1911 Help Needed

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Larry has been playing round with different free delivery amounts. It was ether right before or right after Christmas when it was two days of $75 free delivery. Yesterday, he bumped free delivery up to $100. Also, he does the two-day Amazon delivery thing, but if I buy from Midway's site it's 7-days delivery to my house that involves a UPS/USPS switcharoo.

Numrich is proud of their high prices, I don't do eBay, I'd buy from Brownells if they had a stainless rod in stock, and I really ought to thumb my front teeth at Larry and order from Thunder Mountain.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I was taught/mentored by a very cool older man about pistol shooting, since my Dad had no use for handguns. Leo Reyes' view of Mr. Browning's best-known handgun was that it left Hartford in its best possible condition, and that aftermarket add-ons were at best heresies and at worst rendered the pistol unreliable. Stuff that isn't broken need not be repaired.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
I would tend to agree that the original design was for a military weapon that would function under adverse conditions, be easy to make and carry a wallop superior to the .38 round. Browning did a great job achieving those goals. I don't imagine he ever envisioned the pistol as a tack driver.

I am sure that the initial accurizing of the 1911 started in the hands of military armorers who were assigned to the Army shooting teams. Tigtening the rails, fitting the bushing, fitting the link and of course trigger jobs were probably the first mods to make it score better in a match. Competition always drives improvements to a design. I would think that it is safe to say that 99% of the handling abilities of today's vehicles derived directly from the racetrack. Even Mr. Browning leveraged his older designs to make better models, learning along the way.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I will stop short of saying the model of 1911 was perfect when it left Hartford, and I would submit that the 1911A1 revisions support that view. Very few complex devices reach the status of perfect before they are mass produced, but you must freeze the design somewhere and get it out the door at some point. If you perpetually refine it, you will never mass produce it, at least not before your patent protection expires.

I will say that while the 1911 was short of perfect, it was far better than simply close enough.

The tweaking and after market additions are inevitable and occur in any field of products. Sometimes those alterations are improvements, often they are just ways to glean money from someone else’s work.

As for the removable barrel bushing and lack of a full length guide rod on the 1911, I don’t see those as flaws that need to be corrected. That was just the way that design was finalized, and it worked just fine.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
Sometimes those alterations are improvements, often they are just ways to glean money from someone else’s work.
Agree 100%. Never truly understood the need for the beavertail grip safety. The original worked just fine. maybe it was a comfort thing. I see similar "upgrade" parts sold for 10/22 Rugers and some of them just have me scratching my head. But we all know that chrome valve covers make an engine run better and a car go faster.
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
But we all know that chrome valve covers make an engine run better and a car go faster.
I'll not argue one way or the other as to the real or perceived advantages and benefits of any of the modifications that have ever been made to Mr. Browning's 1911/1911A1.

But, I will argue that highly polishing my two MG Midgets' SU carburetor aluminum dashpots increased their 1275 cc engines stated 68 horsepower to a perceived 69 hp. I forget what removing their spare tires, jacks and roll-up tool kits did for their perceived top end speeds and miles per gallon consumption, but it must have been substantial.

Seriously, though, how many of us have kept all their guns in original factory condition?
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
i don't know if any of the ones i altered were made better, but they fit the conditions that i was using them for better.
heck i'd have been better off selling them and just buying a purpose built gun, it'd have worked out in my favor monetarily in most cases.
Seriously, though, how many of us have kept all their guns in original factory condition?
 

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I am a southpaw. I carried a series 70 Colt 1911 for work for a number of years. An ambi-safety from Armand Swenson was a must, the addition of Novak high-vis sights were a nice add-on. I did a bit of work on the feed ramp and worked on the trigger to give a clean 5 lb. break. It is the only handgun I ever cleaned the NRA bullseye slow fire stage with, and I did it with hardball, more than once. It was accurate, hard hitting and utterly reliable. I never wished for anything more from a duty gun. If John Browning would have been left handed it probably would have been perfect out of the box!!!!!