Show us your Guns!

[DeaconKC]

For a 1911 to run with anything, it will be loose and often rattle! Good magazines are mandatory. Kimbers have had problems with their basic magazines. Both guns, especially the Wilson, should have been brute reliable.

 

[Landman]

You weren't using the same aftermarket magazines in both pistols were you? If so, that could have been the problem.

I have never owned a Kimber or Wilson Combat so I really can't comment on their reliability. However, I have been collecting Colt 1911's for many years and the only problems I have ever had with a pistol was usually magazine related with the exception of a broken extractor claw and some older military Colts not liking hollow point ammo.

 

[Doublegun]

Just picked up a Sig 1911 "Nightmare Carry" with a 4-1/4" barrel. Looks and feels smaller than my Kimber PRO CDP and with a bobtail grip it is much easier to carry. I liked my Kimber BUT it was almost too nice looking. The "Nightmare", not so much, looks all business.

 

[KilroyCD]

Cheers to you too Kilroy, can't wait for pics of the Smelly!

Here she is! It is an Enfield-built example, dated 1915. It still has the magazine cut-off, but unfortunately it has the wrong magazine at this time. It has a No.4 Mk.I magazine, which will not fully insert into the SMLE. It had been re-barreled in 1940, and the bore is pristine, with no wear at the muzzle and almost none at the throat.

 

[Rathdown]

And if you prefer not to have to clean your 1911 clone each trip to the range, then perhaps the switch to wheel-guns was prudent. Personally, I just like revolvers better anyway but that's irrelevant.

Here I find myself once again in agreement with you, especially in the field where I pack either a K-frame or N-frame Smith & Wesson: Model 45 (.22 long rifle), Model 22 (.45 ACP), Model 520 (.357), or a Model 21 (.44 Spl.). The common feature (aside from a fair amount of holster wear) is that all of these have fixed sights and 4-inch barrels. Which, at least in my book, is all you need in the brush.

 

[1961MJS]

You weren't using the same aftermarket magazines in both pistols were you? If so, that could have been the problem.

I have never owned a Kimber or Wilson Combat so I really can't comment on their reliability. However, I have been collecting Colt 1911's for many years and the only problems I have ever had with a pistol was usually magazine related with the exception of a broken extractor claw and some older military Colts not liking hollow point ammo.

Hi

My old gunsmith always had trouble with the DA's Colt Commander's not feeding hollow points, specifically black talons. Of course, that's what the DA wanted to carry.

Later

 

[Landman]

Hi

My old gunsmith always had trouble with the DA's Colt Commander's not feeding hollow points, specifically black talons. Of course, that's what the DA wanted to carry.

Later

Yes, the original Colt 1911 was designed for ball ammo. You never know though until you try it. I have a stock 1944 Remington Rand and it feeds hollow point fine. I have another stock 1945 Remington Rand and it doesn't. A good gunsmith can usually get an older 1911 to feed hollow point but I don't mess with my vintage ones and prefer to keep them original. There are plenty of new Colts designed specifically to feed hollow points so I don't see any need to tinker with an old war horse.

 

[Oldsarge]

Here I find myself once again in agreement with you, especially in the field where I pack either a K-frame or N-frame Smith & Wesson: Model 45 (.22 long rifle), Model 22 (.45 ACP), Model 520 (.357), or a Model 21 (.44 Spl.). The common feature (aside from a fair amount of holster wear) is that all of these have fixed sights and 4-inch barrels. Which, at least in my book, is all you need in the brush.

Exactly. At present I don't have any revolvers, a major fault in my armory. But I lust after them . . .

Your battery is precisely what I would want to acquire.

 

[KilroyCD]

Yet another Martini

Here's another auction find. It's an Egyptian Citadel Arsenal re-work in .303 British. The original markings were scrubbed when it went through arsenal refurbishment, but the "D" in Enfield and vestigial remains of the Victoria Crown are still slightly visible.

 

[DeaconKC]

Kilroy those are fine rifles.

 

[Rathdown]

Exactly. At present I don't have any revolvers, a major fault in my armory. But I lust after them . . .

Your battery is precisely what I would want to acquire.

