Peter M. Eick
Member
Group,
I picked up a heavily carried but what appears to be a lightly used 1918 colt 1911. I did it for personal reasons and would like to occasionally shoot the gun. There is little to no collector value to the gun as it has very little finish left and while it is not abused it is not a pristine looking collector gun.
The interesting aspect is the internals. It looks like it was rarely fired and does not exhibit any wear, peening or general abuse that I would normally attribute to now a 90 odd year old gun, let alone a military gun. The breechface looks good, locking lugs are crisp, slide lugs look good etc. The barrel is dark and pitted so it was shot with corrosive at some point. Practically other than not much finish it is a nice gun and I am pleased to buy it.
So, now that I bought it, (I know, cart before the horse thing) I researched it and found that these guns were probably not heat treated and were only good for around 5000 rounds according to what I found on the web.
My original plan was to load up some real light lead bullet loads just for this gun and shoot maybe a couple of hundred rounds per year down it to remember my Grandfather by and just to have some fun. I consider myself a reasonable reloader so I can pull of that end on my own, but now I am having second thoughts about shooting it that much.
Practically, I figure if it is good for 5000 rounds, and I shoot 250 rounds a year, we get 20 years out of the gun before I destroy it. If I am still shooting it in 20 years I would be pleased and not complaining a bit.
I have a nice Baer PII in 45 so I can shoot a nice 1911A1 45 if I wanted to really blast a lot, but there is a strong appeal to me to shoot an original 1918 with the miniature sights, thick trigger guard and classic look of an original 1911.
Am I being unreasonable or is significant caution with these guns totally warranted?
I picked up a heavily carried but what appears to be a lightly used 1918 colt 1911. I did it for personal reasons and would like to occasionally shoot the gun. There is little to no collector value to the gun as it has very little finish left and while it is not abused it is not a pristine looking collector gun.
The interesting aspect is the internals. It looks like it was rarely fired and does not exhibit any wear, peening or general abuse that I would normally attribute to now a 90 odd year old gun, let alone a military gun. The breechface looks good, locking lugs are crisp, slide lugs look good etc. The barrel is dark and pitted so it was shot with corrosive at some point. Practically other than not much finish it is a nice gun and I am pleased to buy it.
So, now that I bought it, (I know, cart before the horse thing) I researched it and found that these guns were probably not heat treated and were only good for around 5000 rounds according to what I found on the web.
My original plan was to load up some real light lead bullet loads just for this gun and shoot maybe a couple of hundred rounds per year down it to remember my Grandfather by and just to have some fun. I consider myself a reasonable reloader so I can pull of that end on my own, but now I am having second thoughts about shooting it that much.
Practically, I figure if it is good for 5000 rounds, and I shoot 250 rounds a year, we get 20 years out of the gun before I destroy it. If I am still shooting it in 20 years I would be pleased and not complaining a bit.
I have a nice Baer PII in 45 so I can shoot a nice 1911A1 45 if I wanted to really blast a lot, but there is a strong appeal to me to shoot an original 1918 with the miniature sights, thick trigger guard and classic look of an original 1911.
Am I being unreasonable or is significant caution with these guns totally warranted?