1911 BS thread

So here is the picture version of my 1911 saga.....................cause nobody owns just one 1911!

This what a buddy told me when I started looking for the TRP Operator.....................but I found this first...........

 

on the same day i was to put my Mil Spec in jail, I found the TRP Operator for a great deal and arranged to put it in jail right after the mil spec,,,,,,,,,,,,,,30 minutes apart.

Since I found it the same day i was putting the Mil Spec in jail, I just assumed it was divine intervention, cause you know God has a few 1911's!

 

While waiting for the first tow to be released from jail, I found a unicorn.
Colt MKIV/Series 70.
Now for those of you who do not live in Kommiefornia, a Colt is probably nothing special, but here they are not on roster so they bring all the money. But this guy needed cash so once again I am at my local FFL putting yet another 1911 in jail........................

 

Soon I am shooting my 1911's and be happy when a buddy calls me from the Great State of Georgia! (and yes he actually says, "Hey Mike, It's Jack, Jack from the Great state of Georg AHHH" as if he is the only Jack who lives in Georgia. And yes, He says "Georgia" like it is two words!

Then he tells me about this sweet Kimber 1911 he got a few days back and is surprised to find I own not a single Kimber..................................

so off the the FFL I go.......................

 

Now shooting a Kimber in 9mm is nice, but it like plying 9 holes when you wanted to play 18,,,,,,,,,,,,,,good but not great.....................

then the LGS made me a deal...............Bastards!

 

So now you can see why I think of 1911 guys like vegans,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,always trying to get you to convert, then they want you to have more an more until you only a 1911 guy...................

My next one will be more along this line................

But I has no badge so I have to be patient and catch a deal of a private party sale...................

 

So now to add to my 1911 addiction, i find TW gunsmith right down the road from me.

do you have a website with your services listed? Might want to do some work to the Colt Mark IV.

feel free to pm me.

 

Not sure but he does some amazing work as you can see. You can email him here...
CifaldiPrecision@att.net

You won't be disappointed.

 

That’s a sweet gun, the only things I would do is trigger n sear get her breakin at 3.5lb maybe a commander hammer and lowpro Heinie sights

You should get a photo of the whole family, personal preference I think they look better in condition one rather slide lock.

 

We are on the same page with the upgrades, maybe a fitted barrel as well............................let's see what the doc thinks, @SFSMedic .

And ALL of my pistols are in condition one normally, I had to make them safe for the pics.


On another note..........

anyone have the Les Bauer Thunder Ranch Special?
I want a higher end 1911, and keep having folks say Les Bauer, but don't want a 3500 safe queen. I shoot every gun I won,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,why, JC.

 

You referring to the Kimber? What would I recommend?

I wrote this and put it on calguns a while back because it’s a very common question.

“I just got a new 1911, what should I do to make it better”? I get asked this question a few times a day from potential customers. People have an innate desire to improve upon everything, especially items they own. Part of the problem with this question is that individuality needs to come into play. Each person is different, you have the “I want to pimp my ride” individuals and the “I like a sleeper hot rod” individuals and then of course everything in between.


With taking that into consideration and of course with lots of input from the Master 1911 smith I trained under, Will O’Hara (I owe everything I know about 1911smithing to him), I have an answer that I think well fits the entire spectrum of individuals that ask me this question.

However lately one caveat I didn’t take into consideration is the customers who know what they want, don’t always know exactly what they want. I have had a several customers lately call me with a whole host of things they wanted, and they knew exactly what they wanted. Because of this I didn’t go into my little spew of information that I am about to do below because to me it always felt like upselling, I hate selling things, probably because I don’t like pushy sales people. This was an error on my part, I’m not selling anything. I am informing the customer so they can make the most informed and educated decision, so we don’t have to go back and do more work later.


Will would always say, what good is an accurate gun if its not reliable? Once its reliable what’s the point if the gun can’t hit anything. He instilled that mechanical reliability took precedence over everything first. So here is what I tell customers when they call.


