One of the obligatory activities at Camp Perry is, of course, shopping at the Commercial Row. Every time I end up buying a lot of things, some of which I do need, and some of which…well, let’s face it, I don’t really need. I load my car up with cases of ammo, jugs of powder, boxes of bullets and primers and a bunch of parts, gizmos and gadgets from all the usual vendors there.

This year I made one of my first stops at the Caspian store, where I immediately spotted an unfinished 1911 slide. The price was just $75 so I picked it up and figured, I will use it to practice my machining skills.

I was about to leave when a little devil inside me decided to ask if they would sell me an unfinished frame, just the way it was there, with no rails, no holes and no serial number – from a legal perspective, just a piece of metal, not a firearm. The answer was yes, and the rest, you know, is history.

I started with the frame. I had to remove about .01″ from the top of the frame, drill the holes for disconnector, ejector and sear pin, and, of course, cut the rails. I then proceeded to fitting the slide, which took me roughly two days messing with stones of various grit and a lot of honing oil. The slide is now fitted very tight, there’s still a little bit of binding when it’s fully retracted to the rear, but I’ll fix it later.

The next step will be flattening the sides with the face mill and cutting the fish scale slide serrations. I have an old beat up slide to practice first. Stay tuned for Part II.