Thanks. My Model 45 probably gets the most carry (I am an inveterate plinker); I rarely hunt medium sized game these days, but when I was a bit more active I usually packed my .44spl in preference to anything else. The Model 22 (45 ACP) was my horseback gun, mostly because .45 ACP ball ammo is relatively cheap compared to .44 spl. (and I like to plink). I bought my rather well-used 520 at a local gun show for Model 13 money-- otherwise I would have opted for a S&W .38/44 loaded with +P+ ammo, which is what I usually run through the Five-Two-Oh (unless I'm just out plinking...).

 

[KilroyCD]

Kilroy those are fine rifles.

Thanks, Deacon. I have a bit of a penchant for these Martini rifles, with seven different examples now in my collection. They're almost as addicting as M1 Garands.

 

[Anthony Jordan]

I hope I may be excused since what I am sharing is neither a gun nor mine, but I wondered if any of you gentlefolk could identify the bullets used in the attached cufflinks?:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIQUE-DR...t=Vintage_Costume_Jewelry&hash=item4d04ecdd2a

They look to me rather like French 8mm Lebel rounds, of the later, Spitzer type, particularly given their boat-tails, but I am no expert!

 

[anon`]

I hope I may be excused since what I am sharing is neither a gun nor mine, but I wondered if any of you gentlefolk could identify the bullets used in the attached cufflinks?:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIQUE-DR...t=Vintage_Costume_Jewelry&hash=item4d04ecdd2a

They look to me rather like French 8mm Lebel rounds, of the later, Spitzer type, particularly given their boat-tails, but I am no expert!

Plenty of folks here who know lots more about bullets than I, but I'll still hazard a guess... that there's no way to tell for certain.

Assuming the seller's measurements are correct (as well as my interpretation of them), I would guess .303 British, as they're on the UK site. They could be as small as 7.65mm, or as large as 7.7mm, however. Definitely not 8mm, though. Again, assuming the seller measured correctly.

 

[Oldsarge]

Hmmm, full metal jacketed, boat-tailed, canellured and hollow based. I would guess some sort of tracer round that was demobbed and accessorized. Without micrometering the diameter, there's almost no way to tell more. However, 5/16=.312, which is the .303 caliber, as I recall. I'd have to go look it up but dinner waits . . .

 

[Anthony Jordan]

Thanks both; I've never seen a boat-tailed .303 before, which is not to say of course that they don't exist... Visually it reminded me of the Lebel bullets I used to occasionally find on the Somme, as pictured here: http://www.iaaforum.org/forum3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9992

What intrigues me is the suggestion in that discussion that a firm had made .303 tracer rounds by boring out these bullets, which would result in someting visually very similar to what is being auctioned. If it was 1/10 the price I might have bought it to find out! (The seller is US based, by the way, I just happened to find him through a search on eBay UK.)

 

[Dinerman]

My grandfather's gun collection as it stood in the late '50s/early '60s. He died young in 1963, and most of it disappeared or was sold off to pay bills at that time, unfortunately.
Anyone able to ID what he had?

Here he is, with some of it visible in the case to the left.

 

[Chaps]

This is my carry weapon. Ruger P95 9MM.

 

[Landman]

Dinerman,

Being a Colt collector myself, the one pistol of your grandfather's that stands out to me is the Colt Model 1911 with what appears to be ivory grips in the lower left hand side of the picture of pistols. It is a model 1911 and not a model 1911-A1. You can tell by the flat mainspring housing, long trigger and absence of scallops behind the trigger. Since the picture is from the 50's I'm pretty sure it would be an original and not some kind of reproduction. Also since it is an 11 and not and 11A1 it would have been made prior to the mid 1920's. I can't remember the exact date when they made the A1 changes but I think it was around 1926. That pistol would be worth a pretty penny today.

 

[jkingrph]

I hope I may be excused since what I am sharing is neither a gun nor mine, but I wondered if any of you gentlefolk could identify the bullets used in the attached cufflinks?:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIQUE-DR...t=Vintage_Costume_Jewelry&hash=item4d04ecdd2a

They look to me rather like French 8mm Lebel rounds, of the later, Spitzer type, particularly given their boat-tails, but I am no expert!

They look to be something in the 30 caliber range, most probably military. The price is rather outrageous. You could take a pair of old cufflinks and a couple of bullets and solder or have a jewler do it for probably less than 1/10 that asking price.