Pistolsmithing: Colt Series 70 1911 rehab

[drillsgt]

Picked this up the other day at Highsmiths in Greenfield as a project gun. Pretty nice shape with fairly nice slide/frame fit and tight barrel lock-up. The sights are hideous and have already been ripped off awaiting some novaks. There was a bubba job on the frontstrap i'll have to take care of, don't know what they were thinking. I'll post as the project progresses.

There's nothing wrong with the front of the slide just crazy glare from the polished bluing.

 

[squish]

I'll be watching the progress of this for sure....

 

[indiucky]

nice pony you got there sir.

 

[rockhopper46038]

Yeesh! He let his pet squirrels gnaw on that frontstrap?

 

[SEIndSAM]

Yeesh! He let his pet squirrels gnaw on that frontstrap?

Really WTF with the front strap???

Looking forward to progress reports.

 

[gregkl]

I want to follow too.

 

[Denny L]

Great project gun good luck and keep us posted

 

[drillsgt]

He didn't even try to cut it horizontal/vertical but in an X pattern.

 

[Colt556]

Nice looking old Colt with plenty of potential. Will follow....

 

[charley59]

I've never seen sights like that on a 1911 or any gun. Sell 'em on the internet. Some idiot will buy them. Looks like a good project gun. Keep us posted on the build, with pics.

 

[drillsgt]

I've never seen sights like that on a 1911 or any gun. Sell 'em on the internet. Some idiot will buy them. Looks like a good project gun. Keep us posted on the build, with pics.

Those are old Micro brand adjustables, common on older bullseye guns before the buried Bomar type sights became popular.

 

[drillsgt]

Okay, I ripped the sights off and tore it down and inspected everything, looks fine. I already fitted a wilson trigger and ed brown ignition parts and have started on the Wilson beavertail. Been taking my time to get a nice seamless fit. I forget how long those Colt frame tangs are, takes a while to grind them down! I think I will keep the original safety as it was still a little oversized for the EB sear. I will just contour it to the frame radius and dehorn it a little bit. I'll post pics when the beavertail is fitted and polished out.

 

[Colt556]

 

[evanrw61]

Sounds like a good start. Looking forward to finished pics.

 

[drillsgt]

Well, I got the trigger fit, installed the Ed Brown hammer/sear/disconnector and got the trigger job done. I finished the beavertail and dehorned some edges on the frame and blended the bottom of the Wilson mainspring housing and polished the feedramp. Here are some pictures of the beavertail before bead blasting. The parts are mirror polished to about 400 grit so it makes pictures difficult plus some problems dealing with the macro settings. The installation turned out very well IMO, there is virtually no gap between the beavertail and frame and all frame lines run smoothly into the beavertails lines. I am going to reuse the stock Colt safety so I have blended it to the radius of the frame and added a "Wilson" type of bevel on the bottom of the safety. Once bead blasted everything should look pretty good. I am sending it off to get the sights machined and for a 30lpi checkered front strap insert to be installed.

 

[David]

Your beavertail looks nice and I like the thumb safety too. I don't like the extended thumb safetys as much as most people, they feel to me like they are in the way. Looks like it's going to be a nice gun.

 

[churchmouse]

Was that a hill-jack hand file attempt at checkering. That might be a bit tough to fix.

 

[mac45]

Nice job on the beavertail!

 

[drillsgt]

Was that a hill-jack hand file attempt at checkering. That might be a bit tough to fix.

It was a very mis-guided attempt at checkering. It looked a little too deep to dress and start over so I am going to send it to Innovative Custom Guns in PA to Jim Milks who used to do all the 1911 work for EGW. He will EDM off the offending portion then tig weld in a new checkered insert, surface grind it and it will look like new. I've done this before when customers would bring me butchered frames and looks great.

 

[drillsgt]

Your beavertail looks nice and I like the thumb safety too. I don't like the extended thumb safetys as much as most people, they feel to me like they are in the way. Looks like it's going to be a nice gun.

I usually use extended safeties but I don't have a problem manipulating the stock safety either, for this one I just wanted to keep a little of the original series 70 character, plus it saves money.