The 1911 Handgun - 100 Years in Review

[TA]

This an article written by one of our guys. He is a retired Engineer with considerable experience with the 1911 and competitive shooting. As you read it, you can tell he is a hell of alot smarter than I am. ;D

www.hausofguns.com/2011/12/22/the-1911-handgun-100-years-in-review/

["DoubleAction"]

custom-only proposition from one of only a small handful of specialists. The same applies to extended thumb safeties for right-handers, ambidextrous thumb safeties for the left-handers, beavertail grip safeties to prevent hammer bite, adjustable sights, and even match grade accuracy. Today, you can get all of that and more right out of the box.

.....Yeah; I remember when having to do research for parts for my Colts. Back then, I didn't have The Internet, and every thing was done by snail mail for catalogs. I had subscriptions to about every handgun magazine available.

.....Books, Videos, Catalogs, Part Suppliers, Gun Shows, Gun Smiths, Dealers, and Gun Magazines became a way of life for me with Colts.

......My first contact was King Custom Gun Works and Wilson Combat. King had a drop in beavertail, but, it didn't have the slotted cutout for the hammer. When Wilson first introduced their drop in beavertail, it had the hammer cutout and the memory tab.

......The Wilson Staff was very good to me, and I ordered many items from them. I was still ordering from Brownell's, at the same time.

....The Colts kept me busy, because I had to learn everything about them. I could have went for the Springfield, but, it would only take the fun out of the experience. When Kimber began producing the 1911, I was already involved with my Colts.

......Most parts was designed for the Colts, which made the task much easier.

.....When General Keyes became the CEO of Colt, he made a promise to bring back the Series 70, and he did......I bought one of his Series 70 Colts and a Gold Cup Trophy, and these two pistols are the best production pistols, under $1,000, that I have ever fired. Of course, I gutted the factory fire control system of the Series 70, but, I only spent maybe $300. - $350. dollars for top end parts and Wolff Springs.

["DoubleAction"]

........Much pride is felt, when doing a Colt, especially when it shoots like a $2,000. dollar pistol. I think that I did the work on this pistol in 2002.

This particular pistol is one that Colt Re-Issued a few years ago from the Colt Custom Shop. I purchased this pistol with the intent of modifying a brand new blued Series 70 Colt. The polished blued flats on the carbon steel pistols are what the Colts are highly noted for, and the Series 70 is no exception. This pistol has excellent tolerances of fit with the frame to slide and barrel lockup. I eliminated the long spur hammer in favor of the Nowlin "Speed Demon", I also replaced the factory trigger with the fitted Dlask, which has a light Magnesium Shoe, and Titanium Stirrup. Other items I added was the EGW Sear, Briley Disconnector, Nowlin Full Length Guide Rod with reversed plug, Wolff Springs, a King's Thumb Safety, and a fitted Ed Brown Beavertail High Ride Grip Safety.
The trigger now breaks at 3 lbs., with almost zero take up and zero overtravel.

....The grip maker that made my Ivory Grips :

home.comcast.net/~mgpsrjr/