Stealth Arms 80% 1911 No Mill Needed w/ Promo Code

[John from MD]

Anyone have any luck cold blueing one of these?

I used Alumahyde II on one of the frames, but on my other two I wanted to blue... so far Birchwood and Shooters Pro Solutions didn't blue them. Any other finishing options?

Bluing doesn't work on non ferrous metal like aluminum. Most folks have them Ceracoted or do it themselves. ( As long as your wife is out of the house when you use the oven)

John

 

[Jaybeez]

Anyone have any luck cold blueing one of these?

I used Alumahyde II on one of the frames, but on my other two I wanted to blue... so far Birchwood and Shooters Pro Solutions didn't blue them. Any other finishing options?

birchwood makes a product called aluma-black. its great for touch ups, but im not brave enough to try the whole frame.

 

[John from MD]

birchwood makes a product called aluma-black. its great for touch ups, but im not brave enough to try the whole frame.

I've used that over the years and was never really satisfied with the results. I even tried with heat, heated part, several coats etc. and none really worked out.

John

 

[Magnumite]

Same here, dull grey color at best

 

[Fox123]

Duracoat? If trying to diy.

They make it now in a rattle can, did alright on the sig copy that I did the finishing machine work on.

 

[jjones88]

How does that hold up around the rails? Alumahyde was way too thick and around sharp edges it's just falling off. Very frustrating to have a nice parker fake finish but silver where its flaking

 

[Jaybeez]

How does that hold up around the rails? Alumahyde was way too thick and around sharp edges it's just falling off. Very frustrating to have a nice parker fake finish but silver where its flaking

park is going to wear on edges too.

cerakote makes a rattle can too now i believe.

im going to cerakote and bake mine, been waiting till my mind is made up on color. i wanted to anodize first, but im getting into too much $ at that point.

 

[Fox123]

How does that hold up around the rails? Alumahyde was way too thick and around sharp edges it's just falling off. Very frustrating to have a nice parker fake finish but silver where its flaking

was pretty thick when first putting slide back on, I knocked it down with a file. Also instructions say it is dry to touch and can be handled after 24 hrs, but takes 2 weeks to fully cure. I reassembled the next morning and fired a few rounds, rubbed away any coating that may have caused a problem once fully cured. then left it alone for the two weeks. Would have probably been easier to just mask the rails. Luckily the size of the groove on sig frame rails is the same size as the 1911, so I had the correct size file already.

 

[WeaponsCollector]

Replaced the .22 barrel and slide with a new milspec .45 barrel and slide, fired it today for the first time with good results at first.
It's accurate and reliable but after shooting the first 50 rounds with no problems suddenly after firing a shot the slide locked back and seemed to be stuck.
The slide catch was not engaged but it was jammed open and I could hardly move it. The barrel still moved back and forth freely as if it were locked back with the slide catch.
After forcing the slide back and forth slightly suddenly it got unstuck and now seems to be fine again. Any ideas as to what happened?
Here's a video of the first magazine I fired through it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AezPetB_ecE

 

[Magnumite]

Look on the underside of the slide stop hold open stud for bullet metal. If there is, the next round's bullet bumped the slide stop as it moved up and fed. This typically pushes the slide stop out enough to tie up the gun. just pushing in on the slide slide stop will release the slide if this is the case.

Another cause could be too little clearance between the bottom rear of the barrel chamber and the barrel bed of the frame, or too little clearance between the top of the barrel and the slide during link down. Debris between the barrel and bed with either of these two conditions could cause this as well.

Also, are there signs of galling between the slide and frame rails and grooves?

 

[John from MD]

If your slide stop doesn't have the right shaped dimple or their is not enough spring tension on it, it can migrate outward just a little to jam up the slide. Some of the cheap slide stops I have seen are really poorly made.

Regards,

John

 

[pilotguy299]

After seeing me put two of the stealtharms 1911s together, my son decided he wanted to as well. But before starting I bought a couple more tools to make things easier for the builds.

