It is more than a little bit presumptious of me to post on this thread, since there are such artists in metal as Dane, Richard, Larry and a host of others on this forum. I regard myself only as an armorer though I have dabbled in the gunsmithing business (with a very small amount of training) since 1974 and have tuned or customized perhaps 300 1911s for carrying purposes.
Personally I would start with one of the Jericho built frames; Kimber, Wilson, McCormick etc. If I wanted front finger grooves (which I don't!) I would also use a Jericho slide. This means a Kimber would be a really good source for the basic parts (might give you an idea why Dane does so many of them). I have no experience with Rock River but I hear good things about them.
Colt is certainly accpetable though I prefer the series 70 or even before (though after WWII from a metalurgy standpoint).
I can find nothing wrong with the quality or metalurgy in Spring. Armory or Caspian or for that matter Essex (though I don't place that up there with S.A. or Caspian) but the radius of the front strap and the bottom of the dust cover really bothers me and I would have to do a lot of work to make them acceptable.
Back to the begining thought. I wish these guys would refer to themselves as the Brits do; as "Gunmakers", which would give them the title they deserve while leaving us lowly "mechanics" (there is not a bit of sarcasm there - these guys deserve respect!) the realm of "gunsmithing".
Press on,
Jim Higginbotham
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jim Higginbotham on 2001-04-13 15:15 ]</font>
