New and first 1911!
 

Hello guys, so I finally took the plunge and bought my first 1911. What a gorgeously design handgun. I bought the Range Officer from Springfield in stainless steel. Really a beautiful gun. Haven't shot it yet but I plan on doing so this weekend.

Clyde gifted me a pair of buffalo horn grips for it but I cannot seem to be able to remove the grip screws, they're effin tight! Sorry Clyde I will get them on and take some pictures I promise. Anyways pictures below.

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Congrats. We look forward to the range report

sweet, Pedro. Grip screws may have blue Loctite Just keep trying, but don't strip the head or twist the grip bushing out of the frame

congratulations, enjoy it, happy for you!!!

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Exactly..........

Congrats brother. Now give Mongo a jingle and have him make you some purty grips for it besides the pair that Claude gave you.

VZ grips are great for the range.

Thank you guys. I'm not exactly clear what is the grip bushing but I'll look it up. I have so much to learn regarding 1911. Funny enough, I have zero ammunition for it, not a single round of 45 ACP. Ordering some tonight.

Congrats!

Looks like a nice one.

The grip screws screw into the bushings which are screwed into the frame. If you have problems drop me a PM. I have the complete Challis set up of tools, bushings, screws, o rings etc. including stripped screw and stripped bushing removal answers. Check out the web site of the master Brian Challis for the best grips and grip attachment gear and how to use them. When you see how cool this stuff is you will want to upgrade your 1911. Enjoy your very nice first 1911. It will lead you to MORE. Honest. You will find you will enjoy the new shoes on her. :) Dennis

Cool beans Bro'!nanner

Very nice, congrats.

good looking pistola.

Congrats on that nice looking Springfield and your first 1911, pitor! They're like Lays potato chips, you know. Nobody can have just one and you'll crave more. :D

Guess what. I just learned about something called the idiot scratch, but after the fact i scratched the side pretty badly. Did i mention this is my first 1911?

Well, that certainly sucks ! :( Not that it helps any but there's plenty of those floating around out there.
With it being stainless hopefully it can be corrected (polished out) fairly painlessly. Post a pic when you can.

And make it a Dirty Pic! :D

http://www.cotep.org/forum/picture.p...&pictureid=888

PM sent Pedro.

Nice Pistola Sir, ' bout time you got your "ahem" wet. :p

Don't worry about it, it happens to all of us. This is how you learn anyhowz

I do plan to polish the scratch out as best as I can. I'm going to used mother's Polishing Compound. I wonder if I should polish by hand or with a power tool like a Dremel?

Congrats on a very nice first 1911 Pitor. Sucks about the scratch. It is par for the course. I am veeeery familiar with the idiot scratch (unfortunately).

I used 0000 very fine steel wool and a good amount of gun oil, and rubbed and rubbed by hand. It helped quite a bit, but the scratch is still noticeable on my stainless SA Champion. Might have to rub some more this weekend -- now that I'm thinking about it.

Others, more experienced, will likely chime in with a better way to do it.

IMO, for this job I'd stay away from the Dremel bud.

HAND...please by HAND!!! to the length of the slide as well when you do it. Also do it by HAND!!

It has happened to most of us if not all of us. I have one with a large mark, but I just left it as a reminder I guess.

One tip, the grip screws are locktighted in but if you use a blow dryer that can help too. A touch of heat sometimes gets it freed up.

Did I mention you should polish it by HAND!!

glad to hear your got some grips coming too....grips are ok but the "range officer" on there kind of turns me off on them.

Can't wait for range report and dirty pics too!!

Fantastic suggestions phil. I have watched a bunch of YouTube videos and yes, BY HAND! following the grain of the metal, go slow [emoji4]

Now I need some ammo, both range and sd.

Congrats!!! Like Phil said, by hand. Dremel is rarely the right answer in regards to guns.

WARNING! They can be addicting!

Let me know when you're ready for numbers 2, 3, and 4..nanner

Its fun watching them grow into adult guns isn't it fellas.

So proud, oh man I am tearing up. I love it when a guy buys a manly gun....

Congrats to the World of 1911s use torque head screwdriver to remove grip screws................



Clyde

Ok fellas, I was able to get rid of the idiot scratch and other minor scratches, so I want to share some of my very interesting findings about how to deal with scratches on a "brushed" SS finish. In particular the use of steel wool that at first was suggested by some friends and gun people.

After many youtube videos and extensive search, I learned that steel wool (0000) is not a good choice. The reason for this has to do with the following: As you work the steel wool on the slide (or frame) to get rid of scratches, fine particles of the steel wool may deposit in the cracks of the stainless steel slide/frame. These steel wool particles are not stainless and will promote rust spots on the cracks where it gets in.

Either stick to 1000 grit sandpaper or do like I did, turn to 3M Scotch Brite pads. They are synthetic and will never leave any residues on the metal. It worked great. I used the grey pad at first which is comparable to 800-1000 grit, then finished it with the white pad which is 1200-1500 grit. SCRATCHES ARE GONE.

I followed the grain of the metal in a single directon (not back and forth), did it by hand, and went slow. Now I can shoot the gun and as long as I don't drop it or bang it against something, I should be able to maintain its beautiful brushed look.

Below is chart that describes 3M Scotch Brite pads grits.

^^ Good news indeed. :)

Good deal... I have never seen that chart before.

Excellent, Pitor!

Looking forward to a range report when you get some ammo and shoot it...

Be aware you may have to modify the right side grip in order for the safety to work. I bought a set from Clyde, and had to shave a little off the backside. But I will say they are a nice fit and very comfy.

Hello, you may be thinking about Z-ane or Olympus, the forum de-facto grip makers.

But to your point, you're right. I also noticed my custom buffalo horn grips don't have the semi-circular cut for the mainspring housing pin. on the lower back corner, and I'm wondering if this could be a problem.

No, I bought the same ones from clyde,

No problem. Just remove the grips to access the main spring housing pin. Should do that anyway rather than chance damaging quality grips.

You're good to go. Like Dennis said, that cut out is only there so that you can remove the mainspring housing without removing the grips.

Personally, none of my grips have the cutout. I don't like the look.

Agree, I have both but prefer the clean look of the sharp edge covering the pin.

Congrats!

1911's are just really nice guns! My favorite handgun in the safe might be one of my S&W revos but for autoloaders ... nothing comes close to the class, style and sweet shooting of that classic JMB design.

Nice Pistola! http://www.cotep.org/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif