OldToolDuller
22nd February 2009, 01:40
My Father bought three 1911's from the DCM in the early 50's. Neither of us can say for sure, but probably all three had been through some sort of depot level re work before being turned over to the DCM for sale. The one he bought for himself, he sold almost immediately (he was, and still is today, mainly a long gun man), but the one he bought for my Uncle was thoroughly re-worked and turned into a very fine shooter which he used in competition in the mid 50's. The third one was my Grandfather's gun, and I got it when he passed away in the mid-70's. It's a Colt manufactured piece with a S/N of 265xxx, so from what reading I've done on the forums, it would put (at least the frame) into a 1918 time period. Over the course of many summers as a teenager, I've probably put several thousand rounds through this gun with no problems except for a few ejection failures when I forgot to put the powder in the case before seating the bullet (as Dad says, a problem with the nut behind the butt). I've shot everything from handloads (230 gr cast & jacketed with 3.5-4 gr of Bullseye) to issue ball and national match ammo. I completely tore it down about 15 years ago to have a go at honing the trigger. I got it to a very smooth and crisp 4.5-5 lb pull (which scared the daylights out of my rather conservative Father, but I've never had the old girl double on me).
About 20 years ago, a friend of my Dad's called one Saturday from a gun show where a gentleman had an original Colt Ace conversion in the original, but somewhat battered original box. Within the hour, I was on my way to the show with cash in hand and bought it. For about 10 years, I forgot where I put the original parts (though I found them later - in the Ace box). I can't remember when the last time I had in the 45 configuration; it's just too much fun to shoot it as a 22 - no brass to hunt for in the tall grass!
So if you have one of these older pistols and want to shoot it, I would suggest looking into a conversion kit for it. Doesn't have the recoil of an issue ball round, but it's somewhere between my very light Colt Huntsman and my Ruger Mk II with the heavy bull barrel. If you're lucky enough to find an Ace conversion, it's a lot of fun, though you do have to clean the floating chamber frequently; most 22 ammo is fairly dirty stuff, and will stick the moving parts together in as little as 50 rounds with the really cheap stuff. I shoot Winchester Super X in it, and I've found after 3-4 boxes I had better tear it down and clean it, because it won't make it through the 5th box. I don't know about the newer conversions. The only one I've seen is the Kimber, and I've seen a few others on the web, but I haven't seen any newer conversions with steel slides and a floating chamber; all I can find is aluminum slides and fixed chambers so they may not have the problems with the residue left from firing rimfire ammo in the gun. The Kimber conversion also has a much lighter main spring (naturally), and it just doesn't snap the slide back the way the Ace does. I haven't shot my friends Kimber with the conversion on it, but I know just from handling it that I don't like what it does to the balance of the gun. And I don't really care for the aluminum slide; it scratches way too easy. Aluminum has it's places, but I guess I'm conservative enough that I don't want the critical parts of my firearms made out of aluminum, no matter how good modern metallurgy is!
About 20 years ago, a friend of my Dad's called one Saturday from a gun show where a gentleman had an original Colt Ace conversion in the original, but somewhat battered original box. Within the hour, I was on my way to the show with cash in hand and bought it. For about 10 years, I forgot where I put the original parts (though I found them later - in the Ace box). I can't remember when the last time I had in the 45 configuration; it's just too much fun to shoot it as a 22 - no brass to hunt for in the tall grass!
So if you have one of these older pistols and want to shoot it, I would suggest looking into a conversion kit for it. Doesn't have the recoil of an issue ball round, but it's somewhere between my very light Colt Huntsman and my Ruger Mk II with the heavy bull barrel. If you're lucky enough to find an Ace conversion, it's a lot of fun, though you do have to clean the floating chamber frequently; most 22 ammo is fairly dirty stuff, and will stick the moving parts together in as little as 50 rounds with the really cheap stuff. I shoot Winchester Super X in it, and I've found after 3-4 boxes I had better tear it down and clean it, because it won't make it through the 5th box. I don't know about the newer conversions. The only one I've seen is the Kimber, and I've seen a few others on the web, but I haven't seen any newer conversions with steel slides and a floating chamber; all I can find is aluminum slides and fixed chambers so they may not have the problems with the residue left from firing rimfire ammo in the gun. The Kimber conversion also has a much lighter main spring (naturally), and it just doesn't snap the slide back the way the Ace does. I haven't shot my friends Kimber with the conversion on it, but I know just from handling it that I don't like what it does to the balance of the gun. And I don't really care for the aluminum slide; it scratches way too easy. Aluminum has it's places, but I guess I'm conservative enough that I don't want the critical parts of my firearms made out of aluminum, no matter how good modern metallurgy is!