Ballpark value: 1911 Bulls-eye Match
 

In hopes that the 1911 aficionados on the forum can bestow some guidance upon me, I submit the following:

I've recently acquired a M1911 from a friend who shot Bulls-eye format matches. It's built of all Colt parts on a Caspian frame. A Tasco Red-Dot optics system is mounted on the slide, its grips have been changed out to a system for Bullseye Match shoting--with thumb rest and an adjustable bottom"shelf" portion, and it has had a trigger job.

I realize that pics will be necessary for fine-tuning this online kind of appraisal, and I'll try to get some up soon. But I thought I'd throw this up, just to get started. My description is probably lacking important info or features, as well, so I welcome any questions of that nature.

The back story is that my friend was in a car accident almost two years ago and is unable to raise his arm to comfortably shoot. I believe he was the second owner, having purchased from another enthusiast who had the pistol built professionally--but by whom, I do not know. Anyway, he passed the 1911 on to me, along with a Dillon Sq.D B press, several hundred rounds of hand loaded SWC, a couple boxes of primers, 2 bags of swaged SWC, and a hopper full of 231 powder. I can use the reloading setup and supplies for my other 1911s, but wish to ultimately sell the pistol.

I'm not going to start shooting Bulls-eye, have another 1911 knock-off for the IDPA in which I dabble, so would like to pass this fine pistol along to someone who would give it a good home, at a price that is fair to both. Any other advice as to how best to accomplish this would also be appreciated.

Thanks, all,

David Parker
ithacaartist@gmail.com

Hi David,

It is a little more difficult to value a bullseye M1911a1 because so much of the potential work can be hidden. If you don't have a good description of the work that was done, and the parts specifically used it's even harder. Is there possibly documentation of the work (like gunsmith receipts) available.

Someone that would invest in a Caspian frame is working with a gunsmith at the higher end of M1911a1 modification, customization and tuning. The trigger job might have included the use of some of the higher end sear and safety parts. Is the barrel still a Colt barrel? Does it have a match chamber?

The bullseye shooters that I know at the club can pour many hundreds to a couple of thousand dollars into their guns - and that's after purchasing the original firearm. They rarely think about getting their money back out of the finished guns because they are lifetime purchases.

So... could be a $800 gun. Could be a $2,500 gun. Most likely in the mid $1000-1500 range.

Be particularly careful about shooting the hand loads. I personally don't shoot someone else's hand loads. I take them down to components and reload them.

Marc

Excellent advice on the handloads. Never shoot someone else's handloads. You can't tell how much of what kind of powder is in there, and you can't tell what kind of procedure was used to load them. Pull them down and start over. Ammo is cheap compared to a damaged gun due to suspect handloads.:crying:

IF there was any way to determine exactly who built this bullseye gun, that would help a lot. If built by a recognized pistolsmith, that definitely adds value......if by "old Joe that works on 1911s", it may definitely drop the value. Custom weapons built to the owner's specs can be hard to sell for reasonable values.

Thanks, guys, my next step is to take and post some pics, so stay tuned...

I agree with the previous posts, I NEVER accept to use cartridges loaded by anybody else, should I cause any damage I don't want to blame anybody else but myself, not only because you cannot be sure about what kind of powder and used handloading procedures, BUT you should always take into consideration any possible "mistake" as for instance a double loading, or a cartridge without powder inside. Until a few years ago I used to have several Colt 1911 and Colt 1911 A1, great pistols indeed, although if you want to have good fun at the range would be better to get something newer with small tolerances like Wilson Combat's.