Your Essex came to be when investment casting suddenly was a go-to for gun parts.
All manner of anomalies occurred then - some fixable if one started substituting parts - reshaping frame rails by building up with weld - different slides - and so on and so forth.
I 'knew a guy' and got a number of un-finished Essex and Crown City frames at cost or below that were built into accurate, serviceable pistols fully the equal of any WWII-era GI piece, but there was a lot of individual fitting to each.
I had the time 'and' GI parts and viewed it as therapy, so I took care and did the work - when I found the right combination, I bead-blasted it all, blued it and they went on their merry way - looking good and working as they were intended, handling both hardball and JHPs with ease.
These frames all seemed to need 'something', but if one knew what he was doing, they worked.
Unfortunately, 'back in the day' you could buy a GI .45 for around $100, so those often were chosen, simply because they were already assembled and available - the idea of getting your own .45 'on the cheap' didn't work out unless you had a bunch of parts.
Accuracy-wise, you 'should' be able to hit a milk jug at 50 yards with standard ammunition - they kinda shoot 'minute of torso' - so back up your targets and use a sandbag to see exactly where your rounds strike consistently on the target paper (not necessarily on the actual target) - maybe we can go on from there.
Good Luck!
All manner of anomalies occurred then - some fixable if one started substituting parts - reshaping frame rails by building up with weld - different slides - and so on and so forth.
I 'knew a guy' and got a number of un-finished Essex and Crown City frames at cost or below that were built into accurate, serviceable pistols fully the equal of any WWII-era GI piece, but there was a lot of individual fitting to each.
I had the time 'and' GI parts and viewed it as therapy, so I took care and did the work - when I found the right combination, I bead-blasted it all, blued it and they went on their merry way - looking good and working as they were intended, handling both hardball and JHPs with ease.
These frames all seemed to need 'something', but if one knew what he was doing, they worked.
Unfortunately, 'back in the day' you could buy a GI .45 for around $100, so those often were chosen, simply because they were already assembled and available - the idea of getting your own .45 'on the cheap' didn't work out unless you had a bunch of parts.
Accuracy-wise, you 'should' be able to hit a milk jug at 50 yards with standard ammunition - they kinda shoot 'minute of torso' - so back up your targets and use a sandbag to see exactly where your rounds strike consistently on the target paper (not necessarily on the actual target) - maybe we can go on from there.
Good Luck!
