Depends on the firearm.

Modern or vintage? Makes a difference in how I would market it.

Here they all go down a sort of "black hole" never to be seen again on the market. Consignment, auction, or a gun show promoter friend would be ways I would sell.

 

Thank

Thank you. I can see how this topic might be touchy with big brother lurking about (potentially). I do have a couple friends that I could ask to see whether they may be interested.

For reference, it's a custom built AR

 

When I've sold rifles it was to people I've already known who've had an interest in what I had.

 

Looks like I'll have to get Dave and Brandon into a little bidding war haha

 

That's some good stuff. I have all of Kuhnhausen's Colt books.

 

I've always been a spec guy so these are proving to be gold. Also, I do sort of like having that feeling of "what the hell are they talking about?" When I read something technical. I recognize that I'm in the dark on much of this material and that's precisely what makes me want to know more. Someday soon I'll start a custom 1911 project that I can spend a little time on each evening or so until it's perfect. I'm in no hurry for the end result. It's about the journey of craftsmanship.

 

Thanks for the compliments guys. This is only three second Smith I've owned as the mid 60s model 10 I had never impressed me much. I decided to give them another chance and see how this 357 Magnum (I guess it exists after the Registered Magnum but before the Model 27) stacks up against my 3rd issue Colt Officer's Model or my Pythons.

It's S1406XX, it's supposedly from either late 54 or early 55 but there is some doubt about that as some numbers from the S140XXX range were not used until as late as 58.

 

That's the right way to approach it. I got started early because of my dad and over the years I've tried to absorb as much knowledge about the guns I care about as possible. I have a few friends that have tried to encourage me to gunsmith for a living but that'd make it too much like work.

 

@Waltesefalcon
Just pulled my head out of a study session and still catching up. Realized I hadn't complimented your acquisition directly. It's a fine looking piece. As fare would have it, I just handled one this past weekend at a bachelor party. Never been very good with a wheel gun, but something about it felt right.

I hope you can get out and enjoy it soon and often!

 

Thank ya kindly. I've got my daughter this week so I won't have the chance to properly put it through its paces but I might use it to make some cans into colanders when we go shoot Friday.

 

Sounds like you've got a nice week of daddy + daughter time and a cherry on top when you get to go shooting!

PS: whichever one of you likes mint chocolate chip ice cream is correct

PPS: if neither of you like mint chocolate chip ice cream then I guess I just can't hang out with you anymore

 

Kuhnhausen's Colt books are on my firearms library shelf. I'm not sure I'm equal to the knowledge they provide. It's certain that if one pursues a hobby then he ought to read the books on the subject ... maybe even first.

 

Nice thing about those books is that Kuhnhausen didn't subscribe to all of the myths about the 1911. He was big on original military spec.

My personal pieces are a 1918 Colt, a Turnbull commemorative of a Remington-UMC (still need to shoot that one), and a Remington R1S, which is a 1911A1-style piece.

All three now work flawlessly after throwing out whatever crap springs stuffed into them and replaced with genuine Colt. Hybrid "what the hell is THIS?!" magazines replaced by GI spec Checkmate. My Colt wasn't shot much and the slide to frame fit is generous... and it still shoots to original specifications. I had fun gauging it as much as my tooling allowed, and my only nod to modern machining were to replace all of the pins with a new set from... someone. EGW, I guess.

My favorite bit of nonsense is "polishing the feed ramp". If you had the right springs and the right magazines, the round never gets near the feed ramp, Sparky! "Limp wristing" is another favorite. Toss out the "improvements" and you can hold that pistol light as you like, it's going to fire and cycle properly.

Ah, "experts", what are you going to do with them?

 

In other news ...

I was doing a bit of forum moderation a minute ago over on a firearms forum on which I lend assistance.

A fellow mentioned wanting a Dessert Eagle pistol. Works for me.

 

""Limp wristing" is another favorite."

A special favorite of mine. Here's some silliness my youngest son recorded for all posterity a few years back of me shooting a CZ 75BD 9mm and a Smith & Wesson .40 Shield, attempting to limp wrist 'em with the "flollopiest" grip I could muster and still hang onto the pistol. Nary a function failure could be induced. I've tried several times over the years to induce this "limp wrist" business, but to no avail. If I discovered an automatic in the collection that could fail with weak grip I'd fix it or else it'd have to go away.

 

Oh this, THIS is good lol

Edited to add: the hat just put me over the edge of hilarity!

 

Meh, to each their own I suppose... perhaps part of the mystique surrounding the 1911 is the endless opinions and theories.

At the very least, I'm certain that Mr. Browning would be positively delighted to know that his design is not only still relevant, but highly coveted, sought after, and cherished after all these years.

For me, the plan is to craft a snazzy carry piece on the first go. If the bug bites hard enough, I'll build some one-of-a-kind bespoke pieces for my brothers. After all, it is a labor of love

 

For me, the allure of the 1911 is clear... it fits my hand like it was made to. That well! I also shoot a GI-spec gun as well as one of those fancy things with all the toys on it. Therefore, my not-Turnbull pistols are GI spec and the only thing I've done is replace the springs, and adjusted sear, hammer, disconnector to get the creep out. I once bought into the nonsense of the springs and some of the other things people talk about, until I used all Colt springs, and the difference was remarkable. I also use 230-grain rounds like the pistol was designed for, albeit Federal HST, and recoil is nothing and I swear the slide moves so slowly, you can watch it cycle.

The 1911 forum I'm on, I don't read most of it, because there are so many people who take a perfectly good GI gun, tighten it up so much it can't get dirty, change spring weights, screw around with the radius on the firing pin stop... ugh. Now, I'll grant you that the sights on the original Model of 1911 may not be the best, but you can use them and point shooting is a thing in any event that I've worked on in the past.

Those super-tight guns with fancy this and that are for the range or competition. I'd rather carry a GI-spec gun that will work when I need it to.

 

Pictures!

 

Pretty