1911 Heirarchy

[Boatcephus]

Ithaca. Accept no post-war substitutes.

 

[JD8]

Here is the response I got from Wilson...

We use varying levels of oversize barrels in our pistols, with varying degrees of metal in critical areas that have to be removed for proper fit and function. We can achieve our 1" accuracy guarantee easily with these barrels because we actually manufacture the barrels, slides and frames to our pre-specified blueprinted dimensions. We have done this at a considerable expense ourselves-unlike some other shops who rely on miscellaneous vendors for their critical parts and required a full-fit barrel on every build to compensate for these tolerances.

When your tolerances are dialed in, you don't need to start with a grossly oversize barrel, you could just manufacture the barrels to varying degrees of "oversize", select the appropriate one, and fit the barrel much more quickly with less margin for error.

If we were working with slides, barrels and frames being supplied by different vendors, with specs that are all over the place we would have to use a full-fitted barrel on every build, since the tolerances would vary so much.

All 9mm, 10mm, 38 super, .40 and Supergrade barrels use the most "oversize" barrels since we make less of those pistols and haven't tooled up for varying fits. All of the .45 pistols are either one of three different grades of oversize. I hope you find that information helpful.

So it's a way of saying they use Pre-fit?

Honestly, from what I've heard it seems like the general concensous is that once Sr. died, Nowlin's never been the same.

I owned what I believe was a Garth ( can't remember his last name) built Nowlin and it was top notch IMHO, and I think there's a Garth built gun up at OPS right now? Terry built a gun that was featured in the book of 1911 last year. Jr can build a gun from what I understand, I just don't know the why or why not behind why he doesn't build guns for Nowlin.

 

[Traxxis]

Here is the response I got from Wilson...



So it's a way of saying they use Pre-fit?

I don't know. Can't blame them too much though, it would be very difficult to deliver as consistent of a product as they do in such mass quantities. I think the only real concern I have about it is it's kinda misleading. Again though, they're still accurate, and they're reliable.

I owned what I believe was a Garth ( can't remember his last name) built Nowlin and it was top notch IMHO, and I think there's a Garth built gun up at OPS right now? Terry built a gun that was featured in the book of 1911 last year. Jr can build a gun from what I understand, I just don't know the why or why not behind why he doesn't build guns for Nowlin.

Yeah, that longslide is pretty slick, and yeah, according to Eric, it was made by Garth.

 

[JD8]

What defines "custom" to you?

Custom to me is something I would get from Barry, Mike, Yost, Rogers, Christiansen, Harrison etc. You get a hand built 1911 with significantly more attention to detail, and more tailored to you. Each pistolsmith has their niche it seems, Barry laser welds his barrels for a perfect fit, Chuck Rogers machines his own proprietary sights and golfballs instead of checking for example and the list goes on.

Wilson, Baer, Nighthawk, Brown are factory customs IMO.

 

[jmtgsx]

I have to ask who did 40 lpi checkering for you and was it the front strap?

Michael Bay. Trident Precision Machine, Tulsa.
Yes it is the front strap and it feels awesome!

 

[HiredHand]

Michael Bay. Trident Precision Machine, Tulsa.
Yes it is the front strap and it feels awesome!

Ok, I figured that's who did it. Pretty amazing when you consider its done by hand. You should post some pictures of it if you don't mind.

Mike Bay uses Bar-Sto M/T Barrels.

 

[Traxxis]

40 lpi seems pretty fine for the front strap? I serrated the rear of the slide on the 9mm I'm building at 40 lpi, and will probably do the .45 too.

 

[Buzzdraw]

The "Greek" is Norman, right?

Norman is Norman. The Greek is Greek. Two different people.

If you have purchased a Nowlin barrel in the last 15 ofr so years, it is one than Norman has worked on. He does a primo job of building the pre-fits that go onto the shelves at Brownells.

Greek is well known for his blueing.

 

[Shadowrider]

Here is the response I got from Wilson...



So it's a way of saying they use Pre-fit?

Yes. Notice he said "we actually manufacture the barrels, slides and frames to our pre-specified blueprinted dimensions."

They have developed their own machining methods to hold much tighter tolerances and since they machine ALL of the mating pieces they don't have as much variation and total control on the tolerance and fit. You don't have that control if you are using someone else's machined pieces.

 

[Traxxis]

The FBI and Homeland security orders Kart barrels? on which guns? Is Springer using them on Pros? That would be news.

Honestly have no idea. Used to, Nowlin had the Fed contract, but apparently that has changed, or maybe in the process of changing. Again, just going off of what the owner of the company told me.

Yes. Notice he said "we actually manufacture the barrels, slides and frames to our pre-specified blueprinted dimensions."

They have developed their own machining methods to hold much tighter tolerances and since they machine ALL of the mating pieces they don't have as much variation and total control on the tolerance and fit. You don't have that control if you are using someone else's machined pieces.

True. Again, I'll echo what I have said many times over in this thread, it's not a big deal to me, but he asked for feedback, that's what I gave him.