As promised, here’s part III. I blasted all parts with 120 grit AlOx media and blued them using the Brownells’ Belgian Blue process, which resulted in really nice deep matte black finish. Again, she’s not a beauty queen and never meant to be, but she’s beautiful to me. My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun…you know 😉
I’m still not 100% happy with the trigger, and I have a feeling that the lower lugs of the barrel are a tad too short, I’ll see if I can fix that with the EGW oversized slide stop, if not, I’ll get a new Kart barrel.
I’m also a bit concerned with the red dot mount, the screw came loose twice during today’s practice session. I might use a little bit of blue Loctite to keep it in place.
Im planning to shoot a practice match next week which serve as a reliability test. If it can shoot 900 without a hiccup and hold the black, I’ll call it done.
What red dot are you using?
This one is Sig Romeo 5. I mostly use Ultradot MatchDot II on my other guns, but decided to try Sig as a cheaper alternative to the Aimpont. So far so good, but I have yet to see how well it holds zero on a 1911.
Just curious since you were at a match where they were selling their frames, Any idea what the real condition of the Caspian Foster Frames are in when you buy one? Are they still stamped Caspian Arms? Other than minor fitting parts, do the rails or anything else need major work? I was thinking about putting one together for a dedicated 22 conversion.
Since you were at a competition where they were selling frames, did you happen to see any of their foster frame? Are they stamped Caspian Arms? Wondering how bad the blemishes are on the frames and how much work is required to get one set up to use as a dedicated 22 conversion, (just minor fitting of parts, or do the rails and other major work need to be done)?
Depends on what you call “major work”. Remember, this frame was bought unfinished, i.e. “80%” – so yes, there was a lot of machining done. I’ve never handled their Foster frame, but I’ve built a gun on a brand new Caspian frame. The only major work was fitting the slide (which required a lot of stoning, marking high spots with sharpie pen, filing/sanding/stoning and repeating again and again, going slow, so it took about three days). Oh, and cutting the frame tangs for the beavertail grip safety, since the frame was ordered GI – but you can actually have Caspian doing this for another $20 or so when you order the frame.
.22 conversions are a different story, there’s no need for a precise slide fit as long as the slide clears the frame when cycled. So you would only have to fit a beavertail grip safety should you decide to, and, of course, finish it using your choice of process (hot blue, cerakote, etc).