Lowering The Bridge By Hand?

original: forum.m1911.org
Retrieved: December 09, 2011
Last Post: July 18, 2008

berkbw
18th July 2008

I need to lower the bridge on a new, oversized, stainless 5" frame. It is higher than those on my older guns, and is high enough to keep a round from trying to chamber.

Any pointers to how to lower this by hand would be appreciated.


niemi24s
18th July 2008

Here's a pic of the setup I used:

It was in this thread titled "Lowering Frame Bed"...

...which contains a lot of other good info.


berkbw
18th July 2008

OK, I got the general idea. I'll fashion a drum to wrap and do it by hand/eye. In doing something like this, I normally score the surface with a coarse paper, than make the marks go away.


niemi24s
18th July 2008

For me, the little block of wood and the drill (as a roller atop the dust hood) to positively locate the non-working end of the tubing was the secret. By fixing that end all I had to concentrate on was keeping the working end of the tube centered in the bed.

With only one end of the tube to worry about, it sped up the job. It still took several hours, as I had a lot of lowering to do.

Make yourself a big pot of coffee!


niemi24s
18th July 2008

And here's a side view which may better show the setup:

Without it, I just knew I'd have ended up with an hourglass-shaped bed. Never had the knack for doing something like that free-handed without messing it up!


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