80% TM Recon Frame

Do-It-Yourselfer 1911 lovers rejoice! Tactical Machining has just released a new 80% 1911 receiver – the 80% TM Recon Frame. The new 1911 frames are CNC machined from an investment casting of 4140 ordinance grade steel. It has some really slick features like a light rail and scallops on the frame as an index point for your thumb or index finger.

80 TM Recon Frame

As with any 80% receiver, there is some work to do. In this case you will need to machine the slide rails, hammer and sear pin holes, and barrel seat.

If you are handy, you can build yourself a modernized 1911 without having to do any paperwork.

2 Responses to 80% TM Recon Frame

  1. Mike June 15, 2014 at 16:47 #

    Just wanted to share this from a friend who has worked with firearms for over 4 decades …interesting thoughts….

    The problem with castings is that the “grain” direction is haphazard and not aligned with stress points like forgings are. Even bar stock, particularly cold rolled, is run through rolls several times as it is sized from a large billet. This squeezes the crystalline structure (grain) of the metal into an aligned pattern. A forging squeezes it even better around specific stress points.

    In the 1960s Springfield Armory experimented with precision investment casting of non critical parts like sights, trigger components, etc. and thought it would be suitable for those items, but still stuck with forged components. Springfield closed in 1968 but the technology was passed on to other weapons manufacturers. In the late seventies a company that took the name of Springfield Armory popped up in Geneseo, Illinois and began making clone M14s they called the M1A. The M1A name was started in Texas by a gunsmith that was taking demilled (cut in half) M14 receivers and welding them back together after cutting off the auto sear tang that stuck down on the right rear of the receiver. Since ATF had declared that anything with M14 stamped on it was full auto, the guy overstamped the 4 with an A thus starting the M1A series. They were pretty well done and the weld posed no problem because it wasn’t near the locking lugs. Later on the maker ran afoul of ATF for some reason I forget, that’s when SA in Geneseo took up the manufacture. Their first receivers were investment cast from 8620 steel, just like the originals. They were having warping problems as machining proceeded and eventually they went to a forging. Other parts had problems. The op rods were prone to breakage which rendered the gun useless. I know of two breaking at the same match in CT where I was participating. Not sure how they fixed that problem.

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