Why 1911's are evil...

T

Tamara

Moderator Emeritus
It all started (again) with my most recent 1911 purchase. My main problem with the things is that, with the plethora of aftermarket geegaws and doodads for them, I just can't leave well enough alone. When the "Bi-Tone" Springfield V-10 showed up in our showcase, I traded my Border Marshal for it happily, knowing that the basic V-10 platform had all the widgets one could possibly want already affixed to it and that this particular example had already been set up well (ramp & throat, 24 lb recoil spring) by a good gunsmith. This one could therefore stay unchanged, just the way I bought it.

The plan lasted two weeks before everything started going to hell. My roomie needed to order some wood stocks for his 640 Carry Comp, saying "just pick out some nice ones from a catalog". Well, okay, that necessitated a trip to the 'grips' section of the Brownell's book to pick out some cocobolo Ahrend's carry grips. Unfortunately, on the way there, my eyes settled on the uncheckered, contoured "CCW" Officer's Model grips by Navidrex. Hmmmm, "Grained Ebony wood", eh? I bet those'd be snazzy on that stainless frame... Cha-ching! So the grips came in and got screwed onto the gun, exposing one of the big flaws in the Springfield frame; boy, is it ever blocky across the frontstrap! Five minutes later, I'm standing with our gunsmith and the shop's owner discussing the price of re-contouring the frontstrap, and, what the heck, let's re-contour the dust cover while we're at it. Cha-ching! Then a Chip McCormick trigger of the lightweight aluminum persuasion came in by mistake. It sure did look cool... Cha-ching! Only it didn't fit; way too sloppy (As our 'smith put it: "Drop in? Yeah, you could 'drop it in' from across the room"). But that was okay; we had a custom gun lying around in parts that wasn't due for delivery for another couple of weeks, and it had a brand new STI polycarbonate and titanium trigger still in the zip-loc that'd be a perfect fit. It wasn't like he was going to screw the custom together today, we could always order another trigger before we had to put it together... Cha-ching! Then the gunsmith mentions that since we have a nice trigger in it, we may as well order the rest of the Cylinder & Slide action bits to go with it. Cha-ching! After the thing is strapped back on my hip, I gouge my right wrist on the "Sure-Snagtm " shark fin sights for the zillionth time. Better order some Novaks. Cha-ching! And, you know, everybody has one of those cool memory groove or memory bump or whatever grip safeties on their 1911 these days, and I'd better get a good low-profile ambi thumb safety while I'm at it. Cha-ching! Cha-ching!

If you have a 1911, I'm warning you; the Brownell's catalog is pure evil and gunsmiths are the very mouthpieces of the devil! Burn the catalog! Stay away from gunsmiths! (Or develop a taste for ramen noodles and frozen burritos, whichever... ;) )
 
Ahhhh.. you've been bitten with the custom 1911 bug.. I see BCP's, Heinie's and Ed Brown's in your future.. Don't resist it.. it's futile.. :D


1911's just beg to be customized.. something you can call ALL your own I 'spose..

Rick
 
I think it was in Houston, back around a half-century or so ago when guys would show up from Kalifornia with really pretty, shiny hotrods. They'd regularly take second place in the Midnight Drags, running against--among others--a kid from Tony Foyt's shop. This led to the saying, "Welllll...If it don't run, chrome it." :)

You reckon when you get that thang all purtified up, it'll still be okay to shoot? You mean you'd take it out and get it all dirty and grungy? I mean, it'd be about like a gal all made up for the dance, showing up with a grease smear on her cheek, if you actually shot it?

(With all them thingies on it, it WILL still shoot?)

:D, Art

"Life is a banquet, and I ain't gonna settle for Ramen Noodles!" (With apologies to Patrick Dennis and Aunty Mame.)
 
Oh, I've done it before, and no matter how many times I swear it won't happen, I wind up doing it again...

