The second pistol I ever bought was a 1911 built on an Essex frame and slide. I went to a gun show with the intention of getting either a Walther P1 or a cheap 45 and walked out trophy in hand!
Even though I probably overpaid at the time, I left with a home built 1911 in poor shape that I secretly hoped was a well-worn competition pistol for $300. The brown parkerizing was worn on the frame and someone had done a poor job of sanding it off the slide. The slide had been left in the white except for a few spots they had missed and a greyish color that had begun to set in on the unprotected metal.
Once home, I polished the exposed chamber, hammer, and trigger and painted the slide and frame with a high-heat engine paint and cooked it in the kitchen stove at 400 degrees for two hours. I then changed the recoil spring for an 18.5lb since I wasnt sure what was in there, and adjusted the trigger overtravel to my liking.
To be honest I havent fired the pistol much, maybe 500 rounds over the years. Due to high ammo prices, it has been at least three years since I took it out. I recently decided to dust it off an try a box of Tula 230gr FMJ and see where I left off.
It shot consistently high at 25yds, which I now remembered was because the hammer would hit the Bo-Mar rear sight if it was any lower. The grip safety also dug into the webbing of my hand pretty badly, and it would probably feel better if it had a flat mainspring housing. I did have extraction problems, and will have to buy a new extractor.
I'm no expert of older firearms but is the ammo expensive because you need to use an older style or model of ammo, or do you just mean ammo in general is too expensive these days? If the latter is the case you should check out the prices on The Sportsman's Guide. The have really good deals on pistol ammo. Good luck, hope this helps out.
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