GSR: The Inside Story

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1911Tuner

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The report on Sig's 1911 clone is done. There is no MIM in the gun.

There are, however, several parts that are investment castings. They are:

Mag catch...Grip safety...Thumb safety...Hammer strut...and the trigger shoe appears to be an aluminum casting, but it's hard to tell.

Also...The mainspring housing appeared to be a little too porous to be machined steel, but it was heavily bead-blasted, so the jury is still out on that part as well. Also hard to say on the slidestop, but I'll call it a machined part anyway.

The frame is an investment casting, but appears to be top-quality, as expected from Caspian.

Pretty much as I expected...except for the mainspring housing. I thought that one would be a casting for sure...but if it is, it was covered up well enough by the bead blast that it threw me.

The overall fit and finish of the gun was impressive, and there was evidence of hand-fitting in various places throughout the gun. Nice! Slide to frame fit was "Right, not Tight...though it was much tighter than most
of the Colts that I've seen in the last 20 years...on a par with Kimber and
Springfields of recent note.

Many thanks to Walt Sherrill for taking time from his busy weekend to come up and let me into his pistol. I'd like to put out a call to any members who have a carbon steel GSR, and are within driving distance to let me convince them to let me get the rest of the story.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled flame wars...

Tuner
 
John, I don't think they MAKE a carbon steel GSR. All I have seen or heard tell of are stainless. They catalog a black gun but it is still stainless with some sort of Wunderfinish called Nitron.
 
Black Stainless?

Jim said:

John, I don't think they MAKE a carbon steel GSR. All I have seen or heard tell of are stainless. They catalog a black gun but it is still stainless with some sort of Wunderfinish called Nitron.
____________________

Ahhhhhhh...The truth emerges. GSRs are all made of Evil MoJo Stainless!

Many thanks again Jim!

Tuner---------->wonders...:scrutiny:

Is our own Jim Watson a descendant of Dr. Watson, student and protege'
of the Super Sleuth, Sherlock Holmes? He sho 'nuff digs up a lotta facts.:cool:
 
GSR Impression

Howdy Ranger,

I thought the gun itself was very good overall. Impressive fit and finish, and the trigger on Walt's broke clean at about 4.5- 5 pounds...No mushiness was evident...just a nice clean break with just a hint of roll-out
just as the hammer fell. Just about perfect for a street gun, IMO.
 
The first GSR I saw in person was as commonly described for early guns, the hammer leaned right, the beavertail leaned left to the point that the hammer hit the edge of the clearance notch in the beavertail when over-cocked by slide travel.

The second was made after they had found a new vendor for beavertails and had gotten the hammers straightened out.

Beware of the beta test pistol in your desire to be the first on your block with a new gun. The companies are letting us customers do the final engineering for them.

Note that I share my birthday, not with John Watson, but with The Detective Himself.
 
The frame is an investment casting, but appears to be top-quality, as expected from Caspian.
Click to expand...
You mean Pinetree, don't you? Just think--the first SIG made by Ruger! :)
 
Tuner,

Thanks for the great write up. And helping me prove to ruger the MIM lover :D That there is no MIM in the gun. It is nice to hear that someone actually went thru the gun then just hearing it from someone who built it. Thanks for taking the time to tear it down. So are you going to buy one now....:D I love mine thats for sure.


Oh by the way Silent One better go see Big Al he has another GSR waiting for you....:)
 
Pinetree Foundry

jc2 said:

You mean Pinetree, don't you? Just think--the first SIG made by Ruger!


heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...

It's almost funny. A Colt-Browning design...cloned by a foreign-based
arms manufacturer...built up from parts outsourced to a vendor that's about as American as Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Nascar.

Where WILL it all end? Will it be a Kalishnikov built by Winchester from
parts that they bought from North China Industries from a partner in
a country that has a trade agreement with us so that the ban on Norinco imports can be sidestepped? The possibilities are endless. Fairly boggles the mind, I tell ya...:D
 
Where WILL it all end?


Now that you mention it, it is kind of screwy.:confused: :cool:
 
I guess the question is when will ruger start makeing a 1911 since pintree castings has been makeing 1911 frames for quite awhile now
 
MIM Free

Shooter said:

Thanks for the great write up. And helping me prove to ruger the MIM lover That there is no MIM in the gun.

Mighty welcome Shooter...Now the question is: Is an investment casting any better than MIM? :p

For what it's worth...The investment cast parts in the gun were what I consider to be suited to alternate materials without affecting the reliability of the gun. For instance...The original specs called for plain 1018 cold rolled steel for the grip safety. No doubt partly because the grip safety is a fairly complex part to machine on a mass-production basis, and 1018 is
soft and easily machineable. Colt and a few others have shown that the mainspring housing can be made of plastic. I would prefer a machined thumb safety on a pistol that wil;l see a lot of range time and on/off cycles
with the safety.

The impact stressed parts of the gun were steel...which lends a little credence to the argument that some parts are NOT well suited to MIM.

As it stands...MIM in its present form has gotten a bad rap. Some of it deserved and some not. It would do well to remember that it's still in
the toddler stage at this point...and the day will come that it will be considered as vastly superior to "Old-Fashioned Steel." A little like
we view 19th century barrel steel...State-of-the-Art for their day, but light
years behind the materials that are commonly used now.

Just consider the Invesment casting process. 25 years ago, the Thompson Auto Ordnance pistols that were made almost entirely of castings were considered to be wall hangers and occasional shooters at best. Now, we
have investment castings coming out of the Pinetree Foundry that are high-quality and hell for strong.

Technology has a way of doin' that... :cool:
 
All of us rant and rave about our 1911's. I'm no exception because I have been known to rave about my SW1911. But let us not forget if it is not a COLT it is a copy. Tuner you are a good man. Shooter who the heck wants a cast frame.:neener:Oh by the way. Silentone Al has a BIG sticker waiting for you.
 
Where WILL it all end? Will it be a Kalishnikov built by Winchester from
parts that they bought from North China Industries from a partner in
a country that has a trade agreement with us so that the ban on Norinco imports can be sidestepped?
Click to expand...

Global Capitalism at it finest. We can only hope!

--wally.
 
ruger357,

If you noticed Colt does not make many guns anymore. They are probably out of business if not will be soon... Whats a COLT??? Or should I say PONY they dont have a horse anymore :neener:
 
Tuner, I am glad that someone got one to you I was going to bring mine up. But two hurricance deployments and one very nervous county government about what Ivan was going to do has keep me for getting up to you.
 
They must have changed the parts since I saw the two at the Shot Show. They are made of Evil Mojo and the black ones are finished with a Bodycote finish over SS. This makes for a very tough gun in basic black. I found them underwhelming like most of the 1911's there. But, I am not a big fan of heavy ugly guns with little black flashlights on them. The frames and slides are cast here in Prescott by Ruger before they go to Vermont. I am sure the gun buying public will eat them up like they are good cake.
 
Is it an add on rail or is it molded in? Is it a standard size to fit lights that fit on my XD's?
 
shooter.45, and ruger357,

I'm not goin near Al's shop. I'm just now getting over the withdrawal shakes after Al took all my rent money. :cuss: My wife is ready to send me
packin, if she finds out I've been buying any more weapons from him.:fire: I must admit, that GSR does sound good.:uhoh: No,no,no. I gotta go now, I'm gettin the shakes again. :banghead:

SILENT ONE
 
Oh come on silent one just one more. Just think you could have 1 good gun in your collection....:D
 
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