1965 Colt/Clark Long Slide

[bannockburn]

tom unler

I'm sure after your range trip you won't be able to wipe that smile off your face for quite some time! Full report and target photos if you will, please!

 

[tom unler]

Stu, I dunno..... that Hi Standard 102 Space gun is rather insane. I do have high hopes though. ☺

 

[stu1ritter]

I'm pretty sure your Clark long slide will outshoot my Mike Curtis standard 1911 and that test target is 1 3/16 x 1 3/16 for 10 rounds at 50 yards. When Jim Sr. was building his long slides everyone marveled at the accuracy. Will the Hi Standard shoot under an inch at 50 yards because that's where I think your long slide will slot in.

Stu

 

[tom unler]

5 rounds at 50 feet. Old eyes and too much coffee.

 

[stu1ritter]

Try it at 50 yards without the coffee and report back. :~)

Stu

 

[tom unler]

Try it at 50 yards without the coffee and report back. :~)

Stu

First try out was horrible! Using 2.8 gr. Of Bullseye and a 148 gr Wadcutter isn't producing enough energy to cycle the action at all. I am going to step up my loads in 10% increments and work towards a functioning round.

Accuracy was nice, but I was too distracted by the function to concentrate on grouping. I also noticed that the slide doesn't always go into complete lock, so I need to scrub the chamber, polish/wash my brass even more and check case diameter after sizing. I see potential, but it takes a bit of work to get there.....

 

[horsemen61]

Have you had a chance to shoot the long slide OP?

 

[tom unler]

Yeah, just posted a reply above..., It wasn't going well, my loads were a bit anemic for the gun to function. I had to single load every round.

 

[straightshooterjake]

This is a fascinating pistol. I would love to see more detailed photos of the pistol including pictures of the disassembled components if possible.

This pistol really represents an important point in the customization of 1911 pistols. Congratulations on owning it.

 

[Jim Watson]

But it hasn't got Ball Cuts or Carry Cuts or French Fried Borders or slide arse checkering.
Way behind the times.

 

[koz4guns]

But it hasn't got Ball Cuts or Carry Cuts or French Fried Borders or slide arse checkering.
Way behind the times.

Yeah....it's so nineteen sixties.
Oh wait a minute.....so am I.

Kurt

 

[zb338]

I belonged to a gun club that had a Ransom rest. Even at 25 yards I never saw a Gold Cup
that would put 10 shots in the 10 ring. I took mine to a good smith and had it worked on and
now it shoots 10 shots into the 10 ring off of a Ransom rest. Back in the day all of the Clarks
and Giles we chucked into the Ransom rest would put 10 shots in the 10 ring with ease.
Zeke

 

[GooseGestapo]

Tom, sounds like you found out what I meant about "how good is your ammo".
Bump your load up. Sounds also like your using a double ended wadcutter.

The semi-autos were set up to feed a 148gr HOLLOW BASE wadcutter, FLUSH SEATED. A 148gr double ended wadcutter seated to a crimp groove, with bullet extended from case mouth will cause slide locked problems.

With a gun as tightly fitted as you have, ammo becomes critical.

 

[stu1ritter]

One thing to remember, Jim Sr, built his guns very, very tight. If your gun shows little to no wear, you will probably have to run full tilt loads through it to loosen it up a bit. When Mike Curtis built my 1911 he told me to run 500 rounds of ball through it to get it to operate with target loads, it was tight as a toad.

Stu

 

[tark]

One thing to remember, Jim Sr, built his guns very, very tight. If your gun shows little to no wear, you will probably have to run full tilt loads through it to loosen it up a bit. When Mike Curtis built my 1911 he told me to run 500 rounds of ball through it to get it to operate with target loads, it was tight as a toad.

We we shipped a wad gun or a CMP legal ball gun , Les always told the customer the same thing. At least two hundred rounds of hardball through the gun first, four or five hundred was even better.

 

[tom unler]

I took the Clark to the Range again yesterday, I had to manually cycle the remaining rounds from my first batch. Accuracy is amazing, but I don't really like the trigger pull. It seems almost 2 staged with a little roughness just before the hammer falls. I'm thinking there may be some dried oil in the mechanism, a solvent dip and forced air helped a bit. A tear down may be in the near future.

Next batch of Wadcutters will have 3.1gr to 3.4gr of Bullseye. Hoping to cross the reliability threshold without getting too fast. Also going to seat the bullets a tiny bit deeper so I can get more of a rounded crimp without causing any case bulging.

 

[tom unler]

Ransom Rest test is in (finally). 25 yards, 10 rounds.

 

[bannockburn]

tom unler

Now that's what we're talking about! Very nice!