Modding a Stainless Steel .45

[RandomShotz]

I bought a slightly used stainless steel Springfield .45 a little while ago - I had wanted a Range Officer, but this came up at a very good price so I went for it. It shoots well enough for my purposes and is reliable with a variety of lead SWC or RN loads. Now I'd like to put a red dot on it, but I'm wondering if a stainless gun is a good platform for it. I know that stainless is generally softer than alloy steel and I've noticed that all of the guns I've seen tricked out for BE are blue. I'm not a serious shooter and will probably only put 2-3 thousand round a year through it and would like to know if a red dot mount is a good idea. Can a stainless gun be accurized? Will it hold up or should I trade it for a blued steel gun and use that as a platform?

Thanks

Roger

[GOVTMODEL]

Don't worry about stainless. My preference if the slide needs fitting is Accu-Rails, and slide mount for the red dot sight. Some folks prefer frame mounts.

[Jon Eulette]

As a long time 1911 pistolsmith I steer away from SS pistols. Frame to slide fit cannot be held to tight tolerances without galling. I've even seen looser SA 19 11 ' s gall. I typically use carbon steel slide on SS lower if building match pistol. Accurails are about $215. SS is also harder to work with. Scope mount won't hurt the pistol.
Jon

[RandomShotz]

Thanks for the replies. I know stainless is both more difficult to work and softer than carbon or alloy steels, but I didn't think about galling as a problem. Right now the gun is tight enough with no perceptible wobble between the slide and frame in lockup. I clean and lube frequently so hopefully it will stay that way for a while yet, but it's nice to know about the AccuRail fix. I have ordered an Ultradot Matchdot 2 (the Aimpoint Micro is an extravagance too far) and should have it mounted next week.

Roger

[Ttgoods]

SS fine, I would go with a slide mount. rock river makes one with iron sights like on a bomar rail costs about $125, versus $35 for a scope only rail. May be worth consideration.

Depending on the gun and the loads you shoot you may have to change the recoil spring I like #11 but #9 to #12 seems to be the range for use with a scope slide mount.

RT

[RandomShotz]

Well, this is what I did. I bought a Clark rail, shortened it so that I wouldn't have to make a plug to replace the rear sight, drilled another screw hole to replace one that was cut off, enlarged the ejection port to match the gun and cut a pair of grooves so that I could keep the dot as rearward as possible. I also dumped the rings that came with the Matchdot - they were taller and split vertically and I like this type better. I did have to change the spring to 13#. The whole setup ain't nearly as classy as some of the work I've seen on TT, but it is at least neat and effective.

A local gunsmith put a bug in my ear. He suggested that I install a Briley barrel and spherical bushing. I don't need the accuracy for competition, I just like to shoot. But I also like to tinker (and have a modest machine shop at my disposal). I'm not real keen on buying tools like a chamber reamer and headspace gauges that I'll only use once, but we'll see how rich I feel after I do my taxes.

Roger

[Misny]

I bought a used SA Match Target a couple of months ago. I replaced and fitted the sear and hammer with a Cylinder and Slide kit. The barrel bushing was loose, so I fitted a Wilson bushing to the SA barrel. The trigger is safe and breaks nicely at around 3 3/4#. The barrel to bushing fit is tight, but I won't get to check it out for a few days. If you use a good lube like RIG stainless steel lube or TW25B, you shouldn't have any problems with galling of the slide/ frame.

[EDC]

I'm bidding on the gun with the accrual system, but I wonder if these rails tighten the slide-frame gaps and serve for some thousand rounds reliably?

[High Left]

Stainless ...

Various alloys ...

300 series on 300 series... pretty much guaranteed they'll 'gaul' ... friction weld .

17-4, probably even worse.

Other options, 416, ??? at various hardness, can work just fine together.

Not a 'no-brain'er