1911 .45 Junkers

[mmc45414]

I thought I'd just become excessively curmudgeonly in my old age, but I haven't even bothered to go to a local show in over three years now.

I agree....
A few years ago I was at an Ohio Gun Collector's show (a very well done show) and had a moment of clarity:
I Love Shooting, I Am Not A Gun Collector

I thought back more and had to admit that most of what I was doing was to go try and buy reloading components in quantities that were too low to justify hazmat shipping. Once I got to the point I could buy some larger quantiles walking up and down all of the rows lost some appeal.

[Joe in PNG]

I did get one of the best deals of my life at a local gun show- my Beretta 92D Centurion for $300. But that was about a decade ago, and the couple of times I've went since, I've not seen anything worth the admission. I can usually find a better deal via diligent browsing of the used racks at the local gunshops.

As for the op, the 1911 platform isn't a fragile little snowflake gun made of gossamer & cobwebs. Unless you decide to get out the Dremmel and make lots of stoopid mods, you should be fine as is. Millions of hamfisted GI's have stripped & cleaned 1911's for over a century. You should be fine.

[RJ]

@Danko in addition to the excellent suggestions above, I participated heavily in the "Springfield Garrison" thread started in 2021. It might be worth a read:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....light=garrison

Most all of the tinkering I did with the gun is documented there, more or less. I was in a somewhat similar situation, being extremely new to 1911s when I bought it as my first (and only). I bought mine both to have a bowling pin gun (competitions) as well as to have "the 1911 experience." I did a lot of messing around with it, since I didn't buy the gun just to shoot it (although it does shoot fine). I learned a lot, but mostly that there is a lot to learn. It's been a lot of fun.

If I were to do it over again, I'd take the same route: Namely, buy a decent quality gun with good customer service to fall back on, then get ammo and go to town. I think a Mil-Spec is a solid choice in that regard. It's not the gun I would pick (I don't care for the GI grip safety, having handled them dry), but it should shoot fine.

Good luck!

[Danko]

It's not rocket surgery though.

When I was younger and dumber (well...OK maybe the same general level of dumb...but younger) I built a 1911 from parts having never fully disassembled a 1911. I just used YouTube videos and 1911 forums.

Just be careful and disassemble your Springfield. You don't need to drop 400 bucks on a practice mule for disassembly practice unless you just really wanna get another gun.

Thank you! YouTube has become the new age university. Whatever we want to know, YouTube can provide it.

I'll be out of gun money for a while, so I won't be buying another gun anytime soon. I will revisit the Tisas idea in the summer. For the price I think I almost need one.

[lee n. field]

I was just thinking about the possibility of buying a 1911 .45 junker at a gun show to practice taking it completely apart and, of course reassembling it. Gun shows are rather infrequent in my area, but I should make it a point to attend when available. The question is, how often do you come across 1911s in battered condition, and how much do they typically sell for. I may as well also ask if buying a junker to learn on is a viable thing to pursue?

Tell it to me straight!

Around here, never.

Buy a Rock Island GI to practice on?

[Danko]

[QUOTE=RJ;1564036]@Danko in addition to the excellent suggestions above, I participated heavily in the "Springfield Garrison" thread started in 2021. It might be worth a read:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....light=garrison

Most all of the tinkering I did with the gun is documented there, more or less. I was in a somewhat similar situation, being extremely new to 1911s when I bought it as my first (and only). I bought mine both to have a bowling pin gun (competitions) as well as to have "the 1911 experience." I did a lot of messing around with it, since I didn't buy the gun just to shoot it (although it does shoot fine). I learned a lot, but mostly that there is a lot to learn. It's been a lot of fun.

If I were to do it over again, I'd take the same route: Namely, buy a decent quality gun with good customer service to fall back on, then get ammo and go to town. I think a Mil-Spec is a solid choice in that regard. It's not the gun I would pick (I don't care for the GI grip safety, having handled them dry), but it should shoot fine.

Thank you RJ, I'm quite sure your Garrison post contains nuggets of value.

[Danko]

I did get one of the best deals of my life at a local gun show- my Beretta 92D Centurion for $300. But that was about a decade ago, and the couple of times I've went since, I've not seen anything worth the admission. I can usually find a better deal via diligent browsing of the used racks at the local gunshops.

As for the op, the 1911 platform isn't a fragile little snowflake gun made of gossamer & cobwebs. Unless you decide to get out the Dremmel and make lots of stoopid mods, you should be fine as is. Millions of hamfisted GI's have stripped & cleaned 1911's for over a century. You should be fine.

I'm not familiar with that gun, but a Beretta for 300 bucks sounds enticing.

Absolutely not, no power tools near firearms!

[Joe in PNG]

I'm not familiar with that gun, but a Beretta for 300 bucks sounds enticing.

Absolutely not, no power tools near firearms!

It's a double action only version of the Beretta 92 with no safety lever. Centurion means it's a compact slide on a full sized frame.
Basically a magazine fed 19 shot S&W Model 19.

[Archer1440]

Thank you! YouTube has become the new age university. Whatever we want to know, YouTube can provide it.

The problem with YouTube is that people going there for information often do not know whether that information is correct, valid or useful. This is especially an issue in matters where the outcome of following bad YouTube advice can be dangerous- even deadly.

There are a few good, but a whole lot of very bad presentations on YouTube pertaining to the 1911 platform, and I would strongly advise caution to anyone new to the tool to be very careful with the information out there.

Now, of course, this applies to any unvetted information one accesses on the internet, including this forum- and this very post, for the matter- but in general, this forum in particular tends to weed out the bad stuff.

[Jay585]

It's a double action only version of the Beretta 92 with no safety lever. Centurion means it's a compact slide on a full sized frame.
Basically a magazine fed 19 shot S&W Model 19.

That's an interesting set up.

Is it an LTT optic job but without the appropriate height front sight?