CMD...Two-Toned To All Stainless

I have owned several 1911s in the past. Mostly Colts. I took a chance on this "low cost" Ruger 1911 and was amazed at the quality and performance! The only thing I didn't like was the two-tone appearance. So I replaced some of the parts with Wilson Combat stainless and had a few parts hard chromed at Metaloy Industries. Here is a pic...

As purchased...


After upgrade...

VERY NICE! 8)

Hi, welcome to the forum, that looks very nice I like it, with all the extra parts and chrome are you into it as much as a Colt now?

HAWKEYE#28 said:

VERY NICE! 8)

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6gun said:

Hi, welcome to the forum, that looks very nice I like it...

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Thanks!!

6gun said:

...with all the extra parts and chrome are you into it as much as a Colt now?

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I kept that in mind while doing this project. I figured if I could build the CMD, like I wanted it, for under $900 then I felt it would be worth it. As I started pricing out parts it looked like I was going to be closer to $1000, or more. However, through a little research, I found a way to make the numbers work. I purchased my CMD for $600 (OTD), and spent $276.50 for upgrades, and came in $23.50 under my budget. And it could have been cheaper. Read on...

I bought several Wilson Combat Parts that I thought would be basic drop-in assembly items. The slide release, thumb safety (slight fitting), mag catch, MSH (slight fitting), stainless pin set, and stainless grip screws, all came to about $225.

I then read about Metaloy Industries and their hard chrome process. I "talked" with Chris Peters (President) through several emails, and was convinced that I could send them the remaining black parts and have them hard chromed. The finished appearance is slightly more silver, but not really noticeable. The process doesn't change the dimensions of the parts, so fitting would be a non-issue. This saved me a lot of money with finding a replacement grip safety and having it fitted. It cost be $44.00 +$7.50 shipping to have the grip safety, hammer w/ strut, ejector, and extractor hard chromed by Metaloy. The results were better than expected. In hindsight I probably should have sent all the black parts to Metaloy and spent a lot less for this project!! Here are a couple of pics (before and after) showing the parts done by Metaloy...

Before...


After...

Nice !

Those black parts really take away from the looks of the gun.

But I also agree with some others .... For that money you could have had a real all stainless Colt ....

REV

Very nice Mac A, very nice.

evening said:

For that money you could have had a real all stainless Colt ...

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I already have a real stainless Colt. Now I have a real Ruger 1911 that has several upgraded WC parts, built to exactly what I was looking for in a carry weapon, shoots as good as my Colts, and I am willing to carry and "toss" around in the truck and not worry about the effect it has on its value. I look at it as money well spent. :mrgreen:

MnBulldog said:

Very nice Mac A, very nice.

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Thanks!

I like the look of it too. Did he happen to say how much to chrome all the original pieces?

I would think that you could hard chrome all the parts for around $80 + shipping, then buy the pin set and grip screws from Wilson Combat. I think you could do it for $100ish.

I HIGHLY recommend Metaloy! Contact Chris! Great guy!!

At first I rather liked the two tone effect but with time I've gone back to preferring all-silver. These photos certainly reinforce that. They remind me of factory hard chrome Colts I owned back in the day.

It's nice that for a few bucks you can have it either way. I like the two to me as it matches my .45 colt blackhawks which require a bit more than a few bucks to have it "your" way

i plan on purchasing an sr1911 cmd just after christmas and have been looking into doing the exact same thing with all of the black pieces, i was planning on purchasing all wilson combat parts and sending the gun to jo jo's gunworks in ct to have everything fitted properly but it is silly expensive to do everything so that hard chrome idea sounds pretty cool.
and that isnt even considering what the shop will charge me to swap all of the parts (?) no clue how bad that will be.
looking at the before and after pics just made up my decision to go all stainless for sure tho!

Nice looking, but I will leave mine stock.

The upgrade looks great!
I'm just not understanding the new thing of putting flat black pieces parts on SS guns ala Ruger and S&W ??

DCRuger said:

The upgrade looks great!
I'm just not understanding the new thing of putting flat black pieces parts on SS guns ala Ruger and S&W ??

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One reason ..... Money. Cheap MIM parts painted black probably cost 1/10 of what forged or cast stainless parts cost.

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revhigh said:

DCRuger said:

The upgrade looks great!
I'm just not understanding the new thing of putting flat black pieces parts on SS guns ala Ruger and S&W ??

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One reason ..... Money. Cheap MIM parts painted black probably cost 1/10 of what forged or cast stainless parts cost.

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that COULD be it, but, mim parts can be made to match SS easily. my Beretta has them?
I notice this black pieces thing on my new Sig 'Scorpion' P229 also that has the ceracoat finish in tan. But, I see on the new COLTs Marines pistol EVERYTHING is the ceracoat color. Looks much nicer when it all matches.

DCRuger said:

revhigh said:

DCRuger said:

The upgrade looks great!
I'm just not understanding the new thing of putting flat black pieces parts on SS guns ala Ruger and S&W ??

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One reason ..... Money. Cheap MIM parts painted black probably cost 1/10 of what forged or cast stainless parts cost.

REV

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that COULD be it, but, mim parts can be made to match SS easily. my Beretta has them?
I notice this black pieces thing on my new Sig 'Scorpion' P229 also that has the ceracoat finish in tan. But, I see on the new COLTs Marines pistol EVERYTHING is the ceracoat color. Looks much nicer when it all matches.

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Can you think of another reason ?

Cerakote, cerahyde, etc, etc, all look very nice when done by people who know what they're doing. Check out CCR's site ... Some very nice looking pistols there.

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MacA....You just saved me money/work. I was going to buy SS parts for my CMD and fit them but why do that I`ll just have them Hard chromed and be done with it.

jimjc said:

MacA....You just saved me money/work. I was going to buy SS parts for my CMD and fit them but why do that I`ll just have them Hard chromed and be done with it.

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You should check out CCR too, at least if you HC or cerahyde your original parts ... You know they'll work.

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