The first tool I bought was a barrel seat cutter from matrix precision:

http://www.matrixprecisionparts.com..._id=33&zenid=337b096c89d2d4e07ffe075bc9bd472e



It is a whole lot easier using this tool to cut the barrel seat, and took all of 10 seconds to do once it is in the jig. They no longer have the centering screws, and the frame centers well enough as it is.

The second tool was matrix precision's file for finishing 1911 rail cuts:

http://www.matrixprecisionparts.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=35

It really made smoothing the rails and rail cuts much easier.


The third tool I bought was a ejector drill bit tool from dawson precision:

http://www.dawsonprecision.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=80000B62-1388518125



this is a left hand cutting bit, which helps pull the ejector down while drilling through it from the right side of the frame. Even going very slowly with a battery powered drill, it took less than 20 seconds to drill the notch in the ejector leg while it was in place.

After all was said and done, he built these two .45s over the weekend:

The top 1911 was built with parts purchased from "h0use" on calguns.net, and cost around $450.

The bottom 1911 was built with parts purchased from Remsport Mfg, and cost around $660.

Both feel really well balanced, and we will see how they work later this week!

 

[WeaponsCollector]

After seeing me put two of the stealtharms 1911s together, my son decided he wanted to as well. But before starting I bought a couple more tools to make things easier for the builds.

The first tool I bought was a barrel seat cutter from matrix precision:

http://www.matrixprecisionparts.com..._id=33&zenid=337b096c89d2d4e07ffe075bc9bd472e



It is a whole lot easier using this tool to cut the barrel seat, and took all of 10 seconds to do once it is in the jig. They no longer have the centering screws, and the frame centers well enough as it is.

The second tool was matrix precision's file for finishing 1911 rail cuts:

http://www.matrixprecisionparts.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=35

It really made smoothing the rails and rail cuts much easier.


The third tool I bought was a ejector drill bit tool from dawson precision:

http://www.dawsonprecision.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=80000B62-1388518125



this is a left hand cutting bit, which helps pull the ejector down while drilling through it from the right side of the frame. Even going very slowly with a battery powered drill, it took less than 20 seconds to drill the notch in the ejector leg while it was in place.

After all was said and done, he built these two .45s over the weekend:

The top 1911 was built with parts purchased from "h0use" on calguns.net, and cost around $450.

The bottom 1911 was built with parts purchased from Remsport Mfg, and cost around $660.

Both feel really well balanced, and we will see how they work later this week!

Very nice! Would the Matrix Precision barrel seat cutter work with steel frames too?

 

[pilotguy299]

Very nice! Would the Matrix Precision barrel seat cutter work with steel frames too?

I believe that they made it originally for steel frame guns, and that the video from their web page shows them cutting a steel frame from Tactical Machining:



http://www.tacticalmachining.com/80-products/80-1911.html

The alloy frame my son did went an awful lot faster than what you see in the video.

 

[DaemonAssassin]

Pilotguy, the more I see you post about your adventures with these frames, the more I am rethinking if I should do one. I just need to get the scratch together for the frame and parts kits.

 

[WeaponsCollector]

Pilotguy, the more I see you post about your adventures with these frames, the more I am rethinking if I should do one. I just need to get the scratch together for the frame and parts kits.

I've never built a gun before and only have very basic tools.
No drill press, not even a working caliper.
Just a table with a vice, a power drill, some sandpaper, and some elbow grease.
Drilled the holes by hand and didn't measure a single thing the whole time yet I was able to make a functional 1911.
Was it luck? I don't know but I'm really proud of myself and that Stealth Arms jig is fantastic.
Edit: Just to be clear I do NOT recommend drilling the holes without a drill press or finishing the frame without a caliper, it's easy to mess it up if you aren't careful.

 

[pilotguy299]

Pilotguy, the more I see you post about your adventures with these frames, the more I am rethinking if I should do one. I just need to get the scratch together for the frame and parts kits.

