Interesting 1911 Find

[VHinch]

Picked up a very interesting 1911 today. The slide and frame are marked "Michigan Armament". From what I have been told by my local 1911 guru and what little I can find through Google, these were semi-custom guns produced in the early 80's when Colt was pretty much the only 1911 game in town, and were one of first to offer factory upgrades that we now consider commonplace. The gun has Millet adjustable sights, and adjustable trigger and an extended thumb safety. It did come with a pretty rough set of grips on it, but that was fixed easily enough from the old grip drawer.

I couldn't help myself after the show today and took this straight to the range. It is nicely fitted, tight, but not ridiculously so, and proved to be very accurate and stone cold reliable through 200 rounds of my standard target reloads.

Anyone know anything further about this gun? I'm very happy with the find, but it seems odd that I can't find any info on it.

Thanks
V

 

[ID_shooting]

The BB of GV just reads:

"Michigan Arms - Previous mfg located in Michigan until ca. 1981.

"M1911 A1 - .45 ACP cal., patterned after the Colt M1911 A1, fixed sights, 7 shot mag. Disc

High book is $450.00, Low is $190.00

Not much, but that all I got.

 

[Ford]

This is about the best info I could find for you.


"Michigan Armament were based at Lake Elsinore, MI and manufactured 'enhanced 1911s' in the 1980s. Aside from the PPK clone, they made 2 1911 models:

The 'Custom Combat', which was a 2 tone 1911 with Wilson
sights, extended safety and Pachmayr Grips.

The 'Combat Elite' (debuted at the 1982 SHOT show)- same features as the custom combat, but in full hardchrome and a bo-mar rear sight.

Both 1911s used Essex Frame/Slide sets IIRC. Masaad Ayoob had a Custom Combat that was photographed several times in Combat Handguns magazine, and pro shooter Nick Pruit also used one on the competition circuit. I thought they were a great concept and ahead of their time, but Michigan Armament never really advertised, nor were they reviewed. Guess that's why they went belly up. BTW, not to be confused with Michigan Arms, the blackpowder manufacturers."

 

[TimboKhan]

Nice looking gun.

 

[Glockorama]

Sounds like a nice pick-up. A 1911 shooter and a rarity to boot.

 

[VHinch]

Thanks for the replies. I have seen a few references to the 2 tone Custom Combat, and there is actually one for sale on Gunbroker right now (albeit at a ridiculous price) but I can't find anything pertaining to an all blue Survivalist.

Lack of information aside, I went to the range again this morning and put another 300 target loads through it, and 100 HP's. Still no failures, and accuracy above average. For what I have in it, I am very satisfied with it, you can't ever have to many shooter 1911's.