1911 barrel feet

Hi Everyone. I'm new to this forum but have read your posts with great interest. Where I live, Gold Coast Australia, we don't have many smiths that have experience on 1911s. I have a Colt competition model in 9mm with about 30 000 rounds through it. I bought it new. I have recently fit a Kart barrel/bushing. My question concerns the relationship between the SS pin (0.200) and the barrel feet during, and when, in lock up. I am using a sharpie, (no Dykem available here!), to see where interference occurs. Just what should the ideal picture be if I've coated the feet/lower lugs and cycled the action several times? Where should there be hard contact and where should there be none? I've read that where the pin rests its not flat but at a slight angle and the lugs cam on the pin until it rests against the barrel feet. Is this correct. Any help or photos would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance gentlemen. Steve.

Here’s a link to that exact process but more precise

https://www.1911forum.com/threads/kart-xact-fit-upper-lug-engagement.1065884/?post_id=13947557&nested_view=1&sortby=oldest#post-13947557

I also have a video in there that shows the filing of upper lugs, testing, measuring,




While I was able to get less than 2” groupings offhand my recoil did feel off at times which gave me severe doubt.  I took it to a prominent Bullseye gunsmith who told me I took my hood down too short which changed how recoil felt.  Had him hard fit a his own spec’s barrel and recoil hardly exists now!

Apparently Kart XACT Fit barrels and Springfield Target Pistols aren’t great matches

You want to see the marking get taken off at the red arrows—the metal is shown rather than purple.  It’s a thin portion that clears when you’ve arrived to your destination but your upper lug engagement may not be enough, hence why I went through an even more involved process to get the most upper lug engagement

Also: sharpie works great and cleans a lot easier!

Thank you for your replies. I really appreciate the help. My upper lug engagement is good. Ii put 2000 rounds through it and it was pretty accurate. About !.5 inch groupings at 25 yards of a rest. Much better than stock - and good enough for me. Then it became less accurate. I don't know if something was wearing in or what. I found my barrel feet quite difficult to get even wear on when I first built it so I suspected the issue may be there. During lockup the slide seems to lift up off the frame ever so slightly and it seems quite tight. I don't know if this is normal but I figured there was a little latitude to try again to get the even wear I've heard about. Any further advice/photos would be appreciated. Not too many people at my range use 1911s but I just love them for some reason. Thank you again in advance.

if the lower lugs don't exhibit even wear, the sides of the hood can be the issue. You must have even contact on both sides or clearance on both.. around .002 is fairly normal for most folks.pressure on one side will throw the lower lugs off

The barrel feet should have 100% contact with the SS pin, so the Sharpie should be wiped off completely. The "slight angle" that you refer to should be between the barrel bore and the feet, as the bore is not perfectly parallel with the slide rails. The barrel feet should be parallel with the slide rails.

i've also seen the slide lock holes in the frame to be malaligned

Thank you everyone for your advice and photos. Hood was fine, slide lock frame holes are aligned and a sharpie worked well. Just finished getting it as good as my limited skill level will permit. Will shoot it tomorrow. Does anyone find that they have to re-zero a build after a few hundred rounds or is there no break in period? Just curious. Thank you again gentlemen. Happy shooting!

Hello. I think there was a high spot on one of the barrel feet as there was a slight groove/flat on one end of the SS pin and it showed up as such with the sharpie. Remedied that, thanks to your advice/photos, and now it shoots 1 inch groups from 25 yards. That's good enough for me, being the plinker I am! I couldn't have done it without your collective help. One grateful Australian over here. We don't really have dedicated Bullseye competitions here but if I lived in the US I would love to try it. Thanks again.

Aussie Steve wrote:Hello. I think there was a high spot on one of the barrel feet as there was a slight groove/flat on one end of the SS pin and it showed up as such with the sharpie. Remedied that, thanks to your advice/photos, and now it shoots 1 inch groups from 25 yards. That's good enough for me, being the plinker I am! I couldn't have done it without your collective help. One grateful Australian over here. We don't really have dedicated Bullseye competitions here but if I lived in the US I would love to try it. Thanks again.

Congrats on achieving a more precise gun! 

Post some targets of the fruit of your labor!

Maybe even try shooting a B6 Target at 50 yards one handed
https://silvercitygunclub.com/PDF/b6.pdf

Just a general comment about fine tuning the venerable 1911.  I am always amazed at the incredible amount of detailed knowledge needed to make a really precise bullseye gun.  Kudos to all the artists out there who take an incredible combat arm and turn it into a precision instrument.

I only took a photo of the first 3 shots but all the rest had a similar spacing. Those yellow squares are approximately 2 cm wide, (that's 3/4 inch for the Americans out there) This was from a rest at 25 yards. It shot high from that rest put was spot on from my hand. 50 yards one-handed!? Sorry but i'm just not that good. Grew up shooting rifles. Been into pistols for the last 5 years only. It's much harder but that's why I like it. I have learnt one thing though. If you want an accurate 1911 it seems you have to pay huge amounts for a custom gun, (we pay about double for pistols in Australia compared to the US - my Colt was about $3000 AUD), or build it yourself. Thanks to you guys I managed the latter. Happy shooting everyone!

Aussie Steve wrote: If you want an accurate 1911 it seems you have to pay huge amounts for a custom gun, (we pay about double for pistols in Australia compared to the US - my Colt was about $3000 AUD), or build it yourself. Thanks to you guys I managed the latter. Happy shooting everyone!

...and building it yourself is much more rewarding!

Damn right! We do have a bit of a DIY culture here in Australia - although I didn't really have a choice as good gunsmiths who specialise in 1911s are hard to find. Reading this and other forums it seems that even in the US some smiths occasionally do dubious work. Thank god for forums such as this as it seems building 1911s is an art/science that is in danger of being lost. Thanks again.

I just wanted to add that you have some barrel bump that affects smooth lockup (see picture). All you need to do is re-radius the area with a very fine file or stone until the feet clear as they pivot to the slide stop .

Wes Lorenz wrote:I just wanted to add that you have some barrel bump that affects smooth lockup (see picture). All you need to do is re-radius the area with a very fine file or stone until the feet clear as they pivot to the slide stop .

If you read the thread I linked you’ll see the action I did to get that—it’s not barrel bump you think it is but marker being rubbed off because there’s no link so it will always hit that

Thanks, I stand corrected