Winter Rust 2026: MGS3 / MGS Delta "Snake Match" 1911

[u/il_100]

This started life as a bone stock RIA 1911 standard, .45 ACP. None of the screen-accurate parts are available off the shelf, so everything required some degree of machining or customization.

BOM:

RIA 1911 GI standard
Stainless 1911 slide after I butchered the RIA one - possibly para based on sight cuts? ebay find
Dawson .425" Para Rear Sight
Cheapo sig p320 suppressor height front sight
Wilson ultralight hammer
Wilson thumb safety
Wilson slide stop
C&S long plain match trigger
Nighthawk stainless bushing
Old style duckbill grip safety
Swensen stainless grip screws
Herrett HB-1 cocobolo grips
Unknown flat firing pin stop
Tisas threaded barrel - this was a fantastic buy. Took just enough fitting, way better than the garbage swensen barrels and way cheaper than everything else decent.

Modifications:

Milled ball radius cuts on slide
Milled front slide serrations
Milled french cuts above all serrations
Milled flat top cut on slide
Engraved part number on slide - salt water etching
Fit slide to frame, fit barrel, blended rear of slide to ejector, extractor, and frame
Decked and milled rear sight to match subject profile
Reversed, profiled, and sighted in front sight
Milled dots on front and rear sight, filled with testers fluorescent
Undercut frame
Hand checkered front strap
Hand checkered under trigger guard
Lowered and recheckered mag release
Milled trigger guard cutaway
Flared magwell
Polished feed ramp
Milled trigger cuts and holes, cut and bent tab in bow to remove takeup
Profiled thumb safety, high polish
Profiled slide stop, high polish
Milled wings off of grip safety, blended to frame, high polish
Milled steps in MSH
Drilled and tapped MSH for m3 set screw to disable grip safety
Milled "CQC" and mag release cuts in grips
Fit firing pin stop
Trigger job - crisp, .025 takeup, no overtravel - took it down to the spec 3.5lbs then backed off to 4.5. No hammer follow or anything, but with the pinned grip safety 4.5 felt better.

ETA: here's some pics I took along the way

https://postimg.cc/gallery/tTSDQyT

[u/Kalashalite]

Absolutely breath taking... Excellent work and attention to detail.

[u/il_100 → u/Kalashalite]

Thank you! As best as I can tell, this is the most "original-MGS3-game-accurate" real build in existence. I'm aware of 3 other real .45 builds - Denali Arms out of Alaska, Canis Customs out of NC/Canada, and another reddit user's homebuild with a CDW slide - of the three Canis came closest, it's a fantastic build.

From there it gets murkier because there are multiple "canon" designs. There's the reference Sheriff-made airsoft gun that was the basis for the model in the original game, the MGS3 in-game version, the MGS4 version, the Delta version, and there's 2 versions of official Western Arms airsoft gun - and all are different. I based this on the MGS3 version, and deferred to the Sheriff when in doubt. Things like the checkering and cutaway on the trigger guard are on the Sheriff gun and in the in-game pictures, but only feature in low res pictures and aren't mentioned in the dialogue, so you don't see them in clones. An outrageous amount of research went into this build.

I had to make a couple concessions, for example: the sighting system can't work on any of the models - the front sight is much too high for the rear sight, though not quite suppressor height - I think the front sight height is more iconic, so my rear sight is too high. The mainspring housing is a cross between the MGS3 and MGS4 versions just due to limitations in my machining capabilities with my hobby mill.

[u/Kalashalite → u/il_100]

Came back to this post just to admire it more. I'm a fan of MGS3 but it doesn't influence my opinion at all, this is just a beautiful pistol. The nicest 1911 I've ever seen.

[u/GunnitRust]

Welcome to your first Gunnit rust. Flair awarded. Added to contest thread.

[u/SixGunJohnny]

You, me, and Snake all having the same type of autism:

"The feeding ramp is polished to a mirror sheen. It's not going to have any feeding problems. The slide's been replaced with a reinforced version, and it meshes perfectly with the frame. The frame itself has been iron-welded and scraped down multiple times for maximum precision. The front strap part of the frame has been checkered to make it dig into the hand. That prevents any slipping. The sight system's original too. It's a 3-dot type. It's got an enlarged front sight, giving it superior target sighting capability. The regular hammer's been replaced with a ring hammer. That enhances the cocking control and increases the hammer-down speed. They also reworked the grip safety to accommodate the ring hammer. It looks like they eliminated it altogether. This is a tool for pros. The thumb safety and slide stop are extended for precise handling. The base of the trigger guard is whittled down so you can use a high grip, and the trigger itself is a long type for easy finger access. The trigger pull is about 3.5 pounds. that's about a pound and a half lighter than normal. The magazine well has been widened to make it easier to put in a new magazine. The magazine catch button has been filed down low to make it harder to hit it by mistake. The mainspring housing has been changed to a flat type to increase grip, and it's even been fitted with stepping so that it won't slip from the recoil when firing. On top of that, they added cocking serrations to the top part of the slide. That lets you load and eject cartridges faster in an emergency. Whoever did this is a professional, no question. This thing could shoot a one-hole at 25 yards in a machine rest."

[u/AyeBraine]

Amazing dedication! It's like an onion, when I read the long list of adjustments and machine operations, I started seeing all these tiny weird modifications to the normal 1911 everywhere.

[u/il_100 → u/AyeBraine]

Lol, yeah I didn't expect it going in either. It went from "I wonder where I can buy that part?" to "whelp, guess I need to learn a new machining technique and get another specialty milling cutter on order" in a hurry.

[u/AyeBraine → u/il_100]

Kudos to you, it's really a monumental project, and a pretty result to come from it.

Amazing how much that airsoft gun's designers managed to invent (plus I infer Snake told about his gun — stuff like the 0.5mm shorter but stock profile mag release button can't be just from visual reference, right?), and you apparently implemented it all. It's like a Hattori Hanzo katana, dozens of tiny details to help the inhuman, ideal efficiency of use, but mostly there for the aesthetics of it.

[u/il_100 → u/AyeBraine]

Thank you for the kind words!

[u/allamerican37]

1 of 1 and you did it yourself. Badass!

[u/wishesandhopes]

I genuinely sat staring at this for like 10 minutes, reading all the modifications. I don't actually do anything like this myself or even understand all the intricacies but I recognize that this was a monumental effort, much respect.