Another 1911 Find
 

I picked up this rather nice all original colt 1917 1911 this week. This one is a keeper for sure, good all original 1911 and 1911a's are getting more and more harder to find as well as the price keeps going up.

If this old warhorse could talk:D

And this is a 1941 norwegian i traded for a few weeks back, not many of these around. Everything matchs and in about 95 percent.

Dan, If you ever want to part with the Norwegian, I have a friend here in Florida who is Norwegian and a top executive at Norwegian Cruise Lines. he trained with this gun and has been on the lookout for an example.

just got it. they are rare and just findinga good one and matched even harder to do.

Padre,

I've been a .45 lover, man and boy, for nigh onto 50 years now. In all this time I've never seen a Norwegian. (Heard about them, of course.) I'm absolutely impressed with that slide release! That might be the only real improvement in a 1911 since John Moses finished with it. How do you like its operation?

John

just fired it today, flawless, not one i will shoot alot, but as we know any of the 1911's are not ammo picky, this one will be a keeper.

The slide release, well lets say they got that one right. and talk about numbering parts, it has the military lugers beat, it cost me a ton, but how often do you even see one much less find one for sale.

I hope you don't take offense, but both guns are reblued.

not a bit, the price was adjusted for it. when you find rare 1911.s all matching you grab them up.

nice 1911's thanks for posting pics

yw. I own alot more 1911's than i do lugers. i allways have admired them and allways will. Never thinking that one day i would stake my life on one. This remington rand is only two digits off the one i carried over forty years ago. of all the guns in my collection this is the one i feel the closest to, hard to explain that kind of bond with a firearm. I would be wiling i am not the only one that feels that way.

Aw man! That is lovely :)

I must disagree. If you have ever owned an Argentine Army M1927 .45 (DGFM-FMAP) you would be impressed by the workmanship and innovation in manufacturing. For example, the trigger is milled out of one piece of steel (no stamping & silver-soldering). If you read the tool marks on other parts, you'll appreciate how the Argentines used their limited tooling resources to achieve the same ends Colt does/did on their M1911A1's.

I had a book once on the Argentine .45's; IIRC they nationalized the factory that Colt had financed (same with the FN plant)...

I still own one of these Argentine .45's, used to be my carry piece, now a safe queen...

Anyway, my point here was that Colt et al may have used manufacturing techniques and cost-cutting options that Browning may not have envisioned (or approved)...

That M1911A1 that you & I carried back in the 60's/70's was not exactly what JMB engineered...

maybe, but i never used a argentine 1927 to save the life of my wounded rto.

The 1911 patent filed by Browning is quite interesting...Overall, it resembles the M1911 as adopted by the US Army, but there are a lot of fascinating differences...

United States Patent 984,519
Issue Date: February 14, 1911

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...uery=PN/984519

It's a heart/love/confidence thing. I carry a 1911. (NOT A1)

Rationally, I "know" there are "better" guns, newer methods, faster this, cooler that...etc. And I know my 1911/Browning/Colt history; what Browning designed and what the Ordinance Boards changed and added.

"Bark 'N' Buck" (engraved thusly on the slide many years ago ) went with me to Desert Storm. I had to sneak it over and back. We weren't supposed to bring our own toys. Luckily, crusty over-aged Gunnery Sergeants don't get strip searched...at least not then.

As a Marine Tanker my TO weapon was a pistol and I wanted one that would remove unwanted and uninvited debris from my front slope.

To each his own...but to me, "Bark 'N' Buck is total...absolute...confidence. To all of you, I hope your choice makes you as confident.

(Jeez...is that a rant? Wow! I've never done a rant before. Cool! ;))

Best regards to all,

Gunny John

John, that was no rant, that was a HONEST statement. Perhaps a testament that sums up just how alot of us feel about ole slabsides, thank you for speaking your feellings ,alot of us share that bond of confidence with our 1911.s , like we do with no other. OHOO WAAA

I had a stainless Colt 1991A1 back some years ago. It's a very accurate pistol.

Recently, read an article on "Man at Arms" which talks about "Black Army 1911" (WWI wartime finish). It's very interesting.

The remington rand in the picture, every part on it except the frame is from my issued pistol, including the mags, so you see why i have such strong feelings about this old slab sides. took me nearly thirty years to find the correct and near matching frame, and it is only two numbers off the original serial number. Of course i never ever stop looking for the remington rand i once carried. But two numbers off is not bad. So how did i get the rest of the parts, easy ,as an armor i just swaped them for another set and turned it in as a rebuild. Put the original parts up for thirty years or so till the right frame came along and thats the results. sounds easy doesn't it/ It wasn't.:D

Nice Iron! Thanks for sharing Padre.
Not an expert, but I believe your Norwegian should just have diamonds and not the Colt emblem for grips.


Dave

yes that is correct, thats the only thing not matching, plus the colt grips have shrunk, but sure wasn't a deal killer. The grips will be alot easier to find than the pistol was.

They are hard to find. I've Only seen 2 in the flesh and one was a mutilated wreck at that.


Dave

Norge Mags
 

Padre,

BTW, I happened to come across this site offering what they say are original Norwegian magazines for their version of the 1911. Thought you may be interested.

http://northridgeinc.com/alias.cfm/magazines/

Regards,

John

Padre,

That's a nice collection of M1911s.
I really love the finish on those battlehorses.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
Douglas.

ty, only a small portion of my 1911's luckly i am a place in my life where i can afford to keep buying them before they are all gone.

This is my shooter, a colt SS gold cup national match upper built with wilson combat and ed brown parts, it runs flawless. Kinda fancy for a shooter, but i only had my self to please when building it.

WOOF!!!

(But I repeat myself.)

John

You might think i have a likeing for the 1911 and that would be correct. As a young green amor under the command of a sgt major, who believed that given just a little care, ole slabsides would again and again perform like no other sidearm on the battlefield. I paid attention and i learnd from a master armor, who till this day i can still hear him say " well kid you may just well learn a thing or two from me yet" Ty Sgt major because of you i have built some pretty nice "shooters"

the rand is my favorite out of all of them the trigger looks like theres no slop. Ive never cared for single stacks but Im glad you posted this. thanks

I am very partial to the remington rand, as it was built from nearly all the parts from my military sidearm of over forty years ago, it is all hand fitted and there is very little play in it.

11911 's do not allways come in single stack. This is a spring field armory hi Capacity .45 15 shot double stack. all the internals have been changed to wilson combat, this is the gun to have in todays real world of crazies, I would stake my life on it, and do.

In this day and time there are plenty of compact ,sub compact or mini's in all calibers, but over thirty five years ago there was the Detonics compact .45, this was my first concealed carry or back up, shoots as well now as it did back then. back in the day it was called my midgit with the attitude,

when compared to even other .45 compacts you see how small the six shot detonics is, and this was designed and built nearly forty years ago. Do you think detonics was ahead of the time ???:)

Padre, how's that Safari shoot?

I own six of the safari arms, from when they were the old phenix az company. None of them would work or were constant jammers when i got them, but after some fitting and tuning they all work fine now. The ported comp carry took me the longest, i fitted it to a standard frame. i think one of the reason safari arms went out of bussiness in az is these are semi custom guns and the were never tuned properly and got a really bad reputation, some of it deserved. I will usualy buy any i can find knowing going in i will be rebuilding them, but once you get the bugs worked out they are great guns.

Nice collection you have, thats real world defense. Sadley the price of lugers and original 1911's have gone out of sight the last few years, doubt we will see the prices drop anytime soon.