Refinishing my 1911

trent · Post by **trent** » October 31st, 2007, 5:55 pm

Hey guys, I've started sanding the finish off the LLama 1911, (good gravy it has alot of parts, I guess Im too used to Ak's) I'll post pics tomorrow of my progress (I'm at work right now)

p.s. I still havent gotten a small spring loaded part out of the 1911, it's in the rear of the slide, it's the button thing that holds the firing pin and such in (you press it in to take the backing and the firing pin out), I can't find any way to remove this little bugger. I assume it may be only removable by taking out the rear dovetailed sight (which won't budge for some reason. (I hope I'm wrong)

Post by **normsutton** » October 31st, 2007, 6:38 pm

Trent

Maybe this will help

NORM

anjdrifter · Post by **anjdrifter** » October 31st, 2007, 6:40 pm

The Stars have same thing under the rear sight drove me crazy till I was smart enuff to ask someone how to replace a firing pin.

gunneyrabbit · Post by **gunneyrabbit** » October 31st, 2007, 9:58 pm

Hay Trent,
Pick up a copy of The Gun Digest Book of "FIREARMS ASSEMBLY/ DISASSEMBLY", Part 1: Automatic Pistols 2nd Edition. It will give you complete instructions for the 1911 and forty-nine variations.
It is a great reference for 72 auto loaders and 250 variants, pretty much all you need to know about more guns than you will ever own.
G.R.

trent · Post by **trent** » October 31st, 2007, 10:34 pm

anj, so It is under the sight? Gunny, I may have to stop by the local book store and see if its there, and Norm, that graphic is very useful, I was thinking to my self "now how am I going to get this thing back together when I'm done, ???

anjdrifter · Post by **anjdrifter** » November 1st, 2007, 5:30 am

Trent I believe so but never have taken one like yours down, but the star and a few others of simular designn are that way. if you look close on ther drawing Norm sent looks like a spot there. You might want to catch with some one more knowledgeable then I . What I have done in past I have called the suppliers and asked for help .. most are pretty cool ,but it is the luck of the drawer

trent · Post by **trent** » November 3rd, 2007, 11:08 am

ok, I finally got the back sight off, mind you I had to take a dremel tool and cut down the center (long ways) on the sight to relieve enough pressure to move it (the sight was bad anyway, it was aparantly dropped on it and put a big annoying dend in it, which probably caused the problem to begin with) and after removing the sight I discovered that it was indeed the only way to remove the firing pin safety.

as for progress, I cleaned up most of the small pieces and got to work on the frame, but a friend of mine said that the sand paper wasn't getting enough of the dirt up to park it well and recommended me to a guy that refinishes professionally to "dip" the gun in a solution that removes everything but the metal itself, I waiting on a call back from the guy to see if he can do it for me, so my refinishing project is on hold until then.

Post by **normsutton** » November 3rd, 2007, 12:00 pm

Trent

do you have a bench grinder if you do go and get a 6'' fine wire wheel and buff with that it well give the metal a a very fine brushed look and go from there

NORM

trent · Post by **trent** » November 3rd, 2007, 1:37 pm

That's what I was using on the small parts, I touched it a few times on the frame (didn't want to round the edges) and it didn't clean it up good enough either, what I appears to be is some kind of extremely fine pitting (maybe the type of metal used to make it) that is just deep enough to not get pulled up by the wire brush/sandpaper, I may try again once I get home (my hands have finally healed up from launching small parts into them with the grinding wheel.) ::)

Post by **normsutton** » November 3rd, 2007, 1:48 pm

Trent
there are 2 types of wire wheels one coarse and fine with the fine on low speed shouldn't round any corners it should polish the metal i did my CZ-82 that way and just cold blued it

NORM

trent · Post by **trent** » November 3rd, 2007, 2:35 pm

hummm, I may try it again then (and now I want to refinish my 82...) dern... my grind wheel only has one speed...ON, but I'll still give it a whirl (pun intended)

Post by **normsutton** » November 6th, 2007, 8:01 am

THIS IS WHAT I USE

I think I would recommend this one

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/D ... mber=94327

NORM

trent · Post by **trent** » November 15th, 2007, 6:21 pm

ok, time for an update (because I'm bored...) I did a bit more work on it with the buffer, but I can't get into some of the small areas to remove the old finish, so I did send it off to that guy but I'm having it bead blasted instead of "dipped", and I should be getting it back on Saturday.

trent · Post by **trent** » November 25th, 2007, 8:21 pm

new update, I got the parts back, blued most of the small and internal parts and park'd the rest. I had quite a bit of trouble with the parking but more on that later. Right now I'm looking for a few parts that have run away from me, I assume they got shaken off the table when I was using the grinding wheel and have high hopes for finding them. but I got really frustrated earlier today and was trying to use a flat head screwdriver to put the barrel bushing back on and accidentally stabbed my left hand just below the index finger, needless to say it hurt (it was a big bit) but I've learned that I need to take things slow and don't use tools that I shouldn't just to cut corners.

carguy · Post by **carguy** » November 25th, 2007, 11:53 pm

This will turn out to be a great looking pistol and more importantly it will be a great learning experience for you...keep small parts in a container, cover springs in a plastic bag, protect you reyes and fingers (against screwdrivers).

All in all it will be great and you will be done with this and trying to figure out what to do next!!

Good luck, I can't wait to see the finished project (or at least interim pics).

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