[Guest]

I'd be interested in hearing everybody's best and worst experiences and observations about Kreiger Accu-rails. I have never really considered them for anything but game guns, but have a lightweight Commander that's getting the works, and it's just too loose. I don't feel that a working gun has to be bank-vault tight, but this one's too far over the edge. Never did an aluminum frame before; Kreiger says it is done. Opinions?

 

[Guest]

By the way, what the hell do I have to do around here to get that "Junior" off my handle!?

 

[Dane Burns]

Hi Junior

Worse thing is the rails break.
Best thing is they make a glass smooth gun that will not shoot loose...until the rail breaks and jams the gun hopelessly.

Keiger is right, it is done.
You're right, not on a carry gun in many opinions.

Post more and the junior goes away

Good example. I am building a gun for a noted LE/civilian trainer. He had to build on a stock Series '70 that rattled. I suggested the rails. He said, "no, reliability issues". I hand tightened the gun. Easier to do on steel than aluminum.
Good luck!

[This message has been edited by Dane Burns (edited 02-07-2001).]

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Dane. I know the danged things are brittle, I've broken a few just looking at them. Seems like as long as they're in the gun they're pretty safe, but, I would not be surprised to hear of one breaking just from the repeated recoil pulses through the frame. Have you seen this?

Hey, that's "Mr." Junior, dammit!

 

[Dane Burns]

Dear MR. Jr.

I have not seen an of them break. But I have heard from first hand users that they have come unhooked from the frame. Hence the breaking and major malfunctions.

I like the idea, just no way to make them reliable to the extreme I require for reliability.

Just take a couple hundred of my posts

That will cure the JR. thing.

 

[photoman]

"What is your major malfunction, Private Snowball!!!?"

(Sorry...I just had to put that in...)

 

[Richard Heinie]

I'll add my two cents on Acc-U-Rails. I have been using them for a long time. I have a 10MM Pistol that I have had longer than I would like to remember. It has had thousands
of rounds thru it. It is on the second barrel and second set of rails. This pistol is the one Pistol I would take, if I was only limited to one.
I have seen rails break. If they break it will be in the bend. I have never seen a Pistol malfunction or stop because of
a broken rail.
They work nicely on a LW Frame or Stainless Frames and Slides.
Now the downside in my opinion. I have seen this happen in at least 3 cases. If the frame to slide relationship is very loose to start with, you may end up with a Pistol that will
not function. There seems to be a relationship change that effects the Barrel, Link and Slide Stop Pin. I have a Pistol that
won't work. I have done everything I can think of to make it function. I have even sent it to another Pistolsmith to see if I was missing something. It just doesn't work.
The other two Pistols worked, but I was really not satisfied with the end result.
These are very rare cases. Each of these Pistols were Colts. They may very well be Pistols that had frames and Slides that were on the very extreme limits of tolerances and
they just wouldn't work. Who knows they might not have worked even if I would have used convential methods to tighten the Frame to Slide relationship. I still use them in
some cases and with good results.


------------------
Richard Heinie

 

[BBBBill]

This is a subject of some interest to me as I have an interest in LW guns in hot calibers like 9x23 or 10mm. Nowlin built a gun for Jethro Dionesius (sp) some years ago that had an insert milled in at the slide stop pin hole to take the pounding of match use without enlarging/elongating the pin hole. I've kept that trick in the back of my mind along with accu-rails or some other method of strengthening the wear characteristics on an aluminum frame Commander sized gun to be built in 38 Super (probably 9x23 now). Is there any other method that you can think of to give a long wearing slide/frame fit? Steel frame rail inserts of some sort?

 

[JohnnyO]

I can tell you why you can't get out of your junior status. You have 3 posts here and they all say number 13. Your at a dead end.

[This message has been edited by JohnnyO (edited 02-08-2001).]

 

[Guest]

Oh gawd, you're right! Wouldn't be so scary exept that it was 13 degrees when I woke up this morn. I drove to town to get a dozen donuts and they gave me 13. Coming back, I noticed my speedometer was stuck on 13. Driving north on 131, every sign I passed had snow blown onto it just so, and every one said "13" instead of "131". Oops, gotta go, Twighlights Zone's coming on (channel 13).

 

[Guest]

Ah, that's better.

 

[Metal Smith]

I have heard of these rails breaking and some running 1000's of round. The rail jobs I seen I think were fit to tight, to much stress on the rods, I don't beleive they need to been this tight or fuction relieable, I maintain machinery that had 1911 style slides, they'd run good for a while and then bind and jam, a real pain, the new machinery replaced the slides with a system simular to the Accu-rails and solved the jamming problem, they run trouble free now. I didn't like a few things about the way the accu-rails were installed on the ones I examined so I had a cutter ground for the right radius for the rods and installed them myself on my sloppy Clark longslide. I machined about .002 releive on the forward section of the slide rails so the slide come free when it is cycled out of battery, this will releive 1/2 the stress on the rods, when it goes back into battery it snugs up, if installed properly I think they are a great system. I have at least 10,000 rounds through mine. I would not install them on anything but poblemed frames...stainless steel, aluminum and grossly sloppy steel frames etc.........
Before I built a pistol on a aluminum frame I'd try losing 10 pounds first, but if you really need one Kimber makes the best I've seen, very thick and well machined, about .090 thick front strap, these were 5 frames checkered in 20 lpi and the checkering was the most perfect I've ever seen, not touched with a file either, cleaned up with a light dusting of xx-fine glass bead, the anodizing aslo was every tough. Richard's problemed pistol may of had the slide milled to low on the frame or to high, that's why I did mine myself, hope you find the info usefull.

 

[pistolwrench]

Who is this 'man of mystery' Metalsmith?
Seems to know of what he speaks, but his
spelling reminds me of Steve Clark.....
hmmmmmmm.......

------------------
Chuck

 

[Metal Smith]

Hi Pistolwrech,
Does the Formu hav a spel chek? Dont no how to us it.

 

[Tom Freeman]

My carry gun is a high cap STI aluminum frame and a SV aluminum slide. I had it railed by Doug Jones and I haven’t had any problems, at all. It’s a handful to shoot, but great to carry. If I was that worried about the rails breaking, I wouldn’t have done it.

Both my open and limited guns are railed and my single stack and IDPA ESP guns will be railed this summer.

Tom Freeman http://www.limitedgun.com/PPPS

 

[Bradl45]

Tom,

Do you know the empty wt. of your carry pistol? And the weight all up with one in the pipe? ALum and alum sounds light.

Thanks

Brad

 

[cking]

Accurail

I've got a Para frame and caspian slide that Krieger railed for me. Don't fit the barrel till you get it back from him.

Also I've seen several accurail jobs that were not done by Krieger and they were not as good of a job.

Most of the new frame and slides fit up pretty tight, my P12 with Les Bear commander slide was so tight I had to oil and use a leather mall to drive it back an forth then a little JB bore paste and few more times then cleaned it and it was great. So no need for rail job.

So if you have a loose frame and rail, get Krieger to do it!! Mine has over 10,000 rounds through it without any trouble and I don't clean it but once a season.