Archive for the ‘1911’ Category

NRA annual meeting 2024: a collection of random thoughts.

Friday, May 24th, 2024

I ordered a set of Cocobolo grips for my Browning Hi-Power from Hogue. They aren’t terribly expensive and look nice: I handled a set of walnut grips (I believe) at the show and was favorably impressed. They should make that old gun look a little better.

Hogue is offering a discount code that’s good through May 26th: NRAAM24HOGUE.

Lyman also sent over a discount code for their sites: NRAENTRY for the Lyman website (20% off), and NRAENTRY (15% off) for their Mark 7 reloading website. Valid through June 3rd.

The Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network is offering $100 one year memberships through May 31st with code 2024NRA. I have heard nothing but good things about ACLDN: FotB (and official trainer to WCD) Karl is a board member. I plan to take advantage of this offer before the 31st.

XS Sights also has a promo code good through May 31st: NRA24 gets you 24% off. Which is great, because I plan to order a set of ghost ring sights from them for my social shotgun.

I picked up some chamber flags at various points during the meeting. I bring this up because: have you ever seen folks giving out chamber flags and wondered about them? Who do you order them from, and how much? There were at least two vendors at the show who would sell you custom chamber flags. The one I have in front of me right now, Manufacturing Services, will sell them to you with your custom (black and white) art for 60 to 85 cents each (the more expensive option has printing on both sides) with a minimum order of 100. That seems to me to be very reasonable, if you’re doing something like a Boy Scout Scouting USA firearms exercise and want to have something to give to the kids.

If you’re interested in what I’d call more “conventional” NRAAM coverage, The Firearm Blog has that. I haven’t watched it yet, but they have an interview up with Jerry Miculek about the new Smith and Wesson Model 327 WR. S&W was running a contest at the show: I figure my odds of winning one are somewhere between “slim” and “out of town”, but you never know.

One thing I did buy from S&W was one of their snazzy limited edition NRAAM 2024 hats:

This should be fun to put on my display table at the symposium.

When I say “conventional” above, I’m not sneering at TFB or anybody else. For me, when I go to cover these things, I like to highlight the more obscure vendors who don’t attract the same press attention as Colt or S&W, and the people who are nice to me. Like the guys at the Ruger booth, or the Hornady podcast folks, or Marissa Brinkman who edits the Texas State Rifle Association magazine. That’s where I get my joy. Well, that, and winning stuff in drawings.

Speaking of which, unless there are two “Dwight B.”s who live in Austin and went to the NRAAM, I apparently won one of those TagMe by Ocufil systems. I plan a report once it arrives and I go through the setup and testing process.

Fun story: there was a guy at the show (and I wish I could remember his, or the company’s name: maybe one of my friends will fill this in for me) who was giving away his product in return for reviews. The product was a Glock 17/19 magazine with a key lock at the bottom. Once you inserted the mag and locked it, the gun was secured: you couldn’t remove the mog, you couldn’t fire the gun, you could work the slide and eject rounds, but that was it. Unlock it, and you had a fully functional Glock. You don’t even have to remove the locking magazine, it feeds normally with the mag unlocked.

Edited to add 5/27: Thanks to FotB John for providing the name of the company: GoSafe. I’m pretty sure this is a different company than the one that sells industrial safety equipment, so I’d recommend using the embedded link. GoSafe does say they are working on equivalent products for the Smith and Wesson M&P and Sig Sauer, but as far as I can tell, those are not ready yet. Also, it does look like they make a version for .40 S&W Glocks, which I do not recall them mentioning (or having) at the show.

The hilarious thing about this was: none of the four of us currently own a Glock 17 or 19. I own two Glocks, but neither one is a 17 or 19. Probably the single most popular gun in the world, and zero out of four of us own one. (I overheard an interesting conversation on the bus between another gentleman of the press and a couple of attendees. The member of the fourth estate was opining that, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, his gun of choice would be a Glock 19. 9mm ammo should be readily available, the gun is so popular that you should be able to find spare mags and even entire guns easily, you can stockpile parts kits to keep it running, and it is simple enough to work on that even I could probably fix one.)

I don’t think I’m going to be commissioning one right away, as I have another holster priority ahead of it, and I’m saving money for the Smith and Wesson Collectors Association symposium in a few weeks. But there was a company called Palmetto Leather Works that had a nice looking holster for a Browning Buck Mark, complete with magazine pocket. It reminded me of a vintage George Lawrence holster that I bought Mike the Nusicologist for Christmas one year, and I could easily see this being modified for a Model 41.

Speaking of holsters, it amused me greatly that Galco is rocking the 40th anniversary of the Miami Classic, aka the “Sonny Crockett“. $440 is a little rich for my blood, but the thought of carrying a Commander length 1911 in a shoulder holster tickles my fancy. (I’m pretty sure Galco still catalogs an updated non-custom shop version of the Miami Classic.)

Shoutout to the Ranch Products people, who are always nice. Shoutout too to Wolfe Publishing, who saved me $10 and a trip to Barnes and Noble by giving me a copy of the latest Handloader.

I made it by the U.S. Armament Manufacturing booth, and did get to briefly handle their reproduction DeLisle carbine. TFB has coverage of this as well, but not tied to their NRAAM coverage. I think it’s an interesting gun, but for me, not $5,999 interesting (plus $200 for the tax stamp, since it is a Class III weapon). At least, not unless I win the lottery, and I’d buy a BAR reproduction from Ohio Ordnance Works (or even a real BAR) first. I can see the DeLisle being a fun toy…if you’ve got used car money to spend. Those reproduction Colt 1903 and 1908 pistols look nice and expensive too.

I picked up a card for Rugged Rare. They make some nice looking concealed carry bags (which I don’t need) and belts (which I do need). They are producing Smith and Wesson licensed leather belts and wallets. I actually thought their belts were very reasonably priced, and I wish I had bought one: I just couldn’t fit it in with all my stuff. And unfortunately, it looks like their website caters more to retailers than individual purchasers. I can’t even see the prices without setting up an account, and I can’t set up an account without uploading a business license.

We went by the Precision Small Arms booth, too. They make really nice looking reproductions of the “Baby Browning“, which I’ve always thought was a neat little gun. I’ve heard all the .25 ACP jokes, but the gun you have on you is better than the one in a safe at home, and these are a very discreet option. We also handled some guns at the Seecamp booth. I’ve always heard good things about Seecamp guns: yes, they’re more expensive than a LCP, but they’re also (I hear) extremely well made and reliable, and are often carried by people who need a backup gun that 100% works.

I have a card for Powder River Precision, but I don’t know why. It may have been for their 10/22 stuff. I also have a card for Shilen, but I know why: if I ever need a new barrel on one of my guns, I’m going to them.

Pigpen51, we went by the Tisas booth. I still haven’t shot one, but I did get to handle a few of them. Yes, these were show guns, but I was fairly impressed. They seemed like solidly made 1911 clones, and I’d really like a chance to run one for a bit. They are also importing clones of the Inglis Hi-Power, which seem like nice guns. Maybe not as nice as the new FN guns, but the Tisas Inglis is also about 1/3rd the price. I’m not sure about parts compatibility: I wish I had thought to ask while i was there.

Oehler, who is here in Austin and makes chronographs, told me they’re looking for somebody. It sounds like they want a sort of jack-of-all-trades. That is, some one who can do tech support, assist in set up and testing, read a schematic and identify components, and generally do what’s needed. I don’t imagine this is a huge company, and I have no idea what they are paying. But if you’re recently retired, healthy, and looking for a job to supplement your retirement pay, this might be a good opportunity.

That’s all the business cards I had stuck in my badge holder for later reference. I still haven’t gone through the big bag o’ stuff that I set aside to go through when I got back. I want to try to do that this weekend. I also want to get another gun book post up, and maybe even a gun post. And I have some non gun-related work to do for some of the other organizations I’m involved with.

For a three-day weekend, it feels like it is going to be full.

And Marissa Brinkman is probably saying to herself, “This guy really needs an editor.”

You dry-docked my battleship! Part 2!

Friday, May 3rd, 2024

Hey! Guess what!

The battleship New Jersey is in dry dock.

Being completely fair, this is a good story, especially if you’re interested in history, ships, the Navy, or some combination of those three.

It was years overdue for the routine maintenance required to keep it safely afloat for the next couple of decades in the Delaware River. And preparations for pulling the 887.7-foot ship about six miles, from Camden to Paulsboro, N.J., and then to Philadelphia, were complete even before the $10 million it will cost to finish the job was secured.

But it isn’t without annoyances.

“They don’t do this, anywhere, very often,” said Libby Jones, the museum’s director of education. “If you’re into this kind of stuff, this is it — this is the Super Bowl.”

Ahem. Ahem.

The Texas also cost a lot more, but it had gone without maintenance for much longer, too.

(Also being scrupulously fair, the Texas is now out of dry dock and in a new permanent location. On the other hand, the Texas was in dry dock for 18 months, not the two months estimated for the New Jersey, and anyone who wanted to had plenty of opportunities to go see it.)

A YouTube channel [Ryan Szimanski] and Ms. Jones created at the start of the pandemic to offer programming while the museum was closed now has nearly 240,000 subscribers. Tickets for the dry-dock tours that Mr. Szimanski leads are selling for $1,000. (Tours led by other guides are $225.)

$1,000? Really? Nothing against Mr. Szimanski: I do watch the New Jersey YouTube channel sometimes. But $775 seems like a steep YouTube premium. (As I recall, the dry dock tour of the Texas was $150.)

It is kind of nice to see the New Jersey is selling merch (though they already had an online store). But can you get Battleship New Jersey 1911 grips? As far as I can tell, no.

(Okay, that’s a trick question: you can’t get Battleship Texas 1911 grips either. Except for the deck pattern ones, which I personally don’t like. The other two patterns seem to come into stock and sell out very fast. One of these days I might be lucky enough to snag a pair.)

What’s the takeway from this, other than dry dock tours of old battleships are fun?

NERFed.

Tuesday, April 30th, 2024

First, we had the NERF machine gun.

How do you follow that?

Would you believe…NERF night vision?

It looks like a camera with (probably) a cheap magnifying lens that’s also IR sensitive. It almost certainly isn’t great, but for $35 it might be fun to play with.

And it seems like there’s already a hacker community around it, mostly on Reddit. (No link, because Reddit.)

Hattip to awa over at Gun Free Zone, who points out there’s a meme around this too.

Everybody was gun book blogging…

Thursday, April 25th, 2024

…they read as fast as lightning…

Needs some work.

After the jump, some more old gun books, and one new one.

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This Old Gun.

Thursday, April 11th, 2024

You know, if my local PBS station ran that as a regular series (like “This Old House”) I’d give them money.

I don’t know who would be a good host for it, though.

Anyway, just a quick update: I got my Colt historical letter on this old 1911.

It shipped March 12, 1918, to “Commanding Officer, Springfield Armory, Springfield, Massachusetts”. There were 2,900 guns in the shipment.

This Springfield Armory should not be confused with the current manufacturer. The neat (to me) thing is, I’ve actually been to the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. We had a tour arranged for us when I went to my first Smith and Wesson Collectors Association meeting in Sturbridge. I’d love to go back and spend some more time there.

My CMP M1 Garand (wait, I haven’t told you guys about that yet, have I?) is also a Springfield Armory gun: from the table of serial numbers on their website, it looks like the receiver was produced in March of 1944. (I put it that way because the CMP M1 was an “expert grade” gun. CMP says the expert grade guns have new commercial stocks and barrels, so it isn’t all original. But I bought it to shoot, not to collect. At some point, I’ll post pictures.)

I just think it’s kind of awesome and fun to have two guns with historic ties to a place I’ve actually visited and walked around in. I wonder how much it’d cost me to make a trip up that way again.

