My New 9mm

I just built this 9mm and thought I'd share it. I bought the frame off one of the people I shoot with and since I have plenty of 45's I thought I'd do a 9. I even hand checkered the front strap.

nice


what did you paint the slide with?

I should have given a little more information on this. It's an Essex stainless frame and a KKM 1/32 barrel. The slide is a caspian and is blued. I had to modify the frame for a beavertail and srill and tap the slide for the optical mount. Broke a tap off doing that and played he** getting it out. KKM chambered the barrel after I fit it to the slide. The hand checkering of the front strap was time consuming since I worked in an non air conditioned garage. Shoots well but I haven't worked up a load yet. I've used Dardas 124 grain with factory loads specs. Oh, it also has a 2.5 lb. trigger.

Hand checkering is a bit tough and time consuming, but is pretty rewarding once you get done.

I can see why jglenn asked about paint, the highlights on the slide in the photo make it look like chipped paint.  Is the bluing worn away there or is it just from the angle of the light in the photo?

One other consideration might be to match the surface finish on the slide stop and thumb safety to the frame. Or not, if you like the difference.

Also, on stainless pistols, you might like the brushed look finish you get from a 7447 Maroon Scotchbrite pad.  It removes small scratches and leaves a very even sheen across the surface.  Super easy to touch up by hand as well.  Fingerprints and blemishes don’t show much vs. a shiny surface.

You need to take the part to about 400 grit with regular sandpaper, then use the pad. It will get rid of superficial blemishes, but not deep scratches from grinding, etc.

Being the moron that I am I didn't realize the frame was stainless and I decided to paint the whole thing. Then I changed course and took the paint off which messed the slide up. Then I tried to cold blue the slide. Some of the mistakes come from trying to remove the broken tap also.