1911Tuner
Moderator Emeritus
Here's a new old view of the M-1911 pistol. have patience...I post this on every forum that I am involved with, mainly to get the "Custom" questions addressed.
I don't build high-end custom guns. I feel that it's best left to the artists, and because it's just not the way that I look at a 1911 pistol. It's been rumored that I don't do it because I can't do it well. Of course I can. I'm a toolmaker. I've worked with tolerances of less than .00005 inch, and made tooling worth 3,000 dollars that you can literally carry around in a shirt pocket. The tolerances in even a perfectly-fitted 1911 are a football field by comparison.
I don't do it because I don't look at the gun as a toy, even though there are lines of custom-built guns that are aimed at the serious pistolero. The 1911 was never intended to be a target arm, nor a pistol to use for playing IDPA, IPSC, or other games of "Let's Pretend." It was...and is, a pure killing machine with nothing incidental or that doesn't lend itself to that task. Even the lanyard ring is multi-purposed. Much too sturdy to be used simply for tying the pistol to the cavalryman, it's also a skull pommel, and it makes for a nifty bottle opener too.
It was never intended to have a crisp, light trigger, nor 50-yard accuracy. It didn't need these things. It was designed for close-quarters fighting, and as something that was handed to troops whose MOS didn't call for the issuance of a rifle. Officers, mortar crews, tank crews, and bomber and fighter pilots are examples. Lastly, it was an emergency, last-ditch-effort tool to use to extract a man from the swamp if he suddenly found himself up to his...er...hip pockets in alligators.
I don't consider the issue of the slide locking open on the last round to have much impact on the real-world use of the pistol. That is nothing more than a stoppage, even though it's an engineered stoppage. It's much like surgery... which is essentially engineered, controlled trauma. If you are reduced to having nothing but a pistol to fight for your life with, you're in a pretty bad fix , and a stoppage of any type is not the desideratum. Take advantage of the fact that it can be reloaded with the slide in battery on a hot chamber. The fraction of a second that it takes you to react to a surprise slidelock could
very well determine the outcome of the confrontation...and then there's the fumble-factor involved in hitting that little release pad while your antagonist is lining up his sights on your chest.
In this light, I don't entertain misplaced notions of bullseye accuracy...points of impact that are an inch or so off center at 25 yards, and triggers that break like a glass rod with half of the original pull weight. I don't do triggers that fall under 4 and a half pounds, and I'm happier with 5. Even 6 doesn't bother me
as long as it breaks fairly cleanly without grittiness. A little creep isn't an issue for me. There is a very good reason for that 6-pound-on-average pull and the small amount of take-up and creep in the trigger typically found in GI-spec guns.
The pistol isn't a toy, and it's not your friend. It's as dangerous as a rattlesnake and should be viewed as hostile at all times. Once, when a wheelgun shooter saw me do an overhand live-round ejection, he commented that it didn't look very safe.
My answer: "Safe? It's NOT safe. It's a gun." Please bear that simple statement in mind.
Cheers!
Tuner
I don't build high-end custom guns. I feel that it's best left to the artists, and because it's just not the way that I look at a 1911 pistol. It's been rumored that I don't do it because I can't do it well. Of course I can. I'm a toolmaker. I've worked with tolerances of less than .00005 inch, and made tooling worth 3,000 dollars that you can literally carry around in a shirt pocket. The tolerances in even a perfectly-fitted 1911 are a football field by comparison.
I don't do it because I don't look at the gun as a toy, even though there are lines of custom-built guns that are aimed at the serious pistolero. The 1911 was never intended to be a target arm, nor a pistol to use for playing IDPA, IPSC, or other games of "Let's Pretend." It was...and is, a pure killing machine with nothing incidental or that doesn't lend itself to that task. Even the lanyard ring is multi-purposed. Much too sturdy to be used simply for tying the pistol to the cavalryman, it's also a skull pommel, and it makes for a nifty bottle opener too.
It was never intended to have a crisp, light trigger, nor 50-yard accuracy. It didn't need these things. It was designed for close-quarters fighting, and as something that was handed to troops whose MOS didn't call for the issuance of a rifle. Officers, mortar crews, tank crews, and bomber and fighter pilots are examples. Lastly, it was an emergency, last-ditch-effort tool to use to extract a man from the swamp if he suddenly found himself up to his...er...hip pockets in alligators.
I don't consider the issue of the slide locking open on the last round to have much impact on the real-world use of the pistol. That is nothing more than a stoppage, even though it's an engineered stoppage. It's much like surgery... which is essentially engineered, controlled trauma. If you are reduced to having nothing but a pistol to fight for your life with, you're in a pretty bad fix , and a stoppage of any type is not the desideratum. Take advantage of the fact that it can be reloaded with the slide in battery on a hot chamber. The fraction of a second that it takes you to react to a surprise slidelock could
very well determine the outcome of the confrontation...and then there's the fumble-factor involved in hitting that little release pad while your antagonist is lining up his sights on your chest.
In this light, I don't entertain misplaced notions of bullseye accuracy...points of impact that are an inch or so off center at 25 yards, and triggers that break like a glass rod with half of the original pull weight. I don't do triggers that fall under 4 and a half pounds, and I'm happier with 5. Even 6 doesn't bother me
as long as it breaks fairly cleanly without grittiness. A little creep isn't an issue for me. There is a very good reason for that 6-pound-on-average pull and the small amount of take-up and creep in the trigger typically found in GI-spec guns.
The pistol isn't a toy, and it's not your friend. It's as dangerous as a rattlesnake and should be viewed as hostile at all times. Once, when a wheelgun shooter saw me do an overhand live-round ejection, he commented that it didn't look very safe.
My answer: "Safe? It's NOT safe. It's a gun." Please bear that simple statement in mind.
Cheers!
Tuner