Perhaps that's why there's an STI 2011 frame and an SVI Infinity interchangeable breechface slide on order. I wonder if they make STI grip frames in bubblegum pink? I feel the need for a "Hell-ooo Kitty" double-stack in some sick caliber like 9x25 Dillon... ;)

And, yes Art, she's still a workin' gun; that pretty bead-blasting on the frontstrap is already smudged up with marks from the chair I sit in at work, and the front of the trigger guard has marks from the Bianchi Askins Avenger she rides in. But, hey, my guns work for a living... :D
 
Boy, do I feel like a pariah.

My ideal working autopistol is a "liberated" GI issue 1911. I replace them little dinky sights with National Match High Sights (fixed). It has a extended beavertail grip safety, cause I have just exactly the hands for "hammer bite". (The permanent scar is not protection.)

I don't do many doo dads.

However, it is a fine testament to Old John that after all the years, and all the "enhancements" that the 1911 beastie works at all! Barrels and slides shortened, barrels and slides shortened, heavy springs, light springs, throated barrels, ramped barrels, plastic frames, plastic parts, big adjustable sights, no sights, telescopic sights and suppressors.

... and still ticking!

(This moment of reflection brought to you by the "God Bless John Moses Browning Society.)
 
But of course,

...a 1911's only sure way to get a pass from me in the custom bits & pieces dep't is to have "U.S. Gov't Property" stamped on the frame. I'd no more doodad up a retired veteran 1911 than I'd sporterize an old warhorse of a bolt-action rifle.

Some things are just better left alone. :)
 
Hey, I've heard of that society! How do you join? :)

I don't have any cool stories like y'all. The only 1911 I can get my hands on is a loaner (I still went out and bought some Hogue grips for it). Still...just not quite as cool until I get my own.
 
Custom? you want Custom?

Build a Colt- Seecamp DA .45 out of a Viking Frame kit and a 1991 upper. Add some extended Chip Mccormick doo dads.. DA trigger is a CRISP 17+ pounds, it shoots really high but the SA trigger is a nice 3.5. wearing its houge grips it feels like a tank, its heavy, it cost so much i could not afford to polish it up with a new glossy finish. Its not particularly reliable, and the other day I started getting hammer follw down when I drop the slide.. well back to Qualitie' pistol and revolver for round 2. It will never be a 'carry gun' like i had hoped.. but man is it COOL.
 

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Put wood grips on a .45 and tighten slide and a barrel and bushing......then tell them California folks. "It';s not safe here...stay home...then send the word"....
I've shot and carried one of these for 40 years........it has it's own history....
Dan
 
Ed Brown memory groove beavertail, VERY nice. I replaced the one on my Les Baer with the Ed Brown. It's a milled part (not cast) and provides a very nice high grip. I also have one of those STI super light triggers. The Videcki's look nicer but the STI is very functional and damn near indestructable.
 
Well, cometh confession.

My Pet Puppy for carry is a Lightweight Commander. I traded slides with a buddy; he had put S&W sights on it, and the sharp edges were notably rounded, including the edges of the bushing.

I used oven cleaner to remove the anodizing, and used double-strength chemicals and double the time to do an electroless nickel finish on the frame. Before the re-finish, all sharp edges were filed/sanded from the frame. A buddy of mine put on a beavertail grip safety, smoothed the back of the mainspring housing and did a fantastic trigger job. The trigger breaks very cleanly at three pounds, and the hammer never follows.

Nothing fancy on the grips; Colt's checkered wood.

The sights gotta be checked for tightness, but it's for carry, not for regular range use.

It's a truly nice little Security Blanket.

:), Art
 
Tamara,

If you REALLY want to get impoverished get a BCP 9x23 built on an STI frame... something depraved like 18+1 rounds of 124gr@1500+ FPS. :D

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And Winchester even makes factory ammo for it!
 
Everybody needs a least one 1911 to gussy up. Go ahead, enjoy!
Get it out of your system. Sooner or later you will realize that you don't need most of that stuff on it. I have finally learned that a pretty 1911 is fun to shoot but it ain't necesarilly better. ;)
 
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