Of 25 shooters, Martin came in first place using his custom MK18 Mod1 upper with EoTech 553, AAC muzzle brake and standard trigger.

Billy came in second using his 10.5" LMT upper with Aimpoint Micro, AAC muzzle brake and standard trigger.

Rob came in 5th using his Noveske LoPro Shorty with switchblack and Aimpoint M3 and AAC M4-2000

Martin 

Billy

Rob 

Dave at Condition One sent an email today. Half my gun is back from being finished. Just waiting on the slide and its parts to get from IonBond and I'll have a gun. I'm very excited to get it back, and super happy with what I'm seeing so far!

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Neil (and Eavesdropping Mike),

Here's a few of your finished frame.  These were pretty hasty pics taken under poor lighting, complete with oil all over it from my fingers.  The actual hue of the chrome is awesome.  The sheen of the stocks is very complementary.

The nitre blue held up in oil so far.  I didn't expect that it wouldn't, but I wouldn't have been surprised if it discolored a bit.  You guys put a lot of work in this gun, and it shows.

IonBond is due any day now...  I'll inquire in a week or two if the slide hasn't showed up.

Enjoy the photos-
Dave 

Thanks to our friends at AAC for putting FDCC on their blog. Pictures of Alan, Martin, Rob and Brittney (who used to work with us) all made it on www.aacblog.com!

Brittney:

Of 30 shooters, Neil came in 5th place, Martin came in 9th place and Mounce came in 12th place. First time competitor, friend and great customer Jimmy came in 6th! Very happy Jimmy came and even chipped in by helping to keep scores for his squad! That's the way we like to roll!

Neil using a KAC gun with BCM 11.5" barrel, Aimpoint T1 in KAC mount and KAC Triple Tap Brake 

Martin using his MK18Mod 1 clone with BCM upper, LWRC 10.5" barrel, DD MK18 rail and AAC muzzle brake with EoTech 553

Mounce using his home made AK74 with Vortex flash hider and wood handguards he finished himself

Jimmy using his LMT MRP with 12.5" piston barrel, Aimpoint T1 in KAC mount and KAC Triple Tap brake with NT4 silencer

Just a few more pics from the build. Here's a couple from fitting the barrel.

Lapping compound and oil were used to get all the parts to fit together.

I thought the barrel would never get past this point. It's messy work.

Checkering the mainspring housing 

Mers is checking the fit between the hammer and sear. Dave said the sear and hammer have as perfect an engagement as he's seen.

Taking what amounts to a giant drill bit to your barrel? Also completely normal.

Dave talks about the reasoning behind lightening the physical weight of the trigger as well as the internally adjustable over travel screw on the Harrison Design trigger we're using. 

Stoning the surface of the sear 

Our friend Mers from Advanced Armament Company (www.advanced-armament.com) and I were invited to spend a week with Dave Erickson of Condition One Pistolsmithing (www.conditionone.us). Dave is showing Mers and I what it takes to build a truly custom, hand built 1911. What's the most fun is that we're learning how it's done by building a gun for me! Nighthawk Custom (www.nighthawkcustom.com) sold me a blank frame and nearly blank slide to fill with parts that Dave picked after finding out what style gun I wanted to build.

We're three days in and the mechanical part is done. There was not a drop in part in the pile. Everything was oversized and nothing fit together. It took us roughly 40 hours of effort to get the gun in shootable condition. It has blown my mind to see the work involved just to be able to pull the slide to the rear and have everything come to rest at lock up. We just got back from the local range and put 80 rounds through the bare steel, sharp edged, diamond in the rough. More to come...

Day 1: Mers spends hours working the slide back and forth using only oil to achieve a tight, smooth fit

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Day 2: Adding serrations to the front sight! (they're sitting on top of the Koa wood that will be my grips )

Starting to shape the wood for the grips.

Results at the end of day 2:

So far, Mers and I have broken one front sight, two 1/16" ball end mills, and a 1/4" end mill!

Day 3: Round will not drop into chamber. KKM barrels come undersized so you can cut the chambers to your liking.

Mike reams the chamber:

Until the gauge shows the round will fit.

While I fit the bushing to the slide and barrel to the bushing, this orange hammer, pair of gloves, a jar of lapping compound and I became quite friendly with one another over the next couple of days. 

Early on Day 3: The frame/slide/barrel/bushing finally all fits together. This is the first time the action locked into position after working it for hours over two days! "BOOM!"

Dave explains the relationship between the hammer and disconnect

Breaking out the welder:

End of day results, the gun fits together and is ready to shoot the next day.

Day 4: Head to the range and shoot for function: 

We all give it a go, watch ejection, look at spent cases, primer strikes etc to see if any fine tuning needs to be done. It was all good to go. Top-bottom: Myself, Mers and Dave:

Now the gun shoots like we want it to shoot, the work begins to get it to look like we want it to look! As I started this blog post, Dave's already put the ball end cuts into the front of the slide and Mike's cleaning them up while Dave starts cutting the magwell. I'll see what I can do to help.

Neil came in first place in Junes FDCC match in Lake City. He was using an older Bushmaster 16" HBAR with and Ops Inc M4S silencer, Trijicon TA11 in ARMS mount, and RRA 2 stage triggrer.

Mounce came in 12th place using his home made side folding AK74.

Billy came in 13th with his LMT 10.5" upper with AAC muzzle brake, standard trigger and Aimpoint T1 in LaRue mount.

Neil, Mounce and Billy:

Neil (me) came in 13th place  out of 31 shooters at Junes CFDCC match in DeLand. He was using a 12.5" LaRue Stealth gun with Geissele SSA trigger and Aimpoint T1 in Aimpoint mount. Not a great showing, but I still had a great time. My charging handle disassembled itself on the sixth course. I opted to tell the time keeper to keep the time running as I took cover and disassembled my gun, diagnosed the problem, fixed it and finished the course. My total time for the sixth course was 2:42.18. Most other shooters finished that course in about 40 to 50 seconds! It was a lot of fun.

Awesome new model from FN. Their Tactical model comes with a threaded barrel, heightened night sights to see over a silencer, a mounting bracket in front of the rear sight to attach a variety of red dot sights, Eagle Industries soft carry case, three 15 round magazines (15+1 rounds of .45!) and adjustable rear grip panels. Keep in mind FN is also offering a rebate on most of their firearms if you posses a valid military or law enforcement ID card (active or retired).

Pictured with soft case, AAC Evo .45 silencer and Dr. Optic red dot sight.

Bushmaster Standard ACR's are available in Black and Tan