If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
For whatever reason that link comes up to a page with everything except the article. This one seems to work:Originally Posted by Stephanie B
https://www.recoilweb.com/classic-ca...ss-181974.html
no one sees what's written on the spine of his own autobiography.
Alchemy Custom Weaponry also had a recent video on them, and the controversial (in my opinion, actually funny) "Zoomer sales guy" Eli had one of the super rare Novak's 1903s with an extended thumb safety, dovetailed Novak's sights, checkering, and other custom 1911 features. That has to be one of my favorites of the many pistols that I have to accept I'll never own. Probably a good thing, too, because if I did own one I wouldn't be able to resist carrying it despite the drop safety issues.
I wonder if the drop safety issues could be corrected somehow? Titanium firing pin and strong recoil spring to start with. Re-engineer safety engagement?
My apologies to weasels.
Someone on PF (Fatdog) mentioned that some 1903s are drop safe and some aren't ? Some sort of inline change ?
Colt management was aware of slam fires and drop fires, but it took them a while as the guns accumulated some wear.
Around 1921 they added a half cock notch to trap the hammer if it bounced out of full cock. I doubt it is a complete cure, but it was what they could do without redesigning the whole action. And it was a long time before Mr Swartz came up with the firing pin block that went on Government Models for a while before WWII.
Code Name: JET STREAM
1903s (32acp) post-400,000 (1922) I think was the broadly accepted cutoff, was when Colt added a "safety notch" like the 1911's half-cock notch, to the hammer...it doesn't really make it "drop safe", but more like "less likey to go off". Even with that, I'd treat a 1903 much like I'd treat a pre-80 series 1911; the firing pin is still steel, the spring in them is marginal at best (especially these days, and they're a bitch to swap out in 1903s), and inertia still demands to be appeased.
Edit to add - unlike a 1911's thumb safety which has a nice snickey detent, a 1903's thumb safety just slides up and down with nothing capturing it in either location...it's entirely possible for the safety to bounce off, too.
Hazarding a guess:
If I were trying to make something like this drop safe, the titanium firing pin and extra power spring would be a good place to start. I would also want to increase the surface area of the sear engagement with a correspondingly longer trigger pull. This would likely require fabricating a couple of new parts. Another post mentioned a lack of a safety decent, and that would seem to be something that could be remedied.
That is about as much as I could think of while keeping design and engineering changes reasonably do-able by someone sufficiently interested and with sufficient machining equipment and skill.
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I once got flak for noting that the Shield EZ is basically the same gun.
I do like mine (top is the 1903, bottom the 1908):
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
The EZ is almost the same gun - it's bigger in every dimension but it's close.I once got flak for noting that the Shield EZ is basically the same gun.
I do like mine (top is the 1903, bottom the 1908):
The Equalizer, on the other hand, is almost %100 dimensionally identical - it's just a little bit wider.
That's one of the reasons I've been (not) holding my breath for a 30 Super Carry Equalizer...it'd be the perfect 120 year update to the Colt 1903 in 32acp. Alas, I doubt S&W will ever make my dream come true...
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