CASPIAN - Race Ready Receiver, Carbon, 20 lpi

IF YOU WANT AN AMAZING 1911 START WITH THIS FRAME. I HAVE BUILT TWO 1911 CUSTOMS USING THIS FRAME AND THE CASPIAN SLIDE. THE 20 LPI MAKES GRIPPING VERY EASY. YOU CAN REALLY HOLD ON TO THIS WITH HOT LOADS. ALOT OF WORK AND FITTING BUT IF YOU LIKE BUILDING RACE GUNS ITS A PLEASURE. THIS WAS THE ONLY WAY I COULD GET EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED. I PUT 1,400 INTO THIS BUILD.. I NOW HAVE A CUSTOM 1911 YOU CANNOT BUY UNDER $3,00O

I purchased this frame to fulfill every man's dream--building a gun his wife asked him to build. She'd asked me for a 1911 in 9mm to mimic the gun Dean Winchester carries in the TV show "Supernatural." She's a beginning shooter, so I figured a magwell would help her stick reloads. Rather than buy an aftermarket/separate magwell, I went this this frame. Everything was fairly straightforward. I fit the frame for the slide, Duracoated it stainless (if I redo this in the future, I'll try to get a stainless frame instead), then put all of the hardware onto it. Everything was fine until . . . I put in the magazine release and inserted the first magazine. I'd purchased the Checkmate 9mm magazine to go with this gun (Brownells has no listing for magazines by Caspian; Caspian's website has no magazines specific to this frame listed). When I inserted the first magazine, it didn't engage the magazine release. I swapped releases and tried again, still nothing. The magazines worked fine on two of the other 1911s I have with the magazine releases I was trying. After talking with the Guntechs, I tried my other 1911 magazines in this frame with each of the styles of magazine release I have and none worked. I realized the front of the magwell hits the front of the magazine's basepad and prevents it from going into the gun completely. I took one of the Checkmate magazines and filed off about 1/16" from the front. After some trial and error, it worked. I now have all three of my magazines working in the gun. So, it's a great frame, just be aware this gun will require one of the following: 1) magazines specifically made for this gun, 2) relieving material from the front of the basepads of your magazines, or 3) removing material from the frame. I'm not completely confident of my ability to modify the frame with the tools I have on hand, so I chose to go the route of modifying the magazines. Since my other 1911s are .45 ACP, there's no danger of mixing the magazines. Your mileage will probably vary. I would recommend this product to friends, but only with the caveats I've listed above.