I don’t have all the parts for this build in hand yet. Most importantly my slide and frame have not shipped and I haven’t picked my ignition set. But I do have a bunch of the small parts and so I have started toying with them.

My first official step in this build was to assemble the Stan Chen Shooter Installed Magwell by putting in the mainspring assembly (Wilson Combat Pin Set and 17# Wolff Hammer Spring). Big deal, right?

Out of curiosity, without a frame or slide to get to work on, I measured some of the pins and holes of several small parts. The EGW Beavertail Grip Safety is drilled to 0.155" diameter (spec is 0.156" + 0.002") and the Nighthawk Thumb Safety pin is 0.155" diameter (spec is 0.1555" - 0.002") and they fit together perfectly.

The Nighthawk Slide Stop pin is 0.199" diameter (spec is 0.2005" - 0.002"). I don’t know, for sure, which barrel link I’ll end up using, but the #3 link in the Wilson Combat Barrel Link Kit has a 0.204" diameter hole for the slide stop pin (spec is 0.2045" + 0.001").

This is probably a good place to point out the value of a pin gage set; they make measuring hole diameters very easy. Some other uses I’m anticipating for them are measuring the frame rail slot width and depth, the slide rail slot width and depth, and pinning the grip safety in place as I progressively file down the frame tangs to fit. MosinVirus taught me how to use the pins to fit the grip safety on YouTube.

If you’ve started partway into this series, you can find the beginning here. And you can continue with Part 2.