1911 picture thread

[Wondering Beard]

Black-T was good shit for the 90s. At the time if you wanted shiny/white you could get stainless or hard chrome and (by modern standards) have a good corrosion resistant finish. If you wanted black/NotShiny your options were more limited. Aftermarket, especially. Black-T was better than bluing or park, which meant it was better than 99.9% of the available options you had for a refinish. For nitride/melonite/tennifer/etc at the time it was Glock or maybe some boutique maker that built ten guns a year. It would take a couple decades before that finish basically took over as the default option and people had to stop worrying about proactive measures to prevent rust.

IIRC Benchmade had a production version of the finish on their knives. I think they actually called it Black-T (black tigold?) but I don't recall if it was actually affiliated with Birdsong.

I spoke with Walter Birdsong briefly about having an aluminum Colt done up with Black-T. I recall the conversation being kind of funny because there was a point where it sounded like he cut over to a taped version of what was basically the sales pitch. The days before email, I guess. He did mention that they left the anodizing on aluminum guns and finished over it, presumably for strength.

Walter Birdsong could talk your ear off.

[fatdog]

Walter Birdsong could talk your ear off.

My favorite was his story about the SEAL guys in the North Sea on an oil platform with nothing to clean the MP5's and Sig's he had done for them so they pissed on them to clean them. That was of course ok with Black-T

[Wondering Beard]

My favorite was his story about the SEAL guys in the North Sea on an oil platform with nothing to clean the MP5's and Sig's he had done for them so they pissed on them to clean them. That was of course ok with Black-T

Well, because he talked my ear off a lot of it is jumbled in my memory.

I remember SEALs, I remember oil platforms, I remember urine, but no memory of those put together in a story. But he could have very well tried to tell that story in his own unique way and lost me halfway through it.

I liked him but to get him to the point of the call took the patience of Job.

[fatdog]

Enough thread drift but I will tell one more story on Walter. Circa 2002 when they opened the books and it was no longer one rifle per lifetime I got a "rack grade" CMP Garand. A close friend who worked at CMP took it to their new custom shop, before they had even opened to take in work, and had a Criterion barrel installed for me. Then, it being almost in the white from wear except the new barrel and the new bolt the custom shop picked to headspace it, I sent it to Walter. He called me a few weeks later, but I could not speak to him because I had just come out of surgery from stage 3 throat cancer, and my wife ended up talking to him. He meticulously took the thing down and did Black-T to every single screw, spring, pin and rivet. Then he went back when the finish had been applied and white lettered every letter on the gun when he was done. He sent the rifle back along with my original money order and refused payment. That is the kind of guy he was.

Ironically a few years later both he and my friend at CMP were claimed by cancer and I am still here.

I will never sell that rifle.

[03RN]

[RugerSSM]

Attachment 100854

Wow that is gorgeous!

[Lost River]

Some days when it is cold and blowing, only the old school stuff seems appropriate to carry.

[pistolwrench]

[Exiledviking]

Getting it dirty.

[Exiledviking]

Whenever I see Lost River's 1911 it reminds me of my 6" .45 ACP Clark Custom Colt longslide