Colt 1911, market scouting

[ftrovato]

You left out NIGHTHAWK!

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I'm partial to my Nighthawks. I've owned many different pistols over the years.

Nighthawks are in a league all their own. Below is one that I own.

They all shoot lights out and cycle perfectly with all ammo. One Gun One Gunsmith really works. And they hold thier value!

 

[cajunchefray]

I love Ivory, and very partial to Mammoth Ivory because of the various colors, age, cracks and other very unique character. Someone here said that from a functional standpoint ivory was useless? I don't understand that at all, makes no sense to me, my guns feed, function, shoot just as well with Ivory grips as not?............... Hmmm?...... Oh well......... Years ago I had a fellow that was making my grips custom from various pieces of ivory. On the 1911 grips I had all mine no more than .25 inches thick in the middle, fits my hands perfectly. After he went out of business, I always had to ask what the thickness was before buying. Currently there is a fellow in Florida that does the best work with Mammoth Ivory I have ever seen, and the thickness is perfect. I have bought several sets from him. Including all the recent Blue Stain Mammoth that is shown on my Nickel Colts. Just incredible, and has not effected feed or function... HEH HEH........ I have a few sets of Elephant Ivory as well, but most elephant is not old enough to have a lot of character.........

I always had the leather done in Africa from my elephants, buffalo and hippo. I love this stuff. Early years I had a "Western Leather" type guy, that did pretty well. I had him do several things for me, including a nice Double Western Rig for my Single Action guns...........I was always of the opinion, a good leather rig enhanced the BBQ Guns......... I apologize for the showing of SAA guns on a 1911 thread, I hope you guys can ignore my drift, I promise to come back to 1911s.........

This is my Colt SAA Nickel guns, they sport a custom set of Giraffe bone grips, yes this is from a giraffe that I took, and brought back the leg bones to be made into grips........... and the custom elephant leather rig they ride around in................

Also works good with a pair of Case/Blue guns........with Mammoth Ivory

Before I had the Elephant leather rig, I had Galco build two rigs for me, Black and a Brown.......

Now this same fellow built a 1911 Rig and Belt for me as well..........

Later I ran into a real Leathersmith Artist in California, I was fortunate to have him do quite a bit of work for me, holsters, belts, rifle slings and more, all with my elephant/buffalo leather. Unfortunately he retired just as I was getting some of my hippo leather in, and never got him to do any of it!

I had him do a shoulder rig for me, elephant and the lace work is buffalo..........It really is incredible, the photos are terrible, my apologies.............

He also made some other items, the magazine holders can be used on the shoulder rig, by removing one of the holsters and replacing it with the magazine rig.......

He also did a lot of cartridge holders for me, these were incredible and I used them for years..... the inside was lined with pig skin, it refused to stretch and become loose, always keeping your cartridges safe and tight...........

Rife slings also, built to my specs...........

Man he was an Artist in my mind, no doubt. I Have not found anyone else to work with since he retired..........

I found a fellow also that does magic with 1911 wood grips of all sorts of exotic woods.......
Cherry

Cocabolo or something such.......

Maple

Blue stain Spaulding Maple

Buckeye Burl

1911 and SA revolvers always are appropriate discussions together.

And really nice leather work.

 

[cajunchefray]

Ya’ll are welcome at our house for a BBQ anytime!

I first read about BBQ GUNS, in an issue of Handloader Magazine, I think written by Brian Pearce probably 15 years ago.

Growing up in Louisiana, living in Texas for a few years, I completely understood the concept.

 

[cajunchefray]

03/29/1911 - 03/29/2025

Today, we celebrate the greatest automatic handgun in history...

On this day, 114 years ago, Lt. Col. John T. Thompson (yes, of Thompson Sub Machine Gun fame) sent a letter to the Colt's Manufacturing Company in Hartford Connecticut informing them that their .45 Automatic had been approved and adopted by the United States Army.

For over a century, the M1911 (and variants) have been carried and cherised by American soldiers, law enforcement, and civilian gun-toters alike.

The 1911 was birthed into an era of U.S. imperialism, seeing it's earliest combat in conflicts such as the Bannana Wars of Central America and the Caribbean Islands. While the big-bore six gun was still "America's Handgun" a decade into the 20th Century, the M1911's service in the Great War exposed hundreds of thousands of Americans to the power, reliability, and zeal of the .45 Automatic.

From there, the M1911 has become an icon of American superiority and excellence across the globe. It's legend is rivaled by no other automatic, with the M1911 remaining operationally unchanged since it was adopted on this day 114 years ago.

My first 1911 I purchased in 1994 was a Colt 1991 A1, series 80, commander size. It was a Colt, shot OK.
Then in 2003, living in Spartanburg SC, at my favorite gunshop, the gunsmith persuaded me to get a Kimber 1911. He said they just work. He carried everyday his on custom Colt 1911, with Ed Swenson mods. I trusted him and bought it. That pistol was special.
Then I traded it for a stainless Springfield Armory , as I moved to the coast of Louisiana. Good pistol, worked as needed in a salt climate but no soul.

I handled, but didn’t shoot a WW1 era 1911, owned by a friend, his grandfather carried in France as part of the French Foreign Legion, 1916, a man from North Carolina, before the USA entered the war.
Just a bit special.


