Custom 2011 Builds

[T-DOGG]

Both guns are done with grip safety blending. Next is blending the rear of the slide and frame on both.

 

[SmolderOutdoors]

I didn’t build it- Cheely did. But here is my 2011. Sti frame, egw internals, Briley barrel, .40s&w

 

[T-DOGG]

Rear of both guns blended.

 

[T-DOGG]

I decided to re-shape both grip safeties. I like the shortened versions on my Prodigy and Staccato C2. They also have thumb knuckle reliefs on each side, which is a benefit to me personally.

Factory unmolested SS grip safety included in the pictures for reference.

 

[T-DOGG]

Both guns are now milled for a DPP footprint. I have one DPP now and will be ordering another this Friday. This was the last part of machining that needed done. The rest is test firing with optics, complete detail strip, inspection and cerakote.

 

[T-DOGG]

All cleaned up, bead blasted, and reassembled for now. Need to decide on cerakote colors.






Machining marks on dust cover before.



And now gone.

 

[T-DOGG]

And the other one.

 

[mcapo]

Gorgeous. Naked gun porn!

 

[bcannon]

And the other one.

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I went back to see which manual safety you used and couldn't find it. Who makes the safety on this one?

 

[MindfulMan]

Magnificent, Spicy !

 

[T-DOGG]

I went back to see which manual safety you used and couldn't find it. Who makes the safety on this one?

Wilson Combat. I put a flat edge on it to better match the slide stop.

 

[WebSnyper]

How they shooting?

Any concerns with applying Cerakote and these guns being extremely tightly fit? Generally a good cerakote application doesn't impact function, but I believe you have these at some pretty tight tolerances, so wasn't sure if that would be a concern.

 

[T-DOGG]

How they shooting?

Any concerns with applying Cerakote and these guns being extremely tightly fit? Generally a good cerakote application doesn't impact function, but I believe you have these at some pretty tight tolerances, so wasn't sure if that would be a concern.

They're shooting well, with the exception of premature slide lock still occurring on the Cheely (purple) gun. I decided to swap some a different slide stop onto it to see if that will remedy that issue once and for all. If not I just need to do some additional clearance work to the slide stop.

Yes, some concern about cerakote messing with my tolerances. But not much I can do about that, just have to deal with it as things go back together.

 

[T-DOGG]

Decided to do rust bluing with Mark Lee Express Blue #1. Lots of learning going on.

This was my test piece after just a few cycles and some oil. The instructions recommend another 6-10 cycles, but for testing I was done.



Degreased and etched the parts with 150 grit garnet blast media. Gives a dark grey and somewhat frosty appearance.



After the first cycle, prior to hitting the boiling water, it looks like this.



Dunk in the tank and the small parts all turned the brown rust into black. The larger parts had quite a bit more buildup and the water probably could have used changed out.



Carding process begins.




After carding the first layer off, has a nice grey tone. The little crevices are very time consuming.

 

[Bigdad_e875]

Your skills are amazing brother, especially for doing it for such a short amount of time.

 

[WebSnyper]

Pulling that out of the tank looking like that would have made me pucker up a bit

 

[T-DOGG]

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Pulling that out of the tank looking like that would have made me pucker up a bit

That was right before going into the boiling water. And yes, I puckered quite a few times.

 

[T-DOGG]

Got towards the end and everything looked okay except the STI slide. It looked like crap, so I had to sandblast it and start all over.






Now everything is all done and soaking in oil/grease. The STI slide is missing in the pic below, but it got done too.

 

[T-DOGG]

Well, color me disappointed. Went from thinking I was getting a dark grey or maybe black to getting mostly brown instead. Lots of blemishes as well. I put them together for photos and to share the experience. However, I now plan on taking them apart, degreasing and sandblasting them again. Then, I'll either pay someone to cerakote them or I'll buy everything and do it myself.

I can honestly say, I gave it a good effort, but rust bluing is not for me and the amount of labor involved was beyond my original assumption. Your results may vary.

 

[T-DOGG]

Here is the other one.