Reliability


Above all else the gun should be reliable, not mostly reliable most the time. As reliable as any other gun on the market. There is no reason a 1911 can’t be as reliable as any other modern gun. With that said, not every 1911 is eligible for a reliability package. If your gun is reliable, meaning you can pick up any old box of factory ammo at the store and grab any old factory or aftermarket magazine out of the range bag it’ll go bang, extract, eject, feed, chamber and repeat every time with a proper lock back at the end then your gun is reliable and therefore doesn’t need a reliability package. If you must run only Wilsons, or only Chips with only ball ammo but it works every time with that combo then that is not a reliable gun, sorry.


“Oh, but the design is old, it’s an antique, you can’t expect much from it”. BS! The design is old, sure. Metallurgy has been greatly improved, changes have been made and improvements put into the design. The 1911s downfall is simple, it doesn’t do well in mass production. Because of the complexity of its design all the parts must work harmoniously together (just like any gun) but the problem falls in a lot more moving parts when you compare it to a modern striker fire gun. The 1911 truly is a complex piece, more like a watch than a gun.


Reliability is achievable, ask any one of my customers who have had a reliability package performed. You are not going to make a gun reliable by polishing parts, or putting slick coats on them to help with lubricity or the mantra of running them wet will break them in. That’s just not how it works. A gun is either in spec or its not. Shooting in a tight barrel is a bit different as it will peen itself slightly to loosen up if its properly fitted to the gun so yes there are caveats, nothing is cut and dry.


My experience of issues with factory guns are usually undersized parts to allow the gun to be mass produced. An undersized firing pin stop for example, this allows the extractor to clock or turn which creates erratic extraction and can hinder reliable feeding. Common problems are undersized ramps, sharp barrel throats that cause 3-point binds, chambers reamed specifically for ball ammo, undersized reamers because the reamers been used sharpened used sharpened used sharpened so many times it is now undersized, so rounds don’t want to reliable feed or extract. Overcut breach faces, and the list goes on. All these things on their own wouldn’t be a huge deal but when they begin to stack up you now have a reliability issue.


Accuracy


Once reliability is addressed, whether the gun needs a reliability package, or you have a truly reliable factory gun we can move on to accuracy. There are 2 kinds of accuracy improvements, the kind of upgrades that simply improve the shooters input into the gun and then mechanical improvements to the gun.

Shooter input accuracy improvers is a much simpler subject. Those would be better sights and a trigger job. Shooter input would not change the guns inherent accuracy if the gun was put into ransom rest.


Sights aren’t always necessary anymore because manufacturers have really stepped up their game on sights. They are also a very personal thing, some people like the u notch, others adjustable sights, some fiber optic and others tritium. Get what you want and have them put on the gun if they aren’t already, simple as that.

Trigger job, now this one can be a can of worms. As Will would always say books can be written on this subject. I don’t care what it says on the package, none of them are drop in. Will they maybe drop in and work, sure? Will they drop in and work like a professional trigger job, no way. All is it takes to change your mind is shoot one gun with a professionally done 1911smith trigger job to know what you’ve been missing. This is pure shooter input to the gun, that ever so slight take up, no creep, no gritty feel and break of the sear to hammer engagement allowing the hammer to fall and fire the gun. The less slop you have and the more consistent that break is the more consistent you will shoot.


Those 3 things (reliability, sights and trigger job) above are my always recommended work to do to a 1911 when a customer calls me asking what they should do. All three address reliability and accuracy and are not expensive to do all three. The above can be done almost entirely on OEM parts already in your gun so the fee is nearly all labor. I can tell you as far as parts go, you will need a couple but they are very inexpensive (with the exception of sights, they can range from $30 for some DP Fiber Optic front sight to the skies the limit).


There is a next step in the accuracy department I tell the customer as well but its not the standard 3 things I recommend, this is an extra add on that now starts getting into a significant investment to the gun. It lies in the realm of the hot rod sleeper at this point. A gunsmith fit barrel. This is not only a mechanical improvement to the accuracy of your gun but it’s the single biggest accuracy improvement you can do. Yes, there are other mechanical improvements that can be made but this has the most significant effect. The argument will come in that many guns will outshoot their owners. While this is true its not ALWAYS true, there are problem children guns. But my gun came with a match barrel, yes this is also true the barrel itself is good quality, but the fit is factory drop in and doesn’t compare to a fitted barrel. A mechanical accuracy improvement would consistent a noticeable difference if the gun was shot from a ransom rest.