My next 1911 will be a 1960s era Colt, and tuned up a bit by a good gunsmith.

 

[wesheltonj]

Marko,

If it's for showing off, you only have one choice that that a real Colt.

 

[RLL]

Gents,
I am considering to buy Colt 1911, as classic as it can be. No rails, single stack, 45 ACP. (As it once was)
Must be - made in USA!
Which one would you choose, by principle of quality, reliability and looks? I listed the companies I could think of.
The purpose of the pistol is mainly show off at the range, quintessential BBQ gun, and recreational target shooting.
I have a number of pistols, for various specific uses (various sports or hunting), but this is the first one I am buying just for pleasure and pride of ownership.

I am at the beginning of my quest, so take your time. I made the first hand list. but feel free to suggest any other company. I am not sure if all American companies products are available at my vicinity, but never the less, I will take a look if could be found.

You could put in all the paperwork with the CMP and grab a surplus M1911A1. They’re a cool piece of history, functional and look dang cool as a BBQ piece.

 

[VertigoBE]

If I would be looking for a "BBQ gun", or "Church-gun", this top one is the one I'd be going for. Very nice @michael458 !

 

[TnKen]

Turnbull actually has a BBQ gun series.

 

[cash_tx]

I'm not a big fan of Series 80 Colts, but i really do like this custom pair that belongs to a close friend of mine. Over the years he has acquired many pairs of pistols with consecutive serial numbers, including this one.

 

[michael458]

We have seen a lot of really nice guns so far, lots of super nice BBQ Guns. I have my share of other 1911s, that are not BBQ guns in my opinion anyway, some others might consider them BBQ guns, everyone has a different idea about that, and that is a good thing as well..........

I have this old US Army gun, it was made in 1918...... 107 years old.....

This gun was one of those early Springfield guns they sold as parts. Just a bag of parts literally and you put them together for a gun! I paid $200 for that bag of parts. Later I had Novak sights added, my names scratched on it. This thing always shot great, never missed a beat. Not bad for $200

I have heard that some folks had some issues with Kimbers, not just here, but others as well. Early in this thread I stated I had 20+ Kimbers, and I have been putting them away from the very beginning, to just a few years ago. I have yet to have one that was a problem? The very first Kimbers were just superb, I have two early guns that may be the best 1911s I ever owned, and I have had a few........ Later Kimbers have a little glitch in the triggers, but nothing that can't either be sorted out, or just ignored......... I picked up an Eclipse when they came out, then later a friend of mine passed away and I inherited his Eclispe....... Then I added these grips, I forget what these are called, but they are not expensive, have a pretty aggressive design, and they are thin to my needs. I think I even got a few sets off Amazon........They look pretty good on these type guns as well.......

Another friend had an Ultra he did not need, so I took it off his hands, added these same type grips to it..... only a lighter color.....

As you know, I like pairs, so I needed a two tone pair of 5 inch guns at some point, same type grips...One of these ended up being my Test 45 ACP Gun, testing loads and bullets.....

I had a Earth Tone Color Phase once....... I picked up this 5 inch Kimber, has rail under the bottom side, this gun ended up so good, it is my Night Stand Bedside Gun, the Olight Laser system works as well........ And of course, those same folks have a Earth Tone grip as well....... worked out pretty good I reckon......... This is a later Kimber, but man it is a shooter and I am betting the pot on it if I need it.

Way back in the day, many moons ago, I was doing a lot of match shooting! I was not conventional, and I did not shoot big compensated match guns, I shot what I carried. I took up with a pair of little Detonics, I shot them in every match, and to be quite honest, I did very well with them. Well, I shot them so much, that parts began to wear out, and the parts for Detonics are not always compatible with common 1911 parts, so I decided I need to move those guns down the road to happier grounds........ But I always had a place in my heart for the little Detonics guns. On my #60 birthday, my buddy found a Detonics in good shape, and presented it to me for my Birthday, that Same birthday My Lovely Wife presented me with a Randall #1 with Ivory Micarda Handles, how much better could it be..................

We had a couple of Suppressors in our NFA Trust..... so I had to see how this would work too.....OK, not really my cup of tea, the suppressor was removed after the photos, and a few shots downrange, yes it works very well...... but.........

Another friend of mine passed away a few years ago. I picked a few things up that he had. Another half Earthtone gun, 4 inch, I added Buckeye burl that seems to match up pretty damn good and this has really become one of my favorite carry guns.

A years ago another friend introduced me to the various S&W Shields both 9mm and 45 ACP. I have to say, I was impressed with the performance of these guns, feed/function and so forth. Price was stupid cheap on sale, I kept adding these to the inventory, until I basically had Shields in all the vehicles, in the bathrooms, side tables, damn Shields and S&W Plastic guns were everywhere, seriously. My thought process was that if something happened to one of these, say it was stolen out of the truck, or I lost it in the river on the boat or something other stupid scenario, so what? Yeah, its a loss, but damn, go get another one just like it, done. I can't replace my 1911 BBQ guns and the various Mammoth Ivory, or elephant or unique wood grips on them, you can't just go down to the shop and get another one just like it! So I don't carry my 1911s any longer, except for BBQ where they are never further away from me than my hip! I carry ugly ass plastic guns, but they are nothing but TOOLS, like your hammer or vise grips and can be replaced easy.............