
As far as caliber's my thought process went like this:
I'm not a fan of 40S&W, it's not easy to find or cheap, and I heard that they're talking about discontinuing it.
I could go for 9mm and have a really accurate 1911, but I'm already planning to have a short carry pistol in 9mm and I'd rather not have everything chambered in 9mm.
The 45acp would probably have more power and accuracy, but in reality what would an extra inch of barrel really do,plus I already have a 45acp
So that leaves the 10mm which has a projectile a little smaller then a 45acp but a case just a bit shorter then a 38spl. So to me that 10mm round sounds like a nice round to fire especially out of that 6in slide.
So I wanted to get your guys opinions on everything. I'm thinking of modifying a kind of run of the mil 10mm 1911 to have a 6in barrel and slide, maybe upgrade some of the internal parts. I know that you have to kinda file them a bit to get them to fit properly, I'm fine with that. In the end I'm hoping to have something that is a fairly unique firearm something that's just a little bit different then my current 45. Appreciate any all comments and thoughts.

Side note: I recently found some 6in 1911's that have a 5in slide,so the barrel sticks out the end of the slide. The owners claim they still cycle and function properly. I'm curious if anyone has seen this before and know if they will function like that.

Check out Fusion Firearms for long slide components in .45 and 10mm.

I'm in the middle of upgrading an AMT .45 Longslide...trying to make it more unique. I'm waiting on a new barrel from Fusion.

Iver johnson has a 6" 10mm for around $850 last I checked. They are built in the phillipines. Rock island/armscor use to have a 6" 10mm too also built in phillipines but im not sure its still in production.

As far as a carry pistol goes I prefer what is known as a CCO…an Officer frame with a Commander size (4.25”) top end. One could substitute a 4” top end. This gives more carriability and avoids the problematic nature of an Officer’s top end. Longer sight radius helps, too.

I built one and love it…and I prefer full size 1911’s. Aluminum frame. Shoots very tight and doesn’t bobble. Pics attached. I might have $525 in it with one mag. That was with an 80% frame. A 100% frame, which I suggest, would add $100 to that cost. The frame came checkered.

Caveat is I cherry picked the parts over a year so that kept the price down. Example, the barrel is a full size match barrel I cut down on a lathe and chamfered/lapped the muzzle. $30 for that barrel. $10 for that match bushing. Only 14 new parts in that pistol. Being familiar with the pistol really helps.

As far as 6” goes, a good number of guys like them. In a 10 or good 45 capable of 45 Super loads, power will be equal. Plus you could shoot standard 45 ACP in the Super capable pistol just changing the recoil and mainspring.

Not productive commentary but just wanted to say that looks beautiful.

Magnumite said:

As far as a carry pistol goes I prefer what is known as a CCO…an Officer frame with a Commander size (4.25”) top end. One could substitute a 4” top end. This gives more carriability and avoids the problematic nature of an Officer’s top end. Longer sight radius helps, too.

I built one and love it…and I prefer full size 1911’s. Aluminum frame. Shoots very tight and doesn’t bobble. Pics attached. I might have $525 in it with one mag. That was with an 80% frame. A 100% frame, which I suggest, would add $100 to that cost. The frame came checkered.

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That's sweet!
Where did you source the frame?
This looks like a good next project

As you know the firearms industry was gearing up for production before the 2016 election in case Hillary got elected. When Trump won the 2016 election the demand drop so there were slues of frames available in 80% configuration from from major makers. Companies snapped these up. A major player was Spector Supply. That was the source for this frame. It cost me $114 shipped.

It is a very good frame, and being aluminum was friendly to finish. I already had the jigs. I bought a couple others, two of which I am going to say are unfinished Wilson Combats because of the machine quality and configuration. They were selling on Gunbroker for reasonable prices. When the frame supply started drying up so did the prices! Last I checked they (Specter Supply) were on fleabay, IIRC. They are about 40%-50% higher in cost last I checked. Jigs start at $200, with sales out there. Saw a $250 one going for $125 about 2 months back.

If this is your first time doing this you may consider a 100% frame. Of course, you’ll need to go through that process. Add $50-$125 to the cost of a serialized completed frame for shipping and whether the FFL you find wants to do business or bone you.