A barrel locks up with 3 points, the bushing, the top lugs and the bottom lugs. You want all three of these points to have a snug fit that cause the barrel to return to the same orientation to the sights each time that way your point of aim (POA) are consistent with your point of impact (POI). You get all varying levels of this from factory guns, some are fine for the intended purpose of the gun. Hell, my own personal Range Officer has a factory barrel in it and it suits my needs for what I use it for. It shoots a rat hole at 10 yards. If I fit a barrel it would be better, but again unnecessary at the time I built the gun. My other gun shot 2.5” groups at 10 yards caused by a loose-fitting barrel, it got upgraded. I’m sure you guys can tell by now I am not of the belief that every gun has to have any of this work done, but to know and understand what each thing does you can make your own decision yourself based of your personal experience with your gun.


Where I have failed at explaining things with my customers a few times is the next portion of this.


This is where we get into the customer who knows what they want. They call me up, ask for a reliability package and then rattle of a list of cosmetic or aesthetic upgrades they want. I just start taking notes, so I can accurately quote them. The first thing out of my mouth is what is your gun not doing that you think it needs a reliability package (I don’t make a habit of selling a customer something they don’t need). What I am forgetting to ask is how accurate is it. You can’t paint a sports car a different color, add a wing and some nice wheels and then expect it to be faster. It needs to be addressed through mechanical accuracy improvements, such as a gunsmith fit barrel.


I struggled with writing this because I did not want any of my current customers to think this is directed at them as it is not in fact I take partial blame if this was something we needed to address later a build, it is written with the intent to help educate other enthusiasts, so we didn’t head down this road again. I don’t pretend to be a word smith, so I apologize if this got a little rambly or my grammar wasn’t excellent.

 

I had a Les Baer TRS.

I’d buy 10 more. Worth every penny.

 

Well stated sir.

 

So first off, let me say thank you for taking the time to write this up. Way beyond what I would have expected, but the fact you took the time to fo says volumes about you.
I am.on cal guns so i surprised I haven't found you before this forum.

I took your email address and taking just the name found your website and read through your bio, always good to know a bit about your 1911 gunsmith and brother in arms.

The reliability and accuracy were already on my list. Also trigger job, it seems to have lots of travel and sloppy.

By the way, I wasn't referring to the Kimber, but rather the ColtMK IV.
It's an older pistol, and it jams a bit, not near as much as it did went I got it.
I was wondering about the finish, reblue or leave it.
I also see some slide cuts n other stuff which I have zero idea what they are for.

Not sure it had ever been cleaned really well.

And it being older, the accuracy lacks a bit. Being an older guy, the eyes are my biggest problem.
But it's a piece that's kind of hard to come by here Kommiefornia, and I would like to pass it on to my grandson some day.

I am going to reach out to you via your website and bring it so you can check it out in person.

 

Thanks for the feedback..........

Now just got to tell the wife what she's getting me for Christmas.

 

Email me a couple pics of the Colt please. I’ts easier than sitting through the thread I can’t always keep up with.

As for the Les Baer I’ve had a few in the shop for a very nice gun I’d recommend looking at Dan Wesson.

 

Only a couple of Dan Wesson on roster
Both Stainless,


I will email some good pics of the Colt in a bit

 

Nothing wrong with stainless. Unless of course you don’t like the looks of it.

 

I just bought a Colt 01911ANVIII that one of the retailers here got in on consignment.
Looked as though it has never been shot, the second mag was still in the wrapping.
I’ll post pics when I get it home in a few days.

That’ll be the 3rd 1911 I’ve owned.
First was a SAM Commander (It wasn’t great so I sold it), second was a 1918 made Colt (had been re-finished and had the “US Property” Filed off, so to me it wasn’t perfect so I traded it).

Found myself missing having a 1911 so I decided to sell my 9mm USP to buy a new Colt.

 

But black guns are way cooler.


Pics sent to ur email