1911 Pistol Magazine Drilling Jig

prusaprinters

<p>Helps to drill properly-spaced holes (0.531" on center) in the floor plate of a 1911 magazine, for mounting a base pad (such as my own <a href="https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/128321-1911-pistol-magazine-base-pad">1911 Pistol Magazine Base Pad</a>.)</p><h3>Printing Details</h3><p>I printed in PLA. &nbsp;The hole on the front side can be tapped with a #4-40 thread, and a set screw used to secure the jig on the magazine floor plate.</p><h3>Using the Jig</h3><p>You'll want to disassemble your 1911 magazine before you start, removing the follower and spring.</p><p>There are two versions of the jig: one for guiding a #43 drill bit, and one for guiding an 8mm diameter hardened steel center punch.</p><p>I didn't actually find the drill-bit guide very useful. Magazine floor plates are just too hard to be drilled easily with a handheld drill and soft plastic guide. I broke a cobalt drill bit in the attempt.</p><p>But using the center punch to make a good divot, and a carbide drill bit in a drill press at low speed, worked pretty well.</p><p>The punch I used is 8mm diameter, and came as part of a <a href="https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/hand-tools/marking-and-measuring/marking-tools/45502-veritas-optical-center-punch?item=05N5901">Veritas Optical Center Punch</a> kit. &nbsp;You will probably need to modify the design to match whatever punch you have (the size of the hole is set by the “PunchHoleDiameter” parameter in the Fusion 360 file.)</p><p>After drilling the #43 hole, finish it with a #4-40 tap to cut the threads.</p>