What I dun this week

Bawanna

Bawanna

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I didn't do nothing technical or headache causing like Ndog's folder project, code named Malcom "Steve" X.

But I whittled out a set of officer size 1911 grips for a fella.









And did a little multi tasking too with the granddaughter and the jealous puppy. Feel the love.

 
Good for you. Those grips are lovely and I love the picture of you and your grand child. :)
 
Daughter sent me video tonight, she did her first roll over to the side. Pretty cool.

Not sure if I can post that and make it work or not.

Pillow time in the NW, back to work for me tomorrow. Gawd I love 4 day weekends.
 
Nice scales man, When you say officer size, is that an actual thing or is that a kind of slang? lol Nice pic with the granddaughter :) Wonder what her first khuk her grandpappy gives her will be...;)
 
It's Amboyna Burl, the fella sent me the slabs that he picked out.

Officer Model is a 1911 with the handle shortened. Usually a 3 1/2" barrel and shorter grip. Kind of a compact version.
 
Those are some really pretty grips! But technically, the model name as used by Colt is "Officer's ACP" not "Officer Model". A number of older Colt top-end revolvers were given the name "Officer's Model" I have a stainless Colt series 80 Officer's ACP that has a really wonderful trigger (after being worked over by a real master), but it's just so heavy that I don't carry it a lot any more.
 
great work as always , love this kind of stuff
45 is the greatest side arm in human history, the round is the best ever invented for person to person combat at close range.

( not a fighter or anything but I do think the 45 matches the above description, its design is nigh- perfect, its antique by all standards and is still the go to firearm for many people, I am fond of the round mainly because of the things my old man can do with it )
 
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Love the grips, I can picture those on my 1911.

Moparsbob, technically if it was a Colt you would be correct. However since it is a Para it is a Companion however if you look on the Para site it is the "Officer" model no ACP same as my Commander sized it actually a Ruger SR1911 4.25" model The specific naming belongs to Colt so the others can't call it a Commander same as Para can't call it an Officer's Model ACP. Though us gun-knuts still use the names Commander and Officer informally because everyone knows they indicate relative sizes.

Oh did I mention I can really picture some nice Amboyna Burl slabs on a Ruger SR1911 and matching on my JW Scorpion knife? Hmm, Bawanna you better hope I never get a pile of money together. Or your poor aching, shaking hands and blurry vision are going to get NO rest at all LOL. I certainly would love to be able to afford to keep you just as busy as you want to be making cross checks in wood for me.
 
I know I'm fighting a losing battle about the "Officer's ACP" vs. "Officer's Model" designation, just like my fight against calling the .45 Colt cartridge the ".45 Long Colt". I just strive to be precise in my terminology :-)
 
Great looking wood Bawanna and that's one hell of a sexy 1911. I love that type of wood especially in burl. Really digging those "eyes"
 
More often the ACP is associated with the ammo... .45acp or .45 automatic colt pistol. They might have dropped the ACP as to not have the "colt" designation on their product. That just a guess by the way.

Hey Bawanna... How do you like that LDA trigger? I have no experience with the Light Double Action of the Para models. I refuse to buy a Para due to their piss poor customer service. Ive heard from other buyers that you either get a great on or a dud... there is no in between with Para pistols much like Kel-Tech guns. They either work all the time or never work. My Aunt bought one and it was piece of crap. I think in was their "warthog" compact model. Jammed with every ammo by every maker. I tried multiple magazine for different makers but could never get it to shoot reliable. I told her to sell it and buy something else. She now carries a Glock 30 in her purse, and I am confident it will go BOOM every time she pulls the trigger.

Most 1911 issues can be traced back to bad magazines but there are just to many horror stories for me to invest in a Para although I am very interested in the LDA trigger mechanism, any info you could give me on its "feel" would be much appreciated.
 
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Well thats a sign right there, I happen to have a SR1911 Ruger myself, great gun for the money, I like mine a lot.
Now I just need to find another hunk of that Amboyna Burl and we're in business.
I don't know if the figure in that wood will come thru after checkering or not, haven't tried it yet. Sometimes it shows through perfect and the checkering is invisible almost, other times it just wipes out the wood pattern which is like messing with mother nature and you never ever want to mess with mother nature.

mopar, I been in the struggle on the 45 Colt versus 45 Long Colt too. One of my favorite rounds as well, have a few revolvers and a couple lever guns in 45 Colt. Think I was born a 100 years too late sometimes.
I mistakenly often refer to it as the Long Colt too just as many of the old timers used to do to differentiate between the various 45's.
 
Hehe, Nothing wrong with that. But I agree the .45 Colt shouldn't be called a Long Colt. I never understood the reason it was designated that by the army. The .45 schofield the .45 ACP and the .45 Colt. I guess they felt the ACP was also a colt so .45 colt COULD refer to both so Long vs the shorter Schofield AND ACP.

