[steviesterno]

So I've been designing this beast of an idea for a CCO sized carry gun in my head for the better part of 4 years. Life comes at you fast so I was never able to piece it together. But this year I saved up, and I was finally able to get it going! Started life as a Springfield range officer compact in 9mm. Shot great, but I wanted to strip some weight and make it my own. So send the slide to Gans for tri topping and having the barrel cut flush with a reverse crown. While it was there, he put in warren tactical night sights. Great guy to work with, was shipped, worked on, and back to my house half a country away in 7 days. Unheard of!

So just put it back together with some crimson trace green laser grips and fancy grip screws. And in a little while will go in for some custom ceracoat. Future plans involve an SVI flat trigger (can't decide what color!) and a lighter MSH.

So without further ado, I present...

 

[SoonerPast]

That is coming along well. Do you know how much weight was reduced from the slide?

 

[The Pistol Pete]

Nice! My favorite thing is to follow along and see what other's view as the perfect gun for themselves!

 

[steviesterno]

That is coming along well. Do you know how much weight was reduced from the slide?

The smart thing would have been to weigh it before I had the work done, and then after. But I'm not that smart or forward thinking, so no i didn't weigh it first

if someone wants to weigh theirs with no barrel I can weigh mine and we'll compare. I know it's not a ton of weight, but I did the slide and will do a polymer MSH. I was going to also flute the barrel but the flutes weren't worth the cost (to me). Crowning and shortening by a quarter inch was, and and the balance seems just a touch more towards the grips now.

 

[steviesterno]

Nice! My favorite thing is to follow along and see what other's view as the perfect gun for themselves!

I think guns are a personal thing, and it's interesting to see how people choose to do their own. Yes, an XDs would have been lighter and cheaper, but I wanted a single action trigger because I prefer it. worth it to me.

My background would be competition, steel and USPSA stuff, plus 3 gun. I wanted a few race-style upgrades that "wouldn't get me killed in the streets":rock:

 

[mark2734]

The smart thing would have been to weigh it before I had the work done, and then after. But I'm not that smart or forward thinking, so no i didn't weigh it first

if someone wants to weigh theirs with no barrel I can weigh mine and we'll compare. I know it's not a ton of weight, but I did the slide and will do a polymer MSH. I was going to also flute the barrel but the flutes weren't worth the cost (to me). Crowning and shortening by a quarter inch was, and and the balance seems just a touch more towards the grips now.

While I know Colt ships with a poly MSH on some of their guns its been posted they have been know to crack over time.

Just something to think about and make sure you keep an eye on if this is a carry gun.

 

[steviesterno]

Thanks for the head's up, I will pay attention to it. Going with an STI and they run plastic in their grips and very high round count guns, so I'm not too concerned. I'm having a hard time figuring out what MSH guts I need though. need to read that sticky...

 

[rs00956]

Looks awesome

 

[remanaz]

Go back to your tritop thread for the slide weight that I posted of mine. Just match the items I said were weighed.

As for what guts for your msh you need standard officer sized internals. EGW sells a titanium mainspring cap as well as a titanium hammer strut that will knock a few more grams off of your final weight.

 

[FNISHR]

Wicked looking.

 

[remanaz]

Here ya go. Looks like I weighed the barrel and the frame as well. I happen to have my Colt Defender sitting next to me. I will weigh the Poly MSH in it for you to compare to your stock one.

I just weighed my 9mm Range Officer Compact's barrel and it weighs a 5oz.

I also weighed the slide (with sights, firing pin, extractor, and fps) and it weighed 11.6 oz.

I weighed my complete frame assembly including grips and it came in at 8.9oz.

The poly msh weighed 0.423oz with internals. I also had a Fusion aluminum empty msh sitting here so I weighed it too. It's weight was 0.431oz.

 

[remanaz]

I weighed my Wilson round butt compact msh with guts and it weighs 0.591oz. This one has a titanium cap in it but that really is less than a gram. The difference between my poly msh and aluminum msh with guts was only 4.5 grams.

 

[steviesterno]

I weighed my Wilson round butt compact msh with guts and it weighs 0.591oz. This one has a titanium cap in it but that really is less than a gram. The difference between my poly msh and aluminum msh with guts was only 4.5 grams.

I'll get the slide out and weigh it here in a bit. I'm surprised how little difference the poly is over the aluminum! and sad. here I thought I was going to save a bunch of weight. but arguing over a gram or so in a carry gun doesn't make sense when I could lose more than that of my own fat ass for cheaper :rock:

 

[steviesterno]

no luck, I tried but my scale doesn't go high enough to capture it and the bathroom scale doesn't go low enough. I'll have to dig for a kitchen scale.

the other reason for the tri top is I've shot a limited style 2011 with it before. Up close and at speed, the top of the slide makes for a good quick sight picture

 

[remanaz]

I'll get the slide out and weigh it here in a bit. I'm surprised how little difference the poly is over the aluminum! and sad. here I thought I was going to save a bunch of weight. but arguing over a gram or so in a carry gun doesn't make sense when I could lose more than that of my own fat ass for cheaper :rock:

They both are lighter than steel ones so you might as well go for an aluminum one to retain strength at very little weight cost.

 

[steviesterno]

They both are lighter than steel ones so you might as well go for an aluminum one to retain strength at very little weight cost.

is the stock one steel or aluminum? I was assuming aluminum, since that's what the frame is made of.

 

[steviesterno]

finally got the chance to shoot it after the work was done. A couple of impressions:
It's POI=POA now, not a 6oclock hold. so it matches all my other stuff and I prefer it.
The blacked out rear is much easier to see than white dots, focus you on the front sight
the tri-top really does draw your eye up to the front of the gun
ran 100% but it did before, so that's good
recoil was a touch snappier. Felt like it was quicker back on target
accuracy was still there. Made a 32 round hole as big as a half dollar at 20 feet. pics to follow
the green laser is stupid bright. was easily able to get hits in a 2" circle at 50 feet
In a smokey range it looks like a light saber!