How Colt 1911's are made

[Pennzoil]

Interesting video if you haven't seen it yet.

[SecondsCount]

Cool video, thanks for posting.

It is amazing to me how much is still done by hand and how old some of that equipment is.

[TCinVA]

I guarantee you'll never see a video like that of Taurus 1911's being made.

[derekb]

I'd love to see a similar video for a modern pistol design. It's hard to argue with processes that have been in place for eighty years, I'm sure.

[TCinVA]

I'd love to see a similar video for a modern pistol design.

"This is the injection molding station where we take these plastic pellets heat them up, and inject them into these molds. They cool rapidly and then are ejected into this bin and viola! A fully formed frame ready to begin assembly in one step."


It would be a much shorter video.

[derekb]

It would be a much shorter video.

No doubt. I'd still like to contrast the steps of manufacture for the slide assemblies, and remain curious about the processes used by any manufacturer for the internals of the gun.

[LittleLebowski]

I guarantee you'll never see a video like that of Taurus 1911's being made.

Nor SIGs (1911s) or Kimbers....

[WDW]

I guarantee you'll never see a video like that of Taurus 1911's being made.

Taurus has a new add out in American Rifleman (Imagine that!) alluding to their molding process. It says something to the effect of, "Other manufactures make guns based only on what they see on the surface (forging, grinding, filing, fitting). Here at Taurus, we take it a step further. We make guns at the molecular level. We break the material down to its basic elements to ensure that every molecule is just right, ensuring you get the absolute best quality possible." It was really quite laughable, openly admitting their cheapness and lack of quality, but in such a manner as to convey it as quality.

[Tamara]

No doubt. I'd still like to contrast the steps of manufacture for the slide assemblies, and remain curious about the processes used by any manufacturer for the internals of the gun.

Your P7 is probably the pinnacle of the art of building up a gun from sheet-metal stampings, which is perhaps unsurprising, since it's an art the Germans pioneered during the World Wars. Other than the frame, barrel, and breechblock, pretty much every metal part of that gun came out of a stamping press.

[ToddG]

"This is the injection molding station where we take these plastic pellets heat them up, and inject them into these molds. They cool rapidly and then are ejected into this bin and viola! A fully formed frame ready to begin assembly in one step."

Actually, there is quite a bit of machining done to the polymer frame once it's molded. The molding process itself is actually also somewhat complex as metal infrastructure has to be aligned properly, etc.

We make guns at the molecular level.

Wow, who would have guessed that Taurus would be leading the way in the nanotech revolution?