Peter M. Eick
Member
I took my 1918 original 1911 out to the range today to see what it could do. This is (as best I can tell) an original 1918 "black" colt. The only obvious difference is the hammer is some sort of cropped spur unit. It may be an original Springfield possibly.
First the gun.
I have 3 mags now for it. 2 are period and one is some sort of give me mag so I will use it with it. Here is the gun in its glory afer I have cleaned it and lubed it prior to packing it away in storage. The small parts are still reasonably well blued. I do like the nice checking that was put on the guns back then and I really like the smooth frame. No checking or serrations to confuse you.
The sights are small though!
One of the things that impressed me was the fit of the gun. Colt sure knew how to fit it well back then. This shows how well the rear of the slide is fit to the frame. There is very little movement or give anywhere. Frankly Les Baer would be proud with the marriage of the frame to the slide.
If you are interested, here is the slide roll marks on one side of the slide.
And here is the name of the gun.
The slide is already pretty peened up which is partly why I am willing to shoot this one. You can see the metal has been raised and overall the gun has been used and is worn so it is not a perfect piece. The slide to barrel it of the lugs are good and there is plenty of engagement so I am pleased and figured it would make a great occasional (rare that is) shooter. The problem I am told about the original 1918's is they are soft. If you shoot them much you can beat them apart so I will keep it to a minimum.
I did not get a good shot of the barrel but frankly it is in poor shape. It is pitted for the first 3 or so inches and the rfifling is light.
So on to shooting. I used 4.1 grns of Bullseye and a 230 grn lead LRN. This is a very light load but enough recoil to operate the gun.
Here is 50 shots at 15 yrds offhand.
Here is another 50 shot pattern at 15 yrds off hand. The bullets tended to rip the paper on this one so it looks a lot better in the picture then when I shot it.
So, the gun fires, I had a lot of fun, no damage seen and it all worked. Will I shoot it much more? No. Just occasionally. The sights are terrible, the trigger is excellent, I like the ergos of the frame without the A1 series improvements but the accuracy is poor. Also the gun has a bad habit of tossing your brass every which way and as a reloader I cannot tolerate this.
I bought the gun to remember my grandfather by. He served in WW1 and while he has passed now, I do remember some mention of him carrying a colt 1911. I was thinking of him when I was shooting thinking could you have made it with this gun? The answer is yes but not at far ranges.
First the gun.
I have 3 mags now for it. 2 are period and one is some sort of give me mag so I will use it with it. Here is the gun in its glory afer I have cleaned it and lubed it prior to packing it away in storage. The small parts are still reasonably well blued. I do like the nice checking that was put on the guns back then and I really like the smooth frame. No checking or serrations to confuse you.
The sights are small though!
One of the things that impressed me was the fit of the gun. Colt sure knew how to fit it well back then. This shows how well the rear of the slide is fit to the frame. There is very little movement or give anywhere. Frankly Les Baer would be proud with the marriage of the frame to the slide.
If you are interested, here is the slide roll marks on one side of the slide.
And here is the name of the gun.
The slide is already pretty peened up which is partly why I am willing to shoot this one. You can see the metal has been raised and overall the gun has been used and is worn so it is not a perfect piece. The slide to barrel it of the lugs are good and there is plenty of engagement so I am pleased and figured it would make a great occasional (rare that is) shooter. The problem I am told about the original 1918's is they are soft. If you shoot them much you can beat them apart so I will keep it to a minimum.
I did not get a good shot of the barrel but frankly it is in poor shape. It is pitted for the first 3 or so inches and the rfifling is light.
So on to shooting. I used 4.1 grns of Bullseye and a 230 grn lead LRN. This is a very light load but enough recoil to operate the gun.
Here is 50 shots at 15 yrds offhand.
Here is another 50 shot pattern at 15 yrds off hand. The bullets tended to rip the paper on this one so it looks a lot better in the picture then when I shot it.
So, the gun fires, I had a lot of fun, no damage seen and it all worked. Will I shoot it much more? No. Just occasionally. The sights are terrible, the trigger is excellent, I like the ergos of the frame without the A1 series improvements but the accuracy is poor. Also the gun has a bad habit of tossing your brass every which way and as a reloader I cannot tolerate this.
I bought the gun to remember my grandfather by. He served in WW1 and while he has passed now, I do remember some mention of him carrying a colt 1911. I was thinking of him when I was shooting thinking could you have made it with this gun? The answer is yes but not at far ranges.