Short random gun crankery.

Friday, March 29th, 2024

Happy 1911 Day.

At least, according to Brownell’s.

Following its success in trials, the Colt pistol was formally adopted by the Army on March 29, 1911, when it was designated “Model of 1911”, later changed in 1917 to “Model 1911”, and then “M1911” in the mid-1920s.

I’d celebrate by going to the range and putting a few rounds through mine, but today’s going to be a busy day. Also, I’m not sure if it is religiously appropriate to go to the range on Good Friday. Though Luke 22:36 seems like an appropriate response to anybody who would complain…

Short quick random gun crankery.

Wednesday, March 27th, 2024

Remember this gun?

I got an invoice this morning from “Colt Archive Properties, LLC” for a historical letter on this gun. While this is only an invoice, and not the actual letter itself, the invoice says they have completed their research and “Once the invoice has been paid, your letter will be typed & mailed to you by USPS, and you should receive it within 2-3 weeks.”

I submitted the letter request on September 30th of 2023. So we’re looking at almost exactly six months from Colt letter request to completion of the research and notification. The FAQ says “90 to 100 days“.

Not that I’m complaining, just providing a data point for anyone out there who may want to request a letter.

Speaking of the 1911…

Tuesday, February 20th, 2024

…here’s another gun that was featured in a “Preview of coming attractions” post a while back.

Since I’ve written a lot about the 1911 in the past, and plan to write a lot about 1911s in the future, I can make this a somewhat shorter than usual for gun crankery post.

(Also, I think at this point I need a “1911” sub-category under “Guns”. I think a “Smith and Wesson” category was long overdue as well.)

Mike and I were out at Provident Arms in Spicewood a while back, just making the rounds and poking around.

The guy behind the counter (GBtC) said, “Hey, do you want to see something cool?”

“Hey, do you want to see something cool?” is, to my mind, one of the most dangerous phrases you can hear in a gun shop. Especially if, like me, you have Smith and Wesson tastes and a Jennings budget.

Anyway, we indicated our assent, and GBtC pulled this out.

It’s not a 1911A1. It’s a real honest to God Colt 1911.

Yes, it has the four line Colt patent and the US property mark.

And the Model of 1911 stamp on the side, along with the RIA marking.

I realize the differences between the 1911 and the 1911A1 are subtle, especially if you’re not a 1911 aficionado. Your average member of the Colt Collector’s Association can probably recite them from memory: as for me, I have to look them up.

Here’s my CMP gun side-by-side with the 1911:

Not a great picture, but I think you can at least see some of the differnces: specifically, the relief cuts and the shortened trigger.

This particular 1911 isn’t the best example, as it has been modified by a previous owner. I was told the sights had been replaced, and the mainspring housing modified. Also, both the GBtC and I are pretty sure it has been refinished, but whoever refinished it did a nice job. It doesn’t have as much collector value as it would unaltered, but I really like the way it feels in the hand.

(And the CMP gun is sort of a mixmaster anyway. Not that I’m complaining, just saying it probably isn’t a perfect exemplar of the 1911A1 for historians, either.)

Colt has an online serial number lookup tool, which says this one shipped in 1918. I’ve sent off for a historical letter, but have not received it yet.

As I have so often quoted, “You’re not paying for the gun. You’re paying for the story behind it.” The story I got was that the person who brought this in, received it as a gift from his father-in-law. That seems very much like a G.K. Chesterton sort of moment to me. It also feels like, given the modifications, this was owned by someone who knew what he wanted in a defensive handgun at the time, and didn’t value “history” more than he did “practicality”. I kind of like that in a person, and in a gun.

Unfortunately, however, the father-in-law was now the ex-father-in-law. Guy couldn’t stand having the memory of his ex-wife around? He was a Glock aficionado? Just not a gun guy at all, and wanted to convert the gun into some jingle in his jeans? No idea, but his desire to part with the gun was Provident’s gain.

And about two weeks later, my bonus payment from Cisco came through, so…it followed me home, Ma, can I keep it?

