It is theoretically possible to cut stainless steel frames with this device, though we opted for aluminum. Be patient and meticulous and the results will amaze you. The process is similar and the details are clearly delineated in the instructions. Next, reorient the Phantom Jig to the top of the frame and you can cut the barrel seat. The process is a bit tedious but is not difficult at all. In a fairly brief period you’ll have the rails cut as precisely as though they were cut on a mill. Turn the knob and lower the cutter by an increment before taking another pass. Take the handle and slide it along its track such that the cutter removes a sliver of material about half the thickness of aluminum foil. There is a sliding shuttle that holds the cutter and an adjustment knob that controls the depth. Now secure the assembly in a standard shop vise. The jig keeps the included bits perfectly aligned, and it may be reused countless times. Even the most basic drill press makes this process straightforward. First you bolt the jig in place and use it to carefully drill the two requisite holes from the side. This is a patent-pending device that affixes to the unfinished 1911 frame and guides a manually driven carbide cutter to cut the slide rails and barrel seat precisely. The limitations of language preclude my adequately describing how cool the 1911 Phantom Jig is. It was the rail cuts and barrel seat that previously kept the homebuilt 1911 out of reach of anyone not blessed with a $50,000 milling machine. The holes are easy enough to drill with a jig that bolts to the side of the frame and guides the drill bits. The arbitrary cutoff between raw material and finished frame has always been 80 percent.Ī 1911 frame that is four-fifths completed is tough to quantify, but if the sear and hammer pin holes are not drilled, the barrel seat not cut and the frame rails have not been machined, then the otherwise incomplete component is uncontrolled. The barrel, slide, internal components and so forth are just fluff and may be bought and sold freely through the mail.
#Building a colt 1911 a1 serial number#
When factory-made, this component carries the serial number and must be transferred through a licensed gun dealer. In American firearms law, it is the receiver or frame that is the gun.
Nowadays, however, the guys at are offering the most extraordinary gear to build your own 1911 pistol at home. A proper milling machine can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and the skills to program and operate it effectively take years of training and practice. The rub has always been that building safe, quality guns is pretty tool-intensive. You need not place any identifying information or even a serial number on the gun. However, so long as the basic design is otherwise compliant with federal guidelines, the typical home hobbyist can build a rifle, shotgun or pistol at home and there remains no federal requirement for registration. You still cannot build a machine gun or violate the arcane regulations regarding barrel length, nor could you legally contrive a grenade launcher or similar destructive device.
#Building a colt 1911 a1 free#
However, if you live in a free state, as I do, there is little more satisfying than building, shooting and carrying a tack-driving 1911 that you conjured up yourself at home.
It is the responsibility of the user to research local restrictions before embarking on such a project. While there are no federal restrictions on building one of these guns up at home for personal use, local laws are another story. However, what is not so well known is that if you build a gun yourself, solely for personal use and have no intent to transfer it, the legal landscape changes fundamentally.
The BATFE has as its very mandate the supervision of guns, and the regulations regarding the manufacture and transfer of firearms are labyrinthine to say the least.