GunLab (KnownHost) » 1911 https://gunlab.net Adventures in gun building! Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:06:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.41 Looking at 1911 Castings https://gunlab.net/looking-at-1911-castings/ https://gunlab.net/looking-at-1911-castings/#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:40:47 +0000 http://gunlab.net/?p=34 We have a friend in full-scale firearms manufacturing who was looking at making a large run of 1911 pistols. In order to reduce his machining costs, he bought a sample batch of frame and slide castings from Coast Metal Casting – and they turned out to be next to worthless. So we borrowed a set [...]]]> We have a friend in full-scale firearms manufacturing who was looking at making a large run of 1911 pistols. In order to reduce his machining costs, he bought a sample batch of frame and slide castings from Coast Metal Casting – and they turned out to be next to worthless. So we borrowed a set from him to take a look at. What makes a casting good or bad, anyway? Well, let’s see:

If you are interested in seeing how 1911s were mass-produced before the advent of CNC machines, you’re in luck! We have a copy of an article from Machinery magazine printed in 1942, which discusses the process in some depth:

Making a World-Famous Automatic Pistol, by E.P. Herrick, Colt Production Engineer (Machinerymagazine, December 1942)

 

]]> https://gunlab.net/looking-at-1911-castings/feed/ 12