I've never built a gun before and only have very basic tools.
No drill press, not even a working caliper.
Just a table with a vice, a power drill, some sandpaper, and some elbow grease.
Drilled the holes by hand and didn't measure a single thing the whole time yet I was able to make a functional 1911.
Was it luck? I don't know but I'm really proud of myself and that Stealth Arms jig is fantastic.
Edit: Just to be clear I do NOT recommend drilling the holes without a drill press or finishing the frame without a caliper, it's easy to mess it up if you aren't careful.

It has been an interesting experience. I enjoyed putting the first two together with the help of the kids here and there, and then guiding my son in putting his two together. I did purchase a few more of the "correct" tools, such as a drill press, large vise, assorted files, sandpaper, barrel seat cutting tool, plunger tube staking tool, and a semi-accurate/consistent digital caliper. lol

But I will say that no two frames ended up exactly the same. Even though I followed the instructions to the letter both times, as did my son, the frames ended up at varying dimensions, and particularly the rail depth & height. Even on the same frame, the depth and height of the rail varied from one side of the gun to the other, as well as from the front of the gun to the rear.

I used files along with varying grits of sandpaper and stones to try and get the dimensions as close to spec as possible. However it seemed that each one of the slides I had purchased have varying dimensions themselves. They are all "close", but not exactly right at spec. In the end we used the fit of a slide from a Detonics MK-VI as a "standard" for taking the frames down to.

Once the Detonics slide would move smoothly along the frame, we went to sanding down each frame to fit the particular slide that would go on it. Even though the Detonics slide would still move freely along all of the frames with not a lot of wiggle, not all of the other slides fit and move smoothly on all of the frames.

If I were more of a perfectionist this might worry me, and I would expect that all of the slides fit well on all of the frames. If I had the tools to work properly on the slides themselves, I might have taken the time to make their dimensions closer to each other. But I am pretty comfortable making sure that each frame has a slide that works well on it. Since I don't expect that any of us plan on swapping slides for any reason, it is at least good enough for now.

We did have to work on the interior of one of the frames, in order to get the parts from Remsport to fit well inside. I think that my son will have to spend a little more time sanding & polishing the interior sides of the frame, as well as the sides of the hammer, sear, and trigger, so that they move more freely. On all four guns we had to file down the hammer strut pin a bit, so it wouldn't snag on the interior of the frame.

Two of the kids still need to begin work on their 80% frames, so there will be more to come. This is a good time to admit that I ended up also having to buy a good set of leather work gloves. Both of us are far from gentle and used to working with delicate things. The gloves helped reduce the number of cuts and blisters on our fingers from all the filing!

If I was looking for a little less work and a lot more interchangeability of slides, I would give a hard look at the frames from Palmetto State Armory (PSA). They have 416 Stainless Steel and 4140 Carbon Steel 100% frames for $139.99, with matching slides for $129.99:

http://palmettostatearmory.com/index.php/1911/frame-slide-parts-kits.html

One person posted a video of a SS Frame & Slide purchased from PSA, and they fit perfectly with no work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naz7O6IvA5U

The downside is that they are already a firearm, and can not be ordered by an individual from Maryland. I called PSA and was told that they will ship to a Maryland FFL, if the FFL places the order and a copy of their license is on file with PSA.

If I had to do it all again, I still would get the StealthArms jig & 80% frames just for the experience of building a 1911 from an 80% frame. But I also would have bought the gloves sooner.

YMMV

 

[WeaponsCollector]

Just finished my second Stealth Arms 1911 and this time it was even easier than the first. Both times I was lucky and found high quality parts kits on ebay that basically dropped right in with very little fitting. Had the exact same problem and 10 minute fix with both guns too. The hammer didn't lock back with the slide so all I had to do was sandpaper and re-polish the sear. Now it seems to work fine and I still don't have a caliper or a drill press. Took 2 hours to fit and assemble all the parts on this new frame. Now I definitely need to get a drill press and a caliper before I start on the AR 15 build. I think.
The only markings on this entire gun is the "US" on the grips.....

 

[kgpayne86]

Looking good. Is that their black anodized frame?

 

[WeaponsCollector]

Looking good. Is that their black anodized frame?

Yes, it's pretty nice and to protect the finish I put 2 small pieces of tape on each side where it contacts the jig.