EDIT to add: alooks like ebay is a no go. Specter is back on Gunbroker with frames for sale. Prices look like they are back to previous costs and much better than Phantom jigs’, etc. frames.
Gunbroker.com, click “Browse Catagories”, click “1911 Parts”, enter “frame” into search box.

Couple of things to think about:

The appeal of 10mm is that, when it is loaded to spec, it has the same/more power than a .357mag. (you may read that it is the same power as .41 mag.....it doesn't)

As Paul Harrell proved, MOST well known factory 10mm is loaded to 40s&w power levels. (this includes most offerings from Federal, Winchester, Remington, etc)

10mm, when loaded to spec, is pretty rough on the recoil components of a handgun. Indeed, Colt had to redesign the Delta Elite frame so it could flex more after several frames broke due to recoil. This goes for .45 Super as well.

Aluminum does not respond to flex well (unlike steel) and will develop stress cracks pretty quickly. Even Sig Sauer, when they offered the 220 in 10mm, made the frames out of steel. As such, if you want a 10mm that actually lasts, I would recommend a steel, not an aluminum, frame.

When choosing ammo, go with "real 10mm" like Underwood or Buffalo Bore, unless you are just plinking. If you are only planning to shoot low power 10mm, I wouldn't bother building one at all and build a .40s&w.

If you are planning on doing an Aluminum frame, 9mm is about your only real option for the 1911 platform. Even .45 is known to wear out frames pretty quickly a-la Colt Commander lightweight.

The "filing" of the slide you mention is more involved than that. It is more "timing". Yes, the locking lugs need to be filed to match the slide, but the barrel itself must be timed to the frame and breech face and bushing to ensure reliable feeding.

10mm would definitely need a steel frame…my mention for aluminum would be for the defensive CCO type pistol.

Magnumite said:

As far as a carry pistol goes I prefer what is known as a CCO…an Officer frame with a Commander size (4.25”) top end. One could substitute a 4” top end. This gives more carriability and avoids the problematic nature of an Officer’s top end. Longer sight radius helps, too.

I built one and love it…and I prefer full size 1911’s. Aluminum frame. Shoots very tight and doesn’t bobble. Pics attached. I might have $525 in it with one mag. That was with an 80% frame. A 100% frame, which I suggest, would add $100 to that cost. The frame came checkered.

Caveat is I cherry picked the parts over a year so that kept the price down. Example, the barrel is a full size match barrel I cut down on a lathe and chamfered/lapped the muzzle. $30 for that barrel. $10 for that match bushing. Only 14 new parts in that pistol. Being familiar with the pistol really helps.

As far as 6” goes, a good number of guys like them. In a 10 or good 45 capable of 45 Super loads, power will be equal. Plus you could shoot standard 45 ACP in the Super capable pistol just changing the recoil and mainspring.

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Typically I'm not a fan of the two tone type firearms but I have to say that is a pretty sweet looking 1911. So that's basically the CCO you're talking about, officer frame with a commander barrel/slide. If so then that's what I'm looking to build in 9mm. I never really thought about doing an aluminum frame because I'm not a fan of how light they are, I prefer heavy meaty firearms that kinda balance between being heavy enough to knock the recoil down but not heavy enough that it's difficult to aim. But aluminum frame would probably make alot easier to have as a carry gun. And I very much appreciate the info for GunBroker and ebay, looks like it's time to start surfing GunBroker.

Boats said:

Couple of things to think about:

The appeal of 10mm is that, when it is loaded to spec, it has the same/more power than a .357mag. (you may read that it is the same power as .41 mag.....it doesn't)

As Paul Harrell proved, MOST well known factory 10mm is loaded to 40s&w power levels. (this includes most offerings from Federal, Winchester, Remington, etc)

10mm, when loaded to spec, is pretty rough on the recoil components of a handgun. Indeed, Colt had to redesign the Delta Elite frame so it could flex more after several frames broke due to recoil. This goes for .45 Super as well.

Aluminum does not respond to flex well (unlike steel) and will develop stress cracks pretty quickly. Even Sig Sauer, when they offered the 220 in 10mm, made the frames out of steel. As such, if you want a 10mm that actually lasts, I would recommend a steel, not an aluminum, frame.

When choosing ammo, go with "real 10mm" like Underwood or Buffalo Bore, unless you are just plinking. If you are only planning to shoot low power 10mm, I wouldn't bother building one at all and build a .40s&w.

