Took my new CMP 1911A1 shooting yesterday.

[John Mello]

Hey Guys,
I thought I'd post this, as new, since the clean up is all done.

I field striped it the night before I took it out shooting.
Wanted to make sure it was greased up real good.
So took a photograph of the underside if the barrel hood. It's a beautiful satin like silver color.
The whole of the bore is that way, save for the tip of muzzle, it's lightly Parkerized (dark anyway) there.

Went to The Nevada County Sportsmen's Club yesterday and tried it out.
Ran Real Smooth. Shot 50 rounds of Winchester .45 AUTO ball (white box).
And 10 rnds. of some old ammo I came into, and have been packing around for more than 45 years.

(+ 0ver 1000 rnds of E.C. 43 S, F.A. 6-16, W 17, REM-UMC 18, U.S.C.CO. 6-19,
14 mags in 1918 dated pouches, and So Much More, but that's another story, if Ya want to hear it.? +)

Anyway, shot some REM-UMC.
The Remington Targetmaster, 185 grain M. C. Wad Cutter.
I shot two, 5 round groups with it and was blown away.
Imagin how good it would be in capable hands.
I couldn't see the sights well against the target black.
So I lined the sights up on the edge of the paper. Worked better.

Here is a photo of "The Sliver Lining", a SW chrome lined barrel. And my Best Group Ever w/a 1911A1.

Under the Barrel Hood.jpg5 round group.jpg

I real happy with the CMP Rack Grade 1911A1 Pistol.
It's like a Race Car (remember the old "Hardtop Races" at the fair grounds),
A Thoroughbred. With a hard slide and a chrome lined barrel, plus the other parts are like new.
Except the mainspring housing that is a little worn, but I like It too.
A Real High Performance Machine. w\a U.S.A. pedigree.

One more note on this slide (7790314/53397).
There is no seam around the firing pin hole like the WWII slides with the hard plug screwed into the breach face.

Someone here posted a link for the Springfield Armory grips that were on sale.
Thanks. I like 'em, feels like more purchase.

Over and Out for Now,
Jm

[Kerwin Law]

Very nice ! It looks like it IS in capable hands

[m1ashooter]

Are those the grips it came with?

[John Mello]

No, it came like this.
Someone here at CSP, or CMP's 1911 forum, posted a link for the Springfield Armory grips that were on sale.
Here it is Showboatin' its new grips.
I like 'em, feels like more purchase.
Before 1.jpgA Pair of Colts .jpg

[Johnny P]

In 1944 each of the Model 1911A1 pistol manufacturers sent 250 pistols with hardened slides to Springfield Armory for testing. Some of these may end up in the CMP Sales pistols.

There was really nothing wrong with the 1911A1 slides with the hardened insert in the breech face, but the fully hardened slides eliminated the extra steps of installing the insert and the tempering of the front of the slide and slide stop notch.

[PeteDavis]

That's what they're made to do and you are doin' it.

Good buy!

Pete Davis

[Art]

The "dime" front sight and the narrow notch rear found on most pistols of that period are an abomination, not surprised you had trouble with them except against a light background. That soldiers of the period accomplished some of the feats they did with them amazes me. That it feeds the variety of ammo it does is a great bonus. I once owned a commercial "c" series Colt Government Model, fine gun but. it was only reliable with full power ball ammunition. 185 gr. SWC match produced about 4 malfunctions per magazine in that gun.

Congratulations

[Johnny P]

That slide actually has the "wide" front sight with square notch rear. The original Model 1911 front sight tapered from .058 at the base to .038 at the top with a rounded rear sight with a small U notch. At about serial number 60000 the rear sight was made with a flat top and the same tiny U notch, but improved the sight picture greatly.

In 1924 the front sight was made a uniform .058 wide, and retained the same flat top rear sight with U notch. In March of 1943 Colt went to a .080 wide front sight with a square notch rear sight. Remington Rand, Ithaca, and US&S all used the new sights.

[John Mello]

Effect of Trigger Change?
I have another Colt 1911A1 with a serial No. 8695xx and now, my new CMP Colt with a No. 907466.
Both made in 1943.

The 8695xx colt has a late Rem Rand mainspring housing that still has sharp ribs.
It's milled trigger has No wear. The checkering is sharp and like new.

The CMP Colt trigger is worn flat. All the diamonds are wide and flat. The result is a smooth trigger.
The mainspring housing on the CMP Colt is worn as well, and provides no purchase.

Question; will the trading out of these parts, change the internal performance of this pistol?
Will it change the trigger pull weight? Or cause other problems triggers may have?
I understand the coil spring in the mainspring housing could be a variable.

I don't want to strip the older Colt of it's best parts, although it's a mixmaster too and not really a shooter.
One for show and one for blow, is my plan.

Are parts like this available? The real deal GI parts?
A Milled Trigger and Ribbed Mainspring Housing. How about a long trigger of the 1911?
What is a good source for parts like these?
Thanks,
Take Care & Stay Well
jm

[Johnny P]

Original parts are still available, but becoming pricey. For a shooter aftermarket parts will do fine. IF the Colt trigger is the stamped variety it just may have never had much of a checkering pattern to start with. The milled Colt trigger could never be shot enough to wear the diamonds off. Same with arched mainspring housings. The finer checkered MSH that Remington Rand used in early production did not have a deep checkering pattern, but you would never wear the diamonds off a Colt housing. A Colt Model 1911 trigger is going to be smooth to start with.

The parts do wear in, and if you have a nice trigger pull I would consider leaving the parts as is.

[John Mello]

Thanks for your information and advice. I appreciate it.
I don't want to mess up a good thing.
I took some photos of the parts.
Sorry for the soft focus but I think you can see the difference in wear.
smooth mainspring housing .jpgSmooth Trigger .jpglike new trigger .jpglike new mainspring housing .jpg
I hope you can see these. If not I'll change the lens and see if I can do any better.
Thanks Again for your response.
jm

[Johnny P]

What you are seeing isn't wear, but where the diamond points didn't fill out when the trigger was manufactured. Notice that some of the diamond points have a dimple in the end from where the metal was not completely forced up into the die.

The Model 1911 trigger and MSH were completely smooth, and some shooters prefer them. The small inconsistencies in the checkering shouldn't cause any problems with accuracy.

[John Mello]

Thanks Johnny P.
I had a Rem-Rand with a stamped trigger. It's not one of those.
I've read about stamped and milled triggers.
Are some die cast?
I tried to get some better photos of my worn trigger. These are a little better.
Even with a tripod I can't get it sharp. I need a real close up lens.
DSC_6967.jpgDSC_6964.jpg

So I've got some time on my hands with the Chi-Comm Bio-Weapon Plague and all.
Been inventorying my old ammo. I have a dozen boxes of the old paper hulled shells left.
.410, 20 ga, 16 ga, 12 ga. We had cases and cases of each.
My duck hunting buddy and I were given them in the early '80s.
Our kids could never shoot them all up. We tried, 40 years ago.
This was my Pinterest project (yeah right!) for yesterday.
DSC_6957.jpg
It Was Fun.

Take Care, Be Well,
jm