kimber cdp custom rebuild

[ghr]

december of 2006 i had a squib load lodge about 1/3 of the way down the barrel and another round impacting it  causing the barrel to bulge and split in 4. it was pretty much intact with the bushing holding it together.  This caused the front 3 inches of the frame to bend downwards about 3/8inch.  that was probably the worst day of my life.  sent the gun back to kimber explaining what had happened.  they said the gun was a complete loss and it wasn't worth repairing so they sent it back.  I ended up talking to a dennis medonia or cedonia (something along those lines) and he stated the slide was cracked.  when i inspected the gun the area which he said had a crack in it ended up being a mark where the gas vented from the crack in the barrel.  All componants in the frame and slide are salvageable.  The only parts i would need are a frame, barrel,  barrel bushing and slide stop.  would it be possible to take a frame from another manufacturer and rebuild the gun with minimal gunsmithing?  If so what would be my best option for componants since kimber doesn't sell frames?

[williamlayton]

Frames can be obtained from many sources.
The question is, if you are going to do a complete rebuild, why not contact someone like Vanden Berg Custom and send it to them with a list of specs and let him do it?
Blessings

[Lloyd Smale]

what your going to find is unless your capable yourself of doing the fitting work on a 1911 that by the time you pay for parts and pay a gunsmith it would have been cheaper to buy a new gun. Also keep in mind that if you change the frame it becomes a differnt gun and will have a differnt serial no. and need to be reregistered.  Theres also a chance that if you barrel ruptured theres some  bulging or springing  of the slide Id take some careful measurments before i pronounced it good. the major cost of putting together a 1911 is the frame and the barrel and slide. the internal parts arent all that expensive. I think your starting a loosing battle with two of the three ruined. to dammed bad though as ive allways thought those cdps were about the best bang for the buck in a ccw 1911. The ones ive had have both been sweet guns and its very doubtfull if your going to piece together a gun for the same money that is as good.

[rbwillnj]

You can get all the parts you need from Brownells, or from Caspian, but as said before, there is no way you will save any money.  Buy a new gun and sell the salvageable parts on GunBroker.  Even if you could do the work yourself, there is about $1000-$1500 worth of tools you would need to do it properly.

[Mikey]

ghr:  I would go with Lloyd x 2.  Mikey.

[Savage]

+2 With what Lloyd said. I'd salvage what parts I could and buy another pistol.  In the end you'll be out less money and have the pistol you want. I have never saved money on a pistol build!
Savage

[Questor]

I think Kimber did the only minimal gunsmithing that makes sense in a case like that. Sorry you lost your gun. Glad you weren't injured.

[ghr]

Forgot to mention i purchased another cdp custom last september and put the old slide on the new frame and barrel.  The fit was perfect it and it functioned flawlessly.  I would prefer to build the gun myself as a good 1st project.  Have access to a relative's machine shop where I'm sort of proficiant on the milling machine.  looking to spend around $500-600 on componants.  Anyone have any suggestions on a frame with checkering?

[Questor]

If you get a frame without checkering, you can send it to Rock River and they will checker it for you. It's not cheap, but it's an option. Checkering is done by machine and turns out very nice. A lot of gunsmiths that used to do checkering are now sending the frames out for mechanical checkering.

[Questor]

By the way, if you're interested in doing the project for the purpose of teaching yourself something, then it will be worthwhile and educational but expensive. You can't really save money anymore by building your own gun. You can buy just about anything you'd want for less that it would cost you to build it.

I wanted to build my own National Match Hardball gun and nixed that idea because by the time I bought a basic 1911 and put sights and a good trigger on it I could have bought a custom built gun built specifically for the purpose by a gunsmith who knows how to build that type of gun well.

[rbwillnj]

I'm in the process of building a 1911 in 38 Super from scratch.   I too wanted to approach it as a learning experience.   I bought a Caspian Frame and Slide at Camp Perry last year.  They were seconds, and only cost me $225 for the combo.   Even so, I will have pretty close to $1000 into it before I send it off for blueing.  Add to that $1000 worth of tools and jigs from Brownells, and another $300 for tools and jigs I already had.   I have learned a lot in the process, but there is nothing about this that was a cost savings.   

If you buy a matched frame and slide that have already been fitted, you can cut back on some of the tools required, and you can buy drop in barrels and bushings, but you won't end up with the same gun.