Impulse purchase from Palmetto State Armory

[dogmush]

So a thread on THR last week lead me to make an impulse purchase from PSA.  PSA is (they swear, still, 18 mos after the announcement) bringing a 1911 to the market, and as part of that process they were selling some frame and slide over runs (or pre-production?  Dunno)  For $139 I picked up a stainless 1911 frame, $129 got me a stainless slide, and another $100 or so got me a PSA barrel and bushing.  Shipping was fast, I ordered last Friday, the frame was at my FFL on Teus, and the slide and barrel were at my door when I got home from work on Wed.  That's quick for anyone, and by PSA standards they were using the Force to see my order.

Initial impressions are pretty good.  I grabbed a slidestop, guide rod, plunger and spring of another gun and assembled the PSA parts.  The bushing is tight enough it needs a bushing wrench when the barrel is installed, but goes in smoothly.  The slide and frame fit together smoothly with no binding.  I get about .008" vertical clearance between the slide and the top of the frame. and about .006" play side to side.  The barrel has .048" top lug engagement and does not appear to be riding the link.  I haven't really checked lower lug on the slide stop yet, but it feels OK.  The slide and frame aren't perfectly blended at the rear, but they are close enough I probably won't bother trying to do better.  There are some machine marks on the frame around the pin holes, but they will be easy to clean up in assembly, and I'm thinking of polishing the flats anyway.  Sadly, I didn't get a checkered one, so I'll have to do that myself.

Overall, it's a pretty nice forged frame and it should make a pretty nice gun.  PSA ships it with parts that fit together well enough that a newer (or lazy) builder won't have to fit the slide, barrel and frame to each other.  We all know there's plenty of fitting left on a 1911, but at least those biggies are done.  If you wanted to do a build of your own, or wanted a frame for a custom build this seems like a pretty good choice for about 1/2 what a Caspian costs.  I hadn't budgeted for a 1911 this summer so it'll take me a while to build this, but it looks like it'll go together well.  Preliminary thumbs up to PSA.

Link to frame.
link to slide
Barrel is now out of stock.

Pics:

[lupinus]

Glad to hear it. I've been impressed with what PSA puts out, for the price they are hard to beat

[Hutch]

You got gypped!  Where are the fiddly bits, hmmmm?  Sheesh...


 

[Scout26]

SO what the total cost with all  the fiddly bits looking to be?

[dogmush]

SO what the total cost with all  the fiddly bits looking to be?

Kinda depends on the fiddly bits.

Sarco sells a 1911 build kit for $110, sights from Brownells for about $50.  Budget minded I guess you could have a firing pistol about $550 or so.  Slightly more then a RIA tac would run.

I'm kinda going the other direction with it.  My wish list at midway is about $740 to finish it off.  But that's Wilson Combat Bulletproof, EGW, and Cylinder and Slide parts.  Everything billet or machined from bar stock.  Assuming I don't muck up the build it ought to be a really nice gun for the $1000-$1100 I'll have in it.