1911Tuner
November 18, 2003, 06:33 PM
1964 was a good time for gun collectors, and especially for fans of the 1911. Colt was the only game in town if you wanted a commercial pistol. It came in 4 basic flavors: The Government Model...The Commander...Combat Commander, and the Gold Cup if you were a bullseye competitor. For any others, one had to seek out a USGI pistol. That was an easy task, since they were abundant and reasonably priced.
Gun shows were their main millieu, and I can remember pretty decent examples going for 50 bucks. Nice ones went up into the 70-80 dollar range, and the really pristine specimens commanded the premium prices in the 125-150 dollar range. The "collector class" had just been established, and Union Switch & Signals or Navy Colts were starting to climb toward 200 dollars. There was no paperwork required, and you were as likely to arrange a parking lot deal with the high sheriff as with anybody else. The pistols' conditions ranged from rough and loose to pretty decent...but they all worked. The magazines were all governement contract, and they worked too. For perspective, at that time a new, Royal Blue Colt Python would go home with you for $175.00 and a Smith Model 29 was about a buck-and-a-quarter...with a box of ammo thrown in to sweeten the deal.
I was 12 years old, and weekend gun shows were the place to be. My father and I haunted all within driving distance, and we rarely came home without at least one 1911. Colts and Rands were most often the prize for the day, but there were a couple of Union Switches and even a bare Singer frame once...Myfather was a tool and die maker, and his brother was a retired navy armorer. I got my first experience with rebuilding the old warhorses from them at age 13. We had to rebuild most of them because we were a working class family. We bought the 50-dollar guns. I remember one that came home with us for 35 bucks...in full working order. Rough as a cob. I still have it, and it still works. It was my first rebuild...the one my father let me learn on...because it was so rough. It's a 1918 production Colt, GI issue. Only the barrel was replaced.
Out came the calipers, files and stones. The guns were stripped and cleaned, and the process began. Frame rails were welded and recut. Very little rail "peening" was done...Swaging the rails down a little to eliminate vertical play was about all, and only enough to keep from seeing light between slide and frame at the dust cover. Small parts like extractors, firing pins, slidestops and such were fairly plentiful at the shows...and they were all GI New Old Stock...and none were governemnt rejects. I remember buying new extractors still in the paper for a buck. Firing pins were 3 for a dollar, and magazines were 50 cents each...5 dollars a
dozen.
Along came the influx of commercial pistols from other sources, and the war was on. Market shares and profit margins became the bottom line. Colt's pride was at stake, and they had to get more pistols out there AND at a price that would lure a potential buyer away from Springfield Armory. Tough to do, especially since the old school assemblers at their Hartford plant were retiring...People also from another world...people who had a deep sense of pride in their work...people who knew the pistols inside and out because of the 30-40 years of service with Colt. Mass-produced they were...Carelessly assembled they were NOT. Every level of production was painstaking...form the design room to the foundry to the machine shop to the final assembly and inspection/testing phase. Everybody was both careful and skilled. Most of them were left over from the WW2 era,
and were still affixed with the mindset of building pistols that were going to war. They had to work. This mindset stuck, and they built some very good pistols.
It was another time in another place. It won't likely return.
Cheers.
Tuner
Gun shows were their main millieu, and I can remember pretty decent examples going for 50 bucks. Nice ones went up into the 70-80 dollar range, and the really pristine specimens commanded the premium prices in the 125-150 dollar range. The "collector class" had just been established, and Union Switch & Signals or Navy Colts were starting to climb toward 200 dollars. There was no paperwork required, and you were as likely to arrange a parking lot deal with the high sheriff as with anybody else. The pistols' conditions ranged from rough and loose to pretty decent...but they all worked. The magazines were all governement contract, and they worked too. For perspective, at that time a new, Royal Blue Colt Python would go home with you for $175.00 and a Smith Model 29 was about a buck-and-a-quarter...with a box of ammo thrown in to sweeten the deal.
I was 12 years old, and weekend gun shows were the place to be. My father and I haunted all within driving distance, and we rarely came home without at least one 1911. Colts and Rands were most often the prize for the day, but there were a couple of Union Switches and even a bare Singer frame once...Myfather was a tool and die maker, and his brother was a retired navy armorer. I got my first experience with rebuilding the old warhorses from them at age 13. We had to rebuild most of them because we were a working class family. We bought the 50-dollar guns. I remember one that came home with us for 35 bucks...in full working order. Rough as a cob. I still have it, and it still works. It was my first rebuild...the one my father let me learn on...because it was so rough. It's a 1918 production Colt, GI issue. Only the barrel was replaced.
Out came the calipers, files and stones. The guns were stripped and cleaned, and the process began. Frame rails were welded and recut. Very little rail "peening" was done...Swaging the rails down a little to eliminate vertical play was about all, and only enough to keep from seeing light between slide and frame at the dust cover. Small parts like extractors, firing pins, slidestops and such were fairly plentiful at the shows...and they were all GI New Old Stock...and none were governemnt rejects. I remember buying new extractors still in the paper for a buck. Firing pins were 3 for a dollar, and magazines were 50 cents each...5 dollars a
dozen.
Along came the influx of commercial pistols from other sources, and the war was on. Market shares and profit margins became the bottom line. Colt's pride was at stake, and they had to get more pistols out there AND at a price that would lure a potential buyer away from Springfield Armory. Tough to do, especially since the old school assemblers at their Hartford plant were retiring...People also from another world...people who had a deep sense of pride in their work...people who knew the pistols inside and out because of the 30-40 years of service with Colt. Mass-produced they were...Carelessly assembled they were NOT. Every level of production was painstaking...form the design room to the foundry to the machine shop to the final assembly and inspection/testing phase. Everybody was both careful and skilled. Most of them were left over from the WW2 era,
and were still affixed with the mindset of building pistols that were going to war. They had to work. This mindset stuck, and they built some very good pistols.
It was another time in another place. It won't likely return.
Cheers.
Tuner