If you are planning on doing an Aluminum frame, 9mm is about your only real option for the 1911 platform. Even .45 is known to wear out frames pretty quickly a-la Colt Commander lightweight.

The "filing" of the slide you mention is more involved than that. It is more "timing". Yes, the locking lugs need to be filed to match the slide, but the barrel itself must be timed to the frame and breech face and bushing to ensure reliable feeding.

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I knew because of the smaller projectile and longer case 10mm would have similar power to that of a 45acp (45 has more stopping power,10mm higher velocity) but I didn't know if properly loaded it's comparable to 357mag. Which considering I would love a long slide 1911 in 357mag, I think the 10mm is definitely the way I'm going to go. Now yes sadly most of its life would be spent on the range or in my bedside table but because of that I want something fairly nice. Aluminum frame never crossed my mind, not a fan of how light they are, one of the reasons I'm not a fan of Glocks, they're too light in my opinion. I really didn't even think blued steel,I was planning to go stainless steel frame and slide. I know it's going to cost but I plan to very slowly build it by modifying an already functional pistol. I do appreciate the info on the the timing aspect of it and will look more into that, as mentioned I was aware that you basically have to fit the parts too it. I'm hoping because I plan to start with an already functional pistol,that it would be easier to fit and tweak the timing to get it to run correctly then it would if I started with a 80% frame and a parts kit.

I have a Springfield Armory TRP in 10mm that I love. I got the 5in as I already had a 6in 10mm but they did make the 6inch TRP in 10mm. There are still some out there and they would be way cheaper than a STI, or DW 1911 with a 6inch barrel.

m.ammer69 said:

Typically I'm not a fan of the two tone type firearms but I have to say that is a pretty sweet looking 1911. So that's basically the CCO you're talking about, officer frame with a commander barrel/slide. If so then that's what I'm looking to build in 9mm. I never really thought about doing an aluminum frame because I'm not a fan of how light they are, I prefer heavy meaty firearms that kinda balance between being heavy enough to knock the recoil down but not heavy enough that it's difficult to aim. But aluminum frame would probably make alot easier to have as a carry gun. And I very much appreciate the info for GunBroker and ebay, looks like it's time to start surfing GunBroker.



I knew because of the smaller projectile and longer case 10mm would have similar power to that of a 45acp (45 has more stopping power,10mm higher velocity) but I didn't know if properly loaded it's comparable to 357mag. Which considering I would love a long slide 1911 in 357mag, I think the 10mm is definitely the way I'm going to go. Now yes sadly most of its life would be spent on the range or in my bedside table but because of that I want something fairly nice. Aluminum frame never crossed my mind, not a fan of how light they are, one of the reasons I'm not a fan of Glocks, they're too light in my opinion. I really didn't even think blued steel,I was planning to go stainless steel frame and slide. I know it's going to cost but I plan to very slowly build it by modifying an already functional pistol. I do appreciate the info on the the timing aspect of it and will look more into that, as mentioned I was aware that you basically have to fit the parts too it. I'm hoping because I plan to start with an already functional pistol,that it would be easier to fit and tweak the timing to get it to run correctly then it would if I started with a 80% frame and a parts kit.

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Fair enough. Sounds like your head is in the right place.

The one caveat is that full power 10mm has quite a bit more power than .45 acp.

This offering from Underwood is a 155gr @ 1500fps for a muzzle energy of 775ft/lbs, for example. https://www.underwoodammo.com/10mm-auto-155-grain-xtp-jacketed-hollow-point.html

compared to the (pretty standard) .45 loading of a 230gr bullet at 900fps +- 30fps which gives a best muzzle energy of 432.
https://www.underwoodammo.com/45-acp-230-grain-jacketed-hollow-point.html

(MOST .45 is 230gr@870fps with a m.e. in the mid 300s but I didn't want to seem biased, I love me some .45)


Here is the reality:. Does the 10mm have more power than .45? yes. Does it provide .357 levels of power in an autoloader? yes. Is it a pocket howitzer? no. Is the .45 a bad/ineffective round? NO (there are literally thousands of moro tribesmen, Germans, Koreans. Chinese, Vietnamese, Terrorists who would attest to that)

If you want big power in a handgun, then revolvers are still king. .500, 480, 460, etc. mostly because those rounds get close to ride round levels of energy, and rifles will always be the gold standard of firearms in terms of power.

