Upgrading my JMB stable

Tom68

New member
Went to the range on my birthday and made it a John M. Browning theme. As usual, the pistols shot much better than I did. Oh, and before I get corrected...yes, I know JMB died before the P-35 design was completed!

This may be an unusual point of view for some, but I'm not hankering to buy MORE pistols at this time...but I am hoping to upgrade a bit of what I have. Haven't made any real plans yet, but just sharing a little of what's on my mind for discussion sake.

P-35 Mk II Surplus: a real sow's ear that shoots much better than it looks. Rear sight appears to have been used as a hammer at some point. Initial plan is to refinish (dull matte finish), replace the rear sight with a Novak or Heinie, and replace grips...I really dislike the thumb rest. I've removed the magazine safety but I don't plan to do much with internal parts.

P-35 Mk III. Purchased LNIB, and has a C&S trigger job. Hoping to soon refinish with a deep glossy blue, and add some nice wood grips, and probably a new rear sight.

SIG 1911 Scorpion: this is a unit group-purchase pistol, and has my name and unit stuff engraved. it's a nice shooter: no changes for this one.

Colt 1991A1. I bought this new in '96 and have not changed anything to this point. Maybe some day down the road I'd like to make it glossy blue, and dress it up some...skeletonized hammer and trigger, wood grips. And...it does need some internal work: Trigger is far below that which I have experienced with other Colt 1911s. This is a long-range plan though; too many other priorities that need addressing first.

So, those are just my thoughts about improving what I have. I am new to my area, so I'll need to do some research to see what my local gunsmithing options are, and hopefully can avoid shipping. That wasn't much fun.

so, any opinions on cosmetic and functional improvements?
 

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As for upgrading what you have, it seems the MkII BHP is in the most need of spiffin' up. That said, I doesn't look like you have a BHP in .40S&W... :-)
 
You're right, the Mk II kind of stands out among the others as being a bit rough... but it shoots straight and I'd like to dress up the Mk III first. Would have liked one of the classy deep blued Browning marked ones from the past, but I went with what I could find at the time--a new Mk III with a matte finish. Hopefully soon I'll refinish the new one, then I'll spiff up the sow's ear.

The 1991A1 is lowest on the priority list, but I've got a feeling that it's got the most potential if I wanted to make it really special. I could probably put as much as I was willing into it, and still have upgrades left on the table. I think I paid around $600 for it way back when... someday it could be a real nice 'un.
 
I have a '91A1, 5" that I think was made in '96.
Regardless of how you feel about MIM components today, when Colt briefly made MIM extractors 20 years ago, they soon decided it was a bad move.
My gun had an MIM extractor, and upgrading it was at the top of my list.
The '91A1 has good "bones", and is a great basis for customizing.
 
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