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Essex 45 Auto Frames for Building

boeboe
Anyone have any experience with the Essex Arms .45 Auto frames for building a .45? Thinking about the stainless ones...

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MEMBER SINCE 10/24/1999.

To err is human, to moo is bovine.
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5 comments

Date Votes
  • perry shooter
    Hello the quality of Essex frames are both very good and very poor. It all depends on each one . The maproblem with the bad ones is the magazine well is in the wrong place this will cause you feed problems as the back of barrel will extend back over the magazine well / feedramp. The pin holes can also be mis aligned causeing wierd things to happen to trigger pull safety operation etc . If you can check these things out first the frames are very good heat treated . I would say out of 10 frames 3 will give you no problems fitting parts 5 will need work to get things to work right an 2should have been rejected. If possible buy a Caspian or Les Baer."PRAISE THE HARDBALL GUN"
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  • gun_runner
    I love my Essex build. I have a frosted stainless frame and everything fits great. I will try and post a pic in awhile. Photobucket is not working well.

    Larry
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  • sharpshooter039
    I have built several on essex frames and other than the normal fitting you have to do to every 1911 build I have never had a problem.I do always use stainless frames so maybe they are better than the blue one's.If I'm building a blued frame I try to find old beat up sistema's and rebuild them they have great frames and slides and still can be found at decent prices.

    [image]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-10/869284/sistema2.jpg[/image]
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  • RadCat
    I have been building those "thingy things" you call 1911's for a while now. For over thirty years now I have been acquainted with Essex Arms products. I have few if any complaints about their quality. Actually, about the same amount of complaints as I have with Caspian, STI, Colt, Les Baer, Wilson, Kimber, Springfield Armory, and every single other manufacturer of 1911 products. Fact is: "I love Essex Arms frames." I would gladly pick an Essex frame for use in any application where a well made, lightweight steel frame is warranted, and required. I have used Essex frames to build custom guns worth and sold for over two thousand dollars.

    Essex Arms only build components, not complete firearms, much the same as Caspian Arms. They are even based in the same town in Vermont. Guess who has been building them longer? The top guys at Caspian and at Essex are both named Gary!!!! LOL [:D][:D] (different persons, of course)

    Personally I like Essex steel and stainless steel frames because they are very well made of quality materials, CNC machined and properly heat treated. They also provide me with the lightest weight frame made in "steel" in the market.

    It is true that in earlier production runs of the early days, some of the problems cited did exist on ocassion, as did pretty much in everyone elses "early" productions.

    The final quality and degree of workmanship is laways a reflection of the "craftman" who endeavored to create the firearm. It also rquires more than just the frame, or frame and slide to complete a 1911. The Essex frames are an excellent "platform" in which to base a fine 1911.
    While you are at it, include a Bar-Sto or Schuemann barrel, A Bo-Mar or Novak set of sights, a Cylinder and Slide kit of hammer-sear-disconnector, and a Wilson or Novak magazine, and you will have a great gun. Top it with a set of Kim Ahrends stocks, and you will have a "great looking" gun. But if you have no idea how to do the work, you will end up with a "great looking gun that doesn't work", worth bababooey, and you will blame it on the Essex frame, of course!!!![:D][:D][:D][8D][8D][}:)][;)]

    ______________________________________________
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    "If it ain't broke, fix it anyway... make it better!" (RadCat)
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  • bobski
    both my military 45 match guns are essex frames and never had a lick of trouble.

    former air operations officer SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2. former navy skeet team, former navy rifle/pistol team member. co-owner skeetmaster tubes inc.. owner/operator professional shooting instruction. NRA certified instructor.
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