Officers New to me

[cajunfj40]

Bought this...wait, strike that comment, stole this on gunbroker.

Before and after pictures.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/cajunfj40/officer1.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/cajunfj40/officer2.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/cajunfj40/409.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/cajunfj40/417.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb138/cajunfj40/418.jpg

[clughog]

Cleaned up nice, didn't it! Congratulations. :D

[MCMIX]

What a difference!! Did you do the work? How long was spent on it? What was used to buff /clean it?

[Rich-D]

You should call that gun, Cinderella! Nice restoration.


Rich

[Hunter]

Very nice OACP! It did clean up nice.
When will the inital range trip be?

[maximus2161]

very nice!!! I just picked up a stainless OACP. I really like it! Solid little sucker!

[elijdub]

Looks good! What'd you use to clean it up?

[cajunfj40]

Thanks for the feedback. I first detail stripped it. I then placed frame and slide in a small parts blaster that we use for brake calipers. Then I hand polished with automotive cloth backed sand paper ending with 1250 grit. This wa glued to pieces of glass to be flat. The only thing that bothers me is the front of the slide isn't flat. The slide flats slope down towards the barrel. I thought the sanding would fix this but, I feared any more would affect the roll marks.

As far as range trips go it worked great. 250 rounds one failure to lock back slide and one failure to go into battery with the slide closed within quarter of an inch.

Two Wilson Combat mags picked up at the gunshow fixed issue one and a ISMI recoil assembly may be coming soon.

I was thinking about just using new factory springs with a Clark closed ended reverse plug using Colt guide rod. If I do this I could have it checkered to look like the original.

Should I use a short guide rod in my Officers? I cant find one new model compact 1911 or clone that does.

[elijdub]

cajunfj40,

First off, great work! I've never noticed if my OACP has tapered slide flats, but i'm goint to check it out later.

I'm hearing good things about the ISMI recoil assembly, and it was recommended to me by a very proficient gunsmith, Dave Berryhill.

With that said, i use the Clark reverse plug, with the "Wolff spring" in my OACP:
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u311/elijdub/004-1.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u311/elijdub/001-2.jpg
(with apologies for "muzzle photo"...just wanted to show the appearance)


I continue to use the stock guide rod with no problems. I'm very happy with this set-up. I personally prefer the single spring Wolff to the double stock spring set-up. Although i may be overly concerned, i worry about "spring bind" (please note, i've never read of a single incident of this happening...FYI...just personal preference). I also was concerned with the famed "bushing tab" on the OACP model...hence the Clark plug.

Check out this thread...tons of info about recoil assemblies on the OACP model:
http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=37432&highlight=recoil+assembly+OACP

[cajunfj40]

Thanks for the reply. I may go with the ISMI. I do like the Clark set up but there has to be a reason all the major manufactures use the FLGR

[cajunfj40]

Was the Clark setup a drop in? Did you have to machine a 90 degree anle cut on the front of slide?

[elijdub]

Thanks for the reply. I may go with the ISMI. I do like the Clark set up but there has to be a reason all the major manufactures use the FLGR
Your welcome. I thought long and hard about using a FLGR. In the end i chose the Clark/Wolff/EGW(bushing) arrangement. I didn't want to modify, in any way, my out-of-production Colt (if i could avoid it) and this was precluded by using the above assembly.
If you don't mind, i'd strongly recommend reading the thread to which i provided a link; there's much information about FLGR's, in relation to the OACP, included. As a matter of fact, when i started that thread, my goal was to try to find a way to include a FLGR in my OACP without modification; many knowledgeable people responded, including several moderators and professional gunsmith Dave Berryhill (he spoke a lot about the ISMI).
If you read it, you'll see that Hawkmoon was looking into whether or not Para would send him their version of the Officer FLGR for testing, which IIRC did not require any modifications to the slide. I'd be curious to know what came of that, and may revive that thread....
I don't know why other manufacturers use FLGR's. I really like the GI recoil assembly in the short-barreled gun...any gun for that matter. SO much easier to assemble/field strip!



Was the Clark setup a drop in? Did you have to machine a 90 degree anle cut on the front of slide?
It is a true drop-in part. It required no removal of metal whatsoever. I requested that 1911Tuner take a look at the thread when we were examining that very question (whether or not material needed to be removed). Along with several forum members who had successfully used the Clark plug (over the course of many rounds), Tuner basically stated that if "timing" problems were going to show up, due to the shortening of the slide's rearward travel, they'd show up right away.....I.E., if the gun operated fine, despite, by way of installing the Clark, adding 1/16 material to the dust cover (hence lessening the slide travel), then it would probably continue to do so.
I've had no problems with it at all.

Hope this helps!

[cajunfj40]

Thanks, very informative thread. I will order one tomorrow. Cant wait to see if there is enough metal to have it checkered and a slot cut to mimic the original.

[elijdub]

Thanks, very informative thread. I will order one tomorrow. Cant wait to see if there is enough metal to have it checkered and a slot cut to mimic the original.
No problem! Happy to help.
I'll bet you could! The Clark plug is REALLY thick. I was suprised by just how "hefty" is was. I think there's more than enough metal to work on.
Please post pics if you modify it! I think that's a great idea. Are you thinking about doing the work yourself?