Funny story: I asked the folks at Provident if I could have a paper bag to put it in, as I didn’t want to leave it on the floor of my car in the open. The GBtC went into the back, rummaged around a bit, and came out with a really nice Glock pistol carrier that just fit the gun.

“No, no, I wasn’t asking for free stuff. I just wanted a paper bag or something.”
“No worries, chief. Glock sent us a whole box of these as promo items. I figure we can throw one in for you.”

I was a little concerned that putting a 1911 into a Glock carrier would be kind of like mixing matter and anti-matter, but so far nothing has exploded. Yet.

On the other hand, I haven’t gotten out to the range yet. I have to find some time to do that. Perhaps over spring break, as I expect to have a couple of Sunday afternoons free. And I still need to break it down and lube it…time is a flat circle indeed.

Today is Presidents’ Day. How about some gun book crankery?

Monday, February 19th, 2024

I recall reading somewhere (I think in Mr. Gatling’s Terrible Marvel: The Gun That Changed Everything and the Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It) that Lincoln was a big gun guy. If any inventor showed up at the White House with a new or improved weapon design, they were pretty much guaranteed an audience with Abe.

How much of that was desperation to win the war, and how much of it was a fascination with guns and the mechanics of machines, I have no idea.

Short shameful confession: it has been a while since I field stripped a 1911 pattern pistol.

I wanted to break down and lube one of my Commander length guns (using the lubrication suggestions from Bill Wilson’s Gun Guy, and also his lube). I had forgotten what a complete and utter (word that rhymes with “witch”) it is to get the slide stop pin through both the frame and the barrel link. Every time, the link got pushed backwards and into a position where I couldn’t get the stop into place.

I finally got it, but it took me probably 45 minutes. Maybe I need more practice. Good thing I have three more 1911s that need the same treatment. And plenty of Wilson lube left…

After the jump, a few gun books for the discerning eyes of my readers.

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It’s beginning to look a lot like gun books…

Wednesday, December 20th, 2023

…everywhere you go. At least, here on this blog.

Last Friday was my last day at work until January 8th. Some of this is me burning PTO before year-end, some of this is corporate holidays, and some of it is mandatory corporate shutdowns.

I’m planning to do more gun book posts and random gun crankery during my vacation, including a few things you’ve seen teasers for. So strap in, my people. It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks.

Why don’t we start out with a slice of history? After the jump…

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Preview of coming attractions. (Random gun crankery)

Saturday, November 4th, 2023

I’ve been neglecting gun books and guns for a minute now. It just seems like every time I sit down to try and work on one of my gun related projects, either I just can’t build up the motivation, or I end up getting involved in someone else’s bolshie bushwa.

The early part of next week I’m going on the road. I’m hoping that when I get back, the bushwa should have tapered off, plus the holidays will be approaching, plus my morale will have improved, and I can work on gun books and guns. In the meantime, some quick previews with captions that the educated reader could take as “hints”.

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!

Three of an imperfect pair.

There is no God but John Moses Browning, and Cooper is his prophet.

I’m kind of hoping that I can get another gun book post up, and maybe even a post about one of these guns, before I leave next week. I’ve already kind of written about one of the pictured guns before, so my post about that one will probably be short (and refer back to older posts) but educational.

We will see how things go.

Random gun crankery, with a public service announcement.

Thursday, September 7th, 2023

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has opened up round 4 of 1911 pistol purchases. (Previously.)

Even better: with some limitations, you can purchase a second 1911, even if you’ve bought one from the CMP previously. That’s a new twist. There was formerly a lifetime limit of one 1911 per customer.

This might be your last chance to own a chunk of history. I, personally, won’t be buying one this time as I’m not eligible. (I technically got my 1911 this year, which disqualifies me.) But I’d really like to see some of my friends purchase 1911s from CMP, and if you need help navigating the process, I’ll be happy to try to help out.

Orders are being accepted through September 30th, so you’ve got some time.

Hattip: McThag.