That said, 10mm DOES offer "magnum" levels of power in an auto loader without having to deal with a desert eagle(weight, unreliability, ridiculousness). 50g.i. and .45 super do as well.

Boats said:

Fair enough. Sounds like your head is in the right place.

The one caveat is that full power 10mm has quite a bit more power than .45 acp.

This offering from Underwood is a 155gr @ 1500fps for a muzzle energy of 775ft/lbs, for example. https://www.underwoodammo.com/10mm-auto-155-grain-xtp-jacketed-hollow-point.html

compared to the (pretty standard) .45 loading of a 230gr bullet at 900fps +- 30fps which gives a best muzzle energy of 432.
https://www.underwoodammo.com/45-acp-230-grain-jacketed-hollow-point.html

(MOST .45 is 230gr@870fps with a m.e. in the mid 300s but I didn't want to seem biased, I love me some .45)


Here is the reality:. Does the 10mm have more power than .45? yes. Does it provide .357 levels of power in an autoloader? yes. Is it a pocket howitzer? no. Is the .45 a bad/ineffective round? NO (there are literally thousands of moro tribesmen, Germans, Koreans. Chinese, Vietnamese, Terrorists who would attest to that)

If you want big power in a handgun, then revolvers are still king. .500, 480, 460, etc. mostly because those rounds get close to ride round levels of energy, and rifles will always be the gold standard of firearms in terms of power.

That said, 10mm DOES offer "magnum" levels of power in an auto loader without having to deal with a desert eagle(weight, unreliability, ridiculousness). 50g.i. and .45 super do as well.

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Thank you, I'm not super knowledgeable but I generally understand how things work. Oh Iove my 45 as well and maybe one day I might build a long slide 45 just for the hell of it but for now definitely look going for that 10mm. For hand held power revolvers are still king but I'm not really looking for massive amounts of power. Thought I do plan to eventually find a 44mag or 357mag revolver, some sad to say similar to the dirty Harry pistol. I know it's probably cliche to say dirty Harry pistol but that's the best way I can describe it,I like that turn of the century through the 1950's style pistols. The later like python and 586/686 style magnums are great, I just love that classic look.

I agree, if one wants real handgun power its revolver all the way. The 10mm and 45 Super/SMC nibble on the bottom end of 41 Magnum power. My ‘regular’ quite shootable 44 Magnum loads start at 864 ft-lbs. So the 10 and 45S are what I consider the mid point between 357 Magnum and 41/44 Magnum power. If and when you build the 10mm focus your attention to the back of the pistol to tame the slide velocity, unless you are using a very effective comp. That is more effective than trying to do it with a recoil spring. Good luck with your project.

Also, GH has a couple nice new 6” 40/10mm slides (Remington) for just over $200. So a frame, slide and barrel can be had for $600-$800. That is just a foundation. The TRP’s and a couple other 10mm makes will be something to consider. This build will cost you $1300 easy if you keep the quality up.

Of course we always have the tiny low power Desert Eagle 50cal if you want a semi. Lol

boothdoc said:

Of course we always have the tiny low power Desert Eagle 50cal if you want a semi. Lol

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ew.

^^^ LOL

Have a quick question for you guys. As far as frames for the 1911, are the frames caliber specific, like if I had a frame say off a 45acp, could I use that for say a 10mm or 40S&W? I know barrels and slides are caliber specific and a few other parts but for the most part I have only been finding frame sizes.

The feed ramps are slightly different between calibers...unless you're using a ramped barrel. There might be some other differences such as heat treatment but that may be specific to the gunmaker. Colt had to modify their Delta Elite frames very early due to the frames were prone to cracking at the slide release window. They eventually make the change across all their 1911 production regardless of caliber.

m.ammer69 said:

Have a quick question for you guys. As far as frames for the 1911, are the frames caliber specific, like if I had a frame say off a 45acp, could I use that for say a 10mm or 40S&W? I know barrels and slides are caliber specific and a few other parts but for the most part I have only been finding frame sizes.

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Yes, they are different. The biggest difference is the size of the magwell. A 10mm mag won't fit in a standard .45 frame because it is quite a bit longer.

Similarly, a .45 mag won't fit in a 10mm frame because it is too wide.

Because of the controlled feed design of the 1911 platform, and. because the mags are single stack, there isn't a frame that will accept both and be reliable as the mag will wobble on the magwell and. cause feeding issues