Doh. Now I am just as confused as a new recruit told by the Corporal to get more ammo for his Colt Army revolver and was just given a box of .45 Schofields (which worked fine but not the other direction btw)

Seriously, it isn't a losing battle when referencing a Colt, I agree then it is an "Officer's ACP" it is only when you reference a 1911 from another manufacturer that it is not proper to use the "Officer's ACP" since it is not an "Officer's ACP" it is an Officer's sized 1911 with it's own model name. Anyways...
Whatever you call them. Beautiful is what I call them and MINE is what I would prefer to call them ;) That and the Browning HP, 2 pistols (by the same man no less) that I will forever consider to be the gold standard.
 
bawanna said:
well thats a sign right there, i happen to have a sr1911 ruger myself, great gun for the money, i like mine a lot.
Now i just need to find another hunk of that amboyna burl and we're in business.
I don't know if the figure in that wood will come thru after checkering or not, haven't tried it yet. Sometimes it shows through perfect and the checkering is invisible almost, other times it just wipes out the wood pattern which is like messing with mother nature and you never ever want to mess with mother nature.

Mopar, i been in the struggle on the 45 colt versus 45 long colt too. One of my favorite rounds as well, have a few revolvers and a couple lever guns in 45 colt. Think i was born a 100 years too late sometimes.
I mistakenly often refer to it as the long colt too just as many of the old timers used to do to differentiate between the various 45's.
Click to expand...

Please dont checker that gorgeous wood brotha!

Oh...Please contour the top of that beavertail safety...its driving me nuts!
 
Oh no! I agree, that burl should not be checkered. Much as I LOVE your checkering work that burl needs to stand out like it is. Exactly like it is in those pictures. I was talking generically about the wish I could afford to keep you checkering for me. I basically meant your entire woodworking skills as represented by said mad checkering skills.

Yeah a SR1911 may not be the perfect 1911. But it sure is close and for the price. Whoo! a genu-whine good deal. I have a 4.25 (or Commander size) model and love it. It is my usual carry weapon unless it is summer and I need something smaller when I grab hubbies PPK/s as my conceal carry. I haven't been bold enough to take hubby's Grandpa's Army Issue yet. But I intend to put some rounds through that 1911 beauty some day soon with his permission of course. Hmm I wonder how that works with the new idiot law in WA. damn I might be a felon in a couple days time...
 
I was a die hard Colt 1911 fan until I got my hands on the new S&W 1911 "E" series pistol. It is in the series 70 configuration with no firing pin block or damn linkage. They solved the "drop pistol firing" issue by installing a titanium firing pin and high power spring. The firing pin has no chance of hitting the primer now even when dropped for 20 feet. There just isn't enough weight in the firing pin to dent the primer.

I really cant say enough about my 1911 full size E series S&W. Its all stainless steel but its been coated in Melonite which is the USA version of Tenifer. Tenifer is the process that makes Glocks diamond hard. They also made the pistols on brand new state of the art CNC machines. There is not a swirl or chatter mark anywhere inside the pistol the pistol. All the contact surfaces are almost mirror smooth.

S$W spent countless hours with a slow motion camera, They put soooooo much time and engineering into the E series, it is a better 1911 than most. I no longer buy Colt due to their declining quality since the early 1990's. I also own a full size Kimber as well as the Colts... The S&W E series surpasses both in build quality, accuracy, and plain sexiness!

They did use some MIM parts to keep the initial price under $1400. I have since replaced the slide stop, safety, mainspring housing, trigger, sear, disconnect, trigger, mag release, leaf spring, guide rod (back to shorty), guide rod plug, ect with quality forged/milled parts. I have around $2500 into the gun but I am confident I can sell it for double that price if I find a informed buyer. I don't plan on selling it anytime soon but comparable guns are going for $5000-$6500 from Harrison designs and gunsmiths that due this type of upgrading. The only thing left I need to replace is the beavertail safety which I plan on upgrading to a Wilson or Brown forged unit.
 
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I love the LDA trigger, I have 3 and never had issues with any. My Chief carries a later version of my companion for duty and we had one other here as well, one of those ugly green ones. The finish didn't last at all.

The LDA pretty much gives you all the good stuff of a 1911 but with a considerable margin for error on the trigger. Very well for those that don't get enough practice and familiarization.

I have a P14, a 7-45 limited edition (actually gave that to my son for graduation before the new stupid WA law) and this companion.
I've heard mixed stories on their customer service, used to be not bad, then really bad and not good reports of late but I've never needed them so I'm ok.

I did hear it's really hard to get replacement parts.

My Ruger is the full size 5". I got it before the Commander size came out, back when they were very hard to get. I actually found two for friend in Alaska and had them shipped down, got mine from a friend in Arizona.
 
Man thats some super tight gnarly looking grain. Beautiful work! Looks like it would hold up to plenty abuse.
Kids look very content:thumbup:
 
The Ruger is a quality 1911. It is rock solid as are all Rugers, they offer it at a very reasonable price too. I know Remington released their 1911 the same time as Ruger. I guess the Remington couldn't hold a candle to the Ruger it terms of build quality and reliability. Heck anytime you can get a quality 1911 for under $700 is a deal in my book. They are selling new Ruger 1911's where I am for $630 in both full size and commander models. You can never go wrong with a Ruger IMHO.
 
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