Frankenstein/STI build.

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Japle

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Feb 28, 2005
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I shot a 99 at the last Thursday night pistol league match and my team won by just 3 points.

I was using a pistol that I’ve been working on for a while now. I got a new slide, barrel and sights for an STI SteelMaster I’ve used for Steel Challenge matches. The SteelMaster slide has no sights, since it uses a red dot sight. I’ll tell you, fitting the new barrel (ramp-type) into the slide and fitting both to the frame was a bitch.

You can buy two types of barrels for a 1911/2011 pistol; the “drop-in” type and the “must be fitted by an experienced gunsmith” type. I got the latter.

I bought a slide designed for a 5” barrel, but wanted a 6” barrel, just because I think the extra inch sticking out of the slide looks cool.

So, “experienced” gunsmiths who do this stuff for a living have all kinds of jigs and fixtures and milling machines to cut the barrel lugs precisely so they fit the slide and the frame. I have files. And a lot of patience.

I won’t bore you with the details, but there’s an enormous amount of assembly and disassembly and checking for “bright spots” that need to be filed down and super-careful filing. Once you remove metal, you’re not gonna be able to put it back.

At the range, the 1st two shots went into the same hole. Turns out, this is a very accurate pistol, so I must have done something right. That shot outside the top scoring ring is due to the fact that I’ve gotten used to shooting my XD, which has a long, 5 ½ lb trigger pull. The new Frankenstein/STI has a super-short 1 ¾ lb pull and I managed set that sucker off before I was lined up on the target the way I should have been. So sue me.


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Stuff like this is far more interesting to me than another black plastic gun stippling job. Not that there's anything wrong with those, just that this kind of thing is a more enjoyable topic for my consideration.
 
You can’t beat an STI, I wish I’d bought a .45ACP STI Trojan to go along with the 9mm Trojan I have and which I will keep for as long as I’m shooting. They discontinued most of their 1911 models to concentrate on their 2011 comp guns. They build some nice stuff, I’m sure you’ll have fun with yours!
 
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I won the SteelMaster at a S&W Steel Challenge Nationals several years ago. It’s an amazing gun to shoot; accurate as hell and totally reliable.
 
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