The 1911 I was issued in the Army was on it's last legs. And, it didn't shoot very good. Keeping them all on paper wasn't easy, actually getting a group was considered outstanding.
The last two days, I had the pleasure of shooting a WWII, 1911 bring back. It belonged to a pilot. The gentleman recently died and left the gun to his grandson, whom I work with. THe grandson showed it to me and I commented that if it was mine and I wanted to shoot it, I would replace all the springs in the gun. So, of course he asked me to do it for him. I was playing with the pistol at home and realized that none of the safeties worked. Neither grip, nor thumb. I adivsed him of this and told him that if it were mine, I would simply put it away as a family heirloom. But he kind of wanted to fire it. So, I dug around through my junkbox and found some parts. I replaced the hammer, sear, and thumb safety with some parts I had laying around. I also bought a Wolf Spring Pak and replaced every spring in the gun. I of course kept the original parts that showed clear signs of someone filing on them. Anyway, I took it out and it ran great. It was as accurate as any brand new 1911 out there. It doesn't rattle etc. I got to thinking that this is probably a GI 1911 that was never rebuilt etc. THis is what it would have been like back when they issued NEW 1911s to the troops. It is a fine old handgun that I would be perfectly willing to carry into harms way right now. There are a couple issues with it; the slide doesn't lock back on the last round, the sight are tiny, and it shoots high; would work great with a 6 o'clock hold on a 25 yard bullseye target. But, nothing super critical, I would want the slide lock though.
The last two days, I had the pleasure of shooting a WWII, 1911 bring back. It belonged to a pilot. The gentleman recently died and left the gun to his grandson, whom I work with. THe grandson showed it to me and I commented that if it was mine and I wanted to shoot it, I would replace all the springs in the gun. So, of course he asked me to do it for him. I was playing with the pistol at home and realized that none of the safeties worked. Neither grip, nor thumb. I adivsed him of this and told him that if it were mine, I would simply put it away as a family heirloom. But he kind of wanted to fire it. So, I dug around through my junkbox and found some parts. I replaced the hammer, sear, and thumb safety with some parts I had laying around. I also bought a Wolf Spring Pak and replaced every spring in the gun. I of course kept the original parts that showed clear signs of someone filing on them. Anyway, I took it out and it ran great. It was as accurate as any brand new 1911 out there. It doesn't rattle etc. I got to thinking that this is probably a GI 1911 that was never rebuilt etc. THis is what it would have been like back when they issued NEW 1911s to the troops. It is a fine old handgun that I would be perfectly willing to carry into harms way right now. There are a couple issues with it; the slide doesn't lock back on the last round, the sight are tiny, and it shoots high; would work great with a 6 o'clock hold on a 25 yard bullseye target. But, nothing super critical, I would want the slide lock though.
