Yeah to be honest I have no hesitation to carry a basic 1911 with the GI grip safety and all. Now granted, an up-swept safety and undercut trigger guard do help with getting a high grip on the gun. But the basic model Colts I've owned have been rock solid and they shoot just fine. Come to think of it, so did the Mil-Spec I owned years ago.Originally Posted by JonInWA
My hands are just a touch too meaty for the old spur hammer. I never got pinched with my ORM Colt 1991A1 but it wasn't comfortable, I suppose I could smooth out and refinish it but I like the look of a rounded hammer and extended beavertail GS anyway.
Other than that, I don't feel like the gun needs anything, really. A person could do a lot worse.
I handled one of these today, and was impressed. Street discount price of $509 as I recall. Decent trigger, safety, reset. Parkerized finish evenly applied. Nice sights. 7 round magazine from my cursory examination sees to be a Check-Mate, with holes drilled in baseplate for extended basepad attachment. Not thrilled with silver bushing, but that's easily remidied. Best, Jon
Just under five hours left and one bid at the minimum. Hope it's someone here.
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Not another dime.
Nice, but I'd opt for the current Defender at essentially the same price. Bettah (well, more usable) sights, and I personally just like the aesthetics of the Defender better. I'm not knowledgeable enough to compare the quality an QC on such a vintage versus the current Springfields Mil-Specs.
If I do get one of the Defenders, I'd probably peruse the EGW and Harrison sites, and go for a more period-specific/higher quality slide stop, safety lever, bushing and possibly hammer (a wide-spur's always aesthetically temptation to me on a "vintage" M1911A1), hardened sear, hammer strut, disconnector etc.
And the OEM grips, nice as they are, would likely be replaced by a set of Hayes WWII brown plastic/nylon/polymer replicas.
Decent as it probably is out of the box, it would certainly make for a fun, and reasonable inexpensive project.
Best, Jon
That Springer is a hot mess. Look at the goofy blend of flats/radius on the forward portion of the frame.
I’m sure there are other screw-ups on it.
Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for that dumb bastard.
Reading this thread is expensive. I was at my LGS to transfer a pre-war (WW II) Winchester 75 Sporter and browsed the display cases while I waited for a "proceed" on my background check. I found a relatively recent (serial number is NM509xyz) Parkerized Mil-Spec (model PB9108L) with the old rollmarks, complete with the factory packaging and ephemera (bore brush, two magazines, lock, manual) with the white sales tag that denotes "used" showing an asking price of $599.99. It appeared the MSH had been replaced as there was no ILS and the MSH metal finish was blued, not Parkerized. Grips were the "crossed cannon" wood grips. The pistol had been fired based on the carbon residue on the breech face and in the bore of the stainless barrel. Other than that, it was pristine, other than the Parkerized finish being parched for oil, manifesting as a bit of surface rust on one of the grip screws. I suspect the pistol was used for a single range session and put back into the factory case. The trigger, surprisingly for a factory pistol in this price range, did not rattle in the track and the pull was around five pounds (non-calibrated trigger finger gauge). The thumb safety lock motion was consistent, lacking the mushy overtravel on the downward swipe I have come to expect from Colt offerings. It passed all of the safety checks with flying colors. A little bit of haggling and it was mine for the not-so-paltry sum of $575 OTD. When sales tax at 9% is backed out of the price, the sale price was just under $530. Considering the cost of the non-ILS mainspring housing. mainspring cap, and mainspring, the price is comparable to one of the "Mil-Spec Defender" pistols.
I have stripped, cleaned, lubed with G96 (very good for the Parkerized finish), and assembled. I was pleased to find that the only surface rust was on the single grip screw. I tried it with some Wilson ETM magazines that I use with my Norinco 1911A1 pistols. It fed and fired 230-grain Winchester "USA" ball with no issues. My eyes struggled with the factory front sight, but that is not uncommon for me.
Since most of my 1911-pattern pistols have been extensively customized, I am going to keep this one as-is other than painting the front sight with fluorescent orange paint.
So at least I'm not the only one who enables myself with that calculation. That and a stack of OE mags included is how I got to a $318 P220.
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Not another dime.
Nope, you are not alone.
I like to compute the total cost of the acquisition as well as just the firearm price as part of my decision making and haggling. If I would have bought a Mil-Spec "Defender" online, I would have incurred shipping and transfer costs and sales tax as opposed to just sales tax for a local purchase. For example, Grabagun has the $489-priced Mil-Spec "Defender" for $536 delivered to my FFL. My FFL charges me $20 per transfer, so the total is $556. There is also some value in being able to inspect a firearm before committing to the purchase. Plus I like the older rollmarks and being able to support my LGS with the purchase of a used firearm. So $575 OTD was acceptable.
The "Defender" is in a way similar to what I built when I did my retro Springer.
Mine was done on a WWII model, and I used a variety of different parts from Kings hardballer sights, Bullseye spur hammer, to an original Pre WW2 steel trigger, among other things, but externally most might not tell the difference if they were not aficionados.
The non medallion Pachmeyers have not been made in a few decades as far as I know..
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