Rock Island 1911 saga

[LDBennett]

Several years ago I bought a Marvel 22 conversion for my Colt Delta Elite. It worked so great and I wanted to get the Colt back to 10mm that I recently bought a Rock Island 1911 45ACP to get just the frame (can not buy any frame only in California so had to buy a complete gun to get just the frame....anyone need a Rock Island slide, magazine, and internals?).

I stripped the RI and started fitting the following internal parts, chosen mostly due to availability and my needs:
Chip McCormick sear and hammer
Cylinder and Slide Long Alum Trigger with overtravel stop
Wilson drop-in beaver tail
Nowlin disconnector
Ed Brown extended safety
reduced pull sear leaf spring

I had the most problem getting the safety to work correctly or even getting it into the frame at all.The sear leg interferred with the safety and both required extensive fitting. The Mc Cormick sear and hammer were not meant as drop-ins and required a lot of stoning to get them right with minimal creep and correct angles (packaging insinuates that is McCormicks plan). I tried to use the RI safety but screwed it up (removed too much metal) but found it to be extremely hard. I suspect all the RI internals are fully heat treated. Everything else seemed to fit OK. The frame interior required a small amount of filing around the safety for the new part to fit. I bought a Wolfe hammer spring but found it too heavy so I cut 2 coils off the 18 lb Wolfe spring. The trigger is now crisp, no creep and at 3 1/2 lbs pull.

RI Guns? I do not know if my problems were the RI frame or the parts or the mismatch of some of the parts. I did do a trigger job on my son-in-laws RI 1911 with total sucess using the RI parts and wolf springs. His extractor was misfit and required bending to get its tension lowered for proper ammo feeding. I think the RI 1911's are OK.

The range test is next.

LDBennett

[richyoung]

How much wampum for the slide & other unwanted bits?

[LDBennett]

richyoung:

What I have is all Rock Island off their 1911 in 45ACP, new:

Slide with sights, firing pin, firing pin spring, firing pin retaining plate
Barrel with link
Slide release pin/lever
Recoil spring with guide
Recoil spring retaining cup
Barrel Bushing
Trigger
Disconnector
Sear/trigger leaf spring
Hammer without strut
Sear
Safety but has been ground down too far to be usable (??)
Wood stocks without retaining screws

The latest Shotgun News ad for Armscor (Rock Island) list the barrel for $35 and the slide for $100. I'd take $125 for it all but you pay the shipping (USPS or UPS with insurance for $200). Or I'll pay the shipping for an extra $15. The gun parts were never fired (by me but perhaps for proof by Rock Island???). Or ???.

LDBennett
Contact me at 1-ldbennett@charter.net

[LDBennett]

Range test report:

Shot great. Trigger has zero creep, breaks fast and crisp, pull weight is nice at 3 1/2 lbs. Feeds and ejects every time. Marvel magazine (modified ACE) fits fine and feeds perfectly. This was a good conversion leaving me with a permanent Marvel Precision super accurate 22 pistol. I like it!! It was pricey doing it this way but I got exactly what I wanted. Maybe I can re-coop some of the costs with the sale of the left over pieces(??).

LDBennett

[LDBennett]

Here's the finished result of a Marvel Conversion on a tricked out (internals) Rock Island 1911.

LDBennett

[LDBennett]

Originally Posted by LDBennett

Here's the finished result of a Marvel Conversion on a tricked out (internals) Rock Island 1911.

LDBennett

I'll try again.

Posting Pictures is tough! You'll have to settle for two pictures of the same side of the gun. There is nothing unusual about the other side anyway.

[LDBennett]

I decided to use the RI 45acp stuff and make a bullseye 45 with the rest of the RI parts: Bo-mar Accuracy Tuner, Group Gripper, fitted bush, and a new crown. If it doesn't shoot to expectation then a match